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Bellevue: “Love Hurts,” plus a chat with co-creator Jane Maggs

Spoiler alert! Do not read until you’ve watched Episode 8 of Bellevue. 

[Make sure to check out my chat with Bellevue co-creator Jane Maggs after this review.]

When we last met following last week’s episode of Bellevue, Brady (Billy MacLellan) lay dead across the hood of his truck and Annie (Anna Paquin) was handcuffed inside. Tonight, we find out it is Adam (Patrick Labbé) who saved his little sister. Adam “tried a different way to end the cycle” with Annie, whatever “cycle” means. So even though the man responsible for Jesse’s (Sadie O’Neil) murder is now dead, this final episode solves the Sandy Driver’s murder. We will also learn how that murder is connected to Jesse’s death. And finally, what everyone wants to know: what did Adam tell Peter in the confessional? It becomes Adam’s mission to close the story on Sandy Driver. No one yet understands, but Jane Maggs ties this all up with a great big bow for us.

Police arrive at the scene of the accident, and Peter (Shawn Doyle) confides to Annie he just wants Adam dead. Eddie (Allen Leech), fighting for his family and his relationship with Annie, arrives to take Annie home and tells her to just let it all go—for the sake their relationship and for the sake of Daisy (Madison Ferguson)— to just “walk away.”  But can she? Of course, she doesn’t. If she did, we would not have much of an ending!

Adam plays the Pied Piper and manages to capture his three little rats. First, he lures Tom (Vincent Leclerc) to the path in the woods with a recording of his daughter, and to his trap—literally. Once caught, Adam carves the name “Sandy” into Tom’s chest and leaves him to die … or not. Annie, Peter and Virginia (Sharon Taylor) reach him in time.

Annie and Peter decide to pay a visit to Maggie (Victoria Sanchez) for answers. Maggie reveals the four of them—Tom, Jameson (Joe Cobden) and Mother (Janine Theriault)—and she formed a blood pact in the old New Horizon’s shed. They all had their parts. Tom used the watch Maggie stole to lure Sandy to the woods, Jameson humiliated Sandy—he liked his girls dirty—and Mother did everything. “She planned it.”

Peter then ties the clue, “The lion has come to lay waste to the land,” to the waste that was thrown at Sandy. Adam is leading them to his victims. At the landfill we find Jameson, hanging from a crane, with the name Sandy carved in his forehead. Questioning of Jameson reveals that Lily locked Sandy in the shed because Sandy got the role of Mary, the role Lily felt was hers. “You didn’t take things from Lily back then.”

So now, where is Lily? There are no clues. Annie has the whole story. Lily is not meant to be found. Adam killed Sandy. So why is Adam leading Annie on this path? Because Annie needs to understand why he killed Sandy. Annie has the answer and now we also understand why her father killed himself. He didn’t do it because he couldn’t solve Sandy’s murder but rather because he did.

Sandy’s murder was the first clue, the clue Annie needs to solve in order to find Lily on time. Sandy was posed, pointing to town: “no sin; find me where there is none.” It is not original sin, but no sin. There was “no sin” in Sandy’s death. Adam needs for Annie to understand that Sandy’s death was merciful. And what happens to sit on Mercy Street? The brewery that Mother is trying to get up and running to bring jobs back to Bellevue.

The key players from the department converge on the brewery and discover first a dead lily, and then a crate hidden within piles of dirt. Hops? Barley? At any rate, Peter takes over the dig and reveals the wooden crate. He pries it open to discover Mother alive inside.

All right, so our main players involved in bringing Sandy to the point of wanting to die have been tortured and rescued, but that leaves Adam still out there, misunderstood. Annie still needs to understand. And how best to do so? Daisy. Adam goes to Annie’s while Daisy is home and Daisy lets him in—despite having seen the wall of creepy clues and pictures in her home—and Daisy gets to know her uncle.  She intimates she wishes she had an end to her project and Adam takes her to the forest to show her the ending.

Eddie, realizing Daisy is missing, freaks out and chases Annie down at the brewery. They go on a hunt to find Daisy and Adam in the woods where Peter joins them. Adam lays a trail, in keeping with his doll theme, to lead Annie to Daisy. Once found, Annie sends Daisy back to her father and talks with Adam. He explains that he just wanted Annie to understand how tortured he was to not be a part of things. How betrayed he felt by the actions of their father. And it was whilst in his rage that he discovered Sandy, locked in the shed. It was in Sandy he found someone who was living with just as much pain as he. Sandy’s death was a suicide pact but Adam ultimately could not follow through with that act.

Now, years later, he has come back to finally end the cycle and pretends to attempt to kill Annie, but tells her to “just do it.” Annie does, killing her own brother; finishing the cycle.

In the aftermath, Annie and Eddie pack up to move. Annie can finally leave the family home. And we see Danny (Cameron Roberts) sitting down with Maggie to share his movies of Jesse.  But wait, we still don’t know what Adam said to Peter…

“There is just one thing I would like to say before this all ends happily for you. You love her. You’ve loved her ever since she was a kid, and you have just been waiting and waiting for her to grow up. So you can just…” And that was so very evident on Peter’s face as Annie, Daisy and Eddie drove away.

I caught up with Jane Maggs and asked her to share some thoughts now that Bellevue Season 1 is complete.

First, How do you feel now that you see this come full circle, from project conception to tonight, completion?
Jane Maggs: I feel incredibly thankful for everyone who came together to make this thing that at one point was just a paragraph on a piece of paper. The calibre of people we had in every role was humbling to me daily.

And perhaps if you could share a memory from shooting the show that has not yet been shared, something that will, say 10 years from now still be with you?
On our last day of shooting I was late because I as doing some second unit stuff and I showed up (we were in a studio that day). I walked to the studio door and before I went in one of the crew members told me “Billy [MacLellan] is nailing it in there.” It was the day we were filming the stuff at the end of Episode 7 and he was nailing it. But I was struck mostly by the feeling of unity that our cast and crew felt, really part of something and proud and invested personally. That was underscored by the fact that I went in and there was cast there who were not even shooting that day but wanted to be around, support Billy, Anna, Sadie and Amber who were all shooting some intense stuff. It’s a day I won’t forget.

Well, that is all Bellevue-ites! No word as yet if there is a Season 2 somewhere in the future, but this has been a great ride! And thank you to Jane Maggs to take some time out of her day to touch base.

What did you think of Season 1 of Bellevue? Let us know in the comments below.

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Bellevue: Did you hear the one about the mayor, the priest, and the hockey coach?

**SPOILER ALERT** Do NOT read if you have not watched Episode 7 of Bellevue!

THAT episode of Bellevue was FREAKING INSANE! The kind of blow your mind storyline twists that we have come to expect from shows like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. Seriously! Bellevue may not be as epic or grand scale, but the twists are just as effective for dragging viewers down the rabbit hole.

So let’s get it out of the way right now … Brady killed Jesse! WHAT?!? Did ANYONE SEE that coming? To quote Annie Ryder: “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?” Turns out Brady, in an effort to talk Jesse (Sadie O’Neil) out of leaving town revealed to her that he was secretly in love with his sister Briana (Amber Goldfarb). Jesse’s repulsion sealed her doom, and Brady was forced to kill to keep his secret safe.

But let’s backtrack and sort out how we got there. We know Tom’s (Vincent Leclerc) alibi is blown because of his raving wife Jackie (Marianne Farley), and Peter (Shawn Doyle) calls him in for questioning. Tom finally admits he did pick Jesse up and took him to the church so that he, Lily (Janine Theriault), and Father Jay (Joe Cobden) can “talk some sense into him” and “get him on the right path again.”

Upset by all of this talk Jesse ran out of the church. She never got back into Tom’s truck. So now we know there is another white truck out there and Annie figures out that someone else was present in the church, lurking behind the curtain.

Meanwhile, we learn that The Riddler is Annie’s brother! Somehow she had entirely forgotten about him! Adam (Patrick Labbé) who at the age of 12—when Annie was three—was shunned by his father and sent away to military school because of his obsessive behaviour towards Annie. Now he is back, living in the woods, and keeping tabs on Annie with a police radio. Up until recently, he had been working at the local diner as a dishwasher under the alias Bobby Storms. Peter runs the alias through CPIC and calls up his list of priors including B&E’s, assault and a few counts of arson. Peter and Annie revisit areas in the woods Annie knows her brother frequented. Peter spots a campfire and they find Adam’s shelter. Peter pockets a note Adam intended for Annie, while Annie slips into the shelter and recognizes all of her possessions. Memories of her brother come flooding back.

Peter runs down the latest riddle at the church’s soup kitchen. Here he catches Adam off guard. Now, this is where our producers get a little audacious as they toy with viewers. Words are exchanged and are deliberately garbled for the audience. Adam says something that shocks Peter, but we are not privy to Adam’s message for Peter. Adam makes his escape leaving yet one more clue. Paraphrasing scripture from Jeremiah 4:7, and  loosely translated: “An impending calamity is about to happen; the final act of destruction.” Cheery thought, that.

On the Annie-Eddie (Allen Leech) front, Eddie is planning a move. He intends to take Daisy (Madison Ferguson) with him, and if Annie is not coming with them, he plans on fighting for custody. In the meantime Daisy, while hanging out with Bethany (Emelia Hellman) at the site where Jesse’s body was found, falls into the water. And conveniently, for investigative purposes, it happens a parasitic bacteria is present in the lake that requires a specific course of antibiotics to clear up. This means whoever killed Jesse would also require that same course of treatment. Whoever has recently been prescribed nitazoxanide would be a worthy suspect for Jesse’s murder.

Back at the station, Virginia (Sharon Taylor) picks up on an inconsistency with a CI account, and Brady is that CI’s contact. Annie decides to drop in on Brady and clearly, her spidey sense is tingling. Feigning a need to use the washroom, she checks through Brady’s medicine cabinet and garbage and there it is: nitazoxanide. Brady knows the jig is up and takes off in his truck. Annie looks in his garage and there she spots a white pickup truck, which we later find out belongs to Briana, registered in Sudbury. Unbeknownst to Annie, Brady is doubling back and takes her at gunpoint just as her call connects to Peter’s voicemail. Brady admits to being the man behind the curtain, and that he killed Jesse. And just as he is about to kill Annie, someone shows up in their own truck hitting Brady and sending his body into the windshield. Roll the credits!

Who is in need of some therapy after that episode? Huge shout out to Billy MacLellan for his performance in this episode, I was right there with him, feeling his emotional pain during his confession to Annie. Bravo!

And another shout out to Anna Paquin and Allen Leech for their hot and steamy scene! Beautifully done!

Now we know who killed Jesse, but what is the connection to Sandy Driver? Who killed her and why? We only have one episode left! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

The season finale of Bellevue airs Monday at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Bellevue: The (hidden) “Truth” may bite you in the ass

Spoiler alert! Do not read until you’ve watched Episode 6 of Bellevue.

Welcome back Bellevue-ites! We meet again to go over what we learned in this week’s episode of Bellevue, “The Problem with the Truth.” The pace is picking up, so a lot of information is parsed during this episode, on many different fronts. And, as the title suggests, the truths uncovered may have unsavoury consequences.

We pick up where we left off, Eddie (Allan Leech) is staying the night at Annie’s (Anna Paquin) following his statement to Peter (Shawn Doyle). Annie is discussing her theories with Eddie and feels if she combines the information she has now gathered with the information that would be contained within her father’s old memo books she could solve Sandy Driver’s murder. Annie puts in the request, much to Peter’s objection. However, with Annie’s reminder that Peter burned down the shed at the New Horizon’s property, Peter reluctantly backs down and agrees to sign off on Clarence Ryder’s last notebook.

Annie revisits the witness statements in her father’s notes. First, Randy Olding (Kent McQuaid) who discovered Sandy’s body, and then Helen Spencer (Laura Mitchell), the pageant organizer. Upon questioning, it is Helen who reveals Sandy had always been unkempt and lacked friends. But for her brief moments as Mary, Sandy Driver never felt love. She also reveals Lily Mansfield (Janine Theriault) was not very “biblical.” Later, in a follow-up visit, Annie questions her directly. Helen reveals Lily “Mother” Mansfield had an abortion, and the father was rumoured to be an older man. But how much older, is the question!

Annie works through the notebook and discovers that the last page for March 23, 1995, is missing. It has been cut out. Using the all too reliable pencil shading technique, it reveals her father received a 911 call. Now, WHY would he rip that out?

Next, we turn to the audio tapes of the 911 calls of March 23 and discover it was none other than Lily Mansfield who made the emergency call. She knows there was an intruder in her home because he or she left fingernails. The 911 operator notifies Lily that an officer is on the way. Further investigation by Annie reveals the 911 call was never officially recorded. There is no file.

The trouble with cold cases is technology has evolved and the old interview videotapes are still on VHS instead of digital. And, it seems, the station’s VCR is not in good working order. Ever the problem solver, Annie calls Brady (Billy MacLellan) and invites herself over to watch Sandy Driver interview tapes. Included in the interviews was a statement by none other than Lily Mansfield in which she is clearly flirting with the officer questioning her, and the officer, from his tone, is totally “into it.”

Annie believes she has pieced it together: her father was somehow involved with Lily Mansfield and Peter did not want her to know about it. She approaches Peter and questions him, explaining her theory and he does not deny her hypotheses, letting her believe that not only did her father respond to the 911 call made by Lily Mansfield, but that her father was having an affair with a 16-year-old Lily.

Annie then travels to her father’s cabin where she discovers an active pager with the same numerical message her father had written on the outside of his notepad. This has to be another clue from The Riddler because that pager would not still be active after 20 years out in a hunting cabin. Not to mention, who would pay to keep the account active for that long? (and presumably her father’s pager, if he had one, would be collected as evidence at the time of his suicide). Turns out the number is a coded message, “Horizon,” referencing back to the old and now derelict New Horizons Psychiatric Hospital. Annie places a requisition for a patient list.

Going over her materials one more time Annie spots an inconsistency. It was Peter who mentioned the fingernails were found on Lily’s bed, not the 911 call. How did Peter know? OK, cue the “Don’t trust the guy with the fire in his eyes,” moment. It was Peter who took the 911 call out, and it was Peter who tore out the last page of her father’s notepad. Another stellar performance by Ms. Paquin, this time with Shawn Doyle. The two rip into each other, with accusations flying. When faced with the truth, Peter admits to some complicity but not yet everything, as we will find out shortly, and Annie is pissed. How dare Peter let her believe her father was having an affair or that he screwed up the case? He does not seem to understand how this affects her life. And what was all that nonsense about being there for her?

“HE’S DEAD! HE’S DEAD and I AM ALIVE! I MADE A JUDGMENT CALL BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU NEEDED SOMEBODY!”

Essentially, Peter has been lying to Annie all of her life.

While all of this back and forth with Peter is going on, Virginia (Sharon Taylor) is running down Jackie Edmonds’ (Marianne Farley) alibi because of her presence at the Rave from the other night. Witnesses state she attends every week, so this has effectively ruined Coach Tom’s (Vincent Leclerc) alibi. Jackie’s claim that she was home with her husband the night Jesse died is a lie.

This week’s instalment on the Eddie-Annie relationship front takes place at the community family barbecue. Eddie is there with Daisy and Briana (Amber Goldfarb). Annie begs Eddie to come home, to be a family again. Eddie, however, is done with crazy. He has to say no for his own well-being. He needs calm and simple and no longer believes that “you have to feel pain to be with someone.” Annie is not ready to not be crazy, and she proves it by running to the arms of Brady. That leads to a brawl between Eddie and Brady. In the end, Annie leaves by herself, Daisy (Madison Ferguson) insists on leaving with her dad, and Brady is left with a bloody nose.

Peter pays a visit to Mother Mansfield demanding information about the fingernails, but she swears she does not know who planted them in her room so many years ago. And it appears that these two have a secret history. Lily thinks he is an adrenaline junkie but Peter claims it is self-punishment for Clarence Ryder’s death, “I deserve to feel this fuckin’ low.”

The closing moments return to the hunting cabin where we find Annie drinking. I think it is safe to say, she has hit bottom and loses it. Annie, in a maniacal fever pitched rage, heads out into the woods and a hooded stranger appears, stopping her from self harm! Is THIS The Riddler? Following a brief search she returns to the cabin and finds another clue.

“Adam 16”.

WHEW! So Tom has no alibi, and Peter and Mother Mansfield are keeping secrets. Who killed Sandy Driver? Who killed Jesse? We still don’t know what the connection is between these murders. Who do you suspect? Let me know in the comments below!

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

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Bellevue: “How Do I Remember?”

Spoiler alert! Do not read until you’ve watched Episode 5 of Bellevue.

“Paths can take you wildly away from anything you recognize and still bring you back to your door.” —The Riddler

And so we will follow the paths of remembering, and witness the pain that comes with discovery and growth as we gather more information and fit these pieces into the puzzle that is Bellevue this week.

We are now into the second half of the series and this episode, entitled “How Do I Remember?,” opens with Annie (Anna Paquin) reminiscing with The Riddler via her home surveillance system. She intimates that he made her life bearable after she lost her father.  Annie then questions The Riddler about Neil Driver (Andreas Aspergis) and Jed (Neil Napier) and their connection to the case. But I am beginning to wonder, is Annie still in control here? Is The Riddler needing a connection to Annie to reinforce his own sense of self worth and therefore manipulating Annie into this relationship? Or is he involved in the case(s) himself? Is he someone who knows Annie and wants to help? And is Annie falling back into the bad habits of her youth? A final cryptic message coupled with a request by The Riddler: “I dropped the stone but you are not seeing the ripples. Tomorrow at the funeral, wear the watch.”

The town attends Jesse’s (Sadie O’Neil) funeral to remember and celebrate Jesse’s life and it is the youth of Bellevue that are embracing the choices that she made. I was touched by the moment when Bethany (Emilia Hellman) stood up despite her mother’s (Janine Theriault) objections and brought a reluctant Danny (Cameron Roberts) back to the congregation. Unfortunately—or fortunately for the purposes of the investigation—Mr. Driver crashes the funeral and accuses Maggie (Victoria Sanchez) of ruining his daughter.

“You deserve this. The world needs a place to channel its evil, so God provides children to kill and he gives them to parents who deserve the pain. You know what you DID!” Alright already,  what did Maggie do?

Following the funeral, Daisy Ryder (Madison Ferguson) returns to the location where Jesse’s body was discovered and the other youth of Bellevue who were closest to Jesse are also there. It is here they celebrate Jesse’s courage and her life. I have now watched this episode twice and I couldn’t help it, I cried both times. Jane Maggs and her team created such an honest reaction, and completely captured the essence of youthful innocence as these teens cope with their loss. Their grief was palpable. This scene was perfect!

Now, on to the investigation. Annie first questions Jed about his MDMA, more specifically, how he and his employees package the drug. He believes there must be a new dealer in town working to compete with Jed. Further questioning of Danny’s father (Peter Miller) confirms Jed’s suspicions. There is indeed a new head that has sprouted to replace the old, and rumour has it if you have any unpaid debts, bad things will come your way. Doing some routine neighbourhood canvassing, Annie questions Maggie Sweetland’s neighbour Cali (Catherine Kidd).

“Sometimes you poke around, you might not like what you find,” and Cali queries Annie about Eddie’s (Allen Leech) well-being. Further conversations with The Riddler suggest Eddie is the connection between Sandy Driver and Jesse Sweetland’s deaths.

Meanwhile, just as Cali intimated, Eddie is in trouble. It appears his pill addiction and lack of employment have caught up with him and now he is indebted to the new dealer in town. To make good on his debt, Eddie is ordered to put the pressure on someone else who is not paying his dues. Annie’s curiosity is further piqued after chatting with Eddie’s latest “friend,” Briana (Amber Goldfarb), so she searches Eddie’s home, only to find Daisy’s dog frozen in a locked freezer. They need to talk! Annie accuses Eddie of planting the drugs in Jesse’s room, but no, Eddie admits that the drugs were stolen from him after Jesse was killed. And this is how you “get your shit together”? I guess The Riddler is right. Eddie is connected since somebody stole the drugs and planted them in Jesse’s room. But who? And, if The Riddler is correct, how is Eddie then connected to Sandy Driver?

FINALLY tonight we get to see Allen Leech’s talents. Up until now Eddie has been more of a supporting role. All of this time I have been waiting to see Leech let loose and tonight I was not disappointed. If you thought the chemistry was good in the parking lot scene two episodes ago, tonight these two ratchet it up a few notches! Eddie’s character is losing control under the pressure. He wants to change and his past keeps catching up to him. Annie convinces him not to play the enforcer and he speaks to Peter (Shawn Doyle). Eddie admits he owned the drugs. Eddie will testify as to his ownership of the drugs and swears this was a one time thing. Eddie returns to buy some time from Cali, letting her No. 2 beat the crap out of him. This is the dynamic moment for Leech’s character. Up until now, both Eddie and Annie have been stagnant within their complicated relationship. Each are so dependent on each other and yet they are not together. Eddie: “You love me too much the way I am. I don’t want to be the way I am anymore.” Eddie has effectively tossed down the gauntlet. If these two are to have a future together, Annie must change her ways too.

Once more Annie connects with The Riddler. She confesses that she felt his presence back at the burned shed. He confesses in kind, admitting that yes, he was there watching her. She pokes the bear, telling The Riddler that really he knows nothing, deliberately antagonizing him and he also admits he doesn’t know who killed Jesse. The Riddler is no longer a source. Annie wants him out of her life and orders a trace. Annie has been playing The Riddler for intel after all. She rules him no longer relevant to the case. The trace leads Annie to the cemetery where The Riddler has left his phone at the grave of Sandy Driver with the message, “You’re not crazy”.

Despite being in the minority, Annie is still convinced Jed is not guilty of killing Jesse, and returns to speak to Maggie one more time. “You are the only one who knows. My kid was killed because of me. Retribution for what I did to her. It all started with me. Sandy,” says Maggie. But Maggie has taken too many pills and collapses. Maggie is rushed to the hospital.

The episode closes with Annie trying to re-establish a connection with The Riddler: “I was wrong, you do know things.”

This was such a convoluted episode. So many twist and turns. Lots of new information, and new connections that fold back onto earlier events. So who do you think is The Riddler? Who do you think killed Jesse Sweetland? How is Jesse’s death connected to Sandy Driver? Let me know in the comments below!

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

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Bellevue: Hello Little Light

Earlier episodes of Bellevue have had strong religious undercurrents. That trend does not continue tonight. Tonight focuses on connections. Connections within the cases, connections between the crimes.  Connection across time, and “connections.”

Two warnings underscore this episode. The first echoes from last week, “Don’t trust the guy with the fire in his eyes,” and the second is a memory Annie (Anna Paquin) recalls whilst she is reviewing her father’s psych report: “There is someone who THINKS he loves you …. He is dangerous, you wouldn’t know it to look at him. He might be watching right now.” With that in mind …

Peter (Shawn Doyle), is still Annie’s overprotective, overwrought superior and the protegé of her father, Clarence Ryder (Patrick Labbé). The Riddler warned her of a man with “fire in his eyes,” but is it Peter he is referring, or merely a coincidence? We see Peter get all up in the face of the perv who was the initial intermediary between Annie and The Riddler. He is put on notice: if he comes across The Riddler or any guy even sounding like The Riddler, he is to let Peter know. Clearly, Peter is not our creepy messenger, but is he connected in some other manner? We know Peter deliberately set the shed on fire, destroying evidence, but what of his garage? Or is it simply his duty to a mentor and “trust issues” when it comes to Peter and Annie?

Our suspect comes in the form of the renown drug-dealer Jed “Rainmaker” Martin (Neil Napier of Helix).  The police obtain a warrant to search Jed’s home for evidence after they discovered a large quantity of his trademark “Rainmaker” MDMA in Jesse’s room. Instead, they find Jesse’s boyfriend Danny (Cameron Roberts) crashing there. Police also find false eyelashes and size 13 boots they suspect belonged to Jesse. Is Jed engaging in inappropriate relations with minor boys from the reserve? Annie and Virginia (Sharon Taylor) track Jed down and question him while officers remain at his property continuing their search. They uncover a recently-buried tin containing the other pink Eiffel Tower earring and some sweetgrass. This significant find justifies bringing Jed in for questioning and he is later arrested for the death of Jesse. Despite being “low-lying fruit,” Jed believes he is being set up. A final questioning by Annie reveals Jed knew Jesse didn’t belong in the suit his family are planning to bury him in. The earring was who Jesse was. “She was a good kid.” Jed didn’t kill Jesse.

So how is Neil Driver (Andreas Apergis), father of Sandy Driver connected to everything going on? Suffering from schizoaffective disorder, he routinely confuses Annie for his daughter. Coincidentally, he has been back in hospital for 48 hours; the same period of time since Annie’s last message from The Riddler. Annie investigates his home and the entire house stopped at 12:13 on December 24, 1994. Newspapers from December 26, 1994 (the day after Sandy died), January 14, 1995 (the day of Sandy Driver’s funeral), and September 7, 1995 (when Annie’s father took his own life), are on the table with the words, “One day I will be free,” etched into the table top.

Seeing her name marked in the paper, Annie pays a visit to a forcibly-restrained Neil. Here in the hospital he gives Annie a watch that had been missing since the day Sandy was taken. Earlier that day a man approached him on the hospital grounds, gave him the watch, and then left via the woods. Now Neil is giving it to Annie. Neil is not The Riddler. Annie heads out onto the grounds, goes through the gate and discovers the only riddle of the night: “Time will tell if the bracelet fits.” Earlier, Daisy (Madison Ferguson) had given her mum grandpa’s old hospital band. Now, with this latest clue, Annie queries her daughter. Daisy found it not in the trash, as Annie had assumed, but rather on a pole waiting to be found. So what does this mean, “if the bracelet fit”? Was Clarence Ryder on the right track in his investigation?

Annie returns to the Driver home, and Neil has been released from hospital. He attempts to explain December 24, at 12:13. This is the time when life stopped for Neil Driver: he lost his temper with his daughter. He knew she has been up to something with her girlfriend Maggie (Victoria Sanchez). Is this the connection? “If she had just left us alone my Sandy would not have had to die.” Is the connection between Jesse and Sandy a form of retribution? And how did the person who had the watch know about 12:13?

Another interesting “connection”? The episode opened with Annie setting up some home surveillance and later someone taps into it, and begins to watch Annie.

“Hello little light.”

She disconnects the camera, but later reconnects it with the hope this will again strengthen the bond between she and The Riddler, and by extension may lead to the killer or killers.

A couple mentions: Bethany (Emilia Hellman) is the subject of cyber-bullying by her classmates. Eddie (Allen Leech) does not think the job he had been counting on is going to pan out and despite his feelings for Annie, he is spending a lot of time with Briana Holt (Amber Goldfarb) instead. Finally, did anyone else notice Annie making a connection with Brady Holt (Billy McLellan)? These two had a momentary truce followed by that awkward moment when both parties are asking, “What just happened here?”

Another episode absolutely stuffed, and it is difficult to get it all into one recap and keep it under 1,000 words, something which I oftentimes fail with miserably. This week I may have left out some details but I had to leave room.

FINALLY, I get to mention how beautifully the creators of Bellevue are seamlessly including the LGBTQ2 community within this storyline. Oftentimes, shows have a token gay or bi character and it feels forced; an afterthought, as though producers toss an under-represented character in in order to fill a quota. Bellevue has incorporated trans, gay, lesbian and those who are still questioning their sexual identity and/or preferences, and it feels utterly effortless. Those who are marginalized by society, are often the invisible ones never represented in television/media, or the characters embody only the ignorant stereotypes and are used to drive the storyline itself. Not here. These rich characters are merely a part of the landscape, included, and accepted by mainstream Bellevue. Some of the town may not understand it, but most are not judgmental. Here, it is those who are un-accepting that are the minority and even the suspects. People from the LGBTQ2 who are watching Bellevue are seeing themselves on primetime TV. It is about time.

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

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