Going Dutch Season 2 Episode 10 Recap: Quinn Down, Maggie Rises, and Sparks Fly

Breakfast Bacon Bend Takes Down Colonel Quinn

Colonel Quinn is in his quarters, about to sit on his comfy couch and enjoy a tasty breakfast of bacon and eggs. He drops a strip of bacon and bends down to pick it up. There’s a cracking noise, and he can’t stand back up. Just that easily, he throws out his back. He falls onto the couch but still reaches for that strip of bacon. Grimacing and groaning, he pleads that he’s defended his country his whole life, please let him have this bacon. He strains to reach it in a whole lot of pain. Colonel Quinn seriously stretching for one piece of bacon from the couch while in agony is hilarious.

Outside Colonel Quinn’s office are Captain Maggie and Sergeant Conway. Captain Maggie starts panicking when her dad is late reporting to work. He’s always said, “Five minutes early is ten minutes late.” Sergeant Conway points out it’s only 0803 in the morning, which really freaks Captain Maggie out. She immediately assumes the worst, saying he’s probably dead, and pulls out her phone to call him. She gets his voicemail, which he’s never even set up. She adds that he’s been putting a down payment on a heart attack for a while. Sergeant Conway mentions that last week he told her he was in his “bacon era,” and she’s been begging him to cut down to a slab every other day. That sends Captain Maggie into full panic mode, and she takes off running. The panicky banter between Captain Maggie and Sergeant Conway brings plenty of laughs.

Captain Maggie rushes into her dad’s quarters and is relieved to see he’s not dead. She asks what happened. He’s lying sideways on the couch and asks her to come closer because he has something to tell her. She rushes to his side, and he tells her to put the bacon in his mouth. She reaches for a piece on the plate on the coffee table, but he insists on “floor bacon” first. Oh no. She reluctantly picks it up and puts it in his mouth, and he hungrily bites off a piece. This scene would be gross if it weren’t for Captain Maggie’s disgusted facial expression. It’s too funny.

Captain Maggie helps her dad sit up and surrounds him with pillows to make him comfortable. She tells him to rest, just like the doctor ordered. Colonel Quinn complains that he slips a couple of discs and suddenly the doctor is at the top of the chain of command. Captain Maggie assures him the base is in good hands, and she and Major Shah will hold things down until he’s back on duty. She sets him up with his favorite documentary, troops trashing Hitler’s bunker and hands him the TV remote. He tunes out everything else as he happily watches. Captain Maggie heads to work.

Difficult Shared Job and No Feelings Allowed

Captain Maggie is sitting at Colonel Quinn’s desk when Major Shah walks in. He says he’ll be in his office, but things quickly get awkward as they try to decide who should work where. Captain Maggie offers to go to her office if he wants to use her dad’s, then suggests they both share the colonel’s office instead. She acknowledges that she respects Major Shah for not wanting to get romantically involved because it’s unprofessional, even though it clearly makes him uncomfortable. She insists she’s fine with his decision.

He sits across from her at the desk, and they agree to keep things “pro.” They tell themselves they don’t have to act on every feeling, because if everyone did, there would be chaos. Their attempt at casual small talk is painfully awkward but endearing. They steal glances at each other when the other isn’t looking. When the phone rings, they both reach for it, and their hands touch just as Major Shah answers. He quickly uses the call as an escape, saying there’s a report of a land mine on a nearby farm field. Captain Maggie brushes it off as a regular crank call, they get them twice a week and reminds him the last time they dug up sardine cans. Major Shah insists on checking anyway and rushes out to assemble a UXO team. Captain Maggie mutters to herself that it went terribly.

Major Ruxo Leads the Way

Major Shah assembles a team consisting of Sergeant Conway and Corporal Papadakis to investigate the reported land mine. He explains that when locals find unexploded military devices, they call the army, and they’ve been tasked with sweeping a local farm. He boasts about his extensive land mine defusal experience, claiming he’s worked with the best of the best and that even the team from The Hurt Locker came to him when they got scared.

When he asks if they’ve read the manual, Corporal Papadakis jokes that who needs a manual when you have Ruxo. Ruxo is a robot UXO unit, the latest in land mine detection technology, with high-tech sonar that can identify mines from every era of modern warfare. It’s also cute and can dance, which Papadakis and Conway demonstrate as they dance along with it. Major Shah shuts that down quickly, calling the robot useless. He insists that real-world situations require human adaptability, something robots can’t replicate. Sergeant Conway reminds him the army requires them to use Ruxo on all land mine missions. Major Shah reluctantly agrees, though he’s surprised to learn Ruxo outranks him as a major.

Performance Review Misery

Back at the office, Captain Maggie speaks with Specialist Gideon and Private Sumone about the DFAC inventory due that day. She initially asks them to handle it, then immediately backtracks and says she’ll take care of it herself. Private Sumone also asks what to do with the performance reviews Colonel Quinn wanted filed. Captain Maggie takes those as well. The two thank her and head back to the barracks, leaving her buried in work. She flips through the reviews to find her own, curious what her father wrote, and is clearly not pleased with what she reads.

Meanwhile, Major Shah, Sergeant Conway, and Corporal Papadakis arrive at the field. While Ruxo rolls off to scan the area, Shah grows increasingly frustrated, asking if they’re really just supposed to sit there and watch a robot do the work. Conway and Papadakis think that sounds great and settle in with snacks. When Papadakis checks the remote display, he realizes Ruxo is stuck in the mud. Shah points out that a human wouldn’t get stuck like that, but when they call Ruxo’s handler, he’s ordered to rescue it immediately because the robot is worth $2 million, more than Shah’s life. Shah is completely exasperated.

Colonel Quinn hears someone enter his quarters and sees Maggie, who is clearly upset, something he notices immediately by the aggressive way she fluffs his pillow. He jokes that she’s going full Kathy Bates in Misery. She admits she read her performance review, and he tells her she hesitates when giving orders because she’s too worried about hurting people’s feelings. Captain Maggie defends her leadership style, saying a relaxed workplace is a productive one, but he argues that soldiers are supposed to hate their commanding officer and besides, it’s fun to be mean. She concedes he may be right, switches the TV to Real Housewives of Minnesota, and deliberately drops the remote out of his reach before leaving him there in misery.

Majors Ruxo and Shah Need Saving and Love Declared for Real

Out in the field, Ruxo flails its arms and calls for help while Sergeant Conway encourages it to stay strong. Major Shah, now in full EOD gear, carefully marks a path toward the robot using red flags. When he tells Ruxo to advance, it misinterprets the command as “dance.” Frustrated, Shah removes his helmet and steps forward, only to land on a mine. Ruxo alerts them to the danger as Shah calmly informs Conway and Papadakis that he is, in fact, standing on a land mine.

Back at the office, Captain Maggie questions Specialist Gideon about whether she cares too much about being liked. He suspects it’s a trap but answers honestly, listing her tendency to avoid confrontation and other shortcomings. She thanks him and dismisses him, clearly taking it to heart.

In the field, Major Shah radios Conway and Papadakis, instructing them to contact Captain Maggie but to play it cool and not mention he’s in danger. They fail spectacularly at being subtle, awkwardly explaining they need an expert opinion on a World War II land mine. Captain Maggie tries to find help and briefly enlists Jan, whose uncle claims expertise because he helped lay mines during the war. When it becomes clear he was a Nazi collaborator motivated by chocolate, she immediately has him escorted off base.

Realizing she needs real help, Captain Maggie goes to her dad and orders him to assist with disarming the mine. Colonel Quinn is impressed, that’s exactly how to give an order. When she arrives at the field, she learns the full situation: Major Shah is the one standing on the mine. She gears up and joins him, and in the middle of the crisis, they finally admit their feelings and share a kiss. For a moment, she wants to stay there forever, but quickly snaps back into command mode.

Captain Maggie calls her dad for guidance and then takes control, issuing clear, confident orders to Sergeant Conway and Corporal Papadakis. She fully steps into her role as a leader. The operation unfolds under her direction, and Sergeant Conway later announces she’s leaving the UXO team.

Captain Maggie returns to her dad, and they discuss what happened. She admits she finally felt like a real leader. Colonel Quinn tells her that’s because she’s his kid and inherently better than everyone else, and she should stop pretending otherwise. She jokes that she can be a jerk to everyone but him, and they share a toast.

There were a lot more laughs in this episode, along with some genuinely touching moments. It was a strong installment, and

I’d give it 4.7 out of 5 stars.

What did you think?

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