“Part Five” – Aired on January 3, 2021
Writer: Dewayne Darian Jones
Director: Clark Johnson
Grade: 4,5 out of 5
Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers
“Part Five” is neatly divided into two segments. The first (and the longer) one mainly focuses on character growth and sets the stage for the second one where the narrative shifts to a higher gear. Two game changers occur in the hour, the first acting as the demarcation between the two segments, the second serving as the cliffhanger at the end.
It should be noted that both game changers were undeniably expected and highly anticipated. They are integral parts of what must happen so that the link between the Baxters and the Desiatos can crystallize and the show can advance appositely. Jimmy, in one way or another, needed to go through a whaaat moment to realize that the Desiatos are in one form or another involved in his son’s death.
In short, we knew the ‘what.’ We just did not know the ‘when.’
Now, we do.
Jimmy has a lot to digest here. Within a matter of hours, he realizes that he had the wrong person pegged as Rocco’s killer, gave the order to execute an innocent family for nothing, made his own family the target of an imminent retaliation by a formidable gang, and utterly failed in appeasing Gina — the last one carrying its own set of devastating consequences as we know by now. Michael Stuhlbarg’s first-rate portrayal of his character is something to behold throughout the hour, as Jimmy does his best to pose as the unruffled mobster boss in front of his family and cronies while he is getting relentlessly shattered to the core by one shocking revelation after another. I would argue that “Part Five” represents one the finest hours of Stuhlbarg’s résumé as an actor.
As for expectations for the second half of the season, the delightful promise of a cat-and-mouse game between the Baxters and the Desiatos is more than adequate to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. Talk about potential for exciting layers of B and C storylines. The show can achieve stellar levels of drama depiction not only through the intricacies of how Michael will seek to protect Adam and himself from the wrath of the Baxters, but also through the depiction of the fluctuating dynamics among the characters surrounding the two families.
“Part Five” begins with Michael getting blackmailed through a burner phone surreptitiously left in his drawer at the courtroom. As he tries to wrap his head around the idea of someone knowing what truly occurred in the fatal accident that left Rocco dead, a second urgency pops up in the form of Django’s epileptic seizures. Michael arrives home in a hurry (picture of his house was also included in the blackmail messages sent to the burner phone) and finds the newspaper clipping of the accident attached to his front door, with the headline reading “Judge’s car used in a fatal hit and run” and displaying pictures of him and the deceased Kofi. The door is also left ajar, leading him to think that someone entered the house.
Django is lying in agony upstairs, leading Michael and everyone else, I presume, to conclude that the intruder hurt Django to send him a sinister message. Yet, this particular subplot turns out to be nothing more than a distraction when we learn that Adam simply forgot to give Django his medicine on that day. I am not sure what or whom the writers targeted here, but the idea of sending the viewers on the wrong path here misses its mark. Why choose to nullify that narrative instead of letting the sense of danger linger? I should also note that this subplot contains the hour’s cringiest moment when Michael trips and drops Django from his arms down the stairs. Couple that with the shot of the street dog licking Rocco’s blood in “Part One” and you probably have some global society of dog lovers holding an urgent meeting to blacklist the show.
Here is a bullet list of what takes place in the first segment before the first game changer takes place and brings about the high-octane second segment occupying the last 15 minutes:
– Nosy neighbor Amy (Becki Davis), who first appeared in “Part One,” informs Michael that a “white male” with a “green Toyota” that has a “horseshoe” (Uber sign, probably) on the window entered his house.
– Carlo is out of prison and welcomed back to the Baxter household, which begs a fundamental plot-hole question. Correct me if I am wrong, but if memory serves, Carlo was still two weeks away from release when he had the hearing back in “Part Three.” So, here we are in “Part Five,” where I assume two weeks (plus a few days) had passed since the accident. Now to my question: what happened to the DNA test on Adam’s inhaler found by Frankie at the accident site at the end of “Part One”? Frankie had stated that he would have the DNA results in “36 hours” and run them through the databases. Should he not know the identity of the inhaler’s owner by now? Unless I missed something, this gaping plot hole needs an explanation sooner than later.
– A memorial for the deceased Jones family members is held at the house of a woman who appears to be the leader of Desire Crew, named Big Mo**. One essential dialogue takes place between her, Little Mo, and Eugene, where she scolds Little Mo for not informing her of his scheme with Rudy, the corrupt cop, to steal a car. She basically tags Mo as the scapegoat for the death of the family members in front of Eugene and blames him for possibly going to war with “a mob boss motherfucker with a blowtorch” — Big Mo rules the hour in terms of memorable x-rated quotes. Eugene, for his part, wants revenge on the Baxters, but Big Mo advises him to play “the long game” if he wants to stay with the Desire, as if poor Eugene had the option to go on his own.
** Big Mo is played by Andrene Ward-Hammond, who knocks it out of the ballpark in this episode as the bad-ass leader (I reckon) of the Desire Crew, in the same way that she does as the bad-ass Captain Kate Bowers in the second season of Manifest. Her addition to the cast can only enhance the show.
— While Michael is tackling the blackmail and Django problems, Adam is at a café, supposedly working on his upcoming interview at NYU, ignoring his dad’s calls. Fia enters (as he apparently had hoped) and the two strike up a conversation that signals the beginning of a friendship, or possibly more. Although not essential to the main plot developments, there is some worthy dialogue here, with layered implications in the part where Fia opens up to Adam about losing Rocco, not realizing that her brother’s killer is the one sitting across from her.
— Lee seeks to find an older-than-18 relative of Kofi so that she can get a consent form signed in order for her to get a second autopsy done. This leads her to spot Eugene selling drugs under a bridge, followed by an unpleasant and unexpected chat with Little Mo. He thinks he can intimidate her into keeping a distance, but I reckon, along with every other viewer, that he knows very little of her. Thanks to Eugene (though he and Kofi had different dads), Lee eventually locates Kofi’s father (Nicoye Banks) who has cut all contact with his son once he got involved “in the game.” She convinces him nevertheless to sign off on the autopsy and we finally get to the heart of this B story: Kofi’s brain. According to the examiner (Lee Osorio), the brain shows clear evidence of Kofi being bludgeoned to death.
These storylines finally bring us to the first game-changing moment that ends the first segment. It is a weighty meeting between Jimmy Baxter and Big Mo. While the dialogue is of first-class quality, what really makes the scene so poignant is the camera angles throughout the sequence (hats off to director Clark Johnson), starting with Big and Little Mo arriving to Jimmy’s establishment (Little Mo’s track suit is in stark contrast with the milieu), continuing with large-scope shots foregrounding Jimmy and Big Mo’s visceral line deliveries and reactions, and ending with the slow-motion take of the two Mos leaving the establishment after plunging Jimmy into a state of shock. It also helps that Ward-Hammond and Stuhlbarg can, with a poignant glance or a vague facial twitch, convey loaded thoughts across the screen that would otherwise need paragraphs to put into words.
The pacing dramatically increases in the second segment during which Michael and Jimmy strive to get as fast as possible to the bottom of the mysteries haunting them.
Following an unsuccessful, time-consuming, and profoundly embarrassing stop by the bank to withdraw the $222,000 amount demanded by the blackmailer, Michael arrives late at the meeting point at the heart of the Vieux Carré. Tangled up in a parade (yeah, cliché) that is taking place at the same time, Michael holds an incoherent phone conversation with the blackmailer and takes a gamble by taunting the guy, saying that that he does not believe that the guy has any evidence, nor “the balls to see it through.” Bad move, Judge Desiato! It totally backfires as the blackmailer mocks him next with a text containing a clip of Adam filling up his tank at the gas station!
Intertwined with shots of Michael’s plot are scenes centering on Jimmy as he frantically attempts to get to the bottom of the puzzle. How was he not made aware of the fact that Kofi stole the car a day after his son was killed? Cusack, the corrupt policeman working for him, is the first target of Jimmy’s fury. Cusack, sensing that his life is in danger (Frankie’s stare says it all) unless he somehow placates Jimmy, promptly hands over the evidence, including the 911 calls. Gina and Jimmy eventually hear the dispatcher’s call back to Rocco’s phone at the gas station which sends Frankie on a quick search to pinpoint the cell towers used for that particular call — hey Frankie, how about showing the same efficiency on the DNA results from the inhaler?
Jimmy and Frankie stop by the three gas stations in the vicinity of the towers in question, seeking to find camera footage at the time the 911 callback was made. Eventually, they arrive to the one owned by Leland whom Michael, presenting himself as “Dylan,” tricked into letting him see the camera recordings back in “Part Three.” Leland confirms that he knows the guy on the front page of the newspaper that Frankie is showing him. Except that he is not talking about Kofi like Jimmy and Frankie are assuming. He is pointing to Judge Michael Desiato’s picture and referring to him as Dylan! Thus, the second game changer.
In a brief-yet-terrific closing scene, accompanied by the stirring score of composer Volker Bertelmann, Jimmy and Frankie appear stunned as they exit Leland’s gas station in slow motion.
Last-minute thoughts:
— I believed throughout most of the episode that the blackmailer was the person driving the SUV that seemed to follow Adam in “Part One” and witnessed everything on the day of the accident. However, the “proof footage” sent to Michael’s phone at the end shows Adam getting gas from behind the car, giving the impression that it was recorded by the driver who yelled at Adam to hurry up. I know I am obsessive, but I went back and watched carefully the sequence in question in “Part One.” The car pulls up behind Adam right as he puts the nozzle in the tank, whereas the “proof footage” shows Adam still unhooking the pump from the dispenser. Therefore, assuming that the showrunners are meticulous about these details, the driver of the car behind Adam at the gas station could not be the one in possession of the clip. Patience, my dear!
— Potent aerial shot of the Jones family’s burnt house as the funeral crowd stands next to it before the short title generic appears.
— Big Mo “accidentally” drops a wad of money on a chair to test Eugene who passes it with flying colors by bringing it back to her instead of pocketing it.
— Little Mo says to Eugene, “we’ll take care of you.” Did he not make the same promise to Kofi once upon a time?
— Did I hear correctly that Big Mo pays Rudy $5,000 a week? Rudy makes $20,000 a month in that case, a very lucrative endeavor for a cop (until he gets caught, that is). I do not have any inside sources to verify the veracity of that number, I am afraid, but I would love to know if that represents a ballpark figure.
— During the memorial get-together at Big Mo’s place, everyone appears to be having a great time, except when Eugene is standing next to them.
— Michael finds out that the burner phone is purchased in the neighborhood of Algiers. Not sure how much that matters but the episode dedicates two separate scenes to this matter. Was it just so Michael could use it (which, he did) as a talking point during his failed attempt to take the initiative over the blackmailer?
— Please tell me you were ignorant, like me, of the fact that the brain and the inside organs of a corpse after the autopsy were put in a plastic bag and placed inside the chest cavity of the corpse.
— “Tell Mr. Diligence… to confirm the shit out of this shit” – Big Mo.
Until next episode…
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