Easy Money

Morgan confronts Bobette about her manipulation of Julia. This time, Julia can't easily reconcile what Morgan does; his work for Prestige may have taken its final toll on her. Bobette won't own up to her schemes, but instead pushes Morgan to help out Prestige borrowers (and marijuana growers) Dan and Melody McBride. Detective Yapp has shaken down the McBrides, so they're too deep in the hole to pay Prestige. Morgan approaches Yapp to cut a deal, but Yapp is in financial trouble himself. Spread too thin between his wife and his girlfriend Tiffany, Yapp makes Morgan break things off for him with the latter. Morgan suspects Yapp has stolen Julia's DNA database from her campus lab, an allegation Yapp denies. Meanwhile, Bobette joins Brandy at Madison's bridal shower, where they receive a chilly reception from Larissa Conroy and Madison's mother, Bonnie. What's worse, Bobette finds a conniving debtor, Emmy Aldridge in attendance, and goes to great lengths to discredit her in front of the other guests. Though Cooper is now worried about his troubles with wife Cherise, he and Roy spend an otherwise leisurely day waiting for Peepaw, who visits a local "rub n' tug." less

Julia finally meets the entire Buffkin clan when Bobette insists she join Morgan for their family dinner. Julia is getting closer to Morgan, a fact which her lab professor, Dimitri is not comfortable with. He believes Morgan is nothing but a gangster, an opinion Chuck Habib might share. Chuck, an RV salesman late on his payments to Prestige Payday Loans, pulls a gun on Morgan and Bobette. Chuck and his sister promise to pay Prestige back if Bobette and Morgan can help put a new roof over their heads. Brandy is feeling the stress of her marital and financial problems, an emotional fact she's hardly able to cover up, even though Pastor Jeff has recruited her into the Crystal Belles, an elite church choir run by Randi Hammond. Meanwhile, the Mamayo Brothers proposition Brandy's husband Mike about working off the money he owes them by spying at Prestige. Mike and Brandy's night out with Cooper and Cherise is strained when Cooper loans Mike a fistful of dollars while Cherise is clearly annoyed with Cooper's lack of attentiveness to her own financial needs. less

Under duress, defaulting borrower Gibby gives Morgan the keys to his Bass master fishing boat as payment, putting Morgan in Larry Conroy's crosshairs. Larry is the cocky golden boy marrying Madison, Morgan's ex. Gibby's boat is locked up in Larry's storage facility and Larry will be damned if Morgan gets to it. Bobette and Morgan seek Franklin Cardoza's legal counsel about the boat issue; but the Mamayo Brothers are also hot on Gibby's heels. Cooper tries to spice up his lackluster marriage to Cherise with alarming results. Brandy consults Pastor Jeff about her previous indiscretion. Her husband Mike, a shut-in after his desert exodus, spies crabby neighbor Mr. Pheloung and gets desperate to make a radical change in his financial situation. Meanwhile, Julia, intrigued by a campaign ad for district attorney candidate J.C. Wallace about payday loan companies, takes it upon herself to visit Prestige unannounced, only to find irate customer Shan Jing making a huge scene at the storefront. less

While the computer systems at Prestige Payday Loans go haywire, Morgan gets an out-of-the-blue message from a long-lost cousin, Doug Johnson. Morgan is excited by the prospect of finding a blood relative. Cooper soon uncovers that South Nile National Bank owner Ned Schmidt has reworked his computers' collection system in a way that unfairly charges Prestige's clients. Bobette addresses the issue head-on with Schmidt, who is less than accommodating. Prestige borrower Gev has been adversely affected by Schmidt's finagling and hopes to help Bobette give Schmidt his due. As Morgan and Bobette grow skeptical of Doug's family claim, Cooper's wife Cherise becomes downright indignant. She thinks Cooper, as the true Buffkin heir, deserves more credit for the work he does at Prestige and puts a bee in Cooper's bonnet. After another terrifying run-in with the Mamayo Brothers, Mike blazes out of town to avoid any more entanglements. He soon finds out life on the desert road isn't all he thought it would be. Back in South Nile, Morgan enlists Barry to get info on Cousin Doug and tries to come clean with Julia about the nature of his family's work. less