‘Kin’ Recap: ‘Episode 7’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Seven of ‘Kin’.
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Often times in storytelling, ‘the darkest hour’ that some characters go through, is used to inspire the audience. Because when it arrives, the main character or characters are quick to process the challenge that is facing them and stand tall in front of it and conquer it, sending a powerful message to the audience. In that, when adversity strikes… we too should stand tall and fight it and conquer it, and while that is indeed inspiring and hopeful, it is once again… something of a misleading concept. Because in reality, while we know that we need to stand against what is bringing us down, it isn’t always an easy task. For our emotions and the shock of the moment in question can leave us in a devastated place. The kind where we need to sort our thoughts out before we finally fight back. 
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Which is why stories that take the time to show us how hard it can be to stand tall in the face of adversity, need to be applauded at every turn. Because that’s the kind of realism we need to hear from stories so that our inspiration isn’t short lived when we hit personal obstacles in dealing with the chaos life sends our way, and that’s why Kin deserves another round of applause, since it put that kind of realism on display during this week’s episode. Because the Kinsella family found themselves dealing with their darkest hour, all because it turns out… that Eamon Cunningham didn’t have the positive epiphany we were hoping for. No instead, his drug-induced journey into the past, infuriated him and made him realize that being weak in that moment cost him dearly. Which meant that strength needed to be shown in the present and he quickly returned home… to offer a show of strength to the Kinsellas.

The kind that made it clear that they messed with the wrong drug lord and well… that definitely led to some scary moments. Since Anthony came face to face with Con Doyle at school and was forced to helplessly listen to his threats. Plus, Anna came under fire in this tale, since some of Cunningham’s goons tried to kidnap her and throw her into the trunk of a car, and had it not been for innocent and concerned passersby’s… they would have been successful. Not to mention, even Birdy struggled to deal with Cunningham’s outright vendetta against the family, since her attempts to talk Eamon down ended with her having the muzzle of a gun jammed into her face and well… this is when that realism regarding the darkest hour, came into play. Because rather than instantly stand up and fight these grave injustices, the family was instead, besides themselves.

Because this was scary stuff, and these were situations they’ve never had to deal with before since they’ve been living the good life… or as good as it can get for criminals. Which meant they more or less drifted for quite some time in this tale, to the point where even Frank was unsure of what comes next for this family, since his only real solid ideas were to potentially have himself and Jimmy and Michael flee, and to beg the former leader of this business to help Eric acclimate to jail since it was obvious he was going into the big house and well… even that didn’t help the family to feel some semblance of control. But all concern and ugly situations aside, make no mistake about it… this was a quality way to explore how we initially respond to hard times, and how hard it is to snap out of the funk when we get suckered punched by life. Since we saw honest and realistic responses to tough times.

However, what matters most, is that this story did indeed make a point to show us what does create that turning point in the darkest hour. Where the downtrodden decide to act, and in this instance, reaching one’s breaking point and simply having enough… will do the trick. Since Michael and Amanda have indeed had enough and they seem to have some ideas on how to end this dark patch. But before we ponder upon that further, we can bask in the wonder of one engaging tale. One that not only offered up a rousing analysis of its overall theme, but also did a magnificent job of humanizing every single character in this tale. Since you genuinely felt their fear and their worry, which can also be attributed to the stellar performances in this episode and well, now that some in the family have had enough of this dark patch, it will be quite interesting to see what they do to emerge from it come next week, when season one of this stellar series comes to a close.       

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