Average Joe Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: Will Sipho Be A Problem For Joe & Co.?

The worst moments in our lives often come unnoticed and the same happens when Cathy gets shot while protecting Leon in the end of “Average Joe.” The second season picks up right there, showing us how Leon and his friend, Joe, gave a lot  of money to Dr. Vikram for helping Cathy with the bullet wound. However, Cathy and Leon both seem to forget that Joe is left behind to deal with reality as his wife, Ange and daughter, Jennie, left  him. Joe had already killed Dimitri, a member of the Russian mob, who tried to get close to him by exploiting Jennie, dressed as her lover. While Joe struggles with the secrets his dead father, Teddy left behind, he also goes through the pain of living alone. Almost two months later, when Leon, Cathy and their friend Touch arrive at the motel where Joe is staying, they see a completely different man standing in front of them. 

Spoilers Ahead

Is Something Wrong With Joe?

Joe is frustrated to stay inside a substandard motel when he has his own house; but simultaneously, he cannot go back since Ange and Jennie are not there. For a family man like Joe, a house without his family does not feel like a home and he wants to avoid it at all costs  so he doesn’t get haunted by their memories. Yes, they are alive, but in these months, Joe has not received any call from them; he does not even know if his wife and daughter are alive or not. It is not easy to cope with loneliness, especially for a  family man like Joe. He spends most of his days lying on the couch, knowing that his family is somewhere out there. When Cathy, Leon and Touch visit his motel, Joe is happy to see his friends but that excitement is short-lived once he sees the photos of his family. It turns out that someone is blackmailing Joe by taking photos of Ange and Jennie. Naturally, Joe grows more frustrated and his anger gets directed towards Cathy when she tries to propose a solution to it. 

Why Doesn’t Cathy Inform About Philsky?

When Touch notices a  photographer’s signature stamp behind the photograph, everyone feels the tension in the room since Joe’s family seems to be in danger. Joe – who is already worried about his family – almost breaks down when he gets to know that the photographs are property of Philsky Studios. So, the men who are after Ange and Jennie are Russians, and it might be the same men who want to avenge Dimitri’s death. The situation seems extremely scary and to save his family, Joe needs every iota of information about the Russians that’s out there. At this moment Cathy notices the logo; it turns out that she saw Philsky’s name on plane tickets before while investigating a room. The way she gulps down the information and acts like she is seeing the name for the first time, is totally confusing. Maybe, she considers it as redundant information, but she doesn’t clearly explain  her motive. Still, props to Cathy for deciphering the coordinates, which helps Joe and Co. to visit a specific location in South Africa. 

What’s The Deal With Touch?

Touch has friends all over the world and his connections with the FBI may turn out to be crucial, considering the dangerous situation that Joe’s family is in. It is clear that Touch is a trained agent, whose skills with a gun and peripheral awareness are praiseworthy.  However, it still doesn’t explain why Touch appears to be this aggressive when an unknown mailman, Ziri, approaches the group in the desert. Touch’s hunch turns out to be right when the group thinks that he is being extra, someone shoots Ziri’s brains out. Joe, Leon and Cathy take shelter behind their car since it’s an open desert – trying to locate the sniper means death. But, Joe & Co. gets another surprise when Touch ditches his cover and walks towards the direction of the shots, as if he is invincible. This rings an alarm in Joe’s mind and he deliberately questions Touch for pulling off such a stunt but the latter refuses to answer. Something is definitely off with Touch because when they break into Ziri’s house, he downs a bottle of cough syrup since it has Codeine in it. While it’s clear that Touch has an addiction issue, there can be several reasons behind it which still remain unknown. Unfortunately, it goes unnoticed because Joe is really trying hard to eliminate every potential risk for Anne and Jennie. 

Is Billy G Telling The Truth?

After Joe & Co., visits a bar owned by Ziri’s employer (although there may be more to his identity, but that’s currently unknown) Billy G, Touch is shocked to find out that the man knows his identity. More importantly, Joe finds a poster of the old shop that his father, Teddy once owned. Things start to seem bizarre when Billy G claims that he has known  Teddy all along since the latter helped him recover from a heart attack.  Crisis often triggers the best kinds of  friendships! But for Joe, this is the weirdest reveal – all this time, he knew that Teddy is dead but if Billy G’s words turn out to be true, then he is alive and well. What Cathy says is true – there’s a possibility that Teddy faked his death in Philadelphia to usurp the ten million and the luxurious Lamborghini. Billy G’s words are proven because by the time Joe reaches Teddy’s house in the forest and fights off some goons (let’s talk about them later), they also come across a girl, Imani, who is hiding inside the closet. Imani claims that she is Joe’s sister and Teddy is still alive – this stresses the man out even more because in no way he was expecting so much to happen at once!

Will Sipho Be A Problem For Joe & Co.?

Joe already has a lot on his plate and a probably Russian problem is  not something that should be left unaddressed.  While contacting law enforcement would be  a good idea, Joe, Leon, Touch and Cathy prefer to do stuff their own way. But they are forgetting that this is Cape Town, where the gangster, Sipho lives and he does not tolerate involvement. Sipho has his own ways of dealing with things that he hates – the biggest example is the man, who is coerced into killing himself after the gangster killed  his family in front of his eyes. Unlike underworld criminal bosses, Sipho has a strong sense of justice that he claims to be connected with his belief system and this is where things get interesting. Before killing the man, Sipho got to know that he stole his heroin because Billy G’s men made him do it. After that, it was Sipho who sent those men to search for Billy G – they were near Teddy’s house on his command. Now that all of them are gone, Joe, Cathy, Touch, and Leon automatically become Sipho’s targets. It further complicates things because now Joe & Co. will have to fight against Sipho and the Russians.  

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