While police sirens blare in the background, episode 3 begins with a teary-eyed Raphael/Raph Norton (Ethan Lwin) watching old videos of Julian Norton (Andrew Buchanan) addressing a crowd of Family Retreat members.

Preparing for Lilly’s (Chlo Delle-Vedove) arrival, Ted passes by the scene just as Raph has started walking away. Thanks to Max McQuillan’s (Robert Mammone) tyrannical ranting, by the time the officers notice, it’s too little too late. While dropping Raph at the Banana Plantation, Raph tells Ted about the shirt and admits that there might be someone else’s on it as well.

Amanda Pharrell (Nicole Chamoun) begins to view her pet in a new light when she uses it to scare a customer, Dean (Brad McMurray), into paying. This inspires her to do all kinds of research, learning that the Mulga Snake aka The King Brown Snake is a member of the Blacksnake family. Along with that, they are extremely lethal. Ted is preoccupied with Lilly’s visit but eventually tells Amanda about seeing Julian Jaguar. This inspires Amanda to ask Simo to compile a list of anyone who purchased lead additives in the past several weeks. Although Simo responds fast, Detective Sweeney (Zindzi Okenyo)is there to swoop in on the intel. Despite this, she does allow Amanda to photo the list.

At nearly the same time Sweeney also receives Dr. Val’s (Angel Punch McGregor) blood analysis. According to the report, the shirt was covered in nasal blood, but the blood was from a punch, not a random nosebleed. In addition, the shirt contained another blood type, A-Negative.

When Amanda and Ted later meet at the Shark Bar to discuss theories and share intel, he unintentionally insults her by asking what she would do to avoid going back to prison. Brooke’s (Sara West) arrival to take their drink order only makes her madder, eventually leading to her walking out after saying she’d like 12 years of her life back.

Amanda and Ted return to the Family Tree Retreat where they question Debbie Chandra about the list and White Hat Incorporated. According to Debbie, Julian often had problems with Mario (Ron Smyck). As for White Hat, she has nothing to offer. This meeting doesn’t last long thanks to Sweeney showing up and dragging Raph back into interrogation. Despite all the trouble Sweeney went to, an urgent call from Val abruptly ends the questioning.

Although Sweeney rushed to the morgue, Twist/Ezra (Simon Lyndon) returns Julian’s remains to Val without much argument. At the same time, Ted and Amanda learn that Julian and Mario’s arguing had to do with Julian not wanting to pay for repairs on the Jag. Before a call distracts Ted, Mario attempts to steer suspicions to a customer who pays him to crush cars after hours. Amanda doesn’t appear at all interested in pursuing this lead.

Ted’s call with Kelly (Radha Mitchell) doesn’t appear to be going too well and he’s already gone by the time Amanda comes out looking for him. While she attempts to call him, she also notices that Mario appears to be heading somewhere in a hurry as well. Seemingly out of options, she is forced to take early possession of her newly purchased vehicle.

Ted’s urgent departure is explained when he returns home to find both Kelly and Lilly waiting on him. The reunion is briefly awkward but Lilly appears to be thrilled by the wildlife and swamp setting. Kelly, on the other hand, only grows more and more cautious with the potential dangers. As soon as Ted gets the chance, he asks Kelly why she changed her travel plans. She attributes it to her not being comfortable with Lilly being alone with him, but something about her disposition suggests otherwise. Ted picks up on this as well.

Despite making it to the highway, Amanda soon has all she can take and is forced to pull over. Raph discusses leaving with Taylah/Tayla (Miah Madden) while Ronnie (Ursula Yovich) receives a surprise visit from Twist. Tayla doesn’t say it but it’s clear she doesn’t want to leave. Twist wastes little time telling Ronnie that he is going to be her new partner. It’s clear she’s not comfortable with the idea.

The tracker eventually leads Amanda to what appears to be a remote warehouse. It is here that she also discovers the Jag and overhears Mario arguing with Nathan (Josh Lacy) about his decision to take the vehicle out for a spin. Amanda attempts to text a photo of the car to Ted but it appears that she is having reception issues. He does later receive the text but it is much later and already after Amanda’s presence has been discovered. Much to Ted’s surprise, Kelly encourages him to go after Amanda when he finally receives the alert.

By the Ted sets out for Amanda, she has been caught thanks to Elaine (Monette Lee). Although Elaine, Mario, and Nathan insist they had nothing to do with Julian’s death, they realize they’ve been caught poaching gators and according to Elaine, she’s far too old to go to jail. Just as killing Amanda has been decided, Ted pulls up outside. Nathan’s brother and Mario go outside to confront Ted but things immediately go awry when Mario makes a break for the Jag. This gives Ted the opportunity he needs to surprise Nathan’s brother.

Mario just happens to pass Sweeney on the road in the Jag and practically gives up without even a chase. As Ted makes his way inside to trade Nathan’s brother for Amanda, Sweeney shows up with a regiment of officers. They are all soon hauled into the police station where Ted gives a statement and Amanda demeans him for running off and leaving her.

When Ted returns home, he attempts to get the truth out of Kelly about her unexpected visit. Although she does tell him that she has told him the truth, she mentions that Ted only ever sees the happy side of Lilly. He doesn’t see her Internet searches, hear the rumors at school, or deal with the constant policing raiding. They don’t get very long to dispute the matter thanks to the unexpected arrival of Amanda.

The episode ends with Amanda embarrassing herself at Ted’s house. Not knowing that Lilly and Kelly are with him, she busts in without knocking and spends several minutes ranting about his pursuit to get his family back. It is only when she stops talking that she realizes Kelly and Lilly have overheard everything. She runs from the house as Ted continually fails to call her back.

 

Troppo Review

I can’t say the episode was horrible. It could have, in fact, likely been one of the better of the series thus far. I think a lot of this had to do with the case being given priority. Don’t get me wrong, there was a good bit of sidetracking with Ted’s family and Ronnie and Twist’s consternation but for me, it seemed the case was given priority. For that, I’d have to give the episode 5.5 out of 10.

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