In The Dark Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Deal Me In
Jasmine Blu
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Love will make us do some stupid and risky things.
It was true to form with the bunch on In The Dark Season 2 Episode 4, and while most of the hour was a bit of a slog, there were some developments and power shifts that have made things exciting.
Murphy and the gang have gotten in deep, and as time is winding down to Ben's death, it's a wonder how they got into this predicament.
They wasted no time delving into the repercussions of Max getting arrested, and it set things into motion with Murphy's involvement with Nia, Darnell's betrayal, and Dean's case.
Dean continues to be the absolute worst. How is it on a series with drug dealers and criminals aplenty, he's the most grating of all? Perhaps it's the power he holds and that he's spending time covering his ass while also sitting atop a high horse of self-righteousness.
He continued to drive a larger wedge between Murphy and Max, to the point where Max refused to speak to Murphy after she dropped in for a visit.
In his defense, he had every right to be angry about the missing money.
However, it's unfair to blame her for getting caught when he was the one who chose to stay in town and took his sweet time leaving.
Max's love for Murphy led to some reckless choices on his part. He has to come to grips with that. Murphy and Darnell both sent him out of town, and he was still hanging around damn near asking to get caught.
It's fine if he chooses to be angry at Murphy for sleeping and engaging in a romantic relationship with Dean, but he couldn't set that aside for his survival. It was maddening.
He should be smarter than he was coming across, and he had to have known that Nia would be coming for him. He was aware that she sent Darnell after him, and Darnell didn't complete the job.
How did he think he'd fair in prison where she has all kinds of connections?
Sam: Max Parrish got arrested.
Nia: Max is alive?
Sam: It would appear so.
Nia: Change that, and find Darnell.
First, he was reluctant to spill information on Nia, no matter what anyone said, then he was singing like a canary after he got stabbed. It almost appeared as though Max was a goner when the inmate stabbed him, but on this show, Max has a thousand lives, so go figure he survived a shanking.
Finally, he listened to Murphy and told Dean where to find Nia's stash house, but the little weasel didn't keep his word and transferred Max for his help.
Dean burns way too many bridges to still be breathing. If he didn't do things like taking the extra steps of harassing Murphy until she convinced Max to tell the truth, it wouldn't be so bad, but he enlists all of this aid to do his job, and then he screws people over without batting an eye or facing them.
I would have had a ten-hour lead on Dean if I hadn't gone back for that money, now look at where I am.
Max
Murphy had to throw a fit at the precinct before he had the decency of pulling her aside and telling her the truth. Max was as good as dead, but he got what he wanted.
By telling Murphy, of all people, this, Dean may as well have driven her to Nia's establishment herself. He told her exactly what she had to do to save Max and shot himself in the foot by doing so.
Murphy has up until this point been the most reluctant to dive back into any of their criminal endeavors, but it was a bold move going to Nia and negotiating Max's life.
Is anyone else wondering how that was supposed to work out? Max still betrayed Nia by telling the cops where the stash house was, so what was her incentive to keep her word and leave him alive?
If the idea of turning on Nia was so that he wouldn't have to deal with her after him, then she's still out there and posing a threat to him now that Murphy helped her evade police custody.
Nia already avoided killing Darnell, so wouldn't sparing Max on top of that make her seem weak? Calling of Max's hit makes her seem fickle, and it's probably why her second in command, Sam is always side-eying her so much.
Meanwhile, Nia spared Darnell and dragged him back into her organization, but he's double-crossing her by aligning with her competition, Josiah.
In a surprise twist, we learn that this infamous Josiah used to work for Nia. She has a severe issue when all of her people keep betraying or turning on her, doesn't she?
Josiah is closing in on Nia, and he's posing a threat to her, unlike anyone else. Darnell had the type of information that could give Josiah the edge, but it was about the same stash house Max mentioned to Dean.
Josiah seems unpredictable, and it's disconcerting that he shot one of his own men to serve as a sacrifice Darnell could bring back to Nia to look good.
If he could do that easily with one of his men, then what makes Darnell any different? Or his little friend who vouched for him? He said he trusted Darnell with his life, and this show isn't above putting that to test with a baddie like Josiah.
The race to get to Nia's stash house as the cops on one side of the matter and Darnell and Josiah's men on the other went over their game plan for attacking the home was some of the best work of the hour.
It kept you glued to the screen, wondering who would get there first and how they would hit it. Dean and the cops invaded the space, and Darnell and Josiah's men fell back.
The guys were happy; it meant the cops were onto Nia and possibly ready to take her down, but Darnell was torn. He probably realized that Max turned on Nia and Darnell by extension. Of course, he could also think Josiah won't be as happy about this development as the others think
Josiah: I don't trust Nia, and I don't trust anyone who works for Nia. So tell me why you are here.
Darnell: You obviously didn't like working for Nia very much, neither do I. I'm here to help you take her out.
Murphy thwarted the raid, and she agreed to hide the drugs at Guiding Hope. Guiding Hope and Nia's illicit operation are thoroughly entangled now.
Darnell is in a horrible place, trying to get revenge on Nia over Jules' death. He wanted out, and he was on his way to being a regular person. He was happy for moments, and now he's in the middle of two scary drug kingpins having a battle for territory, and he's probably going to be hauled in by the cops too.
His love for Jules dragged him back into a life he was trying to escape.
Murphy's love for Max had her making deals with the devil. She and the others can never get from beneath this.
Meanwhile, Felix and Jess's love for their respective partners may cause them more harm than good down the road.
Felix's obsession with wooing Chelsea is sad more than anything else, but then it got too real when he chose to take money from Nia's funds to take Chelsea out for a fancy dinner.
He was the person most livid about Sam's cut into their profits. For some reason, he fails to comprehend that there is no fairness in illegal activities.
If the entire idea is that they'll be indebted, and working off their actions for however long it takes until they "break-even" with Nia, then he has to know the objective is that they'll never be free of Nia.
They'll never get out, not without a hefty price, and they sure as heck won't reap benefits from this like anyone else.
But he got a quick lesson in what's at stake when one of Nia's henchman crashed his date and gave him a swirly like a middle school bully.
It's too bad it interfered with his date with Chelsea. Unlike, Jess getting her groove on in all the possible ways with Sterling, Felix couldn't come close to doing the deed before he was bawling his eyes out, as the stress of the situation hit.
I -I that we're going this whole casual thing, but, I um, I'm starting to have feelings for you.
Jess
It's troubling that Felix didn't find real comfort and feel powerful until he successfully managed to empty his clip at the shooting range. He couldn't bring himself to shoot the weapon when he first tried, and so carrying it around didn't mean much.
Even Sam was unfazed by Felix bringing a gun to their meetings. But then, the surge of power he felt when he shot the weapon brought him to Chelsea's door, ravishing her, and boy is this gun situation stressful.
The flashforward is now nine days away, and it showed Felix and Murphy scrubbing Ben's blood off the floor, and the two of them talking about the drugs.
It means in over a week, Felix went from barely having the guts to fire the weapon to potentially killing Chelsea's brother, Ben. What on earth happened?
Just because you gave me money, doesn't mean I'm OK with you boning my sister.
Ben
It's likely that Ben stumbled upon something and threatened to tell someone. It's well in character for this disengaged, unlikable, and lazy character.
Does anyone enjoy Ben at all? He's not remotely likable, and his sole purpose thus far is to be a nuisance. Why would he expect early pay when he hasn't done his job?
He's a bit of a caricature, and he reminds me of knockoff version of Forty from YOU. It's not even that he's untrustworthy or suspicious, he's just obnoxious and annoying.
On the other hand, Sterling is suspicious. Everything she does so far has come across as though she's made it her mission to appeal to Jess. She gives Jess all that Jess wants, but we don't know anything about it, and Jess doesn't either.
Jess admitted she's falling for Sterling, and Sterling agreed and told Jess what she wanted to hear. Sterling using the strap-on Jess got for her last girlfriend, seemed as though Sterling was distracting Jess and accomodating her by doing something Jess's past girlfriend didn't do.
Sterling's introduction was making flirty eyes at Jess. And Jess, bless her heart, is head over heels for this woman she barely knows and losing sight of everything else going on around her.
She has no idea that Felix is going through some things, nor does she realize that Murphy has been going through the absolute most recently.
She took everything from me. I'm going to do the same for her.
Darnell
They started the season promising to be each other's person, and it seems as though Jess's way of coping is losing herself in this new thing with Sterling.
I can't help but think it's going to backfire in some way. Wouldn't it be a crazy twist if Sterling is someone who worked for Nia, or hell, maybe the cops or feds?
Also, we have no more information to go on regarding the IRS and Josh getting the Nia Bailey case. They're being closed in on from so many angles, and they don't even realize it.
Over to you, In the Dark Fanatics? Is anyone out there watching the series and reading these reviews?
What are your thoughts on this season? What are your theories? Do you trust Sterling? Were you surprised Max survived?
What's going to happen with Darnell? Is Dean the worst? Hit the comments below.
You can watch In The Dark online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
