At the start of the 4th episode, John Cardinal (Billy Campbell) and Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse) arrive at the scene and learn about the incident from Detective McLeod (James Downing). Lise is told that the victim is Josh McNider (Alden Adair) but his family is fine. Josh’s minivan is missing and blood was found in the garage. Lise searches the house and finds a feather in the baby crib. Then, Lise and John check on Julie McNider (Robinne Fanfair) and ask her a few questions. Lise promises her that they’ll do everything they can to find Josh. Julie can’t remember anyone visiting the house or anyone out hanging out around the neighborhood. She doesn’t believe Josh knew anyone involved in the case either.

However, she mentions that Josh had missed four calls from his father Ken (Tom Rooney). Then, we move to the garage and learn that there are splatter bloodstains so someone likely got hit hard. The victim was placed inside the vehicle after that. Ken’s luggage is on the ground and Cardinal found John’s phone. The messages on Josh’s phone make it sound like Ken knew someone was coming for him. Ken is likely mixed up in it and Josh is going to be the next victim. After that, Neil Cuthbert (Currie Graham) takes Josh out into the snow and they get into a scuffle. Neil knocks him out before trying to force Josh to record a message for his father.

Sheila Gagne (Carmen Moore) works later and tells her colleague that they need better language on the harm reduction. She says the statement needs to be undeniable. Scott Riley (Shawn Doyle) watches from his vehicle outside and he thinks about the past. He remembers running through the snow and chasing after a vehicle but he can’t catch up with it. John and the others return to the office so they can discuss the case. It is revealed that Ken cut his business trip to Nunavut short and flew home yesterday. It is believed that someone tipped Ken off that Josh was at risk. A baby cam was installed in the room and it caught some video. Jerry (Glen Gould) tells John and Lise that he is going to ask for a surveillance team to be placed on Sheila.

He says he changed his mind because he thinks there is a history there. He says a few years there were some sawmill workers up by Moose Lake making trouble in town. Jerry asked Sheila to speak with the owner to make sure some of the worst offenders were sent home. It was Ken and Sheila refused. Jerry agrees to help them try to make a connection on his end. When Jerry leaves, Lise tells John a little more about Josh and his relationship with his father. She explains that John was surveying for his father’s company so they see each other all the time. John wonders what is going to happen with the Josh video since the killer has taken Ken too. Lise suggests there might not be a Josh video.

Sheila notices someone sitting outside of her office. She steps outside and a stranger hands her a cellphone. It begins ringing immediately and she answers it. Taj Roy (Cas Anvar) is on the other end and he wants to speak with Sheila about what is going on. Sheila wonders if Taj can really protect his daughter from the crazed man who is after them. He believes he’ll lose his daughter as soon as they go to the cops and he isn’t going to let that happen. Taj says he will protect Sheila until it is over before the call ends. Moments later, Ash Kular (Zach Smadu) shows Cardinal and Lise the footage from the baby cam and we can see Neil’s face clearly. Information about Neil is pulled up on the computer. He was released six years ago after serving time for an attempted murder charge.

He was detained a bit back for a suspected contract killing. Meanwhile, Josh wakes up and begins working to free himself. Scott drops flowers off at a spot that is important to him. Then, he remembers walking through the woods with an injured woman before being forced to leave her behind. Lise jumps into the vehicle and Cardinal let know that the police have found Josh’s minivan. They travel to the spot where it was located immediately and learn it has been sitting there for a few hours. Josh works diligently to free himself but the wires around his wrists are cutting his skin deeply. Next, Scott meets up with Neil who has Ken held hostage in his shed.

Scott wants to make sure Ken sees him and knows what he is doing to his son so he removes Ken’s blindfold. Since Ken has seen Neil’s face, he wants to kill him immediately but Scott wants to give them time to do the right thing. He tells Neil it is his money and his rules. They get into an argument before a scuffle. Neil nearly chokes Scott to death but Scott grabs a nail and stabs him in the neck with it while the neighbor watches through the window. Neil struggles on the ground while Scott tries to chase the woman down. She manages to hide. Jerry visits Sheila and asks her about Ken but she doesn’t want to talk about it. Jerry says they can fix whatever the problem might be. Then, he asks why she quit Watershed Forestry.

She explains she had a better opportunity and says that is it but Jerry doesn’t believe it. He tracks down John and tells him he tracked down the surveyor who thought it was weird that Barry and Sheila quit their jobs around the same time. There were few other opportunities so he doesn’t understand why they would quit. Jerry tells John he isn’t going to protect Sheila any longer. Then, John heads back inside and learns from Lise that there has been a report of a fight and possible gunshot at a cabin. They leave the station quickly and head to the scene where Neil is found dead. There is blood from multiple sources so they know someone else was likely there. Lise believes the other person might be Neil’s employer since John or Ken would’ve come right to them.

Josh finally manages to remove the wire from around his wrist. An exhausted Josh nearly frees himself before dropping to the ground. Scott speaks with Ken at the old sawmill. Ken admits he is at his old sawmill and Scott says Ken did well off of his land. Scott names off all of the people who he believes did him wrong. Ken claims it was an accident but Scott doesn’t think it was since they let him sit in jail for 20 years. He tells Ken about his time in prison and the tattoo he got. Ken wants to know where his son is so Scott says Josh is where Ken put him. Scott begins talking about Rebecca who was killed before Ken pleads with him to let Josh go. Scott shows Ken the video of his son and he pleads for him to stop.

Josh crawls into a little building nearby before John speaks with Lise about everything. John believes the killer’s plan is falling apart and that will help them find Josh. They speak with Dyson about the search but they’re not sure where to look. Then, the search warrant for Sheila Gagne is granted thanks to the Watershed Forestry connection. McLeod enters and shows them the suit found in Neil’s cabin. The parka is medium-sized so he was likely ready to take a smaller or younger victim. Sheila is approached by her colleague who has a friend who works for Judge Bradford and she heard about the search warrant. She wants to know what is going on so Sheila says the police are looking for something in her past.

She doesn’t say whether there is anything in her past. When the lady leaves, Sheila calls Taj and asks him to keep her safe. He tells her to head to the Bay Truck Stop. Josh makes it to the shed and starts a fire before Sheila makes it to the truck stop. She goes inside and heads out of the backdoor before getting into another vehicle. Josh’s fire alert authorities and that gets him the assistance he needs. John and Lise make it to his side right before the episode ends.

 

Cardinal Review

This season of Cardinal has been great but I can’t believe they killed Neil off so easily. Nevertheless, Scott is equally interesting so far. Things are starting to come together and I can’t wait to see what Sheila is hiding in her past. Sheila, Ken, Barry, and Taj likely did something that led to Rebecca’s death but they let Scott go down for the crime. Sheila is on the run, Josh broke free and saved himself, Scott has Ken, and we have two episodes left.

If I had time, I would binge the two remaining episodes and recap them immediately. The show has been that good this season. I am not surprised they let Josh live but I hope they don’t push him back together with Lise. This episode was very entertaining. I’d give it a 7.5 out of 10. Reel Mockery has past recaps of Cardinal. Be sure to check them out before you leave!