‘Hightown’ Recap: ‘BFO’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One particular lie that we tell ourselves often… is that we can fix the most broken parts of ourselves through good deeds and hard work, and what makes that a lie… is quite deep in nature. Because at some point, we all learn that true selfcare and healing involves staring down our problems and our traumas and dealing with them in a realistic and dynamic manner, and if we cannot do that… we simply cannot heal and that particular lie is important to our discussion today, simply because it’s been one of the biggest themes present in the STARZ series, Hightown. Because the first three episodes of this series, have seen Jackie Quiñones do just that, by burying herself in the Sherry Henry case in the hopes of somehow using that to fix the grand mistakes she’s made.

In fact, she’s so hellbent on this belief, that she takes it to a whole new level in the next episode. For ‘BFO’ sees Jackie drive far off to Wareham in Devonne’s car, to finally meet with Krista and get some truth about what’s going on and she actually does get pretty darn close to making that happen. Because some healthy threats to the man that is keeping her safe, allows for her to step into Krista’s hotel room with her bag, and leave a note with Jackie's number on it in the hopes of getting that all-important call, so she could finally bring Sherry’s aggressors to justice and find the peace she so desperately thought this would give her. But while she waited for that call, she was able to turn her attention to a grand opportunity with her old squad. Because they needed a body and Ed went to bat for her to come on home and help out on a big case, and that invigorated Jackie like never before.

For she was quickly able to put together the parameters for a federal case on this BFO and she was so spot on with her plan that the service managed to get a huge bust on this night, once again leaving Jackie riding a high and that’s precisely when this series went philosophical. Because while it was nice to see Jackie dedicate herself to more noble causes, those actions didn’t answer the all-important question hanging over her journey. Specifically, how does one come to discover the lie we tell ourselves, especially when we genuinely believe it is the only way forward? Well as it turns out, the only way for that reality to come to light, is by being outright shown by the universe that our real root cause hasn’t been fixed in the slightest… by way of a grand step back and Jackie definitely took that here. For in the closing moments of this tale, Jackie slammed down a shot, thinking she was healed… when in fact, she has started a new journey. One that will now remind her harshly of what she needs to work on in order to be healthy.

But while that made for some powerful storytelling for certain, we would be remiss to not talk about the case and how both sides are continuing a delicate dance to obtain power. Because while Alan and Ray were able to get close to someone that was close to Osito, Ray’s idiotic anger and desire to solve this quickly, forced their potential CI to lawyer up. Leaving Ray with no choice but to continue to work Renee as an informant whether she knew it or not, which in turn led to a face-to-face meeting with Osito. One where he made it clear to Ray that he was onto the police and their pursuit of him and that it would take some serious effort to bring him down. Not to mention, Krista’s name continues to come up with Osito and Junior, putting her at risk like never before, especially now that she’s breaking sobriety as well, since she left the hotel once she realized her protector was done with her, and she spoke about that fateful night to someone that might have a vested interest in sharing her story.

In the end however, this really was quite the powerful tale. One that deserves some serious applause and recognition for taking the time to finally start a journey of potential redemption for Jackie. Because her drinking here doesn’t mean she failed, it means she should finally wake up and that’s huge and that’s powerful and it is downright realistic. Since that really is how we heal and how we learn to pull ourselves out of dark and foolish moments and the wonder of this story doesn’t end there. Because the case really is getting terrifying and dangerous since everyone is upping their game and trying harder to be in control, and it will be quite interesting to see where this power struggle takes us next and of course… it will be equally as fascinating to see how Jackie responds to her next big stumble. Since the only question that remains in regard to that, is how far is she going to fall before she realizes that the only person that can pick her up… is herself? Until next time.

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