Killer Women - Recap: Mama, Can't You See
Killer Women continues to be a show that just kind of exists. It doesn't really hold any aspirations towards flipping the procedural genre on its head, nor does it even seem all that interested in being a particularly accurate depiction of real police work. But then, what broadcast network procedural really does? "The Siren" recovers some of the camp value of the pilot, and it ultimately makes for a fairly entertaining hour of TV. Is it something I'd recommend going out of your way to see? Not at all. But if it's on and you're home, I could easily think of worse uses of your time than watching this. At the very least, Tricia Helfer continues to be fun as the lead, and her chemistry with Marc Blucas continues to be a highlight. And really, the case itself this week was the kind of twisted, ridiculous tale that only a network TV procedural could ever get away with telling. So I guess that means I'm pro-Killer Women this week.
Credit: ABC
The story quickly settles the cliffhanger from the end of our last episode with a bit that's basically anticlimax-as-comedy: yes, Dan (Marc Blucas) has been shot, but he was apparently just grazed. This prompts Molly (Tricia Helfer) to take her anger with herself out on Dan, as she's scared by how much she cares about him. But Dan insists that the good outweighs the bad, and the strength of what they have together is worth all the fear and concern, and so the matter is settled fairly quickly. And it's just as well, as the relationship takes on the characteristics of a domestic drama when Dan must move in with Molly's family, since he needs round-the-clock observation to monitor his concussion. Dan hits it off with Molly's youngest niece, as well as her older brother, Billy (Michael Trucco), who is suspected of infidelity by his wife Becca, (Marta Milans). The Becca stuff has been building up since the start of the series, and it comes to a head here with Billy admitting that the reason he's been AWOL in the evenings is because he's been taking on extra work to offset his financial troubles, and while Becca buys it, I'll be shocked if his story turns out to actually be the truth. But for once, the Becca story actually ties into the main plot of an episode, as she is abducted by this week's Killer Woman...
Credit: ABC
Carmen (Paola Turbay) is a singer that tours local bars in the area, and while she seems innocuous enough, with her big hair and Texas pageant affectations, she has a more sinister nature underpinning it all. Molly investigates a string of homicides in which the bodies of the victims are found with their heads shaved and their eyebrows and eyelashes picked clean. In rendering the victims hairless, the killer is trying to make them ugly in some fashion. One victim actually survives her abduction and recounts her horrific story, of getting clubbed from behind and being held captive. Molly is basically stumped until she makes Carmen's acquaintance at the bar where the survivor was abducted...a bar Carmen just happens to perform at. Carmen and Molly hit it off, so it isn't all that unusual when Carmen offers Molly a ride into town after her car breaks down. And it ends up being a fairly tense sequence, as Carmen keeps prodding Molly for details on the case, and then makes a stop at her home under the pretenses of giving her grandmother an insulin shot. At all times, the show is preparing us for Carmen abducting Molly and making her the next victim. It isn't until later, when we learn that Carmen's M.O. is to abduct brunettes, that I realized Molly was never in any real danger of being taken. It was simply a fact-finding mission for Carmen. However, it ends up being a fact-finding mission for Molly as well, as she learns from Carmen's grandmother that Carmen has had a troubled life, from her father dying when she was just a little girl, to her mother being killed in a house explosion that was presumably the result of the mother's boyfriend leaving the stove on after cooking up some meth.
Credit: ABC
But Molly quickly deduces that this isn't the case at all. Carmen killed her mother and framed the boyfriend after enduring a lifetime of emotional abuse, being told she was ugly while also enduring the sexual abuse of the perverted boyfriend. However, though Carmen did murder her mother, she apparently isn't satisfied just yet, and instead chooses to continue to exact revenge by killing her over and over again. She does this by abducting people who look like her -- people like Becca. And so the case becomes personal, and Molly has to save the day once again -- which she does by tracking down Carmen's secluded hideaway, and getting the killer to lower her guard by getting Becca to pretend to be Carmen's mother. What Carmen really needed was closure, and the little play-acting Becca provides does the trick, as Carmen breaks down and pleads with her "mother" for forgiveness, which gives Molly the opening to subdue Carmen and place her under arrest. Was it a silly conclusion? Sure. But it was also pretty fun, and that's all I'm really looking for with this show.
"The Siren" is exactly what Killer Women should be, just a breezy, light hour of procedural pulp.