Category Archives: Sunday Morning Sidewalk

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #74

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The Boroughs

“The Mourning After”

Last week, in episode one of The Boroughs, I commented that I had hoped that Jack survived the attack of whatever that thing was. Sadly, as this week started, we learned that jack did not.

RIP Jack.

Sam, who discovered the creature “feeding” on Jack, became obsession (as one would) with trying to figure out what was going on. A trip to see Edward at the care facility gave Sam a clue… “The key is in the lights and the owls are in the wall.”

So Sam started tearing out the light fixtures in his house.

Jack’s death affected more than just Sam as we learned that Judy had been having an affair with Jack, and his death was causing her serious grief. Judy’s partner Art apparently knew about the affair but never confronted her in fear that she would leave him.

It led Art to a bizarre occurrence with a murder of crows. A huge murder of crows that circled the sky above him and like kamikazed themselves into the ground. Weird scene.

Renee pushed for an investigation when more quartz items turned up missing. Hank came back with a fake report from Albuquerque PD saying that they caught a guy with the missing items.

F- Hank.

Clearly, Hank has some kind of inside knowledge of what is going on in the Boroughs, and he is going out of his way to cover it up. He is easily the biggest piece of crap on this show.

Only Blaine Shaw comes close. Shaw showed up at Jack’s memorial and dropped some lies about how much Jack meant to him. It was sadly obvious how insincere he was being, but Shaw knows more than he is letting on too.

Wally got more bad news about his cancer, which has made its way into Wally’s liver. It left Wally searching for a miracle. Maybe Sam has found it.

The Boroughs has had two exceptional episodes filled with great actors and a captivating supernatural mystery. I know that there will be only one season as Netflix has cancelled season two of the show. I sure how the show did not leave off on a massive cliffhanger at the end of season one, because this is a show that I am fully engrossed in.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #73

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June 14

Spoilers

The Boroughs

“Welcome to the Boroughs”

There are times when I am not happy with the concept of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. The idea was one episode every Sunday morning for TV shows that I have not seen. Every once in awhile, I come across a show where I desperately want to watch the next episode. The Boroughs is the latest example.

The Boroughs is an 8-episode series on Netflix from the Duffer Brothers (of Stranger Things fame) and when episode one ended, I was wishing it was next Sunday right now.

Taking all of my willpower, I shut off the show, preventing myself from binging it all day long on this lazy Sunday where my schedule is fairly open.

The show centers around a retirement community called The Boroughs and a group of older characters who live there. However, there is some kind of weird, supernatural aspect to the show and, as Ed Bagley Jr. said, “There are owls in the walls.”

If you know about me, I love the evil owl metaphor. On Twin Peaks, the Owls were not what they seemed, and this certainly hooked me immediately.

I was also impressed with how quickly I was able to connect with the characters. They were all so great that, even those that did not get a lot of details, were ones I felt tied to. Such an amazing cast with Alfred Molina, Bill Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Geena Davis, Jane Kaczmarek, Clarke Peters, Dee Wallace, and Eric Edelstein.

The supernatural mystery was not the main component of episode one. It was the introduction of Sam Cooper, played by Alfred Molina, the widower whose wife had signed the contract to move to the Boroughs. The gruff and grizzled man did not want to be in this community, and he was looking for a way out.

I have to say that I loved Bill Pullman’s Jack Willard. He was such a wonderful breath of fresh air in the episode and his kindness toward Sam was very inspiring. I really hope that the creature that was seemingly feeding off Jack at the end of episode one did not kill him.

What is going on in this community? Is there something sinister with the people who organized the community or is there something about the land? Anything is possible, and I am so in with this. As I said, if this was not the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, I’d be well into episode two by now.

Can’t wait for next Sunday.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #72

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Hulk Hogan: Real American

“Hulk vs. Terry”

The final episode of the docu-series on Hulk Hogan was today’s Sunday Morning Sidewalk entry, which was an episode that featured the controversial life of Terry Bollea, after the Wrestlemania classic with the Rock until his funeral in 2025.

I have been talking about the negative points of Hulk Hogan during these Sunday Morning Sidewalk write-ups and how the documentary has brushed over some of them, giving the surface treatment for it. This episode did bring up and look at a lot more of the negativity of Hogan than some of the other ones. However, the biggest thing that they brushed over was the racism tag that followed Hogan over the last few years of his life.

They mention the sex tape, and they do mention the racist slurs that Hogan was recorded saying during the sex tape, but they do not go into great detail about how those words and his overall opinions shaped the thoughts of a lot of wrestling fans. They treat it like a mistake and one that he regretted.

They showed the infamous Netflix debut where Hogan go booed out of the building in LA, and they linked it heavily to the political connection to Donald Trump. While that certainly played a role in that incident, the truth is Hogan’s brand had been more damaged by the racist remarks than his support of Trump. The Undertaker is a well-known Trump supporter, but he has never received the treatment Hogan did from the fans.

They covered the Hogan Knows Best reality show and dealt with Hogan’s marriage falling apart and his cheating on Linda. They do not mention the accident that Nick Hogan was involved with that injured his friend.

They spent a lot of time on how Hogan’s body was breaking down and mentioning his multiple back surgeries, which was a horrific amount. Some of the images they showed of Hogan was tough with the scars on his back from the operations.

Many of the actual one-on-one interviews with Hogan for this doc were well done and reflective of his time and his mistakes. The doc may have left out some important bits, but I thought the four episodes were fairly well done on the whole.

Next week, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk stays with Netflix as I start the Duffer Brothers’ new show, The Boroughs.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #71

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Hulk Hogan: Real American

“Hollywood Hogan”

It has been a couple of episodes so far that I was wanting the Hulk Hogan: Real American documentary on Netflix to look at some of the more negative aspects of his life. Episode three came along and they dove deep into several of the controversies Hogan found himself in during the 1990s. Of course, they downplayed much of it.

Steroids? The lies on Arsenio Hall? The steroid trial? NWO? Downfall of WCW? Finger poke of Doom? These were all part of this episode of the doc and, to a certain extent, they were all dealt with in a way. This felt more balanced of an episode than the previous two, as some of the warts did seem to come out.

Hearing about these moments from Hulk Hogan’s own lips was a fascinating thing. It was also time for Bret Hart and Jesse Ventura, who had said positive things in previous episodes, to state their true feelings about Hulk Hogan.

The doc went all the way through to Wrestlemania 18 with his match against The Rock, which changed course for the character once again.

The doc included the infamous moment in LA where the crowd chanted F-you Hogan. That was a more recent event. The tag for the end of the episode, with Hogan saying that he wished he had ended everything after Wrestlemania 18.

One more episode of the doc remains for next Sunday.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #70

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Hulk Hogan: Real American

Episode 2: Hulkamania

The second episode of the Netflix documentary Hulk Hogan: Real American featured the time frame from when Hogan returned to the, at the time, WWF through his winning of the championship all the way to reclaiming the title from Sgt. Slaughter at Wrestlemania 7.

There was so much covered during this hour episode. In his career, it looked at Wrestlemania I, Wrestlemania III, Wrestlemania VI and VII. In his family, it looked at his marriage to Linda and the birth of his two children Brooke and Nick. All with Hogan doing voice overs and narration.

We got an interview from President Donald Trump speaking about what a great guy Hulk Hogan was.

Much like last week, the negative things about Hogan during these years (Richard Beltzer, Road Schedule, drug use) were addressed but just surface. There was interesting part about Hogan’s brother showing up, asking for money, only to wind up overdosing. There were some real emotions coming from Hogan in this section of the doc, but he did not want to go into depth on it either. It clearly still affected him even after this many years.

The doc seemed to go back to the time when everyone would bash the Ultimate Warrior. There was a time when the Warrior was back in the good graces of the WWE but the section on the Warrior and Wrestlemania VI felt more like the Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, a WWE produced doc that bad mouthed Warrior the whole time.

Next week’s Sunday Morning Sidewalk sounded as if it was progressing into the negative time of the steroid trial. I am interested to see how this doc, which has been very heavily positive toward Hogan (even long time critics such as Jess Ventura and Bret Hart were recorded saying positive things about him), deals with this time of Hogan’s life.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #69

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Hulk Hogan: Real American

“The Rise”

This week, I start the next Sunday Morning Sidewalk show on Netflix, the documentary featuring the professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan: Real American started off with images from Hulk Hogan’s funeral. Imagine working on your documentary, with plenty of access to Hulk Hogan himself, and have the subject die. It certainly gives the documentary series a beginning and an end.

The first episode was about the rise of Hulk Hogan, from a kid growing up in Tampa, Florida to the arrival of the biggest star the industry of Pro Wrestling ever saw.

There were plenty of interviews during the doc from not only Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan’s real name), but also people he met and dealt with during the time such as Jerry Lawler, Bret Hart, Jimmy Hart, Brian Blair, and even Jesse Ventura.

The thing is that there was not much negative mentioned. They did not hear the negatives that you usually hear from Hart or Ventura about Hogan. They talked about him being green in the ring, which he clearly was. They mentioned Verna Gagne, but had no video of his opinion of Hogan.

The only negative was the time Vince McMahon Sr. fired Hogan for going to shoot Rocky III. The rest of this episode was basically the typical story of a wrestler making his way through the Indies to make it big.

They did make some references to some controversies surrounding Hogan, so I am interested to see exactly how they deal with the second part of his life. The early days are easy to show him as a “superhero” as his persona, but later on, things got tougher. Will they just touch on this or will this be a major aspect of the doc? I have my suspicions.

This was an intriguing start, but I want to see more in depth from this doc over the next three weeks.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #68

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A Knight of the Seven Nine Kingdoms

I finished the HBO Max show A Knight of the Seven Kingdom, which ended with Egg telling Duncan that there are actually nine kingdoms and not seven. It was a funny little bit at the end of the series.

This final episode was mostly wrap up after last week’s major Trial of Seven. You could how many people were blaming Ser Duncan for the death of Prince Baelor, which is completely unfair considering the circumstances.

Prince Maekar Targaryen was very resentful toward Duncan, but he did request that Duncan take Egg on as a squire while Duncan’s own training continued. Duncan refused stating that he was done with princes.

However, Duncan changed his mind under the condition that they were free to roam. Maekar rejected this idea as he said Egg was a prince and would not live a life of poverty.

At the very end of the show, Egg approached Duncan telling him that his father had changed his mind and accepted the condition.

I knew immediately that Egg was lying. I did not expect to have that confirmed in a mid credit scene where Maekar was searching for Egg. I feel for Duncan and worry that this is going to lead to another problem for him down the road.

However, with this series concluding, perhaps we will not see either of these characters again. As someone who never watched Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was a lot of fun and an enjoyable story. Episodes were short and easy to digest and I did not feel as if I needed the Game of Thrones to enjoy this show (although I might have missed some Easter eggs I wouldn’t have if I had more knowledge).

Next week, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk continues starting with the four episode documentary on Netflix based on the life of Hulk Hogan, entitled Hulk Hogan: Real American.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #67

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“In the Name of the Mother”

We started off with a few fleeting moments of a brutal battle, but Duncan takes a lance to his side and a blow to his head, sending him into an unconscious state and us into a flashback to Dunk as a kid.

At first, I did not want to go into the past and leave the Trial of Seven, but it did not take long before I was engaged with the story they were telling in the flashback. We met young Dunk and a girl named Rafe, stealing from a nearly dead knight whose horse had fallen on him. We learn that they are thieves, surviving by their wits. Dunk had been deserted by his mother, either from choice or by death.

I assumed that Rafe was going to meet with some kind of horrible fate since we have not mentioned her before, and, sure enough, she has her throat slashed by a crooked guard who had stolen the silver that they had “earned.” Rafe snuck the knife from the guard’s scabbard and it cost her her life.

This was where we see how Dunk meets Ser Arlan of Pennytree, who saved Dunk from the same fate as Rafe. Dunk is injured in the scrum and follows Arlan. Arlan ends up helping Dunk.

Then, the flashbacks were over as suddenly as they began, and we were right back to the Trial of Seven, where Ser Duncan fought his way through what seemed to be multiple horrific blows to force Aerion to rescind the charges and thus win the Trial of Seven.

When Baelor came into the tent to see Duncan, I knew what was going to happen. I had been spoiled about  Baelor’s death last week thanks to a Wikipedia page I was using for research. The head wound was brutal and I have no idea what will happen to Duncan in the finale.

The battle between them was brutal and hard to watch at times but unbelievably choreographed and full of emotion.

There is one more episode of the show and I am sure it will deal with the fallout of the Trial of Seven. I have really enjoyed this series so far. I hope it hits the landing.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #66

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“Seven”

There are times when I hate the format of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. Today is one of those times. Episode four was a great build to the Trial of Seven and the ending was a dramatic cliffhanger. I wanted desperately to go on to the next episode, available right now on HBO Max, but that is not what the Sunday Morning Sidewalk says, so I wait until next week.

As Duncan faced his punishment for his taking up arms against Aerion in an attempt to protect Tanselle, Aerion looked to more than a trial by combat. His claim for Trial by Seven fits beautifully in the cowardly persona of Aerion and placed the emphasis on Duncan to find six more knights willing to fight by his side… a task truly difficult.

Dunk and Egg reunited after Dunk was angry at the young boy’s lies. Despite it being his own family, Egg (short for Aegon) supports Duncan and stays as his squire.

The dramatic conclusion saw Duncan begging for one more knight to join him so he could get seven. This was after Ser Steffon Fossoway betrayed Duncan by turning away from him and joining Aerion’s side just prior to the battle’s start. He was bought off by a Lordship.

Duncan’s pleas fell on deaf ears, although one man appeared to stand to help, only to cut an obnoxious fart to a chorus of laughs. This set up the dramatic arrival of Baelor, uncle to Aerion, to take up arms beside Duncan.

This episode sets up a dramatic battle that I can assume comes next episode. I have truly liked this Game of Thrones spin off so far, making me wonder if I should finally watch GoT.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #65

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“The Squire”

The third episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms featured a shocking conclusion where Egg stops Aerion’s men from exacting revenge on Dunk. He does so by revealing that he was one of Aerion’s brothers, and thus a prince.

This came not too long after a fortune teller told Duncan that he would be a great success and that Egg would become king and be hated and die in flames. The prediction bothered Egg deeply, but Dunk dismissed it as a joke.

The secret of the identity of Egg was spoiled for me as I was doing my write-up for last week’s Sunday Morning Sidewalk, which sucks considering what a revelation it would have been. I do know that the name of the Targaryens is a major name when it came to Game of Thrones, but I do not know what the significance it holds. Making Egg one of the Targaryens ties this to the bigger show immediately.

Dunk’s glare towards Egg at the end of the episode told a story about what he was feeling. He had been brought to the tent by Egg only to find Aerion trying to break one of Tanselle’s fingers because he believed his family had been insulted by her most recent puppet shows. Dunk fought with Aerion, only being stopped by the guards.

Aerion was shown earlier as a dishonorable man as he apparently intentionally injured his jousting opponent’s, Ser Humfrey Hardyng, horse. Egg had witnessed the event, knowing that Aerion was his brother.

Egg had requested earlier that day to be Duncan’s squire permanently after the tournament. Here’s to wonder what the fate of that request will now be.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #64

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“Hard Salt Beef”

We get more with Dunk and Egg as the second episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms continued. Dunk has started to see his friend and mentor Arlan in a different light as he spoke of his life and no one remembered him.

Dunk approached the Targaryen princes Baelor, Maekar, and Aerion, who have arrived for the tournament, and asked if they would vouch for him. Baelor did remember Arlan and agreed to vouch for Duncan.

Dunk went to buy new armor, which led him to sell his horse Sweetfoot. Dunk did show some ability with handling horses as he calmed one down that had been upset by its rider.

He also had asked Tanselle to paint a new coat of arms on his shield, though he was not sure what to have on it. After some thoughts and suggestions from Egg, he settled on an oak tree with a shooting star above it.

Dunk and Egg participated in a tug-of-war with Lyonel, who was taking it fairly lightly. They did wind up winning.

I am still amazed at the size of the actor playing Dunk. He towers over everyone in the town and one would wonder why people do not look up to the character more, figuratively.

At the end, Dunk is able to place Arlan in proper position in his mind, and swears that he will be Arlan’s legacy.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #63

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“The Hedge Knight”

The new show on the Sunday Morning Sidewalk is the Game of Thrones prequel. I have only watched one episode of Game of Thrones (season 8, episode one… I was hopelessly confused), but I had heard that the show, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, did not require a knowledge of Game of Thrones to enjoy, so I added it to the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. There are six episodes, averaging around thirty minutes or so.

The show is an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg.

I’m not sure what I expected from this show, but this first episode was nowhere near it. That was not a bad thing. I thought the show was extremely charming. I felt a real connection to Ser Dunk as he attempted to enter a tournament. He was awkward and gawky, and anything like one would expect a knight to be. Meeting with the bald-headed boy named Egg, Egg would eventually convince Dunk to allow him to be his squire.

No bravado or arrogance as most knights show, Dunk was an uncommon character to lead this type of series. Again, I am not sure what I expected from a Game of Thrones prequel, but I really did enjoy this slice of imagination.

Peter Claffey played Ser Dunk. Dunk is an extremely tall person, especially in comparison to the others around him. Dexter Sol Ansell played Egg. I liked the dynamic between these two characters and I expect that they will be an important part of whether or not I continue ot enjoy this show.

It had a much more comedic feel to it than I expected. While not an out and out comedy, the tone of the show had that light-hearted humor feel which is, perhaps, why I did not expect this to be in the Game of Thrones world.

This was an interesting start to the next show in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. We will see how it progresses in the upcoming weeks.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #62

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His & Hers

“Episode Six”

Well, what do you know.

I was right.

Well, kind of…

I had speculated after the third episode that Anna’s mother, Alice, was the killer and that she had killed Rachel in a state of confusion. When the second body showed up, I figured that my twist suspect was innocent.

Nope. I was right. Alice was the killer. However, I was wrong in that she did it in a state of confusion. No, she planned it out and executed all three of the killings as retribution for an attack that Anna suffered at her 16th birthday party when she was raped by a bunch of men and these girls just sat back and watched. The whole dementia thing was faked as part of her plan to get away with the murders.

She confesses in a letter she wrote to Anna, who was pregnant and had reunited with Jack.

For awhile, the show hinted that maybe the killer was actually Kathryn, and I was guessing that she had faked her own death, but that was also a theory that was quickly dropped in this finale. Turned out that Lexy Jones was actually Kathryn. Lexy and her husband was the patsies here because Alice was planning on framing Lexy for the murders, but Priya shot her before that could happen. Poor Richard the camera guy got totally f-ed up during this whole thing, and he did not do anything,

It always felt as if there was something missing. I stated it last week that it felt as if there were some pieces that did not fit together and that I was hoping that the show would fill those gaps in in the finale. It sure did that.

The video tape that Alice found that showed the assault on Anna at her 16th birthday, and it inspired her to go after the others. That twist made a lot of the missing gaps go away. At first, I was not sure about the twist, but as it continued on, I found it to be a neat way to wrap up the limited series.

I enjoyed the six episodes and it does feel like it was a satisfying conclusion to an intense series. I am not sure how I feel about the ending as things are left fairly up in the air. And poor Richard…

So with that, another series during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk comes to a close. Next week, we start the new series, the Game of Thrones prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max. I never watched Game of Thrones, but I heard that you do not need to have seen the original to enjoy this show. I hope they are right.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #61

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“Episode Five”

Whoa. Big episode. Major reveals leading into the finale. This was the first week that I really wanted to keep watching instead of waiting until next Sunday.

However, I am not sure how I feel about the reveal that it appeared that we got. I can’t see them doing this as a huge red herring at this point in the series. There really feels like there are some gaps in this potential solution that are very coincidental. It makes me think that there is something major missing yet.

Jack’s sister Zoe was murdered this week in a shocking moment. This was after she went to Jack and begged him to listen to her. As always, Jack was just too buried in his own crap to pay any attention to her. Zoe was worried about being the next victim and she wanted to tell Jack something about Anna. The show does a tremendous job of pointing the finger of suspicion at Anna until the last bit of the episode.

How much guilt will Jack have since his sister showed up practically begging for help and he blew her off?

That is until we see that the hotel rooms for Anna and Richard had been canceled and they had no where to go. Richard took Anna to his in-laws place, through the most dense forest around. The tension of that trip was tight as Anna recalled a memory of a time when the five of the friends, including the heavy-set girl named Kathryn (who we saw a few episodes ago in a flashback), who wound up getting raped at this get together.

We find out that Kathryn is dead as well. Zoe had told Priya while she was at the police station about Kathryn. Priya has been focused on the four friends, two of which were murdered. Priya was looking closely at Anna as a suspect.

When Anna and Richard arrived at the lake house, Anna discovered that Richard’s wife and her rival at the station, Lexy, was there too. Anna saw some pictures on the wall of Lexy’s family, her parents and … there was pictures of Kathryn too.

Could Kathryn be related to Lexy? Were they sisters?

Does that mean that Lexy is the killer? Does Richard know or is she just stringing him along. And if that is the case, there is one big thread that bothers me. When the murder of Rachel first takes place and Anna wants to follow the story, she specifically requested Richard as her cameraman. Isn’t that a huge coincidence that makes me unsure about the entire situation.

There is also the fact that Rachel was blackmailing somebody, and her husband, in a taunting scene with Jack, implied that it was not him she was blackmailing. Could it have been Lexy? Richard? Was this all a big revenge scheme to get back at the girls who were so mean to Kathryn when they were in school together? Why would it take so long? Is it connected to Kathryn’s death?

There feels like there are a piece or two that will connect everything together to make it all make sense… or at least I hope it does. Next Sunday I will watch the finale of the limited series and I hope it ties together well.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #60

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His & Hers

“Episode Four”

More drama is brought up between out two main characters and we get what we have needed… some face to face with two of the top actors around. Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson are both powerhouse actors and this gives us the first, real, face to face engagement between them.

I mean, they have had scenes together int he previous three episodes of Him & Hers on Netflix, but none of them were as powerful as this one at the end of episode 4.

It focused around the loss of their child and how they were tearing each other apart, even when they did not want to be doing that. It was painful and real, but it seemed as if they may have taken a step in their relationship… as the truck sex may indicate.

Both swear that they had not part in hurting Rachel and the second victim Helen, but I am still not sure I believe them.

The killings are certainly connected as the presence of a friendship bracelet at both scenes implied. It also pointed toward Jack’s sister, who also has one of the bracelets. The cameraman is looking a little sus too.

The city is flipping out and the mayor showed what a dumb ass he was by making Jack do a press conference. The city town hall turned into a chaotic mess and winds up getting broadcast on the news… thanks Anna, who stirred the pot big time.