When I first started covering Rubicon I complained about the mundane dramas the show intersperses between bits of espionage and intrigue. My problem with those threads wasn't that they were poorly executed, just that it looked like the series was going to let them dangle without really relating back to its central themes. Perhaps that was the original plan, but now Rubicon is doing a much better job applying the little human quirks and weaknesses of its central cast to something larger and more meaningful. It still feels like three different shows running at the same time, though I'm warming to the idea of watching each of them.

"Look to the Ant" is an episode all about how difficult it is for the people at API to reconcile their work with their personal lives. Because of the secrets they're contractually obligated to keep they have a hard time relating to people outside the company but the hierarchy and high pressure of the job stops them from getting closer to their coworkers as well. As if that weren't enough, they all have some kind of hang-up that stunts the process even further.

Take Miles, for instance. I was initially pretty hard on his character because he seemed to balance uncomfortably between comic relief and pointless pity. The past few episodes have deepened Miles and given his broken sad-sack persona some meaning beyond simple archetype. He spends most of this episode on a surveillance job with a geeky translator girl. With what we know about his dissolved marriage and intense denial, those scenes are remarkably poignant. Miles is unwilling to accept the harsh realities of life or to pursue something better for himself. Even when he has something good right in front of him, he can't do what's best. Without all the backstory on Miles we've gotten over the past three or four episodes, this bit would be pretty pointless.

Maggie also got a lot of screen time in this episode. She reluctantly allows her daughter to spend a day with her ex-husband, resulting in loads of free time and all the loneliness that comes with it. She tries to coax Will into a friendly night out but Will is in the midst of a paranoid run around town, so he's not exactly in the mood for a leisurely drink. In his stead, Maggie calls over one of her classmates from a foreign language course and promptly drags him into bed. The whole thing is an elaborate information dump, but a well-played one nonetheless. It's nice to know that Maggie has real ambitions to move up in the intelligence community and that she tells everyone she works for UNICEF. The layers of loneliness, professional drive and serious lies in her life makes Maggie significantly more interesting than her naive office girl persona (even with her spying for Ingram).

Speaking of Ingram, he takes the next step in this episode in helping Will with his secret investigation into David's death. It's not even close to clear whether or not Kale is really on Will's side, though it speaks volumes that he would trust Will enough to invite him into his home and meet the man who is presumably his live-in lover. Like Spangler's little bits of advice in "The Outsider", the bizarre dinner with Ingram brings Will deeper into the lives of his superiors at API. They're all using him for their own ends, that much is certain, though in Ingram's case it just seems like he's bored sitting behind a desk all day. After all, he used to be a dashing Cold War assassin. A little espionage would look appealing from his perspective.

Best Moment: The wedding toast translation. It was a scene of subtext and subtle acting, even if its subject matter was a bit on-the-nose.

Notes: This week on Depressed Nancy Drew, Nancy questions the widow of another suicide with ties to James Rhumor and discovers that they both held seats in a mysterious organization with ties to the people who are tracking Will. Consider her toes officially dipped in the central plot.

Episode Rating: 4/5- It was nice to spend some time with the supporting players and I'm glad that Ingram is getting closer to the main story, if only because Arliss Howard strikes a complex character. Also, props to Zack Whedon's script.