A Fistful Of Sand Dollars – As the third episode of Panhandle begins, Bell Prescott (Luke Kirby) tries to convince Alejandro Perez (Mo Gallini) that he was only fluffing the pillow instead of humping it. Alejandro was surprised he has been looking into Vida’s death since it would be healthier to move on. He claims the police’s account is true that Vida was killed by a junkie after going to go the swamp to buy drugs. They argue over who knew Vida better before Alejandro says his daughter did drugs when she was in pain. He prayed for her marriage to fall apart and was grateful there was another man who brought something other than misery into her life. Bell is asked to stop the investigation and go back to whatever he does. Alejandro calls him a spoiled, drunk child and claims he is hunting himself. Bell eventually makes him leave.

He goes inside and tells Vida (Lorenza Izzo) he should’ve done this a long time because it would save her. Bell prepares to hang himself only for the ceiling fan to crash to the ground. Millicent (Lesley Ann Warren) rushes in to find him lying on the ground. She reminds him that the roof has wood rot so that wasn’t going to work. Once she finds out why he tried to kill himself, Millicent offers him a hot bath and cocoa. Cammie Lorde (Tiana Okoye) goes to the gym where she arrests Bill Mason of The Cockpits for the murder of Mel Doppler. On their way to the jail, Bill claims he is innocent while Cammie says she has proof otherwise. She calls Bell to ask him about the pair of futons. He tells her about the freshwater organisms that establish the time of death. Bill claims he’ll just do five years and he can do that standing on his head.

Although he has a young son, he’ll make up for it on the other side. When she mocks him, Bill claims she is a mess before asking if she has heard herself. Once they make it to the station, Urleen (Erin Ownbey) seems to like Bill. (Derek Russo). Darby Hix (Melanie Minichino) enters seconds later and tells Cammie what happened with Bell last night. Checotah (Forrest Goodluck) brings Bell some books on how to recover from infidelity. Millicent tells him about last night just before Cammie arrives. Cammie and Checotah lay down with him on the floor in hopes of cheering him up. Cammie believes he is depressed. She offers to read to him since it usually works for Tyler. Cammie knows about cheating partners. She is still upset as heck and there is nothing wrong with that. Later, she tells Millicent that he needs professional help.

They have to help him or get him committed. Checotah tells them about Dr. Elisio Alvarez (J. Santiago Suarez) who is a doctor of psychology at Florida State. They watch a video of him and get emotional so Cammie believes he is a good choice for Bell. While Checotah tries to find him, Bell says he is going to feed himself to William Moseley. Cammie yells at him to get him to stop while Bell thought she understood the extreme nature of his personal torment. He tells her about Vida hiding at her parent’s beach house and hanging out with her lover. Cammie suggests there could be clues there. She asks him about taking responsibility for what happened. Bell decides to go to bed. Checotah shows Cammie and Millicent a list of Alvarez’s recent orders. Millicent manages to get him over to talk about her garden. She tries to talk him into helping her son.

Then, they try to get Bell to agree to work with him. He gets into an argument with Cammie about her appetite for casual, meaningless sex. Bell sits down with Alvarez moments later. While they work, Cammie reminds Millicent that it might not be a good idea to have guns in the house. Bell’s father hated guns, but he knew that loved them and needed that sense of power. Six years ago, he got rip-roaring drunk and fell off the hayloft. It sucks harder that Bell found him. He didn’t handle it since he handled Millicent as well as her grief and suffering. As a result, he had no time for himself or Vida. Millicent blames herself because no kid should have to fix their parent. Cammie begins thinking about Tyler and crying. Millicent reassures her that she’ll have him for her whole life. Cammie admits her parents didn’t believe in the whole lifetime thing, but she won’t let anything hurt her boy.

While Bell blames himself, Alvarez believes he is holding onto a secret that is poisoning him. Once Vida encourages him to talk about his father, Bell says he doesn’t want to talk about his father. He gets ready to give up until Alvarez asks if the hallucinations soothe or disturb him. Alvarez begins encouraging him to find a way to live. He tells Cammie and Millicent his finding before admitting he told Bell to get a hobby. He needs to do something even if that means trying to find his wife’s killer. Cammie admits they stopped because they hit a dead end. Millicent pleads with her to break through it, but she doesn’t want to help this time. Cammie goes to the barbershop to pick up Tyler (Landon Chase Dubois). She tries to tell her son that she isn’t a detective even though he says she caught two bad guys. Cammie tells them she caught two murderers. She asks them to watch Ty so she can go to the beach to look for clues.

Tyler wants to go so she agrees to take him. Once they arrive, she says she is going to look for clues while Tyler looks for sand dollars. She admits he has a grandma and grandpa. A long time ago, they decided that they had to leave. Cammie agrees it was wrong to keep it secret so they shouldn’t have any secrets between them. While Tyler plays, Cammie watches a man get his backside waxed. She continues watching as Alejandro returns home before he belittles Yasiel and Ramon for transporting off-book product to Tampa. Ramon (Angel Luis) blames Yasiel (Jesse Gallegos) and says he had nothing to do with it. Alejandro looks from the balcony and spots Cammie looking at them using binoculars. She grabs Tyler so they can leave in a hurry. As she gets him into the car, he says something about the water in the estuary flowing in either direction. When she turns around, Alejandro approaches her to ask what she is doing on Rosemary Beach.

He urges her not to come back, but Cammie argues that all Florida shoreline is public. After that, she wakes Bell using a taser to tell him about the possible lead she got from Rosemary Beach. Since Vida’s dad threatened her, she believes they have serious stuff to hide. She now doubts the official police accounts. They check the water levels near the Perez house on the day of Vida’s death. That convinces Cammie that Vida could’ve been killed at the beach. Bell is impressed since it is the biggest breakthrough in five years. Bell decides that they need to get Vida’s body because they need to check it for evidence of seawater. Cammie asks if he could become a semi-functioning guy if they manage to solve this thing. Bell calls her a fascinating woman and she agrees. Cammie picks up Dr. Otis Wright (Wallace Smith) who doesn’t like the idea of digging up a dead body for Bell. He wonders if she has a crush on him only for Cammie to say single moms don’t get crushes.

They talk to the man at the funeral home about relocating a decedent. Cammie is told the nest of kin will need to appear in person for that to happen. Otis is there as his proxy since he suffers from agoraphobia. He makes up a bunch of lies about Bell to get the body which is taken back to the Prescott property right away. Otis is told they’re looking for anything that puts Vida at the beach on the night of her murder. Darby finds it odd that she is wearing nail polish when Vida never did. Otis is asked to take it off without the acetone leaking under. She goes on to say morticians usually paint the nails if there happens to be dirt under them. Vida rushes outside with Bell following her. She claims this is a distraction for him, but he says he needs closure. Cammie comes out to apologize because this is a lot. Bell blames himself for everything since he is a terrible husband. Finding the person who killed her won’t solve the fundamental issue of him pushing her away.

Cammie tells him otherwise since Vida went to wherever she died on her own. Otis invites them back inside once they find an insect wing. Darby mentions that it is a sand fly so they believe she was at the beach after all. Otis asks if Vida has neck surgery after he finds a metal fragment in her hyoid bone. Bell thanks them and promises to rebury Vida’s remains in the morning. Later, he does some tests before calling Cammie in the middle of the night. He explains that the metal was steel and it predates the Bessemer process. That means the murder weapon was an antique from the 18th century. They can’t imagine who’d have an 18th-century machete. In the morning, Bell holds another burial for Vida. He briefly talks about Vida before she is buried and Otis begins singing. Later, Otis tells Cammie that Bell is going to live thanks to her. She says they all did it though.

Otis believes he is staying on top of the dirt for her. He admits he is thinking about letting her off the hook for those tickets. They agree to get a drink together sometime. Vida suggests this is where she belongs while Bell admits people say he needs to face the truth. He wonders if they should take a small break. Cammie finds an old machete in the Prescott house just before Bell asks if she is looking for something. Alicia Perez approaches Alejandro to tell him she just got back from Miami. When asked about Boggsville, he insists things are controlled and Bell is no threat. He claims he straightened out the police officer nosing around too.

 

Panhandle Review

Panhandle fits into a crowded genre that is often very successful among viewers wanting to tune out from reality for a few hours. Fans of the genre may enjoy everything Panhandle has to offer since it is straightforward, silly, and clever at times. The cast does well with the script even though it isn’t overly complex, but that might be alluring for many viewers eager to find something to turn on and tune out.

Although I am not a big fan of the comedy detective genre, I can see some promise in Panhandle. There isn’t anything extraordinary here yet, but Panhandle will likely be a good binge for those bored and looking for something to watch. The episode was okay since it moved the main story forward a lot by proving that Vida wasn’t in the swamp when she died.

Plus, viewers were introduced to Alejandro and his family while Cammie may develop a friendship or more with Otis. There is clearly more to the story and something fishy going on with the Perez family so that will be something to keep an eye on in future episodes. This one scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Panhandle can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.