Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Cathryn Humphris
Directed by Roger Kumble
I should give credit where it’s due: Catherine is a much better schemer and master manipulator than Siobhan ever was. All Siobhan ever wanted was to get money to run away with her lover, and maybe stick it to her twin sister and ex-husband as she leaves their lives permanently. Catherine has much clearer motives, goals, and methods.
Putting aside the little interlude where she got her daughter involved in a fraudulent rape scandal, which did yield her ultimate goal, it now becomes clear that she was behind everything that was happening from the start of the series. This episode was a very straightforward one, which I very much like. Agent Machado and Bridget actually sit down and connect all of the dots from the beginning. The show would have been much more enjoyable had the writers stuck with this approach from the start. Coming this late in the season, there’s no way it can be salvaged with only two episodes left.
If anything, Siobhan was smart to completely stay out of Catherine’s way by faking her death. She has now sent numerous murderers and hitmen after Siobhan and Bridget has had the unfortunate task of keeping all of them at bay. I didn’t like the slow burn approach in coming to that conclusion, but it felt earned. Catherine is flat-out crazy, and is willing to do anything to bring down Siobhan. At one point while watching this episode, I implored Bridget to just reveal who she is. It has become way too dangerous for her to keep pretending to be her sister.
Now that Catherine has her attention by drugging her and framing her for drug abuse, Bridget must really consider playing that option. For the first time in a long while, it was fun to see Machado run through all of the clues presented to him. He tracks Rex Barton to his home, which leads to the discovery of the refrigerated body in the basement. He finds the man running the dry cleaners business and taunts the gangster in an amusing scene (Sidebar: I couldn’t bring myself to call the gangster by his character name here, but kept thinking he was Mike from “Breaking Bad”). Nothing may come of it, but he is a character who may be worth exploring some more.
Amazingly enough, it all connects. Even Catherine’s suicide attempt works in her favor. Andrew had already done a number on her in the previous episode with the sale of the Palm Springs property. Juliet wants nothing to do with her. The suicide attempt keeps the both of them under Catherine’s thumb, and it will be interesting to see if it stays that way or it unravels somehow. The speed by which plots on this show turns is quite sudden so I don’t expect the status quo to remain for that long. There’s also the still-unseen threat of Bodaway Macawi out there so Bridget is getting worked on by many different villains on this show.
As for Siobhan herself, she still remains entangled in Henry’s now many troubles. They seem made for each other because every action they take seems to backfire in a way they can’t seem to see coming. Henry is all but caught red-handed for the murder of Tyler Barrett, and when Siobhan tries to fix the situation, the blowback not only cements Henry’s status as a criminal but implicates Siobhan as well. This is what Siobhan gets from not being the hands-on type with her criminal activities. She tried to bribe the hotel maid, and the hotel maid told the police about the bribe.
She should have learned the lesson by now: You want things done, you have to get it done yourself. Trust no one else. It doesn’t help that Henry’s father-in-law wants to take away everything that’s meaningful in his life, starting with the twins. There’s no telling what Arbogast will do if finds out that Siobhan is actually alive. It’s getting closer and closer to the moment where Siobhan has to reveal herself to everyone.
Will she be forced to do so, or will some other circumstance get in the way of that happening? The show has been playing around with that notion all season, yet it seems that reveal will come in the season (series?) finale. The writers can’t seem to get enough guts to pull that trigger. Take a cue from Catherine and have more fun with the plans being made. The show would be so much better for it.
Grade: 8/10