Danny's past and present troubles become a threat to the Rayburns. Sally confronts her family.
"Part 12" does continue the quickly gaining momentum that "Part 11" put into motion. The second half of this episode is some of the most chilling and psychologically exhausting material of the season. And yet, the episode does struggling a tad building towards that part. The first half really does play like a game of where's Danny? The episode has to put in the necessary leg work to keep Danny's presence in the town a threat. He has to have a memorable interaction with his three siblings as well as with the criminal kingpin who wants him dead. Danny is in a very precarious situation where death is very likely just around the corner. And yet, he seems very cool about it. He feels that he holds all the power in the world right now. His mission is to make his family feel the same amount of pain he has lived with for most of his life. That's a very daunting prospect. And yet, he has been very successful at pushing his family past their natural breaking points.The episode also has to try build suspense over the idea that Danny will die at the hands of Lowry's new henchman - even though the audience knows that's simply not the case. Because of the flash-forwards, we know that he is destined to die at the hands of his family. And yet, the entire sequence works so well because the show goes deep into John's mind where he fully believes that Danny is dead. It's a nauseating experience where John has reached the decision to let Lowry's guy kill Danny. If he wanted to, he could have intervened. And yet, he found some peace in his problems with Danny coming to end. Of course, it rocked him to his very core. We get to see his fallout over the weight of this decision in the bathroom at the hotel. He fully believes that Danny is now gone. It's simultaneously a massive weight off his shoulders and a whole no burden to stomach. He no longer has to worry about what Danny might do to his family. And yet, his guilt has grown into an almost crippling state. He allowed for his brother to die. Even though he's furious about everything that Danny has put him through, he still respects that familial connection. All of this works because of Kyle Chandler's performance. He sucks you into John's headspace. He thought all his problems were over with. He would carry the burden of the truth for the rest of his live but, at least, the rest of his family would be free.
And then, everything instantly becomes more chilling and gripping when John walks down the stairs to see Danny sitting at the table still with that mischievous smile on his face. The possibility of Danny still being alive was preposterous to John. And yet, there he is - intent on sitting the whole family down to tell them how he truly feels about all of them. For so much of the season, Danny has put on a performance of sorts for his family. In the beginning, they really did believe that he was making that change and commitment to being a part of the family. All of them know better than that now - including Sally. Danny yells that Sally is just as much to blame as the other siblings for his major lifelong problems. He never felt safe in the Rayburn house because everyone wanted to appease Robert and no one wanted to protect him. That was a stunning fact that grew more apparent after Sarah's death and the family is only now dealing with the emotional and psychological ramifications of it. It's all completely because Robert is dead now as well. Danny was able to push his family this far because they no longer were blindly following their father's expectations for the family. Danny tells the truth for everyone to hear. It is devastating - even more so after Sally reads the speech Danny was going to read at the big celebration in the premiere. We still don't know the contents of that speech. And yet, they have a profound effect on Sally which could become even more devastating in the finale after what happens in this episode's final act.
The whole season has been building towards Danny's death. He has uprooted his family's lives. He saw them as living these perfect, carefree lives and just needed them to feel the same amount of pain he has felt. It is a deeply personal and emotional cause for Danny. He can recite word for word young John's interview to Lenny Potts on the tape. He has become obsessed with the idea of vengeance on his family. It has led to such a great toil on everyone's way of life. They all have to carry the burden of knowing the truth. They feel that they must keep it in the core family. Diana and Marco want to be let in and know what's really going on but John consistently keeps them out of the loop.
This fight is John's alone. He wants to protect the family just like he has always done. That has been his role for decades now. He was forced to be the responsible one because Danny fucked up enough for the both of them. As both he and Danny declare, all of this psychological warfare is between the two of them. The rest of the family is collateral damage. If Danny can destroy John and his live, then he'll see himself and his return home as a successful venture. John needs Danny out of his life for good. He didn't believe that he could be capable of killing Danny. And yet, he was. He was fine letting someone else do the grim deed. And yet, it is much more shocking to see John do it himself. Danny pushed him and pushed him until John broke. It wasn't out of self defense. John needed Danny dead in order to protect his family. To him, that felt like the only choice left because Danny would not give in and leave until John and his principles were reduced to nothing. John has respect for the law and his family. He could never hate Danny. And yet, he still needed Danny gone. It's a major surprise. It makes the finale that much more interesting. The chaos in the aftermath of Danny's death promises to be very good. And chaos is always a good narrative device to have for a final episode - even if it is one that will be without one of the season's best characters roaming around and causing more trouble.
Some more thoughts:
- "Part 12" was written by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman and directed by Carl Franklin.
- Chelsea was loyal to Danny until the very end. As much as she didn't want the criminal chaos that followed him around, she was still pulled towards him. She told him first before John that Lowry's man knew where he was. And she will likely be the only one truly distraught and upset over Danny's sudden disappearance.
- Eric has also decided to run out of town following his run-in with Lowry's man. I'm not expecting to miss him all that much in the future though.
- Marco is officially done with Meg and the pain she has caused in their relationship. Now, his sole purpose is to find the truth about what is happening within the Rayburn family and the secrets they are keeping from this investigation. He's committed to getting justice for the dead girls while John is now only committed to protecting his family.
- It sure was easy for Lowry's man to break into Chelsea's house, wasn't it?
- So, John is just okay with not telling Diana, Jane and his son about anything that has happened? That sounds like bad and potentially unsafe parenting. Keeping secrets was what let Jane to get on that boat with Danny in the first place. You'd think being a detective he would want to rectify that as soon as possible.
As noted in previous reviews from this series, every episodic review was written without having seen any succeeding episodes. Similarly, it would be much appreciated if in the comments section, the conversation would only revolve around the show up to this point in its run.
