Confessions – The episode opens with Virgil (Mark Pellegrino) and Grace Poe (Maura Tierney) seeing Billy Poe (Alex Neustadter) off at the bus station. Billy grows more and more anxious every second he fails to reach Lee English (Julia Mayorga). Del Harris’ (Jeff Daniels) gift does liven his spirits a bit, but he immediately becomes gloomy after the last boarding call is announced.
Detective Angela Burgos (Luna Lauren Velez) spends the morning at a local café going over the file that Sheriff Steve Park (Rob Yang) gave her at the hospital while Del visits DA Ron Gossage (Mark Junek). Del’s attempts to learn why Sue Herlitz (Emily Davis) was visiting Nell McKenna (Olivia Mulder) are unsuccessful but he does manage to score the name of Sue’s assistant Ramona Paltz (Melissa Rakiro) who might be able to provide more information.
Although now en route, Billy continues to fail to reach Lee. His frustration is soon noticed by a fellow passenger, Father Paul (Connor Barrett), who can’t resist learning more. After a few minutes of swapping stories, Billy learns that Paul is on his way to Greensville Corrections to give last rights to a childhood friend, Angus Braden Moon, convicted of murdering a young couple and their three kids in 1998.
Billy and Paul continue to discuss religion, revenge, and family life as Del visits the Pittsburgh employee records office. Del uses his badge as well as Ron Gossage’s name to obtain two addresses for Ramona. Although he takes both, it is the one that leads to her mother’s house, Mrs. Paltz (Mariama Whyte) that he hits paydirt. It takes a bit of clever arm twisting but Del soon draws Ramona out of hiding where she tells him all about her and Sue’s investigation of Landwill. As it turns out, Nell MacKenna was skewing water tests for Landwill and later extorted them with the evidence. They initially paid her off but she got too greedy. Del advises her to continue hiding but leaves his card in case she learns more.
After leaving the apartment, Del’s first call goes to the warden of the prison where Nell was being held. This leads to him learning that Lee was one of Nell’s last visitors. He also speaks with Grace but is scarce with details of his plans. At nearly the same time, Lee realizes she left her phone at Alejandro’s (Frederico Rodriguez) apartment.
Billy learns more about Angus Moon’s murder and Paul’s belief in forgiveness. At one point Paul must suspect that Billy needs to unburden his soul and offers him the chance. Although Billy considers it, a call from Del draws his attention elsewhere. He ignores the call.
Del is in the process of questioning Rinna Bransford (Ameli Workman). Despite her agreeing to speak with him freely, the response she has to his questioning is that her respectable law firm does not work with thugs. She does appear a bit startled when he mentions Lee’s life being in danger but continues to remain silent. After their brief encounter, he tries both Billy and Lee again and leaves messages for both. A quick scene also shows Lee at a pay phone, leaving Billy an apology message for missing his sendoff and telling him that she is ready to start a life with him.
While Billy sleeps through both messages, Isaac English (David Alvarez) visits Russell Wolfe (Christopher Denham). Things immediately turn intimate between them, causing Russell to miss the warning call from Rinna that Del is hunting him.
Angela attempts to return to a normal routine at work but becomes extremely saddened after seeing Cynthia Frazier’s (Britian Seibert) portrait on a wall of fallen officers. She excuses herself to the rear stairwell where she has a good cry and finally receives Cynthia’s long ago voice message about Chief Bolt (Leon Addison Brown) being dirty.
While waiting in line at a small store to purchase some over-the-counter pain meds, Del has a bit of luck when Alejandro answers Lee’s phone. Although Del is very cryptic about why he needs to speak with Lee, he swears Alejandro to advise her against returning home if he speaks with her. After the call, Del bush-hogs his way to the front of the line, slaps down some money for his meds, and places a call to much-surprised Steve Park. After a bit of begging and promising to confess to the West Virginia shooting, Del convinces Steve to go to Lee’s house. Steve relays the news to Maya Park (Sara Lindsey) before dispatching Hannah Geddy (Rae Gray) to the English house.
Del receives a call from a near frantic Grace and although he quickly brushes her off, he does mention going to the English home. She grabs a revolver from the tin box over the kitchen sink and heads out. A quick flash shows that Russell is also now gearing up and on the move.
When Billy wakes on the bus, he finds Father Paul already disembark but he left behind his bible with the message, ‘God bless you, Billy. Good luck with basic training. Please take a look at Isaiah 30:18. Father Paul Gentry.
Lee is the first to return home and is surprised by Russell, sitting alone silently in her room. She doesn’t get much of an opportunity to react because he instantly turns and shoots her. At the same instant, Isaac wakes alone at Russell’s apartment to find Russell’s not about getting sandwiches. It takes Isaac a minute but he soon realizes the handwriting matches the note that Nate (Tom Pecinka) supposedly left him. His suspicions are all but confirmed when he finds the Saint Sebastian necklace.
Upon arriving at the English residence, Steve takes the lead as they approach the house and proceed upstairs. On the staircase, Steve is surprised from behind by Russell and would have likely taken a bullet had it not been for Hannah winging Russell. Hannah catches a bullet in the side of the neck and appears to succumb to the injury later. Steve kills Russell right before Del stumbles in, somehow miraculously still on his feet. It’s not long after this that Steve has Del disarmed and giving a full confession. Just as Steve learns that the incident played out pretty much how he figured, Grace shoots him from behind. After her weapon is cleared of prints and thrown by Russell’s body, she takes Steve’s recording and flees just as sirens start to blare in the distance. Del collapses just as he discovers Lee’s body on the second floor.
Billy arrives at Fort Benning just as Isaac returns home to the aftermath of the shootout. The footage then skips ahead 10 weeks to the Buell Courthouse where Del is sworn in by Judge Paronne (Guy Boyd) as Sheriff of West Virginia before a packed crowd, including Billy, Grace, Isaac, Ron Gossage, Grace, and Angela. While Billy and Isaac share a moment at Lee’s gravesite, it is revealed that Hannah did not succumb to the gunshot. Despite the tracheotomy, she appears to be recovering.
Season 2 wraps up with a celebratory dinner at Del’s cabin. The dinner is not only for Del’s new posting as Sheriff but Billy’s deployment to Kandahar. Although Billy breaks down in tears during the meal, it is revealed that he did a bang-up job during basic training. Isaac appears to be moving on as well, as he is not only selling the house but has put himself back on the market for a romantic connection. Billy is the only one to notice the red dot from Ramon Fisher’s (Kyle Beltran) rifle and excuses himself from the dinner while retrieving a pistol in the process. It’s mere seconds later he is shown approaching Ramon from behind as a shot rings out.
American Rust Finale Review
Although entirely too long, I wasn’t completely disappointed by the finale. Despite two major cliffhangers, I felt the episode did a good job of wrapping up the majority of the subplots. And for that, I’d have to give the episode a 5.5 out of 10. If the series is lucky enough to get renewed, it will almost be as if they are coming back on a clean slate. My biggest complaints would have to be Billy’s unnecessarily overextended ride to Fort Benning and the constant ping-ponging. I understand this was done to build suspense but can’t say with certainty that it worked.
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