TV Review: HIGHTOWN: Season 1, Episode 3, Rebellion Dogs [Starz]

Hightown Rebellion Dogs Review

STARZ‘s Hightown: Season 1, Episode 3: Rebellion Dogs questioned Jackie’s (Monica Raymund) motives and dove deeper into addiction in the Cape. Not much more depth was added to our main characters. Instead, Renee (Riley Voelkel) and Junior (Shane Harper) showed up to play in Rebellion Dogs.

In Rebellion Dogs, we saw that Krista Collins (Crystal Lake Evans) was still on the run and Jackie was trusting her instinct to find her. Junior was avoiding Osito’s (Atkins Estimond) calls while trying to discourage Jackie from pursing leads in the investigation. Renee and Ray (James Badge Dale) got more involved, but with a shadow of suspicion. All of our players were engaged, but only Renee and Junior seemed to have raised the stakes with their decisions.

Raymund tries earnestly to work with the little she has by way of character. Everywhere Jackie went people were questioning her motivations for involving herself in the homicide case. There were legitimate questions about why she is inserting herself into a case where she has no official position. Jackie could not come up with a satisfying answer. That was frustrating to watch.

Therein lies the fundamental problem with this story. The series is based on such a flimsy premise. Jackie is an “officer” of the law, sure, but mostly she enforces fishing regulations. She writes citations and calls the “real police” when a dead body lands in her lap. No one takes her seriously as a cop or a person, except her partner, Ed (Mike Pniewski), who we have yet to explore as more than her doormat. Rebellion Dogs did not do much to add any sort of layers to Jackie’s personality. She is a user. Whether it is drugs or people or someone else’s car, she uses. What else is new?

The trauma of her discovery is simply not a compelling basis to care about her involvement in the murder investigation. If the major story is this murder case, and our heroine has no convincing part to play in it, then why watch? We have to look at the addiction. Murder is the backdrop. Dr. Larkin (Henny Russell) and Junior told Jackie that she is fixated on this case because she is looking for a fix. That is clear.

Likewise, it is clear that Ray’s attraction to Renee is manifesting as an obsession akin to an addiction. Their relationship is too abrasive to the senses to be a budding romance. Renee plays her part so well it is difficult to tell if her attraction to Ray is a complete farce. If she is feigning her desire for Ray, that would be true to her profession, but no less disgusting. Not because Ray is sleazy, but because Frankie (Amaury Nolasco) would turn her into a whore just to gain intel. Regardless of how she may have been debasing herself to survive, she loves Frankie, and his disregard for her has to hurt. Voelkel is easily one of my favorites to watch in this series. She is like back-lit marble, beautiful and hard, and you cannot help but stare, wondering what is behind her eyes.

Junior had an interesting turn as well. We knew from the previous episode that he would fail to break free of Frankie’s power. Osito would see to that. He is a good lieutenant, who is played by Estimond with the essence of a psycho Care Bear. Junior, like everyone, is capable of violence, but he is not a violent man. Osito seemed attune to his nature. Making Junior dance on the knife’s edge like he did, doing something so brutal, was hard to watch. Osito seems astutely aware that Junior is a minnow swimming with sharks.

There is something about Junior’s struggle that is overall indicative of breaking free of anything, not only addiction. He hates himself. It is evident. Deep down he is trying to find a way to salvage his soul, his family, and his independence. I think he helped Jackie question the junkie because on some level he wants to know why Sherry (Masha King) was killed. Even though, simultaneously, he wants Jackie to back off because he wants his friend safe. He is balancing so much you just want to hold him in the palm of your hand.

In Rebellion Dogs, we got more depth from Renee and Junior, while Jackie and Ray were left in the dust doing their respective detecting. Both of them are actually good at what they do even though they were dealing with unhelpful junkies half the time. As they both moved closer to their targets it seemed like we just did not get closer to them.

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