Written by John Edward Betancourt THE HUNTING PARTY -- "Arlo Brandt" Episode 106 -- Pictured: (l-r) Patrick Sabongui as Jacob Hassani, Melissa Roxburgh as Rebecca 'Bex' Henderson, Sara Garcia as Jennifer Morales, Nick Wechsler as Oliver Odell, Josh McKenzie as Shane Florence -- (Photo by: David Astorga/NBC)
Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Six of ‘The Hunting Party’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
One particular hope that everyone harbors when it comes to violent criminals, is that prison will somehow redeem them. For that is the point of prison, to rehabilitate an offender so they can restart their life, and pay penance for crimes committed against the innocent, and if that can be accomplished, that’s wondrous. For it means the system works and that better tomorrows can await people who crossed horrible lines. But sadly, this is a fleeting hope at best. For time and time, we are reminded of the fact, that the system is overcrowded, and proper attention is rarely paid to what really needs to go into rehabilitating those who turned their back on our laws, which is handling the root cause of the problem. For there is something that drives bad behavior, be it a trauma or something more, and when that is not addressed, you get repeat offenders who cycle in and out of a system that we just keep on hoping will magically do its thing. Which begs the question, what then will it take to finally fix the system, so it does just that? Well, we simply don’t know. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t raise awareness regarding the problem and start discussions around it. Thankfully, this week’s episode of The Hunting Party on NBC, does just that. For ‘Arlo Brandt’ introduced us to a killer of the same name, who once murdered people in a strange manner. Since he would s use the ‘seen on TV’ items he purchased en masse to bring a person down. For he believed that material wealth defined a person’s standing and those who had less than he did, in his mind, paid the ultimate price. Of course, he was eventually caught and thrown into the Pit, where he underwent some unique training. The kind that was Pavlovian in nature, since it was either, give up possessions or give up food. Which the doctors in the Pit thought would finally snap his dark behavior and make him a better man, and for a time he appeared to be just that. But his return to the world made it clear that the doctors didn’t address any of his root causes. For he was quickly scooping up people and placing them in his own Pit to try and force a similar doctrine upon them. Because in the end, Arlo’s real issue was that he harbored a God complex. Where he wanted to decide the fate of individuals based upon his understanding of how the world should work in the moment, and how that would give him a sense of power and satisfaction.  THE HUNTING PARTY -- "Arlo Brandt" Episode 106 -- Pictured: David Ramsey as Arlo Brandt -- (Photo by: David Astorga/NBC)
Which Bex was able to uncover and that led to a tense chase to find the man. One where everyone pooled their mental resources to track and trace where Arlo might have gone and what he might have done to these people. Which is worth noting, because it showcased how this team is becoming seamless in nature and are truly working together toward a common cause. Because their fine unity here allowed for a quick understanding of Arlo’s real problems, and what would best suit his vision for a new Pit. That in turn also led to some incredible action sequences, where we did not know who would live and who would die in Arlo’s stead and that just made for damn good television when all is said and done, the kind that was indeed bookended with a happy ending, and a lot for us to ponder upon.
Because despite being back in custody, the failure was clear. In that, these doctors did not treat that God complex, nor did they really do anything of substance to rehabilitate Arlo. They just traded one bit of madness for another and in the process, created a killer that was more cunning and more ruthless than he was before and that is… a mirror to what is happening in our world in the prison system. Which makes this a cautionary tale in a way, to inform us that we need to start discussions revolving around this, so that change can come forth. Because we don’t need a violent offender to do worse things than before because of our underfunded and underregulated system. All of which made, for a smart episode for certain, one that clearly learned hard into the commentary here. But that’s welcome, because this show is so versatile and so unique that we are coming to expect lessons and commentary from this series, and it still had more to offer us as well, regarding Jacob’s concerns about Silo 12 and the escape in general. Since Oliver finally started to open up to Bex regarding that and what he knew. Which was so critical, that he watched his words in a bar and destroyed a unique drawing he made of the connections between Silo 12 and the Pit. All of which hints at Silo 12 being a far bigger deal than expected, that we cannot wait to learn more of. But while we wait for that, we can celebrate one smart and refreshing tale. One that showed how the system fails those it is supposed to help, and that is a lesson that will stay with us for some time. Watch ‘The Hunting Party’
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