Well, they did in Jack, so I frankly skipped most of that episode two weeks ago, because it was blatantly obvious what the takeaway was going to be. The only twist was that a lynch mob didn’t kill him, but the accusations and press about a very sad, completely personal event from his past drove him to take his own life.
Last week’s episode dealt with the fallout as Paul essentially told the packed church of townspeople it was on them for driving a man found innocent of any wrongdoing related to Danny to his death. That gets swept away pretty quickly when Tom then goes missing, in a blink of an eye, after Joe turns back on the walk to school to pick up a toy his younger son dropped and Tom continues on to school with a group of other kids and their parents.
When Tom doesn’t make it to school, Ellie is called and the police department and the neighbors spring into action and eventually find his bike, but not him, way out in the woods, and it would appear he initially left on his own and was heading toward the mysterious backpacker’s cabin out of town.
While that’s going on, the backpacker, Lars, turns up in town. Apparently a PTSD victim, he’s prone to walkabouts, so his alibi is that he’s literally been out on a wander. Ellie and Carver interrogate him and get nowhere, but he does tell them he remembers meeting Danny on the bluff, and he’d given him his phone number because Danny asked him about travelling the world. He says he’s never met Tom.
We have three episodes left, and the only other immediately threatening thing is Susan, who is still lurking about and is up to something. Before Tom disappears, she sidles up to him at Jack’s funeral and tells him to come see her. Mark’s employee, Vince, is also up to something, creeping around in his shed and washing blood off his hands. Susan is weirdly fixated on him and he threatens her to leave him and his mom alone, so there’s more to that story as well. And Raymond pops up to tell Joe that wherever Tom is, he’s bleeding, which doesn’t help at all.
As for the Solanos, Mark and Beth sort of talk about his affair, and she tells him she’s pregnant, so that’s on the table, finally. We don’t yet completely know what it is about Beth’s long friendship with Paul that makes Mark so twitchy. They still haven’t been able to have a funeral for Danny, and Mark is insistent that will be his call, not Paul’s.
So far, all but one of the episodes have been written by Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman. I’m intrigued as to whether they mapped it out like a 10-hour film and then decided where to break things up, turn the plot, cast aspersions, etc. Overall, it’s been a meandering thing, and except for the arc with Jack, I’ve enjoyed it. Mostly, I think, because I love seeing the collection of actors assembled here. It makes my Canadian-loving nerd heart happy.
Here’s a sneak peek of tonight’s new episode. No new episode next week for Thanksgiving.
Photo and Video Courtesy of FOX