‘Hightown’ Recap: ‘Houston, We Have a Problem’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 208 of ‘Hightown’.
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One particular notion that a great deal of us believe in, is that pressure is a healthy thing, and it makes sense as to why we hold to that. After all, when we are on a deadline or under great pressure to perform admirably at our jobs… something awakens within us and we quickly find ourselves motivated and ready to do whatever it takes to meet that deadline or to impress the brass and that end result… where we accomplish wonders we didn’t think we were capable of, is so impactful, that we quickly come to believe we can apply this to everyday life and well… that is where this particular notion becomes quite problematic and sometimes scary in nature. Because in the real world, pressure isn’t a good thing in the slightest.
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For we all lead lives filled to the brim with personal goals and habits that genuinely keep us happy and having that interrupted by excessive pressure, can make us sour in nature and motivate us to push back upon those expecting us to change when they turn up the heat upon us and of course, in the criminal world… applying pressure is a terrible idea, especially when the police are the ones that try to do it. Since there is no criminal out there eager to go to jail and they most certainly have no desire to have the cops barreling down upon them and they’ll do what they must when pressured to stay free… as evidenced by this week’s episode of Hightown on STARZ. For ‘Houston, We Have a Problem’ saw pressure be applied to Frankie Cuevas and his family in the hopes of bringing him in and that led to disaster.

For Frankie has zero desire to return to jail and well, all it took was a hefty push from Ray to really bring Frankie’s wrath down upon just about everyone, and all Ray had to do set the pressure in motion, was sit back and wait. For his words to Renee in last week’s episode, where he basically made her fear for her own freedom… finally motivated her to do something about her situation. Because she was nervous and worried and upset over what she thought was about to go down and that brought her back to Ray’s arms… wherein she finally offered up all kinds of information as to how Frankie gets the drugs into the Cape with Charmaine and that in turn, put Ray on a potential path back to the CCINU. One that he cemented by way of a verbal agreement with the Major before kicking this plan into high gear, by informing a shaky Jackie Quiñones of what was about to go down.

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Which for a time, made it seem as though at long last… Frankie was going down and going down hard. Since Jackie and Leslie set up a wonderful sting operation at the airport to finally catch him in the act. But alas, a quick phone call from a spotter, informed Frankie of the worst-case scenario awaiting him and the business at the airport and that kind of pressure… unleashed the disaster in question. Since Frankly quickly kidnapped the pilot, he’s been paying, and threw him in the trunk before bringing Charmaine out to the middle of nowhere to teach her a powerful lesson. In that, he was in charge and what he said was gospel, and if she couldn’t stand by that, she’d end up in an unmarked grave… much like the pilot and Frankie’s reign of terror over potentially being discovered, didn’t end there.
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For he also took the time to visit Jackie at the end of this episode and put the heat on her as well, making it clear that he was done messing around with the police and that they needed to back off and that was quite the stunning move to see on Frankie’s part since he’s tried so hard to keep a low profile this season. But clearly, he’s snapped… all because he was pressed too hard by Ray and the police in general and what’s wild… is that those weren’t the only consequences to be found from applying pressure in this particular story. Since Ray’s big plan to get back onto the force exploded in his face and his ability to track Renee is done for the time being since Frankie discovered that as well, putting newfound pressure on him in regard to getting his job back.

Plus, Osito is facing a potential return to gen pop because of his continued interactions with Charmaine and Frankie’s surprise visit and that has put undue pressure upon him and well, in the end… this episode really does a wonderful job of hammering home the fact… that pressure outside of personal matters, really is a terrible idea. Since we just don’t know how people are people are going to respond when we put their backs against the wall and what’s wild… is that this story is only going to get more intense from here. Because an unleashed Frankie and a refocused Jackie, who is starting to understand the consequences of her actions, is a dangerous mix, and with only two episodes left in season two, I think we can expect nothing less than explosive collisions between the two of them, as this fight for the soul of Cape Cod reaches its conclusion. Until next time.

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