Well, Ronald gets away from the Legarskis’ house. Just as I thought, he goes out the window. But still, the walls are closing in on him.
First of all, Jerrie’s sketch of him has been released to the public, so that pretty much confines him to his house. However, it’s not safe for him there, either. A sharp-eyed young paperboy, Erik (Evan Whitten), thinks he recognizes the drawing as someone on his route. When he drops off the daily paper, he tries to get proof, but Ronald catches him. Now Ronald has a captive.
Of course, it’s not as if things were going swimmingly for him before. In the wake of his mother’s murder (that he committed), the capture of Legarski, and the authorities getting closer, Ronald’s cheese is sliding off its cracker. Or to put it a slightly more formal way, he’s unraveling quickly.
It doesn’t help that the local news describes him as “depraved.” Actually, that’s kind of funny. He’s in so much trouble, and I don’t see a good path out that doesn’t lead to either death or jail, but he still has the bandwidth to be offended by a characterization from a stranger. Well, that’s our Ronald. Always focusing on the important stuff.
Anyway, we get a little more insight this week into the kind of poisonous stew that created a specimen like ol’ Ronnie. His mom’s priest stops by, ostensibly to visit Mom. However, he’s not shaken even when Ronald makes up a very unbelievable story about her going out of town to visit her sick sister. (She probably doesn’t even have a sister.)
Actually, he says, he’d really like to talk to Ronald. His mother’s concerned about him, you see, because his old perversions might have returned. So there’s hint number one–he’s had some issues for a while, enough for his mother to confide in the clergy. And hint number two, Ronald still holds a grudge against the man because, as he says, “You tried to drown me.” The priest is like, “Yeah, that’s called ‘baptism,'” but that isn’t what Ronald means. He claims to have overheard (as a two-year-old) his father telling the priest to hold him down a little longer to toughen him up. So Daddy, who’s been out of the picture for a while, thought Ronald was too soft. Meanwhile, Mommy–well, we’ve seen how she relates to Ronald. Or, you know, how she used to. He ends up drowning the priest, by the way.
Like Ronald, Erik is also close to his mother, although their relationship seems wholly healthier and more functional than the former. Erik, in fact, had tried to tell his mom about recognizing the sketch, but since she’d been busy at work, he’d only been able to tell her just that. He didn’t tell her who he thought it was. Once they realize he was talking about the sketch of Ronald, an Amber Alert is issued. Gee, it would really help if Legarski could remember anything.
For their part, that’s what Cassie and Jennie spend most of the episode doing–trying to probe the contours of Rick’s mind to see if he’s faking. Cassie visits him in the guise of a nurse, gently pressing him to see if her presence triggers any reactions. Jenny, though, just goes as herself.
After talking her way into Rick’s room, she confronts him, telling him that he’s the man who killed her husband. Rick still doesn’t seem to remember anything. It’s a tough pill for both Cassie and Jenny to swallow–the idea that they may have no feeling of closure or of justice being served for Cody’s death. But is Rick really gone? That scene with Merilee seems to hint that there’s still some part of him there.
But we’ll have to wait, just as we’ll have to wait to find out Erik’s final fate. He’s managed to get hold of both a staple gun and a stun gun. This kid’s amazing. Anyway, he threatens Ronald with both, so Ronald ends the episode by preparing to burn down his house. So once again, time is running out to save someone.
7/10 – While I liked the look into Ronald’s past, it was pretty predictable. Also, it was hard to suspend my disbelief for some of the episode. Like, they had a list of the people on Erik’s route, right? How long could that list be? And can’t they look up their driver’s licenses and compare them to the sketch?
Also, does nowhere in this town have cameras?
