Eyewitness - Bella, Bella, Bella and Crème Brulée - Review: "Toxic Masculinity"

Previously on Eye Witness:
There’s three dead bodies, two teenagers, one strand of hair and no killer found.

Episode 1x3



After the building explosion at Mithat's apartment that knocked her unconscious, Helen is canoeing in the lake with Gabe ,drawing a parallel to one of the scenes in the pilot. We learn that Bella is definitely alive and on the run as the foster parenting tape is playing in the background, foreboding doom as always.

Lukas’s girlfriend still desperately wants to have sex and does not really care about where or when even immediately after their fellow classmates were found dead. “Imagine if we died young and beautiful, it’s so romantic.” she tells him as she rests her head on his shoulder.

Kamilah informs Kane that Helen is still digging into their investigation and we learn that Helen used to be a “hot shot homicide detective” in Buffalo before she moved to Tivoli. Being an FBI agent during the day and a paedophile serial killer at night, Kane continues his own search for Bella. He wears a baseball cap and looks a lot like Ezra Fitz did in season 4 of Pretty Little Liars huh?

He watches Helen closely as she walks towards the bar where Bella was last seen in. His eyes flinch and his jaw clenches. He inhales and exhales as his blood boils. He’s really fucking scary.

Philip spends some time alone with Gabe and the two enjoy their awkward father and son time until he leaves to find Lukas. He walks to the roof of the Red Hook HS to find Lukas standing on the edge, guilt-ridden about Tommy and Tracy.

He tells Philip he can’t be seen crying “like some bitch” because he’s not like everyone else. I hate him so much. Philip urges him not to keep this a secret any longer because it will only get worse.

The sad thing is that when asked why he’s so calm, Philip says that if he can be cool about his mom he can be cool for anyone. Having to take care of a parent with a drug addiction as well as an abusive boyfriend. Philip you can do so much better.

Meanwhile, Philip takes Lukas to a gay club named club in the city, but Lukas freaks out because of all the queers around him and storms out. At this point Philip should just find someone else, he wouldn’t have ended up in the murder cabin in the first place if it wasn’t for him.

Helen meets Kamilah at her office at night and gives her the pacifier as an olive branch because she genuinely wants Kamilah to help her sister. She jokes that she thought they were broken up (and thus all my fan fiction begins). Kamilah tells her Kane wants her gone but Helen is not willing to back down after committing purgery, so she asks her to look into Bella’s credit card without him knowing. Instead of doing it in secret, however, Kamilah comes clean to Kane to gain his trust.

The girl with the red tipped her gets a makeover and as she crosses the street she sees Kane. He screams her name and as she turns, his face lights up like a statutory raping Christmas tree. He takes her back to his place and tells her about the first time he saw her wearing a yellow top when he was spying on her long before he had actually met her. She thinks it's pretty hot that he's a cop and asks if he would run away with her. Kane nods in agreement but he knows she’s just a loose end that will only end up getting him caught.

In the final moments of the episode Helen gets a call and a new revelation comes to light as she literally steps out of the shadows. She looks up at a bill-board to find someone’s lifeless body hanging in mid air. It’s Bella. Her life was only extended by an episode after the explosion. Kane puts on the cologne Bella gave him as he drives off. Once a serial, always serial killer. Now that's a cliff-hanger.

Episode 1x4



A flashback of Helen holding a baby while she hides in a closet. Footsteps are approaching her as she cries and tries to keep the baby quiet. But the baby is not alive anymore. Julianne Nicholson is jaw-dropping amazing in this scene, there's no doubt that she is a great actress. In present time Helen opens her eyes and tears stream down her face.

Gabe talks to Philip to find out why he sneaked out and learns a little more about his past and how he was abused by his mother’s boyfriends. This episode has already given us backstories on the two main and arguably best characters! Both of them are hiding secrets about their past which are materialising all around them and coming back to haunt them.

Sita gets approached by the Vescovis as she holds her baby. She promises she’ll take care of Mithat who’s still looking for the drugs Chris owed him and Sita is given an ultimatum: 24 hours to find them.

Kane finally introduces himself to Helen, “who’s 32 miles out of her jurisdiction” and the dramatic irony of Kane being the killer makes their scenes all the more intriguing. I’m not always a fan of murder shows that centre around cops but damn this is fun to watch, especially since Helen is not only going to piece this together but she will take him through it step by step.

He takes her to the morgue where Bella waits for them. He’s standing next to the child he molested as Helen remarks that losing your child to suicide or MURDER is unbearable. Everything’s blurred out as Ryan’s ears started to ring and Bella’s lifeless eyes gaze into his.

Lukas’s gf is becoming increasingly wary of his behaviour and notices the club stamp on his hand. He kisses her, which is the same thing he does to Philip when he wants to shut him up. However, he needs to take more drastic measures to convince her, even if she is a poorly drawn outline of a character.

I loved how Helen fought for Philip to open up to her and the coming out scene was handled very well by all of the actors involved. The vulnerable and sincere moments are the territories this show explores the best. “It’s really pretty and you guys are so nice but everything is different,” he tells them as he tries to explain why it’s so difficult for him to be here. So Helen promises to take him out for dinner for some decent crème brulée and a new york pizza. THIS. WAS. SO. CUTE.

Kami’s partner suggests that Sita becomes their new informant since she’s so intricately linked with the Vescovis. Kami refuses initially until Kane offers her complete immunity for the next 5 years. Sita finally finds the coke bags stashed away as well as Chris’s burner phone which had countless messages to Kami, leading her to (falsely) believe they had an affair together.

Lukas and Philip meet and Lukas announces he’s having sex with Rose. Philip rolls his eyes and tells him what he should have told him from the start “They think you’re a homophobic bully, which you are”. He still agrees to help Lukas with his plan and takes a video of Rose dry humping him in the woods. He posts the video online (and somehow everyone gets it at the same time) as they’re watching Lukas do skids on his bike at a parking lot. Rose huffs and confirms that yes, they have finally had sex. So now Lukas has propelled himself even deeper in the closet so that he can be free to be with Philip. How insane!

Helen catches up with the audience and realises Bella was not in the trunk but her much older boyfriend was. She gets some crème brulée and texts Kami who is arrested along with Sita for drug possession after someone gave the cops an anonymous tip. Kane stands in their empty house and reads Helen’s text, so now he knows Helen is looking for him and it’s only a matter of time because she connects the links.



Notes:
When I was writing my notes for the episode, I wrote “oh, the patriarchy” and while I’m not entirely sure what I was referring to, it’s a point I'd like to take some time to discuss. The main villain is a paedophile serial killer as well as the toxic masculinity that’s causing Lukas so much unhappiness and fear.

Helen is the hero, a fearless, fierce and fiery cop who cares for her foster child very deeply. When I reviewed the pilot I expressed some of my disappointment with how backwards and retrograde the premise of a closeted white gay couple seems. When you are LGBTQ+ you constantly have to face certain obstacles that others simply don't. It has always been this way and it seems like it always will be.

It still is terrifying to come out, embrace,and be proud of who you are especially when people vote for a president that uses homophobic and racist rhetoric to get elected. Hence, for the time being, I really appreciated the scenes of Philip explaining why he always feel like he stands out in this small rural town.

Favourite shot:


The unsettling image of the mysterious young girl who was sucked into a murder by getting involved with an older man and ended up getting murdered.

Favourite scene:
Anything involving Kamilah and Helen really, they're my favourite couple. Their weekly carwash meetings give me life.

Favourite quote:
- And they're bisexual, you know?
- What are you talking about? The lilies.
I have NO idea what's going on but I approve of this.

Grade:
Bella, Bella, Bella: 4/5
Crème Brulée: 3.5/5
All of the aspects that I initially had issues with in the show are starting to improve and the protagonists have developed into more nuanced and captivating characters. Except for Lukas, I still find him insufferable and despicable. Sorry for skipping last week, hope you all enjoyed the last two episodes. Don't forget to let me know what you thought on the comments/ on twitter!