At the beginning of the episode, Leo Doyle (Sam Trammell) heads outside to retrieve the newspaper. On the way back inside, he looks at the hornet’s nest before being stung on the neck. After the intro, Mike Serrato (Aden Young) interviews Arlen Doyle (Anthony Phelan). He claims he is following up regarding the missing persons case for Arlen’s ex-wife Beth. Arlen claims his ex-wife came for the boy but he refused to let her have him. She left after that. They sit down and Arlen goes on to say Beth often popped up unannounced claiming one thing or another. He claims he wouldn’t see her for another year and that she was a big fan of communes. Arlen says he loved Beth but she didn’t love him back and he couldn’t forgive that.

Before the conversation ends, he says the last memory of has of Beth is Leo trying to save her. On his way out, Mike asks Arlen about the tattoo Beth had. Arlen admits he isn’t a fan of tattoos. Meanwhile, Paxton (Ed Oxenbould) tells his father that it is a good thing he isn’t allergic to bees. Candace (Laura Gordon) reads the newspaper and sees a headline about the RRK. She says it is horrible Paige (Simone Kessell) tries to get Jake (Finn Little) ready for school but he isn’t cooperating with her. Mike steps in and offers to take Jake to work and that smooths things over for the time being. Along the way, Mike tells his son that he hated school at his age as well. As for Jake, he hates everything about school.

Mike offers to pick his son up after school at 3:47. After that, Leo and his father visit the doctor so they can learn more about Arlen’s condition. Arlen knows there are 7 stages and he lets the doctor know he isn’t stupid. The doctor recommends starting with donepezil since it can help some people with Alzheimer’s deal with memory loss and confusion. When they leave, Arlen tells his son that the diagnosis is going to upset his mother so he wants to keep it a secret. Leo offers to hire help so his father can stay at the house. Arlen mentions Mike visiting him and asking questions. That seems to concern Leo. He tells his son what happened when his ex-wife visited but Leo remembers things differently. Arlen believes his son created an alternate version of the past.

After that, Mike returns to the station and tells Cyd Ramos (Gloria Garayua) about his meeting with Arlen. He says Arlen did nothing to hide his contempt and she says the hospital released his schedule without a subpoena. There are two dates that bump them since Arlen was out of town during the time of death for Melissa Gallardo in 2005 and Lisa Taylor in 2008. Mike asks how far out of town only to be told New York and Tampa. Mike says he might not be the RRK but there is something about Beth Stanley’s case. Then, Mike says Gretchen might’ve been selling drugs to her friends at school so they decide to return to the school. Leo arrives at the school and enters his office where he tries to recollect himself.

He watches Mike’s press conference on his computer before looking for Mike, Paige, and Amanda (Mitzi Ruhlmann). He seems particularly interested in the tattoo Amanda has on her shoulder. After that, Earl tosses Leo around during wrestling practice. Leo seems to be using the session as a way to punish himself. They stop briefly so Leo can introduce everyone to their new teammate Sam Serrato (Milly Alcock). The boys aren’t eager to wrestle with her since her dad is a cop and they don’t want Mike after them. Nevertheless, Leo tells Carter to show her the moves. Mike and Cyd arrive at the school and Mike suspects Gretchen might’ve been selling for Phillip Zellman. Cyd wonders if she was selling for her mother.

Mike receives a call and learns that his son has gone missing. He goes to the school and speaks with the woman in charge who says his son bit someone. Mike isn’t happy and he tells her she better find his son. When Mike leaves, he puts in an order to check with sex offenders in the area. Then, he goes home and looks for Jake but he isn’t there. He gets a call and learns that his son is down by the river with the homeless people. Edgar Harris (Sean Barker) fished Jake out of the river so Mike thanks him. Jake tells his father that he is always talking about the river and that is why he went there. Mike thanks Edgar once again before they leave. Meanwhile, Leo spots Amanda sitting on the bleachers and he joins her.

Amanda explains she is there to pick up her sister and Leo believes Sam is going to be a good wrestler. Leo believes Amanda is flirting with him but she says he wishes. She gets a message from her boyfriend who wants to take her to Sleepy Pines and buy her dinner to say he is tired. Jake finally makes it home. Paige is happy to see him. Mike admits she was right about what she said about Jake needing to change schools. Leo returns home and Candace tells him that Paxton is studying for a big chemistry test. He tells Candace about his father’s condition. He seems more concerned about Mike visiting his father to ask about his mother.

Candace tries to get Leo to open up and tell her his secret but he won’t. Leo leaves in the middle of the night and John Ainsworth (Toby Schmitz) stops him outside and tells him that his uncle Bob killed himself. John says Bob was a drunk but went cold turkey one day. However, Bob wasn’t a nice guy when he wasn’t drinking. Everyone left him so Bob decided to kill himself and John says he should’ve stayed drunk. Leo leaves and attends the crime victim’s meeting. Linda Swan (Jacqueline McKenzie) tells everyone she has decided to forgive her daughter’s killer but Leo can’t understand that. He curses and briefly causes a scene. Linda tells him that her pain and grief aren’t for him. She says he comes to the meetings and shares nothing about who he is or what he has lost.

She suspects he is getting off on the pain everyone has experienced before Leo leaves. Mike spends time with Jake before Leo visits Rooster (Terry Serio) so he can buy drugs. Rooster tells Leo that he should look into chemical castration. Leo claims he is nothing like Rooster but Rooster encourages him to try chemical castration again. Leo demands his stuff so Rooster takes him to the ground and refuses. Leo leaves empty-handed before returning home. Candace watches him as he unlocks and enters his shed. He looks at the pictures of the victims and relives the murders. Then, he has a nightmare in which he enters a confessional and tells Mike that he is the RRK. He wakes up and sees the black bag next to him.

Mike plays with cards before getting a call from Cyd. She asks about Jake before saying she is going to have a chat with Tori and she invites Mike to join her. He can’t make it so Cyd decides to move forward on her own. Paige enters and finds Mike playing with the cards so he tries to cover them up quickly. She keeps an eye on him but says nothing as he looks over the pamphlet for the special needs school for Jake. During this time, Cyd speaks with Tori and Emilio. She wants to know more about Gretchen’s drug dealing and how she got the drugs. It goes back and forth until Emilio admits he gave her a few pills and they split the profits 50-50. Then, Tori accuses Emilio of sleeping with Gretchen.

When Emilio tries to leave, Cyd notices the symbol on the back of his jacket and it convinces her that he killed Gretchen. She tries to get her gun but he pulls his gun out much quicker. Tori accuses him of murdering Gretchen before he says he loved her. They get into a scuffle, the gun is fired, and Emilio makes a run for it. Cyd shoots at him several times but misses before calling for back up. Amanda waits for her boyfriend but he doesn’t show up so she hangs out with Leo who is conveniently in the area. He offers to give her a lift home and she accepts the offer. We see that Leo has the black bag with him and he pulls something from it as Amanda goes around to get into the passenger side.

We see that it is a bottle of chloroform and a rag. Her boyfriend arrives right before Leo can drive away with her. He asks if she is going to forgive him that easy. She says she’ll make him beg before Leo locks the door and plays around with her. He lets her leave unharmed though. Once Amanda leaves, Leo returns home, grabs a stick, and pokes the nest. It falls and bees surround him seconds later. He approaches them and lets them sting him over and over again.

 

Reckoning Review

Reckoning isn’t perfect but I think the story is at least interesting. This episode pretty much confirmed that Leo is indeed the Russian River Killer. I am not sure how they could convince us otherwise at this point. He has the pictures of the victims in his shed and he was going to drug Amanda. Mike has problems and could easily be a viable suspect too but I think this episode sealed it for me.

Then again, the next episode may try to convince me otherwise. The biggest problem with the show is the dialogue and action. The voices seem a bit high-pitched and unrealistic at times. Still, I think it is worth watching. It would be easier to recommend if the show lasted only 5 or 6 episodes because 10 is way too many. This episode was decent so I’ll give it a 7 out of 10. Previous recaps of Reckoning can be found on Reel Mockery!