Killer Women - Recap: Hit Girl vs. Parker, Texas Ranger
Recap and review of Killer Women - Episode 2 - Some Men Need Killing:
I generally enjoyed the series premiere of Killer Women, which wasn't exactly prestige television, but was fun and involving enough to make for a reasonably entertaining hour of television. But I don't think there was so much as a single stitch of "Some Men Need Killing" that I actually enjoyed, outside of Tricia Helfer's performance (rarely has such a talented woman been so trapped). Part of it is the structural issue with the premise itself, which is all there in the title: Killer Women. "Some Men Need Killing" might like to juke left and right, trying to get us to believe that the Big Bad of the week might actually turn out to be male, but we all know better. Hell, the characters know better. So it simply becomes a matter of narrowing the women down, and while this should be the most interesting part (as the investigative work tends to be among the most interesting parts of any procedural), Killer Women drops the ball by suddenly making the second half of the episode all about a subplot that is virtually impossible to care about. "Some Men Need Killing" is a hard sit for pretty much its entire runtime.
Credit: ABC
So the long and short of it is this: someone is going around killing abusive husbands, offering their battered spouses their services to make their problem go away. The case kicks off when a corrupt businessman is murdered at a black-tie gala that Molly Parker (Tricia Helfer) and her DEA beau Dan Winston (Marc Blucas) are attending -- in the exact same clothes they wore to the black-tie gala last week, which Dan points out. I think I'll discover a newfound respect for this show if Texas becomes the new Mystic Falls, where parties are thrown for increasingly vague and purposeless reasons (and everyone must attend, although no one is entirely sure why). But I doubt it's headed in that direction, as this party is mostly just a pretext for seeing a guy get his throat slit from ear-to-ear in the middle of a crowded room full of partygoers who somehow failed to see anything the police can use (some think they saw a man commit the crime; others, a woman).
Credit: ABC
Naturally, in the wake of the crime, Molly suspects the man's widow, particularly after she discovers that the woman was made to suffer her late husband's grotesque abuse. Turns out he forced her to get obscenely large and painful breast implants against her will, among other displays of chauvinist dominance. So Molly follows the woman and spies her making a drop-off to an unnamed assassin. It seems the case is all but wrapped up, but when Molly corners the man who's just gotten paid, he's shot by a sniper in the distance. The widow is guilty of hiring the hitman, but she apparently didn't seek this person out. Whoever this assassin is, they sought out the widow and made her an offer she couldn't refuse, having learned all about the abuse she'd suffered (although how the assassin knew any of it, the widow doesn't know). So who is actually the one running this entire thing? That's what Molly sets to find out, and it forms the basis of the first half of the episode.
Credit: ABC
However, it's the second half where things fall to pieces. The show continues to spend an inordinate amount of time on the Molly/Dan relationship, illustrating that they're wild for each other, and in a constant state of wanting to jump each other's bones. But the relationship hits a snag when Jake (Jeffrey Nordling) suddenly decides not to sign the divorce papers. This sets off an absolutely unbearable stretch in which Jake and Molly end up in court, and the judge forces them to undergo marriage counseling when Jake claims he feels their marriage still has hope. I get that the show wants us to hate Jake, who refuses to let Molly go out of spite or ownership, and I suppose the show also wants to make a statement about conservative Texas values, where marriage is paramount and the say of a woman still doesn't carry much weight. But that's just not why anyone would tune into a show like this. Who really wants to see Molly stuck in court-mandated counseling sessions? Who cares about what Jake wants, or even who Jake is? I get that he's a high-ranking official, but I struggle to find anything worth getting invested in where he's concerned.
Although I suppose the show at least tries to tie this subplot back into the main story, as Jake ends up becoming the latest victim of this Hit Girl, who takes him hostage and plans on framing Molly for his murder. Luckily, Molly is able to stop the assassin before it's too late, essentially ending the vigilante's reign of terror. But even though he'd just come within moments of being killed, Jake still refuses to sign the divorce papers, insisting that Molly will end up back with him sooner or later, despite Molly's insistence that their marriage is over. Again, this is just something that is nowhere near as interesting or compelling as the show thinks. Helfer does a fine job playing the grizzled, determined ex-victim, but the writing doesn't really rise up to her level.
Credit: ABC
Ultimately, "Some Men Need Killing" doesn't give me much hope for the future of Killer Women. This was just a clumsy episode all-around that did little to really make this seem like a show that is better or more interesting than any number of the tens of procedurals on TV right now.