Dammit, Dean!
You have to hand it to this series; they know how to incorporate humor and levity while also keeping you on the edge of your seat and ratcheting up the tension.
And In The Dark Season 2 Episode 12 was another example of that as the crew was on a deadline (emphasis on the DEAD) to find those drugs before Josiah killed them. And yes, that was all the while lamenting their disastrous love lives.
Josiah’s instructions were simple. They had to find the drugs by midnight, or he would kill them. And that led to a race around town to figure out where Ben could’ve hidden them before his untimely overdose.
It’s always amazing when you take a moment to process how much has happened in the span of a few installments. For example, poor Jessica had no idea who the hell Josiah was and how they ended up at the mercy of another drug dealer.
But that didn’t keep her from being harangued into all the danger and trouble. Max has barely had time to change his clothes since stepping foot out of prison.
And Josh still thought Murphy was at home with a stomach ache. He was none the wiser to how she had lived a lifetime’s worth of danger and insanity in 36 hours or less.
Bless Josh’s heart. He did what any decent person would do: he came to check on her and brought her a care package.
You got to pick. Because I can’t live like this anymore. You gotta pick.
Max
He’s such a sweet, kind, pure guy, but is he Murphy’s guy? The hour had a ball playing up the tension between Murphy and Max and his increased jealousy and hurt over Josh’s mere presence.
It’s surprising to almost everyone but maybe Felix, who seemed to give voice to those who didn’t think Josh and Murphy’s relationship was sudden or random, that Murphy has feelings for Josh, and that she’s more torn than expected.
Murphy seems surprised by this, too. She admitted that she likes the person she is with Josh. She likes that he makes her a better person.
Josh seems comforting, safe, and like a normal relationship that isn’t marred by illicit activities or darkness. And given Murphy’s growth, as she’s becoming a more put-together person, it does make sense that she’s drawn to that and him.
Murphy: I like who I am when I’m with Josh. I’m like a better person.
Jess: That’s because you’re not actually being yourself.
Murphy: You weren’t being yourself when you were with Sterling, but it doesn’t make your feelings any less real.
Jess: That’s very true yeah.
Murphy: If we survive until midnight, I’ll make a decision about my stupid love life.
Of course, Jess was quick to remind her that the only reason Murphy feels that was is because of her not being herself with Josh.
It’s not exactly a fair assessment. It’s possible that, with Josh, she does feel herself in a way that she can’t be with everything else happening. It doesn’t make it any less her. It’s only a variation of her.
Because the implication is that she’ll never be herself in a relationship as long as she can’t be honest about the crime life, then what does that say for any potential relationships down the road?
Should she only be stuck with people who know what she’s gone through? Is she less of herself if she doesn’t share every facet of her criminal life with someone new in the future? Does it make their romance illegitimate somehow?
Does it mean, even for Jess, that unless she shares this part of her life with a future spouse, that the relationship is doomed and incomplete?
If so, all roads will always lead to Max for Murphy, and the same can go for Jess and Sterling. And Felix, well, I guess he’s screwed.
Max wants Murphy to choose, but she doesn’t think she’s in a position where she can right now. And to her credit, a lot is happening, and she can’t choose with a clear head.
But also, she and Max are still (and forever) intricately linked, and their lives are depending on one another, so it’s not the time to hash all of their relationship angst out.
Max: He’s got an accent, that’s the only reason why she likes him.
Felix: Actually, he’s losing his sight too. They connected on a pretty deep level.
But Max is understandably hurt. You can’t blame him. Somehow this isn’t the same as when Murphy was with Dean. He wasn’t there to face any of that while it was happening, and he never got the sense that Murphy’s feelings for Dean were deeper.
And, of course, Dean screwed them over. But with Josh, it’s different. It’s hard not to feel bad for the man, especially when he told her that he loved her. They both knew it was the truth and that they had those feelings for each other.
Meanwhile, Josh is devoted to Murphy. He and Pam have such an adorable relationship, and it’s too bad we didn’t see more of it.
She knows about his impending blindness, and she’s all-in on covering for him. She seems to think– well, they both do, that the silver lighting of him losing his sight is that he gets the girl.
Pam: Lose your sight, but you get the girl. That’s a happy ending.
Josh: Yeah, a very happy ending indeed.
But does he? Will he? Not only does Murphy have mixed up feelings, but there’s still a chance her involvement with Nia will be exposed, and he’ll learn the truth about the woman of whom he has feelings.
So, it seems that the finale will leave us with Murphy choosing between Josh and Max.
Who do you think she will choose? Max knows everything about her, good, bad, and ugly, but sometimes it doesn’t feel as though it’s enough, or that it’s the ideal relationship for either of them. They have so much history and darkness there too.
Josh is akin to what a healthier relationship should be, and he and Murphy do have a connection, but he doesn’t know everything about her. He only knows the bright spots, and she used him to get information at times. And it feels as though he’s more into her than she may be with him.
It sucks because I – because I love you.
Max
But after everything she’s gone through, will she choose him because of the safety and normalcy of Josh? Or will she choose Max, who she’s passionate about and of whom she’s addicted?
Or maybe she chooses herself, and the season comes full circle to it being about her and Jess. Who knows? What are your thoughts?
Meanwhile, Sterling’s love for Jess is what prompted her to go to the police and rat out Sam. For a woman who got into the life of crime, she uses the police as a tool often.
If there were doubts about whether or not Sterling’s feelings were real, then we can put them to rest. She has put herself at risk telling them that Sam killed Jules, a cop and that she was the driver.
I just want you to arrest them. Even if it means I go down too.
Sterling
And if that wasn’t enough, she even admitted that Nia forced Guiding Hope to launder her drugs. Her mission was to protect them as much as possible, so it seemed to kill her to acknowledge that much.
But that was a game-changer move. Sterling came through; again! Who would have expected she would become of the quiet MVP’s of the whole season?
Thanks to her coming in, she not only got the cops to go after Sam (which was perfect timing when they arrested her at the storage unit), but she set Gene on the path of investigating Jules’ death and how it connected to everything.
Gene is a smart guy, and for the most part, they’ve shown he’s a decent cop. I was as geeked about his murder case board as he was. I squealed with every red string on that baby.
Looking back, it makes no sense that the cops accepted that Jules “killed herself” and didn’t look into it much further. Dean should never have been able to sway so many aspects of Jules’ death and other points into his favor.
Dean’s downfall will probably be how often he’s blown Gene off and underestimated him. Gene is well on his way to cracking this entire thing wide-open.
By now, he’s going to piece together so many things about Tyson’s death and Dean’s involvement. They assume Nia is in the wind instead of dead, but how can he not figure out that Dean was working with Nia?
Darnell: I loved Jules Becker. And then you walk in here and accuse me of being the reason she was killed when your people planted evidence on me.
Gene: Excuse me?
Darnell: You really think Jules could have gotten a murder charge dropped for a little bit of Intel?
Gene: What makes you think that evidence was planted on you?
Darnell: Why don’t you ask Dean Riley.
In many ways, Gene’s investigation B-storyline was more suspenseful than Murphy’s A-storyline with a heaping dose of relationship drama.
And once again, Gene tipped off Chloe without meaning to about her father lying about his job. It’s so frustrating that Dean is gallivanting around doing the absolute most as if he still has a badge, and he’s not getting taken to task more.
The thrill of Chelsea telling him to get a warrant was shortlived when he got the OK from the other bartender and proceeded to do whatever he felt like it, knowing damn well that he was wrong.
What was his plan, anyway? What does he want to do with the drugs? Does he think he can use them to leverage his job back, or will he fall deeper into the crime part instead of the crime-solving?
Dean: Are you serious? Are you going to believe Murphy over your own father?
Chloe: Yes. Nothing has been the same since you guys came back from that weekend. Nothing. What happened?
He wants more money, so I think it’s the latter, but Dean’s motives at the moment are a mystery.
Gene tracking down Darnell was another moment that had you on the edge of your seat. Darnell was more forthcoming with information than you’d expect, and thanks to him, Gene has the suspicion that Dean isn’t the great cop he thinks he is.
Darnell is smart. He got the hell out of a town and is living in the middle of nowhere right now. As much as I prefer when he’s in the fray with the others, maybe this is safer.
Except, what’s going to happen now that he knows Nia is MIA? He seemed surprised when Gene told him that Nia probably left the country.
Maybe Nia’s absence will bring him back into the fold.
Felix got the rawest deal out of the romantic subplots this season. It’s still hard to care about his relationship with Chelsea in the least or the effects that all of this had on him.
At this rate, Felix whining about pressing Chelsea for information was pointless. Your concern and righteous ire acknowledging how screwed up everything is — it’s on the record, my friend.
Weirdly, Chelsea admitted that she figured out her brother was probably using drugs again, but she was still mad at Felix. They seem so inconsistent when it comes to their relationship; it’s hard to invest in it.
But she’s done being an enabler to Ben. Sadly, she doesn’t know how true that is.
Ben sent them on a rat race, but who else wondered about the dumpster? They made such a show of Max going to toss the clothes and everything in there and Sterling telling him he shouldn’t.
It makes sense that Ben didn’t bother overthinking where to hide the drugs. He would’ve wanted them close, and he had gotten rid of them in a short period before he called them.
The only absurd thing was Dean somehow figuring out the drugs were there and accessing them too.
Nia bought out my supply, and now that supply is missing. Find it or I’ll have you all killed. Go to the cops, I’ll have you killed. Tell anyone or try to run, well, you get it.
Josiah
He went from Chloe chewing him out for being a pathological liar and gaslighter (seriously, the way he treats Chloe as if she’s dumb and can’t see through all of his lying is despicable), to wanting to “talk” to Murphy and the crew about the drugs.
He barely blinked at the notion of any of them dying not too long ago, and now he wants to “talk.” They don’t have time to indulge him.
What can he possibly threaten this time? Knowing Dean, he’s still going to present himself as though he’s an active cop. He’ll start laying down more threats and offering up some deals.
But what’s Dean’s plan? And would it be easier to tell Josiah that the dirty cop has the drugs?
The only problem is while Josiah would kill Dean without hesitation, he probably would still punish the gang by wanting to kill them for not handling it fully and getting them into this mess in the first place.
Josiah is ruthless.
Over to you, In the Dark Fanatics. What do you hope to see in the finale? Who should Murphy choose?
Do you think Gene is onto Dean? Will he be able to take him down for good? Hit the comments with all of your thoughts and theories!
You can watch In The Dark online here via TV Fanatic if you need to refresh your memory or catch up in time for the season finale.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.