'Hightown' Episode 2 Review: Jackie might be in danger as she pursues Krista’s connection to Sherry’s death
'Hightown' Episode 2 sees Jackie Quinones (Monica Raymund), the hard party-goer who crashed her car after getting drunk and snorting cocaine in Provincetown popularly referred to as P-Town in Massachusetts, trying her best at rehab. She did not sincerely intend on getting sober, but only wanted to ensure that she was not charged with a DUI felony charge after the co-passenger in the car was injured in the crash. However, the first few minutes of episode 2 makes it seem as if Jackie sees reason in getting sober.
Not that she follows all the rules at the rehab strictly, because she definitely doesn't heed to rules regarding fraternizing. In fact, she ends up getting tangled up with a fellow patient. She says she enjoys women and loves sex when the doctor calls her out and the session that is supposed to tell us why Jackie is the way she is only pushing us further to question this National Marine Fisheries Service Agent's intention. When she is forced to withdraw one of her obsessions, which is the substance that she was abusing all this while, she ends up latching onto another obsession -- Sherry Henry's (Masha King) death.
She found Sherry's body and has since been having nightmares about it. So when she notices that one of the girls who had been in rehab before her was wearing the same necklace as Sherry, Jackie cannot stop herself from digging further into the case. She is compelled to find out more about this girl, Krista Collins (Crystal Lake Evans). However, before she goes rogue and begins to investigate the murder by herself despite not having any authority to do so, she approaches the doctor to seek counsel about how to save Krista. Jackie is told that this compelling need to dig deeper is just her mind's way of dealing with withdrawal from substance abuse.
Jackie doesn't believe in any of the psychobabble and instead ends up abandoning the plan to stay at the rehab. She leaves to find Krista and this results in her losing her job as well. However, none of this fazes her reiterating how obsessive she has become of this case. In fact, when her friend in town, Junior (Shane Harper), asks her about her treatment, she reveals how she has found this strange connection between a girl who went to rehab and Sherry. What Jackie doesn't realize though is the fact that Junior too is involved in Sherry's death. He might not have shot her face, but he definitely helped Frankie's man Osito (Atkins Estimond) get rid of the body. She is not aware of Junior's connection to Frankie, Osito, or Sherry and even ends up revealing how she has learned that both Sherry and Krista were together the day Sherry died.
While Jackie is obsessed about saving Krista, what she doesn't realize is that she has given Krista away to someone who might want her dead. She is nowhere close to sober and keeps wanting to nurse a drink, she even ends up at a bar but decides to go with soda instead and all of the pent up anxiety that comes with withdrawal results in Jackie mistakenly believing that she is meant to save Krista. While she's reckless in many ways, she does seem to realize the seriousness of having found the connection between Krista and Sherry so she tries to get in touch with Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale), the narcotics state department detective. However, her nervous confession to Junior about everything that she has found might have just put her life along with that of Krista's at risk.
Junior invited Jackie to come on board his boat before the episode came to an end. This is the same boat he used to get rid of Sherry's body. Considering this is not the only body that Junior might have gotten rid of for Frankie and his men, Junior might spell danger for Jackie but that is something that we will have to watch out for in the next episode.
New episodes of 'Hightown' will drop on Sundays on Starz.