Inventing Anna Season 1 Episode 4 Recap – A Wolf in Chic Clothing

Flashback: Anna steps into the insides of the building at 281 Park Avenue for the first time. She brings her dream team with her and explains the details of what goes into where and how she imagines the place to be. She tells them she wants the place to be a step beyond VIP. After the tour, the realtor tells them that there have been other parties who took an interest in the place, and Anna tells him nobody else should see the place because she’s taking it. Her team discusses how much they’ll need and comes up with a rough estimate: $40 million.

At the office, Vivian tells her coworkers that Anna has a business plan and a real dream team. While she says this, she suffers from cramps from pregnancy but tells everyone that she is okay. She veers the conversation to the owner of 281 Park – Aby Rosen. According to Lou, Aby Rosen is the wealthiest real estate mogul in NY, and his connections are insane. Vivian tells them that Anna was so close to having ADF that all she needs is to secure her funding. Barry tells her that no one would lend Anna that kind of money. She then kicks a box under her desk, and Lou gasps. “Are you telling me she was actually being considered for funding?” he says. Vivian tells them that she cannot get any of them to talk, but she has the paperwork to prove that there were institutions that considered doing so.

Vivian visits an art gallery and talks to Alan Reed, who is admiring a piece. Alan is a lawyer who actively helped Anna secure the funding she needed for ADF. He tells her that following him to an art gallery is a form of harassment, but Vivian insists that it is actually respect. She tells him that he respects him enough not to talk to his wife, doorman, or business partners. He refuses to budge.

Flashback: At the varsity club, Alan arrives and is given Court 1, which is always reserved for the VIPs. He plays squash tennis with his buddy, who connects him to Anna. The following day, Alan wakes up and does his morning routine before finally heading into his office. On the way to his office, he receives a call from his daughter Julia, who has managed to sabotage her cooking course again. She asks him for money to go to a retreat, saying that her credit card is already maxed out for the month. He meets with Anna later that day to talk about the foundation that Anna is building. Anna presents her business plan and enthusiastically explains the details to Alan. However, she got tongue-tied when Alan started asking her about previous experience, market research, KPIs, operating profit margins, and metrics. Anna tells him that she is born into art and understands business, which does not answer Alan’s questions. She further explains that her challenge is that her trust is in Germany, and she needs capital in America to start her business. Alan tells her he cannot help her because starting a business in New York is not for the faint-hearted. Since Anna does not have quantifiable professional experience in what she plans to do, it will be challenging to get support from American banks. Anna tries to explain further, but Alan tells her he is not convinced. The next day, Anna ambushes Alan as he walks into his building’s lobby. Anna tries to convince him more, but Alan tells him no, again.

Vivian also talks to a banker from whom Anna tried to borrow $40 million. She tells Vivian that Anna was not taken seriously at first because she didn’t look the part, swanning around in baby doll dresses with her boobs hanging out. She tells Vivian that Anna needed an in, so she started dressing the part, building relationships, and getting introductions.

Flashback: Anna dyes her blonde hair dark and sports nerdy eyeglasses. She revisits Alan and guilts him, telling him that being a young woman in business is hard and that her daughter will suffer the same fate when the time comes. She gets his attention, so he allows Anna to present him with her business plan, including the metrics and other particulars that he asked for previously. He tells her that her capital being in Germany is an uphill battle, but if he is to help her, he should have the particulars of her fund. She tells him that Peter Hennecke handles their family business, and she will ask him to give Alan a call so they can start the process. Anna invites him to a party she is throwing that night to see how viable ADF is. Alan comes and sees that Anna is indeed special. Representatives from Fortress, City National, and Citibank were in attendance, some art enthusiasts, and Ron Wheaton, the CEO of private jet service, was also there. The next day, Alan talks to Peter on the phone, who assures him that the paperwork for the particulars of Anna’s trust fund will be sent right away.

Currently, Vivian lies on the office floor, trying to comfort herself from her pregnancy pains. Lou gasps because he finds out that Alan has checked the box that says Anna has the means and assets to pay for their services on the due diligence form. Vivian is also shocked by this because she cannot believe that a senior equity partner in a respectable law firm thought so.

That night, Vivian could not sleep because the baby was constantly kicking. She tells Jack that it would make more sense if Anna and Alan were having an affair, but they were not because Anna did not get into any relationship after Chase. She tries calling Peter Hennecke, but her call goes straight to voice mail.

Vivian talks to the woman banker again and tells her that she thinks there is an affair between Anna and Alan. The woman laughs at her and says Alan never colored outside the lines. She says she thinks Alan thought that Anna would bring him money in perpetuity, which is why he decided to help Anna. However, she also tells Vivian that Alan might have lost his touch, which is why he worked for Anna even when she hadn’t paid him a dime.

Vivian went into Todd’s office and talked about Alan. He tells him that maybe Alan helped her for the win, the glory, and the thrill. Vivian deduces that Anna is not paying Todd well, but Todd refuses to deny or admit this.

Flashback: Anna and Alan go to an art gallery to shop for a new painting for his office. Anna tells him that his daughter is lucky to have him, but he tells her that that might not be the case because she is always so busy with other things even when they try so hard to give her every opportunity. Anna tells him that her father cut her off once; from then on, she knew she could handle herself. Alan gets an idea. The next day, Alan receives a phone call from Peter. Alan gives him an update, saying that two banks are already interested in loaning her the money. He also tells him that he will send the invoice for their retainer, and Peter tells him that he will wire the money immediately. That night, Alan brings his wife to a restaurant that Anna recommended. They meet their daughter and tell her they’re cutting her off.

Maud tells Vivian that Anna stole a jet, and Barry and Lou tell her the same: Anna chartered a $35,000 private plane to take her to Omaha. They say that Blade, the private jet company owned by Ron Wheaton, is working with the DA and pressing charges against Anna.

Flashback: David from Fortress is having dinner with Anna. He tells her that her loan application has passed the first stage and says that he’s all about helping her achieve what she wants. He asks her if she’d like tickets to Berkshire Hathaway, a conference hosted by Warren Buffet. That night, Anna sends a message to Ron saying she needs a plane, and Ron forwards her message to his employees. On the day of the flight, Ron’s employees tried to stop Anna from flying because her wire didn’t come through, but she told them they should talk to Ron.

Vivian talks to Ron. He tells her that he thought Anna was good for the money because she knew all the right people and was in all the right places. He said he told his employees to let her fly because he was so confident that the wire would come, but it never did.

Flashback: At the varsity club, Alan thanks his buddy for recommending Anna to him as he says that they’ve got Fortress on the hook for a $40 million loan and that they’re looking at an annual revenue stream of $200 million. His friend tells him that he doesn’t really know Anna or her family and must have just met her at some party. While on the plane, Anna’s friends tell her they should skip the conference and go to the private party instead. Anna gets denied entry when they get there because her pass was only for the conference and not the party. She gets a call from David, saying that Fortress asks for a good faith deposit of $100K to proceed with the due diligence that was part of her loan application. She calls Alan and tells him that she doesn’t have money in the US ad that she will lose 281 Park if the loan is not going to push through. She asked him to fix it, and in exchange, she offered him a position on the board of ADF. Alan tells her they still have City National Bank(CNB) if Fortress won’t come through.

Anna returns to New York and barges into Reggie’s office at CNB. He tells her that CNB declined to proceed with the loan application because the documents Anna sent regarding her trust are a little vague and not enough to convince the underwriters. Anna complains to Alan and cries about 281 Park going to someone else. Alan says he’ll fix it and that he’ll talk to Reggie. Alan gets on the phone with Peter and asks for the retainer; Peter tells him it was already sent. Alan goes to Reggie, who tells him that his hands are tied and that he cannot do anything about the loan anymore. Alan tells him that he’s disappointed and boasts that Fortress is already doing due diligence and that they will approve. Reggie tells him that he wants to do right by Anna to mend their relationship, so he offers her an account at CNB with an immediate overdraft facility of $200K.

At the office, Maud finds multiple purchases from Telefonica while going through Anna’s credit card bills. She tells the group that Anna purchased a virtual SIM card that lets her run phone numbers from different countries. Vivian talks to Alan and tells him that there never was a Peter Hennecke. She says that Anna purchased a virtual SIM card and used a voice distorter app to pretend she was Peter. Alan realizes that he has been conned from the start. Vivian asks Anna why she humiliated Alan, but Anna tells her that Alan had nothing to lose. She says that he probably has been promoted even after everything because men always fall upward.

Alan goes into the varsity club, but this time, he is given Court 12 instead of Court 1.

Our Thoughts

How could a man, let alone a reputable lawyer like Alan Reed, be manipulated by a 25-year-old woman who doesn’t have anything to her name? She even managed to get herself an account with a substantial overdraft facility. I mean, how lucky does she have to be? I wish she knew better. She could have been successful if she wasn’t that ambitious. She’ll eventually get there, but she could have started small instead of doing all big immediately and ending up in jail. She could have also put her talents to better use, and she would have been still famous for an entirely different reason. So I think this episode tells us that if you know the right people, you can go from nobody to somebody, but you’ve got to be careful.