The imagery in the opening moments of tonight’s episode of Bellevue, despite lasting just a few seconds, makes use of some powerful symbolism. Mother Mary is watching over the town of Bellevue.  Then we immediately cut to the crime scene, followed by a close-up of the body bag containing Jesse’s (Sadie O’Neil) remains as it is being zipped up. Provocative? By the end of this episode we we will have more questions than answers so here goes….

Peter (Shawn Doyle) wants to know how Annie (Anna Paquin) found Jesse, so she is compelled to reveal the truth. She shows him both the fake nails and the doll that the Riddler left for her. Once again, Peter is over-the-top pissed with her for getting involved.  Annie believes the two cases are somehow connected. She says, “Jessie was at the church where Sandy’s body was found without fingernails, and I am sent fingernails in a doll dressed like Mary, and told to keep quiet or I won’t learn the truth about either of them.” Annie believes this Riddler guy will only communicate with her but to ensure that connection she must keep quiet; they have a bond. Is Peter afraid for Annie or is he trying to scare her? “Tell me you understand you are talking to a killer now…”  Determined, she re-establishes the pattern of give and receive just as she did when she was a child. Annie leaves the Riddler a gift: “What I found beyond the horizon.”

Meanwhile, Jesse’s mother, Maggie (Victoria Sanchez), turns to Father Jameson (Joe Cobden) in her time of grief. She has just identified her son’s body. Maggie confesses she has never believed in God until now, but, she believes God only punishes. It appears someone else may share this same belief. Maggie and Father Jameson turn and notice the image of St. Joseph has been desecrated; an image ripe with betrayal. Instead of a father cradling his son lovingly in his arms, it now portrays the image of father stabbing his son in the back.

Some advances in the investigation do occur. The coroner reports Jesse suffered blunt force trauma to the head; this would indicate heat of the moment. Now we know Jesse got into a white pick-up truck, so something must have happened in the truck. Who conveniently owns a white pick-up truck? Coach Tom (Vincent Leclerc) the surrogate father to Jesse who also happens to be completely obsessed with Jesse making it big in hockey.

Annie then receives the first of two messages in this episode, the first again in the form of a riddle. “If a hero falls from glory, where can he relive it?” Everything is starting to point at Tom. He is known for his rage, even encourages his team to fight out their differences as a team building strategy. Annie screens practice video and discovers the relationship between Jesse and Tom changed significantly about a month prior to Jesse’s untimely death.

In the meantime, Daisy (Madison Ferguson) attempts to conduct a séance, motivated by her hope Sandy Driver’s spirit can impart some secret from the grave. And she is caught. “Uncle Peter” brings her home and she is forced to endure stern lectures from both he and her mother. Annie and Eddie (Allen Leech) disagree with how to handle it but Annie prevails: Daisy needs time with her friends. Eddie leaves to take Daisy for her sleepover, but in a huff.

Shortly after, someone parks their truck out front of Annie’s—why can we not run the VIN to identify him?—and Annie takes off into the woods thinking this must be the Riddler. She finds the second message, not in the form of a riddle but still adhering to his  theme of dolls. This time it comes in the form of a paper doll chain: “Don’t be Scared.”

Then things get a bit messy. Annie—angry with both Eddie and Peter—heads to the Rattlesnake Bar to blow off some steam and hits on some random guy to make Eddie jealous. Her plan works and they hook up in the parking lot. How Hot Was That Scene? OOOF! Whilst still in their afterglow, Annie spots an old payphone and checks it out. Jesse’s jersey number is scratched into the paint. Jesse was there. Phone records need running down. Eddie again leaves in a pique. Evidently, Annie’s obsessions are a sore spot.

While all of this is going on, Peter returns to the shack at Clear Horizons, setting it on fire and burning  the fake fingernails as well. So, are we to believe Peter is behind all the creep stuff? Is he fabricating this facade in an effort to get Annie to depend on him more? What is his motivation to deliberately destroy evidence? Like I said at the top, I feel as though the writers are trying to get us to believe Peter is behind some of the underhanded events but it just feels too early in the story to outright convict him at this point.

The focus then shifts to Coach Tom. Jesse’s boyfriend Danny (Cameron Roberts) reveals Tom took Jesse to a motel and whatever happened that night is what caused Jesse to hate Tom. Peter and Annie visit the hotel and learn that Tom bought a hooker for Jesse, to get him to “man up!” Anne later visits with Tom’s wife, Jackie (Marianne Farley), and she reveals they are not really together. She is aware of Tom’s visits to this hooker. Peter calls Tom down to headquarters and subjects him to Peter and Annie’s good cop/bad cop questioning. They let Tom know that the phone records from the Rattlesnake confirm Tom got a three-minute call at 12:30 a.m. the night Jesse was killed. Tom denies any involvement and Jackie provides his alibi.

With that dead end, Annie revisits the hooker who shares some interesting information about Tom. Not only did he deliberately get himself injured in a traffic accident, ending his career as a hockey player, but he keeps the old sign the city erected in his name. It is hidden in the basement of the arena where he relives his glory through his team and through Jesse. Annie heads there and discovers the sign but someone locks her in. Whoever it is pours gasoline, allowing it to seep under the door.

Remember that image of Joseph stabbing his son in the back that Maggie and Father Jameson discovered in the church? Seems the Riddler wants Annie to tie that image to Coach Tom. Apparently, Tom played Joseph opposite Sandy Driver in the Christmas pageant the year Sandy was brutally murdered. Coincidence?

OK, so back to the gasoline at the door. Annie confesses to whomever is outside that door. She assumes it is the Riddler. She tells him she trusts him but she was hurt and lost after he left her 20 years ago. His response? “Don’t trust the guy with the fire in his eye.” Annie manages to break out of the room and runs to Peter who just happens to be watching his garage burn down. “Goddam, kids” he says.

WHEW!!! Like I said at the top, we are left with more questions than we started with. What is Peter’s story? Can Annie trust him or does she need to heed the Riddler’s warning? Is the Riddler perhaps Sandy Driver’s father Neil ( Andreas Aspergis) who is now off his meds? Did Tom kill Jesse? Is he behind Sandy Driver’s death too? How does the Riddler know all of these details if he is not the killer? So is the Riddler also the killer? I have not got a clue yet myself. But I am having too much fun watching each layer as they are unveiled to me! And I cannot wait to find out what happens next either!

Let me know who you think is behind the killings and who you think the Riddler is in the comments below.

Bellevue airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Here we are at the conclusion of Episode 2 of Bellevue—written by Jane Maggs, produced by Diandra Yoselevitz and directed by Adrienne Mitchell—and we are left with many questions. But first, here is a rundown of what we know from last week’s premiere episode:

Our story takes place in the mining town of Bellevue, a town that has fallen on hard times. Det. Annie Ryder (Anna Paquin, most recently from True Blood) is a single mom to Daisy (Madison Ferguson).  Daisy’s father, Eddie Roe (Allen Leech of Downton Abbey fame), is still very much a part of their lives—seems this couple is the Lucy and Desi of Bellevue. As a child, Annie’s life was forever altered when her father, also a police officer, took his own life following his inability to solve the case of Sandy Driver, a teen brutally murdered in Bellevue. That case is nicely summarized for us by Daisy in a history presentation for school. We also discover that, following her father’s death, Annie received letters—riddles really—from someone posing as her father. This creep essentially stole Annie’s childhood, resulting in a lifetime battling with self-harm, be it a  physical manifestation or emotional. I am very curious to see how the religious metaphors are going to play out in conjunction with childhood innocence and the duality of good versus evil.

A police investigation is launched following the apparent disappearance of Jesse Sweetland (Sadie O’Neil), the town’s star hockey player who rumour has it is reconsidering his gender identity. Annie Ryder is leading the investigation.

With this new case, the creep of Annie’s youth returns, and the riddles begin anew. “When someone else ate, you became full of me. What am I? Find me where there is none.” There is no “original sin” at the old derelict teen party hang-out “Immaculate Conception” church. We head to the old church and discover that perhaps Jesse’s absence has some religious connection. Even conversion therapy is hinted at.

Episode 2 delves deeper into the case. More leads are discovered and we also gain insight into the complexities that are Annie.

First, some clarification may be needed with respect to Immaculate Conception. It is oftentimes confused with the Doctrine of Incarnation, which covers the birth of Jesus. Immaculate Conception refers to Mother Mary’s conception wherein God blessed Mary at the time of her conception, preserving her soul from the stain of original sin and preparing her to carry the Son of God in the future. I have yet to watch any episodes beyond the first two as I write this, but I have a strong feeling this distinction may prove important as we move forward.

At any rate, this episode picks right up with Annie and confirmed bachelor Chief Peter Welland (Shawn Doyle of Frontier) back at Immaculate Conception, to find all of the blood/paint and barbed wire gone. Also missing is “Alfie” the clown, a figurine Annie had left for her father/creep as a child. Annie is now convinced the “asshole that gave me riddles” is back and shares that information with Peter. Peter’s reaction to the discovery the creep left a message on Annie’s rear windshield while Daisy was in the car demonstrates his long-standing loyalty to Annie. What we don’t know yet is why. Peter believes this guy from Annie’s past has nothing to do with Jesse and orders her off the case; he is handling it personally. Annie believes creep is watching her but does not explain the message delivery system fully; creep messes with her mailbox each time he leaves a new message in the forest for Annie.

We rejoin Annie as the search party is convening, providing a nice foil to learn about the various townspeople. Annie speaks with Jesse’s mother Maggie (Victoria Sanchez of 19-2), but when she spots Father Jameson (Joe Cobden) leading a prayer session, Maggie physically attacks him, naming him responsible for her son’s disappearance. Father reveals he has an opinion regarding Jesse’s “sickness.” But who is the one whose soul is troubled here? Later, we discover Maggie has an ongoing physical relationship with the Father and he permits her advances in the sanctuary. Seems the Father is also a proponent of self-mortification; to atone for his own sinful nature.

Mayor Mansfield (Janine Theriault) is trying to keep the town calm in light of the both the state of high unemployment and this disappearance. Seems she is not getting along with her own daughter Bethany (Amelia Hellman) who as it turns out is secretly attracted to Jesse as a female, much to the dismay of her boyfriend, Jacob (Robert Naylor of Cardinal). Annie catches Bethany searching the crime scene for something small that proves to be an Eiffel Tower earring Bethany tore from Jesse’s ear at the time of his disappearance. After speaking with Bethany, Annie returns to her car and discovers a doll in her backseat, dressed to represent the Virgin Mary.

This latest gift leads Annie to question if the Sandy Driver case her father was unable to solve is somehow linked to Jesse’s disappearance. Sandy’s body was found dressed as the Virgin Mary. Inside a tear in the doll’s leg, Annie finds intact fingernails wrapped in plastic, presumably those that were missing from Sandy Driver’s body and never recovered. Note where on a women’s corresponding anatomy this tear exists on the doll. Coincidence??

Police start to put the scene together and question the boys from Jesse’s hockey team. Their line of questioning leads to Jacob admitting to beating Jesse and witnessing Jesse getting into a white pickup truck.

Another message from creep is left for Annie: “What is the thing that travelers pursue. Hard to hunt; hard to view. The nearer you get the faster it runs from you. There you will find a fish out of water.” Travelers reach out for “New Horizons,” the remnants of a psychiatric hospital, established in 1854. The site now houses a small shack, where Annie quickly assumes Sandy Driver was held, and nearby is a small pond where Annie discovers Jesse’s body.

WHEW! That episode had a ton of stuff happening.

A few of the questions remaining: Who is creep? What is the connection between Sandy Driver and Jesse Sweetland? Why is there a connection between Annie and the two cases? What connection does Father Jameson have to Jesse? Will Eddie be able to protect Annie? What is behind Peter’s protective nature over Annie and Daisy, and why is he so emphatic she not investigate the creep/riddler?

Let me know your theories in the comments below.

Bellevue airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Feature image courtesy of CBC.