Diksha Sundriyal
The search for the escaped serial killers continues in the second episode of NBC’s ‘The Hunting Party’ Season 2. The last episode ended with the arrival of Col. Eve Lazarus, who reveals she is taking over the operation from Mallory, who seems to have been kicked out because she couldn’t get the job done. While the true nature of Lazarus’ involvement remains a mystery, it does make the whole team cautious about her, especially the ones who have already crossed paths with her one way or another. It seems the more they find out about her, the more mysterious she becomes. But before solving her mystery, they have a case to solve. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Bex and Her Team Chase the Resin Killer
The episode begins with a flashback in the early 2000s, where a man named Adrian Gallo waits in his car, while admiring a spider caught in a resin block. Later, he kidnaps a jock coming out of a bar, preserves him in resin, and puts him on display in a local park the next morning. Eventually, he is caught, and years later, the explosion at the Pit gives him a chance to escape. Now, Bex Henderson and her team have to catch him before he drops more bodies. A quick look at his background reveals that he was convicted of the murder of six people. While he confessed to the first three murders, and even seemed proud of his work, he didn’t immediately agree to having killed the other three. He was treated by Dr. Charles, who is now in a coma, thanks to Ron Simms.
It turns out that Dr. Charles used a therapy technique that included exposing Adrian to all the details of the six murders to the point of torture. While he eventually confessed to the other killings too, the exposure left a permanent mark on his eyes. Now, Bex and her team head back to Los Alamos, New Mexico, which used to be his hunting grounds. Meanwhile, Adrian stands outside his own house, trying to piece everything together. An old man across the street notices him, and while he calls the neighborhood watch to report suspicious activity, it is too late. Adrian enters his house and kills him. News reaches Bex and her team, and soon, they find themselves inside the house. At first, it seems to be an act of revenge, but then, Bex notices that the killer stood in the same place as the old man watching his own house.
She believes there is more to Adrian’s quest than revenge, so Shane suggests they should talk to someone who knows Adrian inside out: Erica Burke. She is the detective who nabbed Adrian, but not before losing her own partner as the serial killer’s victim. While Bex calls Erica to let her know they are coming, Adrian finds his way to her. He catches her off guard, ties her up, and tells her he wants to see the resins, while she still processes the fact that he is alive. Bex’s call distracts him, giving her a chance to shoot at him. He runs away moments before Bex and team arrive on the scene. When they try to question her, she tells them to let her in on everything and explain how the serial killer, who should have been dead, is alive now.
Erica Burke Gives Keen Insight Into Adrian Gallo’s MO
Seeing that the case is too close for Erica to ignore so easily, the team decides to bring her on the team. Since Adrian talked about seeing the resins, they believe that he is headed towards the evidence storage, where the resins were kept all along. This is a surprise because technically, the remains of the victims should have been released. Erica reveals that she was told that the resins were incinerated and the ashes were given to the families of the victims, but clearly that was a lie. After taking a quick look around and confirming that Adrian is not there, they find the place where the resins are stored. However, when they open the boxes, all the resins are gone. Evidently, they were removed from storage a long time ago.
Morales is put on the task of finding out what happened to the resins, while the team figures out their next plan of action. While they wait, Bex takes Erica for coffee, seeing that the case is taking a toll on her. Erica spills her heart, revealing how the case had been such a huge thing in her life that at one point, she was obsessed with it. She thought that had been put to rest when Adrian was executed, but now, it is all coming back to her. She also notes that since Adrian couldn’t have his resins, he will try to make new ones, which means they must act quickly and catch him before he kills someone. She notes down all the things that he will need to make the resin, and the right environment he will need to create to make sure his creations are flawless.
Back at the HQ, Morales receives unexpected help from Jonathan Peck, who is supposed to be a replacement for Oliver. The team is still suspicious of him, due to his ties to Lazarus, but that doesn’t mean he cannot help. He gives Morales the hard drive containing Dr. Charles’ research work, in which she finds a video where, as part of the therapy, the doctor brought the resins and burned them in front of Adrian. This means that the resins were moved to the Pit years ago. While Morales conveys this information to her team, Erica receives a message from Adrian. He invites her to a hotel room, where he has prepared to create a new resin. Erica ditches Bex and the team and heads to the hotel herself.
Is Erica Burke the Serial Killer? Does She Kill Adrian Gallo?
Morales’ discovery leads Bex to realise that Adrian knew his resins were destroyed. So, when he asked Erica to see the resins, he wasn’t talking about his own. She also wonders if the three murders that he initially didn’t admit were his were actually committed by a copycat. Putting the pieces together, she comes to the conclusion that Erica Burke killed the other three victims, including her own partner. Somehow, Adrian figured it out, which is why he was looking for her. Bex also believes that Erica didn’t stop at the three victims, whose murders were pinned on Adrian. She must have killed more people, but she was more cautious about it than Adrian, who wanted to flaunt his victims.
Back in the hotel room, Adrian confronts Erica, and she confesses to the whole thing. She reveals that her partner told her that he would leave for Florida once the case was solved. Because they were in a romantic relationship, she couldn’t bear the thought of him going away. In that moment, something came over her, and she ended up killing him. Once he was dead, she decided to pin his murder on Adrian to save herself. But then, the desire to kill again crept up on her, which led her to commit more murders. Adrian is fascinated by this discovery and asks her to continue the work. Meanwhile, Bex and the team track Erica, thanks to the tracker Bex put on her when they went for coffee. By the time they arrive at the hotel, Erica is gone.
What she leaves behind is Adrian Gallo submerged in resin. Considering that there is nothing to suggest that a fight took place in the room, Bex concludes that Adrian wanted Erica to submerge him in resin because he wanted to be one of the beautiful things like the ones he and Erica made. Still, Shane checks the pulse in the hopes he might still be alive. But Adrian is dead. It seems he got what he wanted. This, however, still leaves the question of Erica Burke. The team believes that she will try to skip town now, so they head to her house. Sure enough, she’s there, ready to leave. They try to catch her off guard, but she is too sharp to miss the sound of someone entering her house. And this leads to a shootout.
Is Erica Burke Dead?
Hassani and Bex enter the house and are shot at by Erica. While they hide, they spark a conversation, where Erica comes clean about the murders. Bex deduces that all the missing persons posters on her wall are of the people she has killed. Erica reveals that these are the only trophies she could put on display. She talks about how chasing after the darkness of Adrian Gallo led darkness to creep inside her, which is bound to happen when one does the job they do for a long time. She also talks about how Adrian would never have been caught if he didn’t have the desire to showcase his victims. She, on the other hand, prefers to keep them hidden. With this, Bex realises that the wall that Erica had been painting when they arrived at her house is the one where she has been hiding the resins.
While this happens in the living room, Shane finds a way to sneak in under the floorboard. Eventually, it is he who catches Erica off gurad and shoots her to death. This brings things to an entirely unexpected end. On the way back, Bex wonders if Erica was right about the darkness creeping in thing. Shane disagrees, saying that one needs to hold on to the things and people that act as their light. He cites her, Hassani, Morales, and their team as the light that keeps the darkness out for him. Back at the HQ, Jonathan Peck visits Bex’s office. She thanks him for the help with the case, and he tries to assure her that he is there to work with them, not against them. He also expresses his consolation for Oliver’s tragic fate, and gives his nameplate to her.
When he leaves, Bex gets a message from Shane, calling her to their hangout spot. The team sits down to talk about what they have discovered about the mysterious Lazarus. Neither Bex nor Morales mention their own familiarity with the new boss, but Shane reveals that his buddy in the military served in the same unit as Lazarus, and revealed that she was a perfect soldier. She was so good that she would beat up other soldiers for fun. What makes things even more interesing is when Hassani reveals that he asked his people in the CIA to do a background check on her and discovered that there is no information about her prior to her military record. It’s like Eve Lazarus didn’t exist before all that. This means that there is a significant secret she is keeping from everyone, and they must find out what it is to figure out who she is and what she really wants.
Read More: Is Oliver Dead? Did Nick Wechsler Leave The Hunting Party?
