'Hightown' Season 1 Ending Explained: Finale hints a new partnership between Ray and Jackie in Season 2
'Hightown' Season 1 finale's best moment was when Ray (James Badge Dale) was screwed over by Renee (Riley Voelkel) leading to his suspension from the narcotics department and charges against Frankie (Amaury Nolasco) being dropped. All this while, Ray had claimed that he was in love with Renee despite initially claiming that all of this was just transactional between them. This is not the first time that Ray has crossed lines with his informants. He also had a physical relationship with his former informant Sherry Henry (Masha King) who was shot dead by Osito (Atkins Estimond) at the beginning of the season.
So does he deserve what he got? We personally agree with Renee and feel he had it coming, considering Renee is Frankie's girlfriend and his son's mother. So she obviously chose Frankie over Ray, especially after Frankie proposed to her in jail. She was so emotional about finally getting that proposal that she was in tears, and had to sob for a while in her car. So her move to record the moment between her and Ray, as she gave him a blowjob and handing over the recording to the cops makes complete sense. As expected, Renee does what is best for her and her son but in the process, she now has a jilted lover who at any time will come after Frankie for setting up a betrayal scheme.
Junior's death has a similar effect on Jackie (Monica Raymund). In fact, at the beginning of the episode, we see flashbacks from Jackie's past of the times that she spent with Junior. The moments that they share also includes the time when Junior regretted missing his daughter's birth, wanting to be a better father, wanting to get clean and Jackie cheering him on. The two are close friends and his death will push her harder than that of the stranger that she was obsessing over the entire season.
If she had followed leads with tenacity while trying to solve Sherry and Krista's (Crystal Lake Evans) murder, Junior's death would only make her stronger than ever and might even push her to form a partnership with Ray for an off the book investigation in the future. She has already asked Alan if she can work on an official capacity with the narcotics department as a liaison between them and the fisheries, and Alan might pull strings for her just as he did to get DUI charges dismissed after Jackie helped apprehend Osito and even got shot by him in the process.
The other interesting partnership that we might see in the future is of Osito and Wayne's girl Charmaine (Imani Lewis). In the finale, we saw Alan giving Osito a chance to come clean and in return, he would get a deal from the DA. He says he's listening and that hints at Osito considering getting away from Frankie for good. Frankie is now out of jail as well, and he is going to have a lot more control over Cape Cod than when he did in jail. So if Osito were to join hands with Charmaine, the show might have a chance at a decent follow-up season.
'Hightown' Season 2 was officially confirmed. However, release date has not been revealed.