'Hightown' Finale Preview: Sherry Henry's murder is most likely not getting solved in Episode 8 this season
Right from the start, the story of Starz's brand-new crime thriller 'Hightown' has revolved around the murder of local resident Sherry Henry (Masha King). It was Sherry's body that washed up ashore and found by protagonist Jackie Quinones (Monica Raymund), thus clashing her world with detective Ray Abruzzo's (James Badger Dale) and spinning this intricate drama of drug-related murders and the booming opioid epidemic in Cape Cod. While everybody knows who the killer is, the cops are yet to make an official arrest as they don't have concrete proof tying the crime to the perp. And sadly, at the end of this season, it looks like Sherry's case will achieve no sense of closure.
In a heartbreaking turn of events, the only character on the show who was showing some remote bit of development - Junior McCarthy (Shane Harper) fell prey to a heroin overdose at the end of the penultimate seventh episode. That was two weeks ago, and fans are still not over Junior's death, especially after he got clean, was working towards winning his wife and daughter back, and was also about to give up doing the dirty work for incarcerated local druglord Frankie Cuevas (Amaury Nolasco). Frankie's henchman Osito (Atkins Estimond) had murdered Sherry after probably learning she was Ray's confidential informant, and Junior was tasked with dumping the body in the sea.
Junior being Jackie's best friend put the criminals' plan at risk so Osito was tasked with killing him even though he was just an unwitting pawn in their game. And now, with the official synopsis for the season finale coming to light, looks like Junior was sacrificed for no good reason at all. The synopsis for Episode 8: '#Blessed' states "Jackie and Ray try to return to business as usual after a depressing failure, only to learn the case might not be closed." The depressing failure is most likely going to be their quest to save Junior ending in discovering his crushing fate. But it is the latter hint in the synopsis that piques curiosity.
"The case might not be closed" obviously refers to the bigger picture here and that is Sherry's murder. And to think that not just Junior, but the only witness in Sherry's murder, Krista Collins (Crystal Lake Evans) also had to die in Ray and Jackie's frankly shoddy attempt at solving the case, is disconcerting. But then again, a second season has already been greenlit and they need enough meat to carry the story forward so fleshing it out with an open case is the only way to go about it. The finale will break viewers' hearts as Jackie discovers Junior's death but what's more upsetting is that none of those sacrifices will amount to anything constructive. Here's hoping for a much-needed respite elsewhere on the show.
'Hightown' finale, Episode 8, will air on Sunday, July 12, at 8 pm on Starz.