The Last Tycoon S01E04 "Burying the Boy Genius" Recap

The death of Irving Thalberg strikes a heavy blow to all the industry professionals starring in our series. Brady begins to feel greater insecurity about Monroe being the golden boy of his studio. They need to find someone that can dub Minna's voice for an in-memorium project but the American actress, Bess, they've been using isn't quite up to parr.

Celia is starting to find her footing as a producer as she begins consulting with the writers of the film she is developing. Rose begins her volunteer work at the hospital and becomes attached to a young patient named Kitty who is suffering from a brain tumor.

Monroe and the team are busy at work looking for a voice-over actress to do Minna's dubbing but no one is fitting the part quite right. Brady suggests Monroe ask Kathleen to do the voiceover work and although Monroe is hesitant at first, he eventually asks her and she is willing to do so. However, it all seems to stir up more of her conflicted emotions regarding Minna, as she was a fan of hers before ever meeting Monroe and she wants to do her justice.

Celia makes some adjustments to Hackett's script and Monroe and Brady approve,. They even get the renowned Fritz Lang to come on as the director to the project. In private, Lang tells Celia that the one thing the script is missing is passion and sexuality. Celia seems intrigued by being invited to a world of sexuality, particularly when Lang invites her over to meet famed actress Marlene Dietrich, who is staying at Lang's place. It's proposed that they could get Marlene to play one of the supporting roles, but much to Celia's surprise, an orgy breaks out that she is invited to sit and watch with Lang and Marlene. The German backers are not happy about the prospect of Lang being the director, as he's considered an enemy to the Nazi party and was also born to a Jewish mother. Brady informs them that regardless of their having to play nice currently, as soon as the Nazis lose power, they will not hesitate to turn on them.

Monroe has his birthday but the occasion is made awkward and tense when Brady becomes upset and paranoid that Monroe will be tempted away to another studio. The film they are working on is meant to be a symbol of loyalty and Monroe assures him that he isn't going anywhere else.

The Last Tycoon is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.