TV Review: HIGHTOWN: Season 1, Episode 2: Severely Weatherbeaten [Starz]

Hightown Severely Weatherbeaten Review

STARZ‘s Hightown: Season 1, Episode 2: Severely Weatherbeaten had Jackie (Monica Raymund) itching for a fight and jonesin’ for a new fix while she dealt with her fledgling sobriety. Giving us more time to breathe with these characters, the second installment practiced patience, leaving us with tension and dread. Severely Weatherbeaten set a far superior tone for the series than the pilot.

Jackie showed equal amounts of great instincts and bad judgment in this episode. Clearly, her sobriety was in its infancy and she gave herself very little chance to fully recover by walking out of rehab like she did. Dr. Larkin (Henny Russell), was exactly the no-nonsense anchor that Jackie needed. Instead, Jackie went off the deep end binging for clues to a murder investigation in which she has no moral or legal involvement.

All she has is her nightmares and her conscience. She hangs on to traumatic memory of seeing this “dead girl”, and now, needs to find a “ghost girl” Krista (Crystal Lake Evans) in order to feel, what, fulfilled? Perhaps she realized her calling on that beach that horrible morning. Her instincts led her to find the connection between the necklaces. She found Krista’s last known location. Jackie is on the trail of an eye-witness in need of protection.  We watched her manically obsess over this task, but is she really fit for duty?

Everyone seems to be asking the same question: her partner, the chief, the court are all coming to the same conclusion that Jackie is unfit. So, that means Jackie feels she has everything to prove by doing this one thing right. In Severely Weatherbeaten, you felt Jackie’s desperation for something she could control and to accomplish something good. The story about her father hinted at her desire to be at peace with what she does in life. At the moment, she has no peace.

Junior (Shane Harper) seems to be searching for his own peace as well. It was incredibly brave for him to try to face down Frankie Cuevas (Amaury Nolasco) that way. That scene in the prison AA meeting was so powerful. The tension in that scene made you feel for Junior like a frightened child. even though we now know he is a man who has been dumping bodies in the bay for ages. Frankie’s soft-spoken, veiled threats against Juniors weak posture and stammering was like watching child abuse. Junior is clearly a soft-hearted ex-junkie that Frankie took advantage of. It is difficult not to come away from this episode feeling for Junior. Let’s hope that he does make a way out of Frankie’s tangled web.

Speaking of Frankie’s web, Renee (Riley Voelkel) was firing on all cylinders as a double agent. There is something so easy about how she lies and manipulates. Both Frankie and Ray (James Badge Dale) tend to project the image they want from her onto her.  She lets them have that image, mostly taking her cues from their spoken expectations.

Then again Ray is a different animal. Talking about someone who is unfit for duty, Ray’s obsession with his new CI is a problem. Even his colleague Leslie (Tonya Glanz) tuned us in to Ray’s stalker behavior. Ray’s behaving like a fanatic. He crept his way onto that field trip just to involve himself in Renee’s family. He appeared at the club like a pissed off lover rather than a concerned cop. Two episodes in, and Ray has both helped and hurt this investigation with his compulsive behavior. Again, he is not my favorite. At this point, I am more inclined to watch and tally the ways Osito (Atkins Estimond) outwits this guy.

Severely Weatherbeaten was not as disjointed as the pilot. Each character movement was seamless so that it almost felt like a lazy relay. Nothing felt rushed. Each scene handed the baton to the next and the through-line was: let’s take something sweet and make it sour. Jackie’s good vibes at the clinic ended in a fistfight. Junior’s wings were clipped with intimidation. Krista goes home clean and in need, but her mom rejects her. All of this was sprinkled with little droplets of hope for the investigation, and for Junior’s family reunion. Yet, in the end, we were left screaming at the screen: Don’t get on that boat Jackie!

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