One Billboard Outside Boggsville, Florida – As the second episode of Panhandle begins, Bell Prescott (Luke Kirby) has a dream about finding Vida’s body. When he asks Sheriff Grant (Glenn Morshower) who did this, the Sheriff tells Bell that he did just before he wakes up. Vida (Lorenza Izzo) reminds him that he didn’t kill her. Bell believes anything is possible after he found out that she had cheated. She says that was third-hand information from two criminals. Bell admits she is a projection so he can make her say whatever he wants. Vida alleges that Cammie Lorde (Tiana Okoye) put that idea in his head. While Cammie waits for speeders, Sheriff Grant stops by to speak to her. Sheriff Grant warns her that Bell is leading her down a dangerous path. After she says that isn’t happening, Sheriff Grant asks her to stay away from Prescott for her own good.

Grant makes it clear that one solve doesn’t make her a detective. Meanwhile, Bell plays chess with Skramstad over the Internet. Bell gets upset when he loses. He throws the board outside where Millicent (Lesley Ann Warren) is sitting. When he comes outside, Millicent tries to convince him to see a therapist, but Bell isn’t interested. She asks him not to go into the barn because he gets depressed and obsessed when he does. Bell goes in there anyway. Checotah (Forrest Goodluck) tries to get Bell out of the barn using music. When Bell attempts to go back inside, Checotah threatens to punch him in the face again. Bell wants to find out if he has been mourning a lover or an adulteress. As he begins calling authorities, he is punched in the face. When Cammie arrives, she finds Checotah holding Bell on the ground.

Bell wants help from Cammie to find out how a person lies. He says they always ask you to show your work in algebra class because one wrong move early in the equation throws the whole thing off. You can’t get the right answer by working off the wrong hypothesis and he has been working off the wrong hypothesis. Cammie believes he wants her to help him solve his wife’s murder so he can find out if she really loved him. She thinks the cops got it right. Vida got into a fight with her husband and went to buy drugs from the drifters at the Muck. Someone killed her for her expensive jewelry. Cammie is convinced that whoever killed her is long gone from Boggsville. Bell accepts that as a possibility, but he wants her to consider that the investigation was wrapped up in a hypothetical blow because nobody wants to look under the Panhandle’s dirty rocks.

He says he can do it himself if she is fine with the recent arrest being the highlight of her career. She offers to help, but she wants all the evidence from the cases he solved and did nothing about. Cammie confesses she is tired of being the traffic cop. He is glad to get the scarf back now that she returned and got it for him. While waiting for speeders, Cammie looks through the evidence she got from Bell. She finds a picture of JoJo McDonnough (Kraig Dane) after winning the lottery. She believes she can find where JoJo is. Cammie goes to a salon where the other women make fun of her hair. She wants to know if any of them remember where JoJo went after he won the lottery. He supposedly blew all of his winnings before moving into an apartment on the Northside. She ends up finding JoJo and handcuffing him to his dresser so he can’t escape.

She has to call Bell because she can’t read his writing. Bell says the lottery numbers were picked using the birthdates of Emilia McDonnough’s parents. Cammie confronts JoJo with the evidence that he killed Emilia to get the winning lottery ticket. JoJo tries to explain that away so Cammie searches the apartment for drugs to arrest him. She finds several small bags of crack. She spends a few minutes destroying his confederate flag while finding crack. When she makes it back to the station, Urleen tries to warn her that Marcus is there. Marcus (Drez Ryan) admits he wants a little time with Tyler. She refuses to talk about it by storming out. Bell wants to know why someone would think Vida was having an affair. Although she loves him, she begins complaining about all the things she doesn’t like. Darby Hix (Melanie Minichino) interrupts moments later.

As they drink together, Bell confesses to Darby that he feels like he is falling apart. She doesn’t know if Vida was cheating, but she knows that Bell had changed. Vida came to her because she wants help even though Darby wasn’t sure how to help her. She was lost and felt alone. Bell digging into this now isn’t going to change anything. In another dream, Bell sees Vida making out with another man. When Cammie arrives, Bell says he reconstructed Vida’s last day using receipts and other evidence. Cammie isn’t happy to see Millicent and Tyler playing with slingshots outside. Bell says he heard about JoJo and he suspects Cammie wants more of those. He wants to retrace her steps and he believes he has found a way to leave without freaking out. He panics all the way to the place where Vida’s day started. Cammie suggests she came with her boy toy and they paid separately.

Then, they check out the gas station where she filled up her car. Bell believes she came out to the River Trail after that. He admits she could’ve been anywhere as he continues spiraling out of control. She got a parking ticket and Bell happens to remember the meter numbers. The meter is near the Boggsville Family Clinic so Cammie wonders if Vida had health issues. Dr. Otis Wright (Wallace Smith) comes out and tells them about The Wright Institute of Facial Regeneration. He tells them how he wants to get away from the Panhandle before he is asked about Vida. Otis wasn’t there at the time and he doesn’t want to violate HIPAA rules. Cammie threatens to get a search warrant on him. While she keeps Otis distracted, Bell manages to look through the files. When she goes outside, Bell tells her that he found nothing so Vida wasn’t even here that day.

Cammie says the building next door used to be a lawyer’s office so she might’ve been there. She might’ve been here to see the lawyer. Bell passes out once he begins suspecting that she was going to divorce him. Cammie tries to call to get information about the lawyer. As he wakes up, Cammie’s call drops. Bell wants to get out of there now. At home, he plays chess only to find that his friend isn’t there. He tells Cammie that Skramstad is a good hacker. When he comes back, he tells them that they woke up his male mastiff named Mother. Bell asks him to track the Wi-Fi on his wife’s phone. Skramstad gives them instructions before Millicent gives them dinner. They begin asking Bell about his father. He shows Tyler a picture of his dad and says he is dead. As Tyler begins talking about his dad and other family members, Cammie blurts out that they don’t dwell on the past.

Skramstad calls back to tell Bell that she went to a bar called Oyster Haven in Fort Walton. He mentions another called Diddleys-on-the-water. Another saved network was DRM-8GL-V8GR. They won’t be able to find it unless they have a router ID or a spectral analyzer. After the call, Bell tries to figure out what it could be while Cammie argues she has to take Tyler to karate. Bell goes outside where he asks Checotah and Vida whether he is a bad person. He says yes while Vida says no. Checotah says he is selfish and self-absorbed. He claims Bell screwed over his whole family when he flaked on the seafront thing. Bell thinks there has to be a different explanation for the lover so he needs to find him. He wonders if the guy was obsessed with her and killed her because she wouldn’t sleep with him. When he asks for advice, Checotah says he can try talking to the toad.

They go inside where Checotah tells him about 5-MeO-DMT. Once Bell takes a hit, he finds himself in the barn asking for Checotah. He goes outside where he sees himself as a youngster with his father and Moseley. His father reminds him that he must take care of the things he loves or he’ll lose them. His mom goes inside and finds his dad dead on the ground. When Bell looks at him closely, it is Vida instead. Bell ends up running along a dark street until he sees himself as a young kid. He is told to follow him to the lighthouse. He is surprised to see Cammie there before looking up at the billboard with Sam Lund’s face on it. He tells Bell to pay attention. The sign changes to match the network given to him by Skramstad. When he wakes up, he believes he knows who Vida was sleeping with. Bell meets with Cammie to visit Sam. The only problem is that Bell is still high and hallucinating. Once Bell sees him, he curses him and accuses him of cuckolding him.

Sam recognizes Bell as Vida’s husband. Bell slaps him and begins choking him with the golf club before Cammie shoots into the air to stop him. When Sam’s boyfriend or husband arrives, Bell realizes that he wasn’t sleeping with his wife. Sam explains that Vida was looking to rent a seafront apartment and had particular tastes. That is why she logged into his Wi-Fi network. Sam doesn’t find it surprising that she was interested in moving out. Cammie pulls Bell to the side and says she is sorry since it hurts. Sam calls someone to tell them that the certain visitor he told him about has visited. Alejandro learns about it. That night, Cammie puts Tyler to bed. He wants to go back to visit Millicent because he likes her. Tyler begins asking questions about his grandma. Later, she calls to get on an alert list if there are any sightings of someone.

Marcus visits because they need to talk. He reveals the paper is losing money because nobody believes in the news anymore and he had a heart attack. He had to make some changes and wants what is best for Tyler. He is asking her nicely before asking which name she’d use if he had to ask in a courtroom. They both know Cammie Lorde is made up. He just wants to see his son. Bell tries to have sex with Vida who encourages him to finish something for once in his life. Alejandro ends up in his bedroom. He claims he is here to tell Bell the truth.

 

Panhandle Review

It is hard to know what to make of Panhandle since the series is so odd at times. However, it has a few issues that stick out like a sore thumb. One of the biggest issues is that Panhandle feels like it has been copied and pasted from countless other television shows. Many of the scenes have been done so many times before making it difficult to find anything original in the material.

As a result, viewers are likely going to know what to expect before it happens. It may not be an issue for viewers who haven’t watched a lot of television though. The other major problem is just how cringe the show can be. I have a suspicion that this was meant to be funny, but there hasn’t been a funny scene or line yet. Unfortunately, most of the scenes are just silly to the point that they’re annoying.

Some viewers may like this escape though. The basics are good including the cinematography and camera work. Panhandle may get better when there is a deeper connection between viewers and the characters, but it is just mediocre at this point. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Panhandle can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work by following this link.