'City on a Hill' episode 7 review: Rohr and Ward get wrapped up in their own fight as the plot heads towards a nail-biting finale
This review contains spoilers for 'City on a Hill' Ep.7: 'There Are No F***ing Sides'
Jackie Rohr's (Kevin Bacon) life is near close to shambles, The Ryan brothers, Frankie (Jonathan Tucker) and Jimmy (Mark O'Brien) are just sitting on a bomb waiting to explode and episode 7 'There are No F***ing sides captures the varying degrees of the emotions of these characters beautifully.
Sure it has its moments where you feel that the crescendo that has been built maybe slowly coming down, but despite having multiple plot lines, the episode sets the tone for what could rightly be called, "a thrilling finish". For starters, we see Michaela Freeda (Samantha Soule) tumbling down the stairs with a bloodied face and an ugly gash on the face to her coma; the sight is pretty gruesome, enough to scare the bejesus out of people. Up next, we see that things ain't too great in the Ryan household. Frankie and Jimmy are bucking up to pull off another heist so as to probably come out of all financial soups they are in.
Our hero Rohr hasn't really had a good few days and the fact that his daughter Benedetta Rohr (Zoe Margaret Colletti) is still slowly recuperating from the drug OD and traumatic sexual assault hasn't really helped his case. Plus, he gets into an argument with his partner, Decourcy Ward (Aldis Hodge), and that doesn't end too well for him either.
Rohr's better half has had a tumultuous time so far and probably for the first time, Jenny Rohr (Jill Hennessy) has a bit of a human moment with Benedetta, but then things go south for her too after she has a panic attack in her psychology class.
Rachel Benham (Sarah Shahi) begins to connect the dots that Freeda was trying to prove some connection between Roach and Rohr and deduces that Rohr may have been a felon. Rohr in the meantime grabs Jimmy by the scruff of his collar and demands answers and also sends Vito Lupo (Lee Tergesen) to intimidate the Ryans, only for Frankie to kill Lupo.
If these are the major highlights, then there are also smaller details here and there, but 'City on a Hill' has dealt with multiple plot points before and this is just another way of the show suggesting that these ends and small moments too contribute in the episodes to come.
The biggest moment of all probably is the conflict between Rohr and Ward. For the latter, it is all about winning, no matter the cost. Early on he askes Rohr: "Whose side are you on? " Ward has always been the man seeing the world in monochrome, but here he needs to make a choice, keep the smaller minions in custody and catch the head honcho, or just go for the main man himself.
Typically, Rohr asks him to go for the big name. Ward retaliates saying that the actual change in Boston "doesn’t make [him] naive rather it makes [him] on the right side of history."
At this point, Rohr begs (How often have you seen him earnestly beg?) to stay on course and fry the big fish. Ward dismisses the idea. "Is that your new approach? Heartfelt? I can’t tell if you’re just a scumbag or if your self-interest is so all-encompassing that you actually believe the bulls**t that you spew."
What's beautiful about the conflict here is that both men are fighting to do what's right, but they want to do it their own way. It's hard to not agree with Ward as he just wants to make sure that he helps every person in the city while Rohr would just do anything to get the big picture sorted.
Episode 7 is all about the moments, big and small. Each of them piecing the puzzle one at a time and setting up for what could be a nail-biting finale. 'City on a Hill' continues to glue the audience and just gets stronger by the episode.
'City On A Hill' airs Sundays on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/PT.