Loot on Apple TV+, unlike what the name suggests, is not a heist show. This one is rather an endearing take on a rich woman who is never considered as an emotional person and constantly sidelined for having a lot of money. Created by Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard, the show stars Maya Rudolph as a 45-year-old divorcee struggling with her life and yearning to do something different.
Loot season 1 focused on Molly Novak, the wife of the tech billionaire John Novak. She was seemingly happily married to him until she learned of his infidelity. Molly got a divorce and a hefty alimony, a palatial home in Los Angeles with many helpers at her disposal. Molly, at the age of forty-five, had everything but a life of her own. She had her assistant Nicholas, who supported her through marriage and the divorce, but craved for genuine friends and partners, something she lacked while being married to a billionaire.
Loot does a good job at setting up the premise, which is that of a charitable organization, seeking Molly’s help and influence to get their work done. Molly was simply clueless about the money that was invested in her name. This is reflective of the clueless, ultra-rich men and women who are oblivious to the money they have. Molly spent all her adult life being the supportive wife to a man who had to build his empire from scratch. She also financially provided for John when he had no money. The first season wants the viewers to sympathize with Molly, who was not just seeking a purpose in life but also a partner who would be mature, emotionally available, grateful, and respectful of her life choices. Molly, instead of wallowing in the opulence around her, chose to dedicate her time and money to ‘The Wells Foundation’, which was headed by Sofia Salinas. Sofia was serious about the community upliftment work she wanted to do for the homeless in the city. Initially, Sofia and her team did not trust Molly as many figured she was a part of the team only to keep herself busy for sometime. Molly was unaware of the kind of work that needed to be done, but her only way to contribute was to offer money. Slowly, she and the team at ‘The Wells Foundation’ began to get along over some shared interests. There was never a full-blown fight between the two parties, just some misunderstandings, which were cleared through some conversation and active listening.
Sofia, who had initially judged Molly to be a clueless ex-wife of a millionaire, soon understood the amount of experience and contacts she brings to the table as her boss and her plans to make the community upliftment a success. Loot discussed how the friendship between two powerful women cannot be superficial, as Sofia and Molly go out of their way to help one another, both professionally and personally. Molly was never jealous, for there were times Sofia came across as someone with more knowledge about community upliftment than Molly, and she was fine with it. It only helped Molly become a better person, one who was more aware of the workings of her organization.
Molly, for the first time, gets to know her colleagues and the bonding and friendship only become better as the show progresses. Molly has money and is unapologetic about it, but she never stops offering help to all in her own capacity. Molly and her colleague Arthur, the accountant at ‘The Wells Organization,’ had nothing in common except the tag of being divorcees, but they soon began to get along. Arthur also had a tough divorce and was co-parenting his daughter with his ex-wife. He found Molly to be sincere but had a tough time conveying his fondness for her.
Loot progressed towards Molly falling in love with a French billionaire who owned a winery and ranches, and there was no looking back for them. The show also focused on emotional friendships between men in their late thirties. Howard and Nicholas were practically strangers when the latter joined ‘The Wells Foundation with Molly. The two go through ups and downs in their newfound friendship, which makes their bond stronger. The show also throws light on how gay and straight males could be good friends and offer emotional support in every way possible. Howard was also related to Molly, and he was instrumental in reuniting her with their estranged cousins and other family members.
Molly was accused of keeping her family at bay because of her then marriage to John, but they came together as a team after Molly shared the troubles of being married to an ungrateful man who always cheated on her, but she was in denial about his infidelity. Molly became a woman who took charge of her life, accepted the mistakes she made, and surrounded herself with people who were only honest with her about her life choices.
The first season ended with a mishap that took place at an international summit, which had Moly drinking sludge-filled water that was supposed to be clean. The machine she invested in along with Jean-Pierre Voland, her new boyfriend, was developed to convert every kind of water into a clean drinkable liquid, with the aim of increasing the availability of water in several places around the world that faced its shortage. Molly was embarrassed by the stunt, but she was shocked at Jean-Pierre’s reaction to this debacle. He expected her to take a vacation at a secluded spot in Europe instead of owning up to the mistake and working towards making a better machine as promised during the summit. Sofia, on the other hand, was against this global summit and believed in committing to work at the grassroots level and offering practical solutions. Her opinion of these summits was a dig at the climate summits that take place around the world with millionaires flaunting their money, but which never end up discussing tangible solutions. Molly believed she could use her power and money to bring about some changes and chose to go against Sofia’s instincts. The debacle helped her gain some perspective, and she resigned from the post of chairperson of ‘The Wells Foundation.’ Sofia, who by now had become Molly’s good friend, advised her to face the storm and walk through it instead of running away from it.
Molly decided to show up at the summit again and decided to start giving all of her money to charity and other research projects that would benefit people all over the world. She believed her small contribution would make a huge difference to the people around her who needed help. Molly had gone from being a clueless, rich woman to a person who now had a purpose in life. She was aware she would lose the tag of millionaire’s ex-wife but she confident about working her away up to become a millionaire herself.
Loot ended with Arthur having the courage to express his feelings for Molly. Yet, Molly ends up waking up next to John Novak the next day, which raises many questions about her relationship status. It could either have been a one-night stand, old lovers meeting up after a long time, or Molly’s way of getting away from Arthur and avoiding being in love. Molly, though, made a lot of progress professionally; her personal life was still a mess, and it would be a while till she could bring it under control.
