‘I Am the Night’ Recap: ‘Queen’s Gambit, Accepted’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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​Normally when it comes to a quality mystery story, everyone is outright excited to reach the end of the tale. For the finale, means that any lingering questions are answered about the case in question, and the bad guy or gal is brought to justice at last and a genuine happy ending ensues. But when it comes to I Am the Night, I have to fully admit that my excitement was mixed with trepidation, because there was a fair chance that this story wasn’t going to go by the numbers and provide us with everything I just made mention of, especially when one considers how the last episode came to a close, with Jay in jail and Fauna exposed to the world.
 
As it turns out, my concerns were definitely justified at first, since ‘Queen’s Gambit, Accepted’, went to some bleak territory when it comes to our intrepid heroes since Jay saw the situation go from bad to worse in jail, since he was consistently beaten and abused by Billis and Fauna, well…she actually managed to be in the worst place of all in this tale since a visit to Corinna ended with a little surprise sedative in her drink, and when she came to, she was in the company of George Hodel at his home and well, this is when the episode went from unsettling to downright creepy and terrifying because we quickly came to understand exactly how much he loves control since he was quick to exert a disturbing authority over Fauna, who had no choice but to comply for the moment since she was his prisoner.
 
Meanwhile, Jay was quietly working out a plan to earn his freedom, and after failing to get Billis to listen to reason he pulled out his proverbial ‘Hail Mary’ and offered to take the fall for the Brewster case, provided of course that he get a few hours on the street to deal with George on his own terms before disappearing into the chaos of the Watts Riots and surprisingly, the crooked cop agreed to the deal and thankfully, Jay got out of jail at just the right time because thing were deteriorating quickly at George’s house. For as Jay made his way toward the Hodel estate, we finally were able to see George’s madness and bloodlust on display since he tried to poison Fauna at dinner. But thankfully, she was too smart to fall for his gambit, but that didn’t dissuade him from his final goals in the slightest and in a harrowing sequence of events, he beat Fauna and demanded she pose for his art, and it became clear that once the painting was done, Fauna’s life would come to an end.
 
But George was ill prepared for the fact that he had met his match in Fauna, for when the right opportunity arrived, she gave George a taste of his own medicine and beat him into submission and exposed his cowardice, and it was so supremely satisfying to see this twisted and disgusting little man shiver in fear over the fact that a lady was able to put him in his place. But what matters more when it comes to this part of the story, is that Fauna had a perfect opportunity to put George down, but didn’t, an act that quite frankly, was powerful in its own right. Because she refused to give into the darkness and came to realize that letting a monster like George live in fear, was a far greater penalty than pulling that trigger and it would seem, her decision was worthwhile. For we learned that eventually George fled the country, and his scars both emotional and physical were constantly with him and sadly Jay was forced to flee the United States as well, since he was now wanted for murder and this is where the episode managed to surprise me through and through. For in the end it featured a bittersweet finale, one that provided the audience with all kinds of important lessons.
 
One of them being, that sometimes, things don’t end as happy as we would like, and justice isn’t always served the way we want it to be, but that sadly…is part of life. And, the show was also quick to point out, that sometimes it’s best to just walk away and start over fresh in order to heal one’s soul. But the finest lesson of all, came out of Fauna’s decision to spare George’s life, since she taught us, that we have to take the high road in order to keep our souls pure, and that we have to make peace with the bad things that happen to us, because the sun is going to rise tomorrow and we still have a life to live and well, what a beautiful and inspirational way to end this series. Because if a sixteen-year-old girl named Fauna Hodel can figure out those kinds of life lessons from a series of events this dark, there’s no reason we cannot find strength and direction when it comes to our own problems and in the end, what a magnificent and satisfying series this turned out to be. For it gave us new insight on one of America’s oldest cases, incredible performances and a gripping story and most importantly, it worked to help us find the good in tragedy and well, you can’t ask for much more from a story and I am sad to see this one, come to a close…  

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