Hightown 2×10 Review: “Fool Me Twice”

The Hightown season 2 finale, ‘Fool Me Twice’, gave viewers a very powerful ending. With how things were left, I hope this show returns for a third season soon.

Even though I was unable to write weekly reviews for Hightown season 2, I’ve been covering the highly-enjoyable show over on The Geekiary’s YouTube channel. So, please consider paying a visit to our channel to see what I thought of the previous episodes. In my opinion, season two of Hightown was an improvement over the first one (which was well-written, too).

Whenever Jackie gets a win, it’s like fate has decided to hit her with a loss soon enough. ‘Fool Me Twice’ opened with Jackie accompanying Alan and the forensic team to the house where Frankie killed Daisy. Even though the two were waiting for more proof to finally place Frankie behind bars permanently, at least, they were glad to be on the right track.

However, their happiness was short-lived. I knew something was going to go wrong the moment Alan decided to send Jackie and Leslie to drive Charmaine to a new holding facility to await her trial. Alan was hoping for Charmaine to talk to Jackie and Leslie during the trip and hand over Frankie on a platter by sharing details about their drug operation.

Even though Charmaine running away from Jackie and Leslie was expected at this point, I think the writers could have handled the situation a bit better. I rolled my eyes when Jackie decided to let Charmaine out of the car to deal with a personal situation. I get that Jackie’s soft. But there’s a difference between being soft and being gullible. I just think that Jackie falling for Charmaine’s trick was more of a plot convenience rather than something a character like Jackie would have actually done.

With Charmaine gone with the wind, I’m looking forward to seeing the series returning for a third season to show the ramifications of Jackie’s decision. Even Leslie threw Jackie under the bus. I get that Leslie didn’t lie and was protecting her career, but still, I think she could have gone about the situation differently.

Ray did warn Jackie about growing too close to Leslie. Even though the two were back to being romantic partners at the beginning of the finale (Leslie had been working on accepting her queerness), when being forced to choose between her career and Jackie, Leslie was always going to choose her career.

Jackie’s gone through a lot of emotional turmoil in Hightown season 2. We saw her hit rock bottom when she went to spend time with her father because she didn’t want to be alone at Thanksgiving. However, I wasn’t expecting her to fall deeper in the finale.

Seeing Jackie go and meet her father’s creepy drug dealer, as the finale came to a close, made for a very emotionally charged scene. Actress Monica Raymund‘s been killing it as Jackie. I could feel Jackie’s pain and desperation as she talked to Ray before walking up to the drug dealer’s front door.

To be fair, I get why certain fans didn’t like what happened to Jackie in the finale. They want Jackie to get better and remain sober. I want that, too. However, I think the creative team behind Hightown wanted to showcase to viewers how challenging being sober (and remaining that way) can be. It doesn’t matter if Jackie’s the female lead. She’s still human and having her magically not have a drinking and drug problem anymore won’t gel with the dark nature of Hightown.

Hopefully, things will be different for Jackie in season three. I say this because, having gone over the fandom’s current state, a bunch of fans are close to running out of sympathy for Jackie if she repeats certain actions. And the last thing a series needs is a lead “good person” character the viewers have no sympathy for.

As for the rest of the cast, Alan’s kind of right there with Jackie when it comes to bad luck. He was happy to play a role in locking Frankie up. But things took a turn for the worst due to Osito and Ray. It’s revealed that Osito’s bail (a whopping $1 million) had been paid by the mystery drug dealer in New York, whom I can’t wait to actually meet in season three. Also, Ray was asked to reenter the police force as a Sergeant. Ray’s promotion meant Sergeant Alan had to be transferred to another department. 

I liked Alan’s confrontation with Ray. I’m not sure if their “friendship” can recover from such a drastic change. I laughed when Alan told Ray that he would be back soon. I mean, Alan had a point. Ray’s a huge mess. He’s sure to make a bunch of mistakes soon. And with Alan getting a huge tip regarding Jorge’s murder, I’m looking forward to seeing Alan getting back in the game.

Coming to Renee, her arc was quite interesting. She finally made the decision to walk away from Frankie and stay with Ray. Her murdering Jorge is definitely going to cause friction between her and Ray (who already suspects she did it). With Ray getting the opportunity to lead a team to work on the New York case, I can’t wait to see for long he will be able to hold onto his job while trying to protect Renee from the investigation into Jorge’s death.

I have a feeling that Alan will figure out Renee’s the one who killed Jorge and that could lead to Ray deciding to step down from his current position to protect his girlfriend and mend things with Ray. Then again, Ray’s job’s important to him, too. Leslie decided to protect her job. So, let’s see what Ray does when push comes to shove.

While Ray has a bunch of issues, I appreciated his support for Jackie. It was very nice of him to invite Jackie over (even though Renee was already there with him) when she called him near the end of the episode. Ray wants Jackie to do well. He wants to work with her on the New York case. She just needs to find the strength and support to get her act together. 

I highly recommend that you watch Hightown. It’s a queer-led show that has something to say about the impact of alcohol and drug abuse on communities while featuring a cast of layered characters you will grow invested in.

What did you think of ‘Fool Me Twice’? Do you think Frankie’s dead? What do you want to see in Hightown season 3?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary