'Hunters' Episode 1: Al Pacino's Meyer Offerman lures Logan Lerman's Jonah to join 'The Hunt'
'Hunters' the latest Amazon original begins with a white man making an inappropriate comment at a lady guest at his brunch party. The show set in 1977 portrays a tale of what would have happened had the war against the Jews in Germany never ended. What if the Nazi party did not end with the death of Adolf Hitler in 1945, but stayed under the radar until it gained the right connections and influence to bring about the "Fourth Reich"? So when we hear the woman pointing at Biff Simpson (Dylan Baker) and accuse him of being a murderer, specifically of murdering her family and it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
Biff is unhappy about her literally crying bloody murder and so he shoots everyone at the brunch party including his family. You see, he doesn't want his cover to be blown and the only way to go about this is by shooting everyone to death. Before she shoots the woman, however, they have a fight. Their verbal exchange form the crux of what the show is all about.
At gunpoint, the woman says, "We survived and we shall survive again". Biff doesn't agree, he says instead, "You didn't survive. You marinated." He also goes on to explain that he is glad that he didn't kill her along with her family because now "it's more delicious". The blind hatred we see here is a recurring theme throughout the episode as Nazis still living undercover in the US begin to attack the Jews. Unlike the war before though, the Jews have their own team of avengers who take out the Nazis living in the US.
Logan Lerman's Jonah Heidelbaum lives a normal teenage life. As normal as it can be for a teenager who peddles drugs to put food on the table. He watches Star Wars with his friends, compares Darth Vader to Batman because in his eyes both of them are killers and the only difference between a villain and hero is how much merchandise each of them can sell.
All of them have killed in the belief that their actions will make the world a better place to live. This discussion becomes a compelling foreshadow to when Jonah's grandmother Ruth Heidelbaum is killed -- by a man in a black mask whose final words to his grandma were "You can't hide." Despite being in the house when the intruder pulled a gun and shot his grandma, Jonah is unable to save her and this becomes a turning point in Jonah's life.
Until now, he had believed that his grandma led a straight life, but now, he knows that the killer was not just any robber. The police may believe that his grandma's death was a result of a robbery gone wrong, but he doesn't believe it. After he meets Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) -- who introduces himself as the man who was in the camps together with his grandma -- the circumstances surrounding his grandma's death irks Jonah enough for him to investigate on his own.
He goes to the extent of visiting the local street gang to get any information about the "robbery" in exchange for all the drugs that he has on him but the cops bust the meet and he ends up in jail. Luckily enough, Meyer, who had earlier offered to support him in any way possible ends up getting him out of prison after paying the bond for bail. As the two sit down to play a game of chess, Meyer tells Jonah a story about a famous prisoner in Aushwitz -- Markus Ross who was a great chess player -- and a sadistic German man named Heinz Richter who aspired to be a great chess player too.
"For years in tournaments he was trounced by the chess-playing jew," says Meyer and adds that this player was a prisoner. So one fining morning, Richter rounded up Marcus along with 32 others and led them into the woods. Day after day, prisoners were led into the woods and one of them happened to be a sister of another prisoner. So two people snuck into the forest after dark to check what was being done to the prisoners.
In a clearing, Richter had constructed a chessboard with prisoners set to take the place of chess pieces on the board and Marcus was forced to take the white side while Richter commanded the black. The prisoners were the chess pieces and it was a game of death which had gone on for seven days until Marcus lost it and with a blade, he swiped Richter's neck in the shape of 'X' before he was shot dead.
This retelling of horror by Meyer is both captivating and when the episode progresses further, this story is also what Meyer uses to hook Jonah in. You see, until the very end of the episode, Meyer tells that he doesn't want Jonah involved in something that his grandma kept from him, and yet he eggs Jonah to participate by making him privy to information that is sure to captivate his attention.
Right after the chess game, Meyer leaves Jonah in his study to take a call. A curious Jonah, chances upon an interesting puzzle. He solves it, just as he solved a serial murder case by looking at a detective's timeline board when he was a jail and he sees a secret door. Inside, he comes across detailed notes which also includes a notation about the man who killed his grandmother.
He finds the man -- who happens to own a party store -- with the help of things that his grandma left behind which also includes diary entries that she made in the 40s. Now, the connection between this man and Richter is what cements our belief that Meyer is doing nothing but recruiting for his team of 'Hunters'. Men and women who have found leads about Nazis living in the US, taking out Jewish individuals in the hopes of bringing about a Fourth Reich. If Meyer didn't really want Jonah to be tangled with 'Hunters' he shouldn't have given him hints and pieces of information to pique his interest, but he did.
Watch 'Hunters' Episode 2 on Amazon Prime Video from February 21.