‘Jack Irish’ Recap: ‘Season 3, Episode 2’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 302 of ‘Jack Irish’.
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When we last settled in to enjoy the fascinating, third season premiere of Jack Irish on Acorn TV, we were all left sitting on the edge of our seats. After all, Jack had just discovered that the circumstances that led to the death of his beloved Isabel, might go deeper than a mere moment of angry chance. And knowing that, changed everything for both Jack and the audience. Because this is a huge lie, one that shaped Jack’s life for years on end and coming to realize that he’s been trying to reconcile a falsehood, was undoubtedly going to motivate him to dig deeper and find the truth… no matter the cost. And thankfully the next episode in this wondrous series wasted zero time in putting Jack on the case and what he uncovered was both fascinating and shocking to say the least. 

The fascinating stuff, well that came about when Jack uncovered the fact that Barry and Gresh, were part of a drug unit back in the day… one that seized a boatload of money in a massive operation to clean up the streets. And this unit also included the mysterious Khoury, and that matters… because Khoury was also found dead as Jack started to dig into everything, and that concerned him greatly. Because there was no way that such a spate of deaths was related to coincidence or chance, Instead it appeared that someone was targeting these men for reasons unknown and that forced Jack to enlist his old friend Linda on the matter and use her journalist’s prowess to help him to connect the dots in a timely manner, and well… that’s when the shocking stuff outright came into play.

For it turns out that all roads lead back to Wayne Milovich, the man that killed Jack’s wife on that fateful day. And his involvement in all of this, stems from that tragic turn of events where Milovich supposedly went after Gresh with angry impunity. Because the more that Jack and Linda learned about Wayne, the more they realized the picture that the police report painted was seemingly incorrect. For everyone Linda talked to, spoke to a man that was reformed and eager to start over, and his behavior on that day was indicative of a man that was reacting to a bad situation, one where he was framed and where a cover up came into play to keep the officer in the right. A cover up that definitely involved the current litany of the dead and that would be solid motivation for targeted revenge years later, provided of course… that Milovich was still alive.  

But therein lie the greatest surprise of all. For Jack and Linda were also able to learn that Wayne had two kids, named Troy and Casey, and Troy is the young man that’s been running around town… doing dirty work with a gun. Which means the kids are eager to make everyone that ever did Wayne dirty, pay the ultimate price and that’s stunning and scary. Since Jack might be on their list as well since he tried to reason with Wayne instead of hearing his story. But while we wait to see if Jack is safe or not, we can bask in one engrossing and majestic tale. One that really did offer up all kinds of stunning answers and surprises in regard to the death of Isabel and now it would seem that Jack is going to be in a race against time to find Troy before he kills again.

In part to bring about justice, but also… to help Jack gain a complete picture of the truth since Troy undoubtedly knows more about this situation than anyone else and Jack needs to find him before before he undoubtedly skips town and well, in the end, all this incredible episode does is leave us hungry for more. Because Jack is finally so close to the truth and the peace that’s he has always craved and that is going to make the wait until next week’s entry in this saga a difficult one for certain, but it will undoubtedly be worth our while. Since the first two episodes of the new and final season have been filled to the brim with incredible moment after incredible moment and there’s no reason to doubt that the next one will be any different. In fact, it will likely up the ante since this story is continuing to build to an incredible crescendo. One that will change Jack's life for better or worse, depending on how he feels about the truth. Until next time.

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