"You're not a monster, you're a survivor."
The search for Malcolm, even if it all was a little pointless, made for one of the most exciting episodes of the show. Especial Agent Swanson is taking the lead and pretty much sidelines his team, something that, of course, won't stand. When they see a picture at a cabin they connect the dots and Swanson decides to come along. Swanson says she doesn't trust Jessica, not only because of her recent press stunt with the bracelet, which brought her nothing but creep calls, but the fact that she was married to a serial killer doesn't help.
Still, they give her photos to see if she can recognize anything from Martin's life while Gil goes to visit The Surgeon himself. That encounter is already all I'd hoped for, while Martin is entertained by trying to get in his head reminiscing about the last time he walked in Gil wants to move on to the more pressing matter. Michael Sheen is always amazing, but this unhinged version of him after being in solitary, being so amused by his own jokes and so happy to be talking to anyone is just awesome. When he learns about Malcolm though he's just certain he's dead already and has what looks like a panic attack.
When he comes to he continues to get under Gil's skin, no only blaming him for Malcolm's "death" but telling him no matter how much he tries, he'd never be able to replace him, not with Malcolm and certainly not with Jessica. When Gil finally convinces him Malcolm might be resourceful enough to survive, Martin decides to tell him where the cabin is.
The Junkyard killer, who now we know to be John Watkins, wants to turn Malcolm into the perfect killer partner for which he'll have to pass some dangerous trials, something that really doesn't bode well for him. Malcolm tries to profile him, to tell him he's a product of his circumstances and the hate that was instilled in him. John doesn't give much thought to that and also dismisses Malcolm's attempts to know what happened with the girl, he just says she was special and Martin took care of her himself.
John says at least he remembers his past, unlike Malcolm who even forgot he stabbed John once, and now it's time to return the favor. Malcolm manages to stop the bleeding and when he comes to they have a chat. It seems John and his father were fighting about his selfishness in killing the girl all by himself. But John says it's had nothing to do with the girl, he said Malcolm seemed to be remembering too much since he'd gotten somewhat used to the chloroform and they were planning on killing him, that's when he stabbed John in self-defense.
Malcolm has a hard time buying it but John doesn't really care, he says the last trial is something he'll have to endure, apparently something involving an ax. But it turns out they're not at the cabin, they're underneath the very family home and he plans to kill the entire Whitly family at once. While Malcolm hallucinates he decides he doesn't need his therapist's help but his father's, egging him on, putting a fire in him to get up and do something.
Ainsley who seems to have suddenly grown a conscience had gone over to her mom's to help with the photos and recognizes a figurine she'd been given by a childhood friend they thought was imaginary. Turns out it was John inside the house, and he's there again, he goes after them with the ax but they fight back and manage to hide.
On his hallucinatory father's advice, Malcolm breaks his finger to get out of the cuffs and goes to save his family, he uses John's phobia's from his past to distract him and locks him in a box, and though I know eventually Malcolm will have to face his darkness, I'm glad he didn't kill John here. The family reunion was quite sweet but I have to say, it seems the cops were quite useless here.
I think this is the first episode with no added case and it felt natural, nothing stood out as filler as it sometimes does, I get why they were trying to make this show a procedural for business sake but I think there's a better way to handle it, if they only had fewer cases during a season and gave them time to develop properly the show would benefit so much. Anyway, that's my opinion, I wonder if other people agree.
"I like the voice, it's a part of me."
What did you think about this episode? I look forward to your comments.
