Flowing water wears away stone ("Nuoc Chay Da Mon") sounds much more poetic than persistence pays off, but in the end they are one and the same.

Persistence definitely paid off for The Broker and for Moses too. Two manipulators who, by the end of Quarry Season 1 Episode 8, got exactly what they wanted despite all the harm they caused and will cause in the process.

Mac never had a chance. Maybe he would have had one had he not gone on that second tour to Vietnam, but once he made that choice he became a puppet of The Broker.

Sure, it wasn't The Broker that picked him out of the crowd. We can thank Captain James for that, but it was the still The Broker who was behind everything that's made Mac's life so completely miserable.

Joni can go to the VA to seek help for Mac until her face turns blue. She can tell off her bitch of a mother-in-law one hundred more times. She can fight for her marriage and her husband until the end of time, but it won't matter. The Broker will always be in control of Mac's strings.

And the worst part is that all this pain and suffering has nothing to do with ridding the world of scumbags and everything to do with drugs. It seems that The Broker is nothing but a Big Bad Drug Kingpin.

My mind was completely blown when he walked off that boat to visit the the emptied village of Quan Thang. All the death and destruction that happened in that tiny little village was for a poppy field. A big, beautiful poppy field that in turn will be used to cause even more death and destruction.

The Quan Thang scene was incredible and incredibly intense, but it was hard to watch. I really didn't think Mac was going to make it out alive, especially after the villager attacked him in the hut.

It was hard watching Mac's reaction after throwing the grenade into the hole. The desperation on his face when he realized the it was filled with women and children was heart wrenching. The desperation was even worse when he saw the half body of a baby right outside the hole.

How could he ever live with himself after that?

And Mac's nightmare didn't end there. Captain James was a bastard for doing what he did to those villagers and his men by not only forcing them to watch the brutality, but to partake in it as well. The Captain deserved everything that came to him when he ran into Mac at the bar (courtesy of The Broker no doubt.)

So, Quan Thang truly was a massacre, but did it give Susan any right to call Mac a war criminal and a disgrace? She wasn't there. She didn't know what happened, yet she wasn't afraid to offer her opinion.

Susan: You take this check. You cash it, and then we don't ever have to see or deal with you two ever again.
Joni: Why are you so mean to him?
Susan: Because he's a disgrace.

Permalink: Because he's a disgrace.

I wish Joni would have punched her in the face when she said that. After everything that Mac went through, he certainly didn't deserve to hear stuff like that. What was even more appalling was that his dad didn't say one word in support of his son. Susan obviously wears the pants in that family.

My opinion of Joni changed again this hour. She really is on Mac's side. The way she stood up to Susan and Lloyd and how she tried to get answers from VA on Mac's condition all showed how much she really loves her man and wants to make it work.

Joni is pretty persistent too, and under different circumstances she'd probably win this game, but not against an opponent like The Broker.

The Broker is like an ancient demon who knows all the tricks of the trade. I don't think he had any doubts that Mac was going to stick with the business of killing instead of break free like he had planned. And, even if Mac did decide to walk away, The Broker would never let him. If he can kill a whole village, imagine what he could do to one person.

This is why Buddy will never be able to break free of the man. I really thought Buddy was going to die either from the pills or from the guys that beat him up in the abandoned buildings. It's still not clear if he dropped dead when he got to his mom's place or not. He was in pretty bad shape. (This is another reason why we need a Quarry Season 2, Cinemax!)

It was rather disappointing to find out that Moses' only intention all along was to find that money. I really thought that Moses cared. Granted, finding that money was exactly what he was supposed to be doing, but didn't it seem as if he was becoming attached to Ruth and her family? I can't be the only one who thought this.

Now you listen to me. You not gonna tell nobody about this money or this little talk of ours. Not your mama. Not your auntie. Not your little sister right there. Not them white folks that keep coming around. Nobody. 'Cause if you do, if you say anything to anyone, what happened to your daddy? That's what's gonna happen to your auntie and your mama and your little sister...and you.
Moses

Permalink: Now you listen to me. You not gonna tell nobody about this money or this little talk of ours....

But, persistence pays off. He finally figured it out after learning Marcus had been buying things claiming he got the money from neighborhood work. You can't fool a criminal, and Moses knew exactly where the money was coming from. I was a little surprised when he threatened Marcus the way he did, but he needed to make a point.

There was never any love for Ruth, and that was apparent when he didn't show up at the diner like he usually did. Ruth was just a job to him, nothing more. She deserved better. We knew that from the beginning, but there was always hope that the bad guy might not turn out to be as bad as we thought. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with Moses.

Other Thoughts:

After the amusement park shootout when Karl asked Mac to play Pong. All that death and Karl wanted to play a video game. It really showed how death means nothing to these guys.
I didn't like Detective Olsen, but the way his face was blown off in the shootout scene was crazy.
It was interesting that the mask that haunts Mac is the logo The Broker uses on his brand of heroin. Does that mean The Broker set up the mask for Mac to find?
I like how Mac is trying to tame Buddy as if he's the more experienced one. It was apparent when Mac had to take the rifle from Buddy at the amusement park, because he was going overboard on a dead guy.
Did anyone else think that maybe Mac was lying about the pool sales job?

So, will there be a Quarry Season 2? I hope so, because there're lots of questions that need answers. What's Buddy's backstory? What's the deal with the female assassin? How did Karl get involved with The Broker?

Is Moses planning to give the money to The Broker or is he going to keep it? Will Marcus keep his mouth shut or will he tell his mom about Moses? Will Joni find out that Mac went back to work for The Broker, and what will her reaction be?

Will Mac ever find out about The Broker and his involvement at Quan Thang? Will Detective Ratliff pursue Olsen's questions about Mac's involvement in Cliff's murder?

And the most important question of all: did Mac make it across the river?

What did you think of the season finale of Quarry? Are you hoping for a Season 2? Hit the comments and share your thoughts. If you need to catch up, you can watch Quarry online right here via TV Fanatic.