We Are Coming, Father Abraham
Episode 2 of Black Bird starts with us in the past, following Tricia Reitler as she heads home. However, she’s stalked by a guy in a van. This is on March 29th 1993 and it would appear Larry is the snatcher. We also cut back to the timeline involving Brian questioning Larry. He claims that his dreams about women is more of an out of body experience than him actually doing these deeds. When Brian shows Larry a picture of Jessica though, he gets riled up and wants to go home. Brian’s questioning is a dud, so as a result he’s encouraged to head home and build a case so he can bring that against Larry. Brian does no such thing. Brian sticks around as Larry is questioned by police. The latter refuses to take a polygraph test too, believing he wouldn’t pass it. When he’s shown a picture of Jessica, Larry asks to touch it. He claims she’s a nice girl but she got sad when she was in his van. Larry continues on, claiming there is someone else “taking the credit” for what he’s done. He also brings up a very specific act in this case – folding the clothes. Now, none of this is public knowledge and the clothes were all folded at the crime scene – it would appear they’ve got their man. The confessional statement takes what Larry has said in the interview room and twists it into a big scenario involving rape and throwing the girl in his van. When Larry is presented this confession to sign, surrounded by officers, he’s shocked and claims he didn’t do this. The officers are adamant he did. Larry scoffs incredulously, “No wonder I couldn’t sleep at night.” He signs. Brian heads out to Larry’s abode with the other FBI agents and pores over the details. Lauren takes Brian outside where they check out the vans. One is full of gear while the other is completely bare. According to the ERT guy, it smells like three things: Chemical cleanser, Armor All and denatured alcohol. The one thing that the usually messy Larry Hall (given the state of his van and house) keeps clean. In the present, Jimmy is questioned by Lauren over girls and, in particular, what he likes about them. In the middle of this, Jimmy perks up and believes Lauren is playing him. He’s convinced there’s no one else they’ve chosen for this task. Only… that’s false. Lauren spins her laptop screen around to reveal another candidate, a guy who used to be a Ranger for the Desert Storm whom they’ve had their eyes on. Beaumont wants to pick him. Remember what we said earlier about the van being kept clean? When Lauren speaks to Jimmy again, she brings up how Hall was a competent cleaner. According to the three office buildings he worked on as a janitor, the bosses of those places claim they’ve never met anyone who cleans half as well as Larry. Not only that, but Larry also has a twin called Gary, who has all the looks and charm. Larry has always been desperate for attention and is impressionable, which could explain why he’s admitting to this crime, even if he hasn’t necessarily done it. When Larry is transferred, in the back of Brian’s car no less, he talks about how the confession was coerced. He’s got himself a lawyer, courtesy of Gary. Brian doesn’t seem too bothered though. Anyway, Lauren wants Jimmy to be like Gary, letting Larry confide in him like a brother when he’s transferred into the prison. Given he adopts many of the same attributes, including being cocky and athletically fit, it makes sense that he’s chosen for this job. And he passes the test too. Jimmy is immediately transferred out and across to Springfield. He’s nervous, concerned about what’s to come as Jimmy approaches the foreboding building. Now, time is of the essence with this case. It turns out the judge has looked over the details of the Larry Hall case and has concerns. The block letter signature and the fact Brian was “intimidating” are both enough for a second appeal to be put on the docket. That means Jimmy needs to speed up his case. Jimmy heads into Springfield and prepares to get accustomed to this new prison. It’s far more brutal than the previous one he was in. That night, Jimmy realizes he’s in a cell adjacent to Larry’s.
The Episode Review
The second episode of Black Bird starts to deepen the ties between the characters and also fleshes out more of Larry’s history. Whether Larry is actually responsible for these murders or not remains to be seen but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s a misdirection and his brother Gary is the real culprit. That’s just a theory at this point though but it’ll be interesting to see what happens next. There are hints of Mindhunter, Prison Break and K-drama Insider at work here, which is nicely wrapped up in this singular case, which hints that there’s lots more drama to come in the weeks ahead. Apple usually has a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to its TV offerings but Black Bird does look like it could be a winner. We’ll have to wait and see what the rest of the show has in store for us before jumping to conclusions but so far so good!
