‘Black Snow’ Recap: ‘Sugar Sugar’

8/28/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Still from Episode 105 of ‘Black Snow’ – ‘Sugar Sugar’ – Courtesy of Sundance Now/AMC Networks.

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Black Snow’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

One prevailing belief that each and every one of us harbor regarding how crimes are solved in this world… is that justice will come forth out of a singular moment. One where an intrepid investigator quickly puts everything together and is able to narrow in and stun the perpetrator of the crime so badly… that they will be sent to jail quickly thanks to the overwhelming evidence that magnificent investigator uncovered… or they’ll simply confess. Which is a belief that we hold to because we’ve seen those very examples play out in real life, and we often hear about how each case has its own turning point. But the only problem with that belief… is that it is not one-hundred-percent true. Because while some cases do indeed go that route, there are so many more that do not.

Because let’s be honest… some criminals are meticulous in covering up their crime, so the evidence is not overwhelming. And of course… they rarely want to be caught. Because they know what being captured and tried in a court of law means… the end of their freedom. Or possibly the end of their life. Which means that more often than not, cases are solved in vastly different ways. Sometimes yes, there is indeed overwhelming evidence that comes into play, after an exhaustive and detailed investigation to ensure said evidence is iron clad. And sometimes, a lucky break comes into play or in the world of the Sundance Now and AMC series, Black Snow, a little time, and a lot of pressure, and fresh perspective, can begin to slowly crack an old case wide open.

For ‘Sugar Sugar’ opened up… with bittersweet news. In that, while the accident in question didn’t involve Kalana after all, it did bring forth… the end of Billy. Under strange circumstances that made it appear as though an accident had taken place, when, this smelled of a grand cover up and sadly… Billy’s end had a healthy impact upon the case. Because it allowed for James to detach from the crew of the local station house and no longer trust them implicitly, giving him the freedom, he needed to finally start focusing deeply on the case with a renewed intensity and a fresh perspective, and that paid off pretty well. Since it helped him to revisit the evidence, with Hazel, and they came to discover some extra footage that more or less informed James of where Isabel died, and that brought him one step closer to the truth.

But what mattered more here, was the pressure that Billy’s death put upon everyone else. Because his passing served as a stark and painful reminder of what everyone had lost in silence and ignorance, and since that was clearly coming back to haunt them, some opened up about mistakes that were made in the days following Isabel’s death, such as Hazel. Who admitted to being intimate with Anton shortly after Isabel’s end. Which was her secret, and she needed to be free of that pain. Whereas others… couldn’t bear to even face what they had done and worked even harder to bury the past and bury the truth. A move that will likely bring trouble forth for Chloe. Who burned some critical evidence here, the kind that likely would have brought forth answers… but that spoke to the guilt in her heart over this night and how… time and pressure will indeed lead to mistakes and rash decisions… and an uncovering of evidence.

Not necessarily from Chloe in this instance, but since Hazel and James were pouring over clues and looking for new avenues, they hadn’t thought about in the slightest… they revisited some of the simpler stuff and came to realize… that Anton might be a suspect after all. Thanks to a correlating clue that puts him near Isabel the night she died. All of which… set the stage for the finale of this series in a powerful manner. Since it speaks to a situation deteriorating for those with secrets and with guilt, since they are struggling to run and hide from that which they’ve kept at bay for decades, and that… it will likely be a mistake or a clue that someone missed that finally brings her killer to justice. The only question that remains… is who that killer actually is. Since there was plenty here to speak to multiple suspects, and it will be fascinating to learn who did it and see how this case wraps up in a realistic manner, when all is revealed in the finale. Until next time.

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