‘Three Pines’ Recap: ‘The Cruellest Month’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episodes Three & Four of ‘Three Pines’. To revisit the series premiere, click here.

For the most part, crime dramas on television… tend to only offer one specific underlying theme for audiences to chew upon, regarding the case the story is presenting to them, and understandably so. After all, most of these shows revolve around heinous crimes, such as murder, and that alone is overwhelming and powerful for us to process. So, adding anything more than that one theme could be seen as a tad excessive from an emotional standpoint. But every now and then, you run into a television crime drama, that challenges that, out of the belief that the audience is smarter than they are often given credit and that quality and supremely deep storytelling can and should take place within these universes. 
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One such show in that vein, just so happens to be Three Pines on Prime Video, as evidenced by its next batch of episodes. For ‘The Cruellest Month’ is a story that not only looks upon what it means to be needed and how scary it can be to not have a purpose in life, and what that drives us to do… but these are a pair of episodes that quite frankly, explored in great detail the atrocities that Indigenous Americans suffered through in Canada for generations on end and how the ghosts that haunt communities… can leave lasting and painful scars. Alongside adding some updates to the Two-Rivers case, and it accomplished all of those feats, through a brutal and unexpected murder.

For one fine night, when seemingly everyone united at the former school that even CC once owned, a murder occurred. One that was savage in nature since a skull was crushed in the process. Which of course, brought Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team back to Three Rivers to investigate how this happened and well, the discovery of indigenous skeletons in the school during the course of the investigation… spoke volumes to the horrors committed against the Native Americans in this land and how much suffering and indifference they endured and that made for some powerful and moving moments. Especially when Armand discovered the first body… of a child, no less… and well, this was so unsettling and so brutal, and clearly hurt Bea and this down so badly, that watching the school burn at the end of this episode, was a satisfying moment indeed. Since the scars in this town finally healed on this night.

However, it wasn’t revenge or an attempt to educate that led to the murder in question. Instead, that was the result of a broken father. One that saw his little girl growing up before his eyes, and that terrified him. Because he always assumed her visual impairment would make her, need him, and in turn give him purpose. But she was doing fine without help and finding her own way and when the deceased helped her plan for a future away from a possessive and controlling, and downright stifling father… murder came into play. A sorrowful reality that made it clear how much we need purpose in this world and how we need to be essential to others but that at the same time… we also need to know how to have a sense of self-worth and accomplishment. So, we don’t transform into the blubbering mess this man did, since his lack of that… led to panic and the end of a life.

If anything, this was just… another incredible episode from an already incredible series. Since it informed us that this show is going to continue to pack in the storytelling and also make sure we get all the answers we want. Since dark news came in about Blue in the Two-Rivers case, since Isabelle found bleached blood remnant in the home of her man. Not to mention, character growth will be a priority as well. Since this episode helped us to learn what makes Armand tick and what drives him, and we even saw Officer Nichol grow before our eyes here, thanks to Gamache’s tutelage and well, in the end, all this episode does is leave is eager for more. So, we can watch Armand’s keen mind and good heart, solve incredible cases filled to the brim with meaning, as season one of this incredible crime drama, continues along. Until next time.

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