'Hightown' Episode 2 reveals Frankie as puppet master controlling Renee and Junior from inside prison
'Hightown' Episode 2 reveals a tad bit more about Frankie (Amaury Nolasco) than we knew earlier and it has become that the imprisoned man is after all behind the death of Sherry Henry (Masha King). In the previous episode, it had seemed as if Frankie had no idea and he had in fact blamed Detective Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale) for putting undue pressure on Frankie who was already behind bars. However, in episode 2, we see Renee work with Ray to help him possibly identify Sherry's killer.
At this time, it becomes clear that Osito (Atkins Estimond) works quite closely with Frankie. So when Renee ends up approaching him with a female cop to score some drugs, to find an opening to interrogate him, Osito doesn't know that Renee is undercover, but he senses that there is something off. Despite this Osito doesn't go beyond threatening her because Renee (Riley Voelkel) is Frankie's girlfriend and his baby's mother. Also, it was Frankie who had asked Renee to get closer to Ray as well in the previous episode. While it is not clear if Renee is intentionally trying to get closer because of Frankie, Ray seems to have a thing for her.
In episode 2, we see the man listen to Frankie and Renee have phone sex and he masturbates to it. He also seems uncomfortable with the fact that Osito visited her and he questions her claiming that it is work, to ascertain if she revealed the truth about her acquaintance with Ray. However, there is more to this. He is unaware of Frankie's control over Renee.
On the other side, Frankie also has a hook in Junior. The Provincetown aka P-Town resident who has recently gotten himself clean, and off drugs and alcohol, Junior's connection with Frankie goes back to the time when he was on drugs. At this time, he used his father's boat to do illegal things, which also includes dumping dead bodies in the sea. Right now, Junior doesn't want to continue his work for Frankie yet he is forced to because of the influence and power that Frankie holds within the town. Not only that, if Frankie were to reveal the truth about Junior, all the work that Junior has done to get clean will also disappear.
It is in fact in this vein that Junior might take a rash step. Now that Jackie has also found the connection between Sherry and Krista Collins (Crystal Lake Evans) and has unintentionally confessed everything to Junior, how would he face what he has done?
With both Renee and Junior, Frankie is using them as a puppet to put his plans in place. Be it learning about what the cops in the narcotics team are planning, or even finding out the truth about men and women who could be betraying him, Frankie is using these two people without any qualms.