Great Pretender: Season 1

Con artist Makoto Edamura successfully tricks a woman into buying an expensive water filtration system she really didn't need with help from his partner Kudou. Shortly afterwards, the two try to con the French con man Laurent Thierry, but end up getting conned by him instead. With law enforcement in pursuit, Makoto runs away and spots Laurent in a taxi. He hitches a ride with Laurent to Haneda Airport and then catches a flight to Los Angeles. Laurent takes Makoto to Beverly Hills to meet up with

Makoto recalls the events that led him to becoming a con man. Struggling to find work due to his father's criminal past, he got a job as a salesman for Kudou's company to support his ailing mother Miki Edamura, only to find that the company has been engaging in consumer fraud without his knowledge. The police did not believe he didn't know about the scam, and Makoto was sent to prison. After being released on parole, Makoto's criminal record prevented him from getting a new job, and his mother p

After walking out, Makoto rented and watched Razzie Rising, a movie directed by Cassano. The next morning, he was prepared to return to Japan, but at the airport he was captured by Salazar, a former gang boss now in Cassano's employ. With Makoto forced to stay until the deal is complete, he decided to pretend that he created Sakura Magic, offering to sell Cassano a fake formula for the drug for a much higher price. After Laurent and Abby arrive, Cassano asks for proof of Makoto's credentials, wh

Makoto has a dream of his childhood when he looked up to his father, lawyer Seiji Ozaki. With Makoto under Salazar's watch at all times and a week remaining until the lab is ready, Abby sneaks in at night so Makoto can take lessons from Laurent and a drug cook via videoconferencing and construct a plausible fake version of Sakura Magic to fool Cassano. The next day Makoto goes sightseeing with Salazar, visiting Grauman's Chinese Theater and attending a baseball game at Dodger Stadium, and finds

With the laboratory ready, Makoto goes through the motions of making Sakura Magic while wearing the glasses with the FBI bug, despite Paula's earlier refusal to absolve Salazar of blame. Upon completion, a SWAT team commanded by Paula breaks into the laboratory. Abby steals a gun and aims at an officer and is shot down, along with Laurent when he tries to protect her. Distraught, Makoto attacks Paula and holds her at gunpoint, threatening to shoot her if the FBI and LAPD don't open a path out fo

Makoto spends the next two years in prison, training as a mechanic. On his release, he begins his new life working as a car mechanic at Nakanoshima Heavy Industries. The owner Shougo Nakanoshima shows Makoto his propeller airplane and teaches him how to maintain it. Meanwhile Danny, an arrogant manager, fires Chris, an employee he had sexually harassed. Danny flies to Las Vegas where he meets Cynthia, who asks him to place bets for her on Abby at an underground boxing club with fixed matches. Ho

In Singapore Laurent explains to Makoto that the targets of his scam are the brothers Clark and Sam Ibrahim who fled their Middle-Eastern country amidst scandal and now run the Pathfinder Air Race. Sam is the promoter who is rigging the tournament by paying off competitors to lose to his pilot brother Clark. He is also sabotaging the planes of other pilots who do not cooperate such as Lewis Muller who crashed and was badly injured in the Australian race. Abby is the pilot for Cynthia's "Team Con

Makoto takes Abby for a ride on the Singapore Flyer and tries to get to know her better, but she refuses to acknowledge him as a partner while Laurent's gang sets up an underground casino at the Marina Bay Sands. Cynthia tries again to seduce Sam again but is rebuffed, so Laurent enacts his backup plan to have Makoto infiltrate Clark's maintenance crew. Laurent convinces Lewis's wife, Isabelle, to vouch for Makoto as a mechanic after Clark's mechanic, Kevin, leaves the team after being told that

Sam places a bet of S$300,000 on Abby at Laurent's casino, and she wins. That night, Abby researches information about Lewis online and recalls the day she won the medal in a ballet recital, only to be caught in the bombing of Baghdad as she and her parents walked home. The next day, Sam bets S$1 million on Abby and wins, but Laurent bans him from the casino for gambling under a false identity. Makoto proposes that he place bets on Sam's behalf. Sam agrees and instructs Makoto to bet S$2.5 milli

Lewis admits that he bombed Baghdad and Abby attacks him, but Makoto intervenes and stops her. On the night before the finals between Abby and Clark, Makoto suggests that Sam apologize in person to Laurent in an effort to recover the money he lost on the last race. Sam is allowed back into the casino and bets everything he has on Clark. That night, Makoto visits Clark to convince him to race for real, and Clark reveals that he and Lewis agreed to genuinely race each other in Australia, defying S

Makoto is living in Nice, working at a Japanese restaurant which is run by a Chinese chef who thinks that Makoto is Korean. Makoto argues with the chef over the way he makes sushi which is even criticized by a fussy, wealthy customer. Later, Makoto, Laurent, and Cynthia dine at Makoto's boarding house restaurant, and Cynthia notices a painting which resembles work by the legendary painter Sergio Montoya. The owner Sebastian and his daughter Marie inform Makoto that their business is in debt and

The operation begins with Laurent's gang attending an art auction in London where James is the auctioneer. Later, they set up listening devices at the estate of Farrah Brown, who is James’ business partner and lover. She is the wealthy CEO of a fashion company and they learn that James has convinced her to buy any painting he desires without question. Meanwhile, Cynthia recalls the time when she first met Thomas Mayer, an aspiring artist who admired Montoya. She became his model and they later f

Makoto finds Thomas and learns that he has a £2 million debt. Cynthia recalls the time when Thomas was discovered by James who hired him to make replicas of lost famous paintings which James could sell as being authentic. This practice earned James the nickname 007 of the art world as a tracker of lost artworks. James' scheme provided Thomas with a new studio and a well-paying job, but it ended the romantic relationship between the two young lovers. Makoto arranges for Thomas to meet Cynthia at

With the Snow of London replica finished, Cynthia pays off Thomas's debt. Meanwhile, Farrah arranges for Tim to sell many of her assets to raise £50 million to buy the painting. The private auction begins the next day, stacked with Laurent's associates. During a break, Abby and Tim take Farrah aside and convince her of James' true exploitative nature. The auction resumes with the Snow of London up for bidding and Abby informs James that Farrah is feeling ill but will pay up to £70 million. Cynth

On the anniversary of his mother Miki's death, Makoto visits her grave and reflects on his adventures with Laurent's gang. Later at Cynthia's villa, Makoto tells Laurent and his gang that he is quitting them. He returns to Japan to restart his life and finds a job working for the Scarlet trading company. After carrying out some international transporting jobs, Makoto's boss Ishigami takes him to Roppongi to meet Akemi Suzaku, CEO of their parent company the Suzaku Group, and she gives him her ap

At the Suzaku holding facility, Makoto is tasked with cooking meals for the smuggled children. Cynthia and Si-Won travel to Japan and present themselves to Ishigami as representatives of a trading company claiming that they can deliver an Arab princess. Ishigami agrees, and the four travel to the UAE where Laurent's gang performs a scripted kidnapping with Clark posing as the prince and Abby posing as the princess. They return to Japan to present Abby to Suzaku, and after asking Abby to strip, S

Makoto recalls the time in his childhood when his mother taught him Confucianism and his father Ozaki was jailed for aiding the Suzaku Group with human trafficking. He never returned home after his release from prison and Makoto cared for his mother until she died. Back in the present, Makoto is summoned by Suzaku and ordered to serve as an interpreter for the visitors from Shanghai Longhu-bang, a Chinese mafia group led by Liu Xiao which started as a subsidiary of Suzaku Group. The visitors are

Makoto, Abby, and Cynthia are held captive on Suzaku's private yacht in Sagami Bay. Makoto is asked to prove his loyalty by shooting Abby and Cynthia, but Ozaki shoots them instead and they fall overboard. Suzaku then allows Makoto to take the gun and shoot Ozaki who also falls overboard. For the next three days, Makoto refuses to eat until Suzaku shows him kindness and he realizes that she is the only person left he can turn to. Two months later, Suzaku asks Makoto to run an auction of traffick

Ozaki continues his story about Laurent. Following Dorothy's stabbing, Laurent fled and was picked up by Si-Won who took him to see Dorothy, who had survived and revealed that it was part of their scam. She revealed that she, Si-Won and Ozaki were con artists and Hugo was their target. Laurent was offered a place in the team because of his gambling and multilingual skills, and together they carried out successful confidence scams in places like São Paulo, Milan, and Sydney. Laurent fell in love

The next part of Ozaki's scheme involved Si-Won showing pictures of Dorothy to Liu, passing her off as a princess of the Ethiopian dynasty. He agreed to buy her for $10 million after Si-Won threatened to sell her to Suzaku instead. The gang then "kidnapped" Dorothy in Kyoto and took her to Liu, planning to break her out the next day. Ozaki returned to Tokyo and Si-Won to Seoul. However, on the next day Laurent learned that the real descendants of the Ethiopian dynasty were coming to Shanghai, wh

Back in the present, Abby, Cynthia and Ozaki are revealed to be alive and were not killed on Suzaku's yacht. Ozaki's gun was loaded with paint bullets, and after they were shot and fell into the water, Si-Won took them to Laurent's yacht anchored some distance away, although Makoto was unaware of the subterfuge. Liu asks Laurent to become his translator for the upcoming Shanghai Longhu-bang negotiation with Suzaku. Meanwhile, Ozaki explains to Makoto that he refused to see him or Miki in order t

On the day of the transaction, the meeting is arranged late at night at the Suzaku Group headquarters. Laurent escorts Liu and Chen to meet Suzaku in her office, accompanied by Ishigami and Makoto. Liu presents a briefcase filled with stock certificates while Suzaku presents a check for ¥100 billion. After prolonged silence by Makoto and Laurent, Laurent's gang, posing as a SWAT team led by Kudou, storm the office and "confiscate" the check and briefcase as evidence. During the stand-off, Lauren

A few days after the fateful Suzaku Group meeting Suzaku, Liu, Chen, and Ishigami adjust to life abandoned on the remote island. On the morning of the transaction, Makoto dreamed of the time he gave his mother a gashapon figure of a wizard and she hoped that it meant that she would meet Ozaki again soon. The details of the Far East operation are explained. Makoto drugged Suzaku and Ishigami while Laurent did the same with Liu and Chen, enabling them to be unknowingly flown to the island. Laurent