The highly anticipated season two of this stylised drama returns this week and the first episode deals with the consequences of the brutal shootout between Rabbit’s Ukrainian gang and the Banshee Sheriff’s Department, Carrie, Job and Sugar. One of my favourite actors, Zeljko Ivanek (Oz, Damages, True Blood), joins the cast as chain-smoking FBI Special Agent Jim Racine who has been hot on the heels of Rabbit and his organisation for the last 15 years. He arrives in town in order to interrogate most of the people involved in the iron works skirmish; essentially to dole out punishment, but he also has a more personal agenda which he shares with one of them. Well, I say share, some might say attempted blackmail…
Considering that the above takes up a large chunk of the story it’s surprising that so much else happens in the episode too. Proctor gets busy trying to persuade Rebecca that she will be an asset to him and that returning to her old life would be a mistake. He also gets busy getting it on with another woman, though part of me thinks that in some creepy way this is also part of the same plan for keeping Rebecca under his care too. There’s something a little bit disturbing about their relationship that flared up last season, and I can see it going the same way this year maybe.
The armoured truck robbery that was staked out last year finally takes place once order is restored after the FBI investigation, and apart from some brief flashbacks from last season this is the main violence in the episode. Yep, I'm afraid that this one is rather short on the graphic violence (and sex too actually) but there are some superb high speed stunts for the adrenaline junkies and a motorbike chase/shootout which ends with a line made famous by a certain Colonel John Smith.
As for Carrie’s family, Gordon is unwilling to forgive her for deceiving him for so long so he will not let her see the children at all, and he is also becoming more suspicious of Hood thanks to Racine's interference. Deva seems to doing what comes naturally to her parents and starts shop lifting and then lying as a way to get out of a tricky situation, much to the shock of those around her. Yet for all this dysfunctionality they are able to hide this from each other when together as a family; Deva is still the caring sister who looks after her sick brother and Gordon is home every night making the family meal. This show, at its heart, is still about a small town with very big secrets!
Little Fish airs on the 10th January at 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT on Cinemax, below are some teasers to see you through until then. Don’t forget to come back to vote in the poll on the site after the it airs to let us know what you thought of the episode.
“So, just to be clear, at no point in your life before the events of that month had you met, or spoken to or, had any kinds of dealings with the gangster known as Rabbit?”
“After everything I heard in there, I have no idea what you would or wouldn't do”
“First of all, fuck you! Second of all, I ain't the one shaking off 15 years of mummy rust”
“They were all using machine guns, I mean I couldn't even hear myself think”
“Even you have to concede that since you have become chief that our fortunes have suffered”
“Ana will always be a part of who I am but I stopped living for her a long time ago”
“You've taken this sheriff thing further than it ever should have gone, sooner or later someone is gonna figure out who you are, or at least, who you are not”
“We wouldn't be out here if your lazy ass had dug a deep enough hole the first time!”
“He kidnapped my son and threatened my family. My father was an evil and twisted man”
“If you choose my world then you have to know that there will be casualties, if you can’t deal with that then maybe you do belong back on the farm”
