by Conan Simmons – October 12, 2020 – 6:17 am
The cinematography and the editing for the opening collage is a real standout setting up what is the best episode of the season so far. The collage is reminiscent of Noah Hawley’s other hit show, ‘Legion’. After the opening both cinematography and editing settle back to its usual fine quality. The acting and writing carry the show the rest of the way.
Ethelrida (Emyri Crutchfield) interrupts the continuing kinky sex games of Nurse Mayflower (Jessie Buckley) and Josto Fadda (Jason Schwartzman), discovering a disturbing secret of the eccentric Mayflower.
Josto then confronts his hot-headed brother Gaetano (Salvatore Esposito) after Rabbi Milligan (Ben Whishaw) spills the beans about a hit gone wrong. Meanwhile, Doctor Senator (Glynn Truman) deals with another member of the Fadda family as the conflict stands on the brink of war.
‘Deafy’ Wickware (Timothy Olyphant), ever observant, catches on to his partner Odis Weff (Jack Huston) playing both sides of the law.
The real standout among the actors in this episode is Chris Rock as Loy Cannon. Every scene he’s in he quietly commands, from confronting Rabbi about the assassination attempt on his brother to accepting the cleaned-but-still-smelly money from Thurman Smutney (Andrew Bird).
The writing is very well done keeping scenes tense yet light-hearted. The racism of characters is also well handled, from the casual yet pointed racism of Nurse Mayflower to the more provoking racism amongst various gangsters. It allows the viewers to understand the offensiveness without ever resorting to using the most dreaded of words.
Even the music score over the end credits sounded better than previous episodes. The music score is by Jeff Russo, a regular composer for numerous television series.
It is notable the references to French in this series. From Nurse Mayflower and Ethelrida Smutney speaking French to each other to Ethelrida listening to French music and to a couple of outlaws staying at the Paris Hotel. This is all a nod to Kansas City, Missouri being nicknamed the Paris of the Plains, due to its thriving jazz scene from the 1920’s on.
The only confusing part of this episode is, what’s with the ghost? After Ethelrida sees it at the top of the stairs then it emerges from the tub at the hotel. How will this play into an already complicated story? Perhaps we will find out next week, until then, stay tuned.