Running Wilde
Sunday, July 2nd, 2000SEASON 1 – Fox (1-9) FX (10-13)
Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, Jim Vallely, and Will Arnett
Theme song by David Schwartz
- 001. Pilot – 9/21/2010
- A young girl named Puddle Kadubic (Stefania LaVie Owen) narrates the store of her mother Emmy (Keri Russell) and her ex-boyfriend from high school, the rich and spoiled Steven Wilde (Will Arnett), who is the heir to the Wilde Oil company. He is about to be honored at a party where he will be named Humanitarian of the Fiscal Year. Steve keeps himself surrounded by his sycophantic lifelong secretary Mr. Lunt (Robert Michael Morris), driver Migo Salazar (Mel Rodriguez), his lazy, rich, and completive neighbor and friend Fa’ad Shaoulian (Peter Serafinowicz). Steve tells Lunt to make sure that Emmy is invited to his party, even though she is currently working in the Amazon jungle with Ticunan tribesmen along with her boyfriend Andy Weeks (David Cross). The tribe is under threat of losing their tribal lands to Wilde Oil. Puddle doesn’t like life in the jungle, so for the past six months, she has refused to speak. Emmy tells Andy that they need to watch their step with the Wilde family, as she had once dated the spoiled rich kid Steve. Migo is able to track down Emmy and sends them an invitation to the party and reception for Steve Puddle sees this as a way back to civilization, so she is excited to go along. Steve arrives late and drunk to his reception and has an awkward reunion with Emmy. She begs him to ask his father to stop drilling where the tribe lives, but he tells her that he relies on his father for his trust fund. She tells him that he is supposed to do ‘good for nothing’ and not for an award, which she suddenly realizes he is giving to himself. Steve tells Lunt that he doesn’t want the award, but only wants Emmy, although the award is so big, he is sure it will make Fa’ad jealous. As Steve is telling Migo how he met Emmy, she is telling Puddle the same story. A young Emmy (Claire Robertson) was the daughter of one of young Steve’s (Tyler Johnston) father’s housekeepers. Emmy refused to go into the house, so Steve built her a treehouse where she could hang out. Migo reminds him that it was actually he who built the house for him. When Emmsy’s mother got fired, Emmy pleads with him to tell his father to re-hire her. Steve says he will demand that his father hire her back, but when his father bribes him with his first speedboat, Emmy never saw him again. In the present, Puddle realizes that her mother still has a thing for Steve, and she shows it by agreeing to give him another chance to do something good. They go to Steve’s house and he tells Emmy that she makes him want to be a better man. He shows her that he flew down to Peru and brought back the entire tribe and moved them into a fancy hotel, where they are currently using the pool. Emmy gets upset that he destroyed their 2000-year-old culture that she has worked six years to preserve all in one swift relocation. She tells Steve that she has to sacrifice for everything she’s worked for, while he has never sacrificed. She tells him that she is taking Puddle and going back to the jungle. Puddle hides in Steve’s car and tells him that she can really talk, although he is drunk and thinks he is reading her mind. She asks him to lie to her mother, so he gets Fa-ad to pose as a doctor and diagnose Puddle. He tells Emmy that Puddle cannot be moved and that she needs to go to an American school. Steve invites Emmy and Puddle to move in with him so she can attend a good local school. Since she doesn’t want Puddle to live in a ‘shrine of excess’, so he offers to let them live in the old treehouse. She agrees to stay, but then Steve accidentally gives away that his friend Fa’ad never worked a day in his life, giving up the ruse with the doctor. She storms out and tells Migo that everyone always sticks up for Steve and he has never stuck up for anyone. Puddle then speaks to her mother for the first time since she stopped and tells her that Steve stuck up for her and never told on her that the whole ruse was her idea. Emmy realizes that Steve did in fact do something “good for nothing.” She thinks that her good influence on him kept him from letting Emmy get into trouble. She decides to stay in the treehouse, undo every selfish impulse Steve ever had, and then together do good for the world. Ethan Trani is Migo’s son Carlos. Emanuel Fappas is Migo’s father. Daniel Perianu is young Migo. Sebastian Navarro is the band member. Rustin Gresiuk is the flirtatious boy. 7/1/23
