In The Dark Season 2 Episode 3 Review: Son of a Gun
Jasmine Blu
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Well, things got complicated fast.
The second it felt as though we could take a breather, In The Dark Season 2 Episode 3 pulled the rug from beneath us again. When it comes to Murphy and the gang and the trouble they're in, there is no such thing as curtailing complications.
We have a new player added into the fold with the IRS investigator from across the pond, Josh.
The group is barely keeping it together as they're fumbling through the life of crime, but they're all handling it in different ways.
The pressure Nia is putting on them to launder her money seems reckless. I'm with Sam here. Whether Nia trusts them or not is one thing, but was this the best front they could use for a laundering business?
It hardly seems like it, and then you throw in these people who are ill-equipped to pull it off after being thrown in the deep end, and it's a disaster waiting to happen.
They're barely into all of this, and they're looking suspicious. The bank teller made a point of commenting on all the deposits they were making when Murphy came the next day, and shortly after that, the IRS was at their door.
It did seem as though Josh was onto something. His partner dismissed the discrepancies after Jess pulled a lie out of her arse about buying her fiancee an engagement ring. And fortunately, they figured out the grooming business idea before the authorities came.
Murphy: Can I sleep in here tonight?
Jess: Yeah, of course.
Murphy: I just can't believe I might not ever see him again.
They were able to claim their abundance of profits were due to that, but Josh had the vibe of someone unsatisfied with their answers, and he was such a pushy, imposing person.
He was asking way too many questions, and he sounded like someone digging deep into their finances and on the cusp of exposing them. His move of going home and bringing his dog back within the same day for a groom was ridiculous.
And instead of running errands or something while Ollie was "groomed," he opted to take a tour of Guiding Hope AND pester Murphy with questions beyond the point of comfort.
Finding out his real intentions later made you cringe at how the man couldn't read a room. And oddly enough, while Murphy jumped to the wrong conclusion assuming Josh wanted to sleep with her, it was reasonable.
After some of her experiences, and this guy who twisted himself into a pretzel to get back there, it wasn't offbase.
It also came after he asked all those possibly annoying questions seeing people do. Then his reaction was one of affront when she got blunt with him as though he weren't apologizing seconds before because of his intrusiveness.
Nevertheless, Josh seems like a decent guy, if a bit socially inept, and one couldn't help but sympathize with him when he revealed that he's going blind, and he's trying to prepare himself as best as he can before it happens.
How long do you think it'll take before he starts connecting Murphy to Nia Bailey? It shouldn't take long. It's easy to tie her to Max, and the new file dropped on his desk at the end of the hour was on Max, Nia's money man.
When Guiding Hope came across my desk, I started looking into what you do. It should have been a five-minute phone call, but I had to come see you guys because I'm sort of losing my eyesight, and I'm going to keep losing my eyesight.
Josh
Now, he's on the Nia Bailey case, and Max is on his radar, and he has an open invitation to drop in on Guiding Hope or speak to Murphy.
It's a recipe for disaster, but maybe it's the accent, or his awkward disposition, or the connection he made with Murphy, whatever it is, perhaps he won't be taking down the gang in the end.
If anyone is going to put together all the pieces and act, it's going to be Gene. He continues to be the gift that keeps on giving and entertaining to boot.
He's not even trying to thwart Dean, and he manages to do it. It's amusing how effective he is at his job and how Dean hates it.
It's also amazing how now that Dean doesn't have to act like a nice guy, he doubles down on being a colossal dick. He could probably manage Gene better if he didn't treat him like crap all the time.
It was a moment of mixed feelings when Gene brought in backup to free Dean and Max from the elevator.
Max was willing to strike a deal with Dean, and it would've not only gave Max what he needed, but it would've helped Murphy out too.
He's valuable because of his knowledge of the whereabouts of Nia's stash house. He nows more information than he ever should've, and he was willing to give Dean the details in exchange for a passport and a way out of the country.
Dean: Can you shut up for second?
Max: Or what, you're going to kill me?
Dean: What did you just say?
Max: Or do you only reserve that treatment for teenagers?
Dean agreed to it too, and just as it seemed Max would escape both police custody and Nia coming after him, Gene came with the police.
Max is in police custody now, and the ball is rolling. Nia has enough connections to send someone after him, especially if she thinks he'll talk.
At best, he's looking at doing some time, and at worse, he's going to end up dead. To think it seemed he would skip town, and we would be without Max for a portion of the season.
His love for Murphy was the one thing that was keeping him going, but then Dean did his best to stomp all over that by revealing his sexual relationship with her too. The way he described her birthmark on her hip was creepy and disturbing.
Dean: The day after you left, Murphy sort of threw herself at me.
Max: That's not true.
Dean: We had sex.
Max: OK.
Dean: She has this cute little birthmark on her right hip, sort of shaped like a moon. I think we have more in common than you think.
Dean has given in to being a complete and utter slimeball.
But should Max be upset about this news? He knows Dean manipulated and screwed over Murphy. He also knows that Dean killed Tyson.
Murphy sleeping with inappropriate people is something he knows about her, and he also is aware that she would never be involved with the man who killed her best friend if she knew about it ahead of time.
Hurt is inevitable, but should he be angry? He jumped right into making a deal with Dean after finding all of that out, so it's hard to say what his feelings are regarding Murphy and their relationship after this news.
I don't know why Nia trusts you guys, but I don't.
Sam
Max is in the worst position right now, and it's hard to say how it'll play out for him. But boy was he in top form.
His luck took a nosedive when he realized the money was gone. He messed up his chance after sleeping in public and then running from the cops. No amount of cutting his hair was going to spare him from being caught, nor running up on a rooftop instead of downstairs.
Seriously, Max? What were you thinking?
Max getting caught was bound to happen, even when the deal he struck teased us with a way out for him. But it was enough to keep you glued to the screen regardless.
Murphy isn't aware of what some of the men in her life have going on, but how long do you think it'll take before she and Jess pick up on the dark turn Felix is taking?
He's getting closer and closer to the gray areas. Initially, you could understand why he would want a gun to protect himself since he's the one doing handoffs with Sam directly.
But the idea of Felix with a gun is honestly terrifying. He missed most of the IRS scares happening at Guiding Hope because of his trip to his mother's house.
He went looking for a gun and ended up having a conversation with the woman that only proves how vastly different they are as people.
Jess: Felix, you know that having a gun --
Both: Makes you more likely to be a victim of gun violence.
Felix: Yeah, I know.
The gun made Felix feel powerful and in control. It's something Sam noticed right off the bat when she met with him again.
He was cool, calm, and collected compared to usual, and he had a certain glint in his eye.
While neither of the women wanted to carry on with this, and they've rotated having anxiety about all of it, Felix is embracing the life of crime more than he should.
They showed us another glimpse of Ben's murder, and the gun Felix hid away in the grooming truck is the murder weapon. They're building a case that Felix is the one who killed Ben, but why?
Sam: What's up with you?
Felix: What?
Sam: You're just not so jumpy.
Felix: Thank you.
Did he snap one day after Ben took a long lunch despite not doing a lick of work?
So far, all we know about Ben is he's lazy, unmotivated, and he doesn't like his job. He also knows that Felix likes his sister, and he's not above exploiting that.
Ben is an acquired taste, but none of that justifies his murder. But he is someone who hangs around a lot and probably soaks up information, so maybe he finds out too much about their operation, and he tries to blackmail them.
Ironically, he's been set up to be potentially sketchy, but what about Sterling?
She pops up at the most inopportune times. She knew how flustered she made Jess, and she made the first move when things were getting sketchy with Josh.
She lied on her application about not knowing how to groom a dog, and maybe I'm reading into her almost finding the gun.
She and Jess are so damn cute together, so it would suck if Sterling is someone with a hidden agenda. But it's plausible with everything else going on.
And wouldn't Jess be the best target to infiltrate the group and figure out what's going on? She's the one always looking for love and connection. She's so pure-hearted that she's easy to exploit.
Murphy: Being a lesbian sounds exhausting.
Jess: You know it certainly is on the wrist.
We didn't see any signs of Nia, but Darnell is still free, for now. It turns out it's a lot harder for him to find a job when he's been into illicit activities for most of his life.
It was a bit discouraging to see the man donning a suit to interview for a fast-food job. They weren't trying to give it to him either.
He wanted out of that life, and now he is, but what does that look like for him now? The lure of the crime life is enough to pull him back in.
Maybe he won't be inadvertently dragged into it because of Nia or Murphy and the gang. Maybe instead, the reality and struggles of being a working-class man will push him back to what's familiar.
Of course, if word gets out that Max was captured, then now we can expect Nia to come after Darnell. He lied about "taking care" of Max, and now Max is a great to her and her operation. Darnell could be a dead man walking.
Over to you, In the Dark Fanatics. Are you worried about Felix? Will Josh, the IRS guy, connect Murphy to Nia? What will happen to Max?
Hit the comments below.
You can watch In The Dark online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
