‘The Pact’ Recap: ‘Episode Two’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Two of ‘The Pact’.
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The vast majority of crime dramas, steer clear of genuinely examining the fallout of the crimes they spotlight, and it does make sense as to why. For sticking to the case, itself and moments filled with tension, maximizes the experience for the audience and it also keeps the story palatable. Because let’s be honest, crime isn’t a pleasant topic in the slightest and digging into every detail might make this a sour and uncomfortable experience for the viewer or the reader. But while that is perhaps, an act of kindness on the part of the creative team, it does do the audience a bit of a disservice. Since it borderline glamorizes and romanticizes crime and that’s why shows like Sundance Now’s The Pact, should be spotlighted, and celebrated.

Simply because this is a series that refuses to shy away from the details of a crime and its outright impact on the family members and instigators of the crime in question and for proof… look no further than this week’s episode. For this particular tale picked up immediately after last week’s powerhouse introduction to this broken world and in the wake of Jack’s death, our four friends aren’t doing so well with the fact that they were involved in a murder. In fact, it’s eating at them day and night to the point where they’re paranoid and scared to just go into work, especially with the police poking around, and perhaps the most effected by what happened on that fateful night, is Anna. Because she is simply beside herself in this tale and downright despondent and it was quite powerful to see the people involved with a crime actually feel something in a crime drama, since more often than not, death is no big deal in these types of stories.

But there was mention of this examination going beyond Anna and Louie and Nancy and Cat and that was honestly handled by way of Arwel and to a lesser extent Louie. Since they helped us to see how the murder of a human being could impact those left behind and it should come as no surprise that neither of them handled that part of this mess, all that well. Granted for Louie that happened mostly through a few good cries, leaving the heavy lifting for Arwel and he was… truly beside himself. To the point where hid away from the world and made angry demands of the police whilst obstructing them because he simply could not process the harsh reality that his son was dead and murdered at the hands of another human being and that reality was difficult for him to deal with, so much in fact that he was ready to just burn every memory of his son in a desperate effort to not deal with it and this was quite the powerful sequence for certain. One that genuinely made it clear how impactful and devastating this kind of crime is upon other people, especially family members of the dead.

However, while those elements could have carried this episode from beginning to end, we would be remiss to not talk about the other important part of this story. Specifically, the fact that someone has some kind of knowledge about what happened that night and is eager to get a payday for it in this episode. Which is important because it helped to inform us of how afraid these characters are of getting caught and how far they’ll go to keep it a secret, since they did indeed scrape up the cash to keep their blackmailer (or blackmailers) off of their backs and it was simply incredible to watch all four of them struggle with being helpless and powerless in this situation. But it would seem, on the bright side, they’re in the clear regarding this uncomfortable aspect of the murder… since the interested party had nothing to say after receiving their payday. Besides, clearly these four friends have more pressing matters looming on the horizon.

For you’ve also noticed by now that murder has been the word associated with Jack’s end and there’s good reason for that. Since this episode made it inherently clear that Jack was asphyxiated on that fateful night. Meaning that someone took the time to pull the life out of him and that will undoubtedly change a great deal about this case going forward, since the police will be pushing hard to find a murderer. But while we wait to see how this revelation ups the ante for the story, we can revel in the wonder of a powerful story. One that held nothing back in its presentation of how death impacts everyone it touches and how hard it can be for people to move forward when someone in their family passes on in such a horrifying and abrupt manner and going this route makes this an incredibly relevant and poignant tale. One that removes the glamor and glitz and romance from a genre that needs to be straight with us about the lasting impact of crime. Until next time.

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