'We Hunt Together' Episode 5 Review: Does Freddy want justice or only quench her thirst for murder?
Spoilers for 'We Hunt Together' Episode 5.
The inevitable has happened. Freddy Lane's (Hermione Corfield) vindictive agenda has finally been revealed to be what we were dreading the most: an elaborate misconception based on a schoolgirl fantasy spurred purely by jealousy. Freddy, or Lily Jenkins, as we should call her now, can't quite piece together the events of the past leading up to her childhood best friend, the real Freddy's death by what she claims wasn't an accidental drowning, but actual suicide.
When Baba (Dipo Ola) confronts her, and subsequently Freddy confronts the man she thought was the monster in Episode 5, the writing and narrative just does enough to tease that maybe either party is telling only half the truth. We never fully know who was in the black, and who was in the white, but at the end of the episode, the one thing that becomes clear is Freddy has no moral compass — just pure lust for violence and whatever lies she can manipulate people, and herself into believing to justify the crimes.
The episode kicks off with DS Lola Franks (Eve Myles), and DI Jackson Mendy (Babou Ceesay) identifying Darren Crook's body. They decide to interrogate the neighbors at the crime scene once again and soon come across the landlord who's been renting Baba his current home. Initially, they ask him about Freddy's connection to them, and that's when they learn of Baba and nail the coffin on his complicity in Freddy's murders.
The detectives then decide to track Freddy's whereabouts which takes them to her old school and it's not long before Lola and Jackson figure out her purpose. The writers toy around with the two for a fair amount, hinting at Jackson's growing inherent responsibility that he feels for his work-partner now that he knows her tragic backstory, and Lola is dismissive as usual. She does gift him a plant in the middle of stationing roadblocks for our runaway killers, so that's something.
It is still not enough to distract us from the said runaway killers. As Baba's faith in Freddy's claims wavers, she tries her hardest to keep him convinced that scaring Cian Fitzgerald, her former headmaster is the right way to justice. They hatch a plan to break into the boarding school, kidnap Cian on his wheelchair and drag him to the same lake where Freddy claims she watched the real Freddy die by suicide.
Corfield aces at the role of a master manipulator, as her character wrings Baba dry of emotions every time he is a little too overwhelmed by the realization of going back to his days as a child soldier. Poor Baba tries so hard to almost strike a deal with Freddy about being forced to take another man's life, but he is just a pawn to her insatiable murderous instincts that he also is too blinded towards.
The confrontation goes as terribly as any confrontation with major build-up can be expected to go. Every accusation Freddy hurls at Cian is met with logical explanations of him just being kind to a girl looking for love and affection. It's almost as if Freddy had just speculated the alleged assault that she claims had driven the real Freddy to kill herself.
From professing love to gifting her with a ring, Freddy reminds Cian of a bunch of things to prove his complicity, but while the headmaster's defense seems plausible, that he is too quick to point out Freddy's lack of evidence can't be overlooked.
In the end, when Baba has lost complete faith in Freddy's recount of events, she suffers a breakdown, as flashbacks of little Lily fighting with the real Freddy over the ring headmaster had given the latter drift through the screen. Lily tried snatching the ring from the real Freddy's finger and the jerk propelled the latter to fall into the lake, and effectively die.
It was accidental murder spurred by a fit of schoolgirl jealousy that Freddy has crafted her mind to believe was a suicide all this while. But she can't not finish what she had started, so despite knowing her headmaster's possible innocence, she pushes the man into the lake, his hands tied to the back of his wheelchair.
The action isn't spine chilling enough to leave one at the edge of their seats but does enough to offer that pinprick of who is telling the truth and who is covering up with lies. The police reach the lake a little too lake — Cian is already dead and Freddy and Baba have made their escape. Freddy decides to reach out to Johnny, the hometown acquaintance who was giving trouble in the previous episode and once again weaves an elaborate lie to paint herself as the victim.
After much deliberation, Johnny offers her his truck to get back home, but right when Baba sneaks into the backseat, he intervenes. The episode cuts at that point, with Johnny pointing his shotgun at Freddy in the driver's seat and the result of it is not hard to deduce. Freddy will most likely run him over and get out of the premises before the police can hunt them down as if that isn't a testimony to her unquenchable thirst for murder.
'We Hunt Together' airs on Sundays at 10 pm on Showtime.
