Ante Up

Ante Up is the second episode of Season 1 of The Player.

Summary
While Alex searches for answers about Ginny's death, the House tests its new Player by pitting him against a violent crew of armored-car hijackers.

Plot
Cassandra takes Alex to the Book, the nerve center of the House, where Mr. Johnson is waiting with the Player's latest game. Two days earlier, an armored security truck filled with cash was attacked by the "Carnage Crew," a savage group of thieves who have hit three other trucks, bringing their total earnings to $6.1 million and total casualties to 28. The House believes their next stop is Las Vegas. The question is: can Alex stop them before they strike again?

Alex figures the thieves will head to a casino to wash their dirty cash, exchange the flagged bills for chips, then chips for clean money. Cassandra tracks the marked money to the Vittoria Hotel and Casino, where Alex quickly finds his man sitting at a blackjack table. And he knows him. The man is Dominic McCall, an ex-Special Forces with whom Alex once worked an operation. With Cassandra in his ear, Alex strikes up a conversation, then follows McCall to the casino's back alley, where, unfortunately, there are no security cameras. Cassandra realizes it's a trap just a moment too late, and Alex is taken to an abandoned casino and brutally questioned by McCall and his men. In the process, Alex's earpiece cuts out. Meanwhile, Detective Brown keeps trying to contact Agent Donald Forrester, aka Mr. Johnson's FBI alter ego, about the manhunt for Tomas Edribali, Ginny's killer. Finally, Johnson decides to take the call and tells Cal to back off - it's a federal matter. But the LVPD detective refuses to give up. Mr. Johnson pays a visit to a Pentagon official named DeWald to demand he sanction an operation to kill Tomas Edribali. As Johnson watches, DeWald authorizes the hit and Edribali is neutralized.

Finally, Cassandra manages to locate Alex, and just as McCall is about to kill our man, Cassandra turns on the power to the casino, lighting up all the slot machines and distracting the thieves. Alex escapes, but not before noticing a document referencing "Faramond Securities," an independent contracting firm delivering $2 million in rare diamonds to a private expo in Las Vegas. He steals a car and races to the Strip, where the Faramond truck, as well as terrified pedestrians, are under fire from the Carnage Crew. Alex, as well as Cal and the LVPD, get into a bloody shootout with McCall and his men, but McCall and the diamonds manage to get away. The bet is over and Alex has lost.

Alex races to the House, livid with Mr. Johnson and Cassandra for ending the game. Cassandra requests a down, but Johnson doesn't believe in Alex and refuses the wager. Cass gives her boss the hard sell, and he finally agrees to give Alex a second chance. So, can Alex stop McCall and his men before they leave Vegas that night? Cassandra checks flight plans and finds that the owner of a cargo craft has been missing for 48 hours, lining up with when the Carnage Crew blew into town. Alex races to an old aircraft boneyard outside of town and spots McCall preparing for takeoff. Cass hacks the plane's hydraulics and opens the tailgate just wide enough for Alex to run and jump inside in the nick of time. Once aboard, Alex neutralizes one of McCall's men, only to find himself face-to-face with his old friend. They get into a gunfight, during which the pilot is shot and the plane begins to go down. McCall grabs a parachute and throws out the others, leaving Alex on the plane to die. But Alex jumps out of the plane and catches McCall mid-fall, and while he tries to save McCall, the embittered veteran chooses to let go and fall to his death instead.

With the bet won, Alex heads to Ginny's funeral, where his friend Donovan sneaks an envelope into his suit pocket. Earlier, Alex asked Donovan to do a DNA test to make sure the body in the morgue - which is missing Ginny's ring tattoo - is really his ex-wife. Cal stops by to pay his respects as well and breaks the news to Alex that Ginny's murderer was killed. Alex is livid - he wanted answers from Edribali. That night, Alex reads the results of the DNA test: it was Ginny after all. Alex looks at his favorite photograph of the two during happier times and notices something off about it - there's a SIM card attached to the back. Just then Johnson appears at his door. He knows Alex had the DNA test done but that he still believes Ginny's alive. Mr. Johnson agrees and offers Alex his help in finding his ex-wife.

Meanwhile, Cassandra returns home and as she gets ready for bed, she's startled by a noise. Grabbing her gun, Cass creeps into her living room and sees a man standing there her long-distance boyfriend Nick. He came back early to surprise her.

Main

 * Philip Winchester as Alex Kane
 * Wesley Snipes as Mr. Johnson
 * Charity Wakefield as Cassandra King
 * Damon Gupton as Detective Cal Brown

Minor

 * Dustin Ybarra as Donovan McDowell
 * Daisy Betts as Ginny Lee
 * Joseph Sikora as Dominic McCall
 * Nick Wechsler as Nick
 * Courtney Grosbeck as Dani
 * Patrick Gorman as Arthur Westlake
 * Phillip Marshall Tyler as Wilkes

Links
Summary from NBC.com