'Emperor of Ocean Park' Episode 5: Who is Abby? Judge Garland's mystery scrapbook raises questions
Contains spoilers for 'Emperor of Ocean Park' Episode 5
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Five episodes in, and the plot of 'Emperor of Ocean Park' hasn't yet given away enough clues of where the mystery might be heading. All we know is that Judge Oliver Garland (Forest Whitaker) and Father Freeman Brown are dead, and Jack Ziegler (Torrey Hanson) might have orchestrated the killings.
However, the suspense is deeper than what meets the eye. It could all tie back to Judge Oliver's past. A character named Abby gets a mention in Episode 5, without delving much into the details.
What happened to Abby in 'Emperor of Ocean Park'?
Prior to her mention in Episode 5, her name was brought up in the final scene of Episode 1 as well. From what we gather so far, Abby was Judge Oliver Garland's daughter.
In Episode 1, we saw Judge Garland being buried alongside Abby aka Abigail Garland's grave. She died in 2005 at the age of 19.
The narrative doesn't explicitly reveals how she died but there are enough clues that hint she died in a hit and run case.
Was Judge Garland investigating Abby's death in 'Emperor of Ocean Park'?
Judge Oliver Garland's scrapbook is an important part of the plot. In Episode 4, Talcott Garland (Grantham Coleman) and Mariah (Tiffany Mack) learned that their elder brother, Addison (Henry Simmons) asked Sally to burn down the scrapbook.
When in Episode 5, they confront Addison, he asserts that their father had collected newspaper cuttings of hit and run cases, during a phase when he was grieving and drinking too much.
It appears that Abby never got justice which further shattered Judge Garland. He then started building a case, collecting data of hit and run cases, aiming to get justice.
When he was alive, he had even approached Addison, showed him the scrapbook, mentioned the "arrangements" and asked him to take the lead. Addison was heartbroken and left from his house with no intention to join his father in his fight.
Since the mystery around Abby and the scrapbook gets recurring mentions, we believe that it could be the key to solving the main mystery plot.
However, the scrapbook has now turned into ashes and Talcott isn't even looking into this direction, which makes us more eager to see how this entire plot would unfold in upcoming episodes.
Five episodes of 'Emperor of Ocean Park' are currently streaming on MGM+.