Daddy Issues – Episode 6 opens with Detective Raymond Fisher (Kyle Beltran) sharing the footage from the Zippo with Michael Orr (Nick Sandow). As the recording plays out, a reenactment of Vic Walkers’ (Marc Menchaca) plays out.
In light of Billy Poe’s (Alex Neustaedter) incident at the Rock Room, Virgil Poe (Mark Pellegrino) calls a family meeting. By the time Grace Poe (Maura Tierney), Billy is awake and already heard enough.
With Detective Angela Burgos (Luna Lauren Velez) tracking Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) to the Walker crime scene, he has no option but to introduce her to his FBI handler Agent Joe Dordt (Ben Cain). At that meeting, Harris doesn’t waste any time letting them know he doesn’t want Burgos involved. However, as she points out, her involvement might be the only way to bring them down if they’ve discovered the Zippo bug. When Burgos is called away to deal with Nell McKenna’s bank statements, Harris tells Dordt that he wants to back out of the investigation now that Burgos is involved. Much to his surprise, he learns that backing out of the investigation will no longer be an option thanks to the FBI’s recent procurement of the flak jacket from the West Virginia investigation.
After waiting 13 minutes, Chief Steve Park (Rob Yang) considers walking out on his meeting with DA Ron Gossage (Mark Junek). Things only get worse when Ron shows up claiming to be pressed for time and insults him before demanding he turn over some actionable evidence on the Sue Herlitz Case (Emily Davis).
With the water test results in hand, Anthony Martino (Tim Perez-Ross) returns to Rinna Bransford’s (Amelia Workman) office and practically demands a settlement for the Howlands. Terri (Teri Clark) and Gene Howland (Josh Drennen). She also later offers Lee English (Julia Mayaorga) some advice when she learns that she is filing for divorce. Her advice is to take Billy for everything he’s worth, although Lee appears to see things differently.
Despite learning of his potential wife (Allie Meixner), Isaac English (David Alvarez) manages to stay calm when he runs into Russell Wolfe’s (Christopher Denham) the following day at work. Sometime later, Russell and Dale Evans (Keith Flippen) treat Grace to a fancy dinner where they ultimately offer her an even more lucrative position within Landwill. At the time, she doesn’t give them an answer but she later celebrates the promotion with Harris.
Harris, Burgos, and their FBI handlers break into Cynthia and Vic’s apartment and are surprised to learn that it has already been bugged. Burgos suggests leaving it in play. At a later visit when Cynthia is home, Burgos uses the bug to make Fisher think she is a threat to the Brotherhood.
Nell is woken by a threatening phone call from someone who appears to be masquerading as the mail bomber. She is encouraged to stop whatever it is she is doing.
Harris attends the unveiling of Henry English’s (Bill Camp) headstone where Lee is the only one to offer a few words of kindness. Billy immediately leaves when the opportunity presents and is shown several minutes later discussing buying a rifle with a Gun Store Clerk (John E Tremba). Harris immediately notices and comments on the tension between Grace and Lee. When questioned, Grace tells him what shares what she learned earlier about the Pete Novick (Jim True-Frost) murder. Grace also takes note of Russell’s driving by the cemetery and meeting with Isaac. After claiming that he and his wife (Allie Meixner) have ‘keeping up appearances for Landwill’ arrangement, Russell tells Isaac that he’s being moved to open another site. Despite Isaac’s apparent frustration, he manages to maintain his composure until Russell makes an unrequited move on him, sending him storming out of the vehicle.
Although it doesn’t appear to be anything definitive, Burgos shares what she learned from Nell’s financial statements with Chief Bolt (Leon Addison Brown) and Harris. What she appears to know for sure is that Nell has received a payout from someone.
Upon learning that Marta Canter (Kelli Simpkins) has told the police everything, she rushes to her basement where she retrieves what appears to be a cardboard box of evidence. She then proceeds to record herself burning the files. Some of them appear to be water testing results.
When Steve learns that Maya Park (Sara Lindsey) has discovered a firearm on their property, he reports it to Frank Deluca (Namir Smallwood) in hopes that he’ll run ballistics. Instead, Deluca only begins to think that Steve has become obsessed with proving that Harris or Grace is responsible for Sue’s murder. Deluca’s suspicions are confirmed once Steve shows him his basement project. Ultimately, Deluca agrees to run ballistics as a professional courtesy but simultaneously has his team process Steve’s basement like a crime scene. Later that evening, Steve tears the models apart after Maya expresses her displeasure over him sharing them.
Burgos attempts to gain favor with Fisher by sharing Vic’s photo with the deceased drug dealer and her suspicions that Harris and others in the department are dirty.
Billy puts his new hunting rifle to the test.
Billy stakes out Aaron (Jon Collin Barclay) through the scope of his new rifle and nearly assassinates him until Aaron’s young daughter shows up out of nowhere. Unbeknownst to Billy, he appears to have his own watcher, Virgil.
While Lee and Isaac send out clean water tests to the locals, Nell turns herself over to authorities, claiming that she is responsible for the mail bombing.
Harris meets with the Brotherhood and quickly learns that Burgos’ tactics were more effective than he could have imagined. Not only have they ramped up their security, but they apparently expect him and Mike to deal with Burgos.
American Rust Review
I have to say that I am surprisingly pleased with how everything is shaping out. Although this particular episode felt a bit draggy and lackluster at times, American Rust certainly has my interest. Based on that, I would have to give this episode a 5.8 out of 10. I would have loved to give it a 6 but, once again, the excessively dark scenes along with some of the poor performances are a huge turn-off.
Steve Park’s character is the perfect example. I feel there is a missed opportunity there. I personally find his models especially interesting and eerily lifelike. For me, his obsession with Harris and Grace could carry the entire series. Unfortunately, Rob Yang just doesn’t have the chops to pull it off. His performance is absolutely uninspiring at times.
Alex is equally bad in his portrayal of Billy and I’d never be mistaken as homophobic, but Isaac and Russell’s relationship feels entirely unneeded. I thought the FBI leveraging Harris to play ball was a good concept but Burgos’s assertive, feminist ‘take no prisoners’ mentality feels a bit over the top. Take the way she threw herself into the Brotherhood case and then started making major plays without firstly consulting the FBI. She could have easily blown the whole operation when she approached Fisher the way she did.
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