'Run' Episode 4 Review: Fiona blackmails Ruby into giving her all of Billy's money
'Run' Episode 4 sees Billy (Domhnall Gleeson) and Ruby's (Merritt Wever) affair take a nasty turn when Ruby realizes that the friend that she had made at the department store -- Alice (Archie Punjabi) -- is really none other than Billy's psycho ex-partner Fiona. We have all heard about a psycho ex-girlfriend or psycho ex-boyfriends before, but 'Run' is beyond serving audiences with a cliched plot progression. In fact, this is also the reason why we do not see Billy and Ruby soak up in after-sex goodness, but instead, they begin to analyze how it was not perfect. Or more accurately, like it used to be.
The conversation between the two of them as they hurry out of their hotel room after oversleeping, to ensure that they do not miss the train to Los Angeles is how the sex between them the previous night was "lovely" but not what Billy had expected. The two of them have a look of contemplation as if they are calculating if the sex was as exciting, or worth all the tension that the two of them had faced before they ended up sleeping together.
The sexual tension that was in the air until now has vanished in the face of the reality of how exciting the sex really ended up being. The conflicts that the two of them are running away from continues to chase them away from the lives that they had built up. Ruby continues to receive calls from her husband Lawrence, while Billy is being stalked by Fiona. So much so, Fiona has even managed to record Billy and Ruby having sex from outside their room.
Ruby is confused at the moment about how she feels about her son not missing her while she disappeared without a word. On top it, her son Scooter also seems to have broken his arm. Not being near him has Ruby feeling guilty and Fiona as Alice tries to manipulate Ruby into getting her to leave Billy. Ruby, however, doesn't feel comfortable about leaving Billy behind and feels that he needs her. That's finally when Fiona tells Ruby the truth about who she is and is even audacious enough to blackmail her into giving Billy's money because she has Lawrence's number and the recording of Ruby having sex with someone else.
She does hand Fiona the money, and funnily enough, when Billy finally has the guts to tell Ruby the whole truth about how he was an as***** to Jackie and her dead husband, Ruby can guess where all of this is going. One might be expecting her to bolt, but instead, she tells Billy that she has handed over the money to Fiona. When he begins to freak out, which he obviously would considering it was all the money he had, Ruby promises that she can get it all back. After all, Fiona is still on the train.
What the two runaways don't expect is that Fiona is a psychopath. When they chase her to the end of the train, the last of the compartments, instead of surrendering and handing over the money, Fiona just jumps out of the train. This leaves both of them shocked. After all, who the hell jumps off a train running at full speed?
'Run' is an absurd idea about what an extramarital affair might look like if the couple suffered from facing their problems in life and chose escapism as a form of a coping mechanism,
New episodes of 'Run' will air Sundays on HBO.
