The Heart Killers 1×08 Review: Episode 8

Welcome to Adventures in Kidnapping, Shakespeare style. Both Bison and Fadel have absconded with their maybe-not-real boyfriends to parts unknown. But their situations could not be more different.

First, let’s talk about Bison and Kant, who are reenacting Misery. After making him basically walk the plank last week to prove his love, Bison brings Kant to his familial home. (Presumably. His parents owned the house, but I’m unsure as to whether or not it was their full-time residence.) However, he’s not done torturing Kant yet, forcing him to go into the water repeatedly in order to fish even as Kant reminds him that he’s afraid of the ocean. Not to mention tying him to a post and not feeding him.

Of course, even as mad as he is, it’s nigh impossible to turn off your feelings, which is why Bison brings Kant supplies to treat his cut. Yes, he dismisses this concern as being about hygienic practices, but I think we all know that he was actually worried. (We must continue the tradition of not really serious wounds being treated like they’re grievous injuries. Especially considering that Bison was literally stabbed like two days ago. At least they keep showing that it’s still bothering him.)

Whereas last week First gave a masterclass in acting, this time around it’s Khaotung. You really have to feel for Bison and Fadel, who had lives before they were hitmen. They had families and dreams, but they were manipulated by a powerful woman with her own agenda into becoming what they are now. You can tell that Bison in particular has always hated his double life. He’s been complaining since the beginning of the show. Of course as soon as he met Kant, someone who offered him an alternative, he latched onto it. It absolutely makes sense that he fell so hard so fast.

And that’s why the betrayal hit him so hard. It’s not just his boyfriend going to the police, it’s that he finally had a dream again, and now he’s finding out that it’s based on lies. He thinks he’s going to be stuck in this life forever and he’s spiraling at the thought of it.

So when Kant keeps insisting that his feelings are genuine, that he still wants the future they planned, Bison can’t handle it. He wants to believe him, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to get his hopes up again. That’s why I think it’s so important that the kink stuff actually became a plot point, with Kant using his safe word as Bison waves a gun in his face. This is Kant using Bison’s language, meeting him on his level. But it’s also him showing how much he trusts Bison.

Kant has seen the ugly parts of Bison and isn’t flinching away. He may have done so at first, but he’s in too deep now. And I know I waffled about whether or not I thought his feelings were legitimate (or at least their depth), but it’s hard to argue now that Kant isn’t completely gone for Bison. He’s faced his literal biggest fear just to prove himself. And Bison breaks down because, deep down, he knew he wasn’t going to kill Kant. He would have done so already.

Fadel and Style, meanwhile, are more in the realm of Excess Baggage. On their wacky road trip, they wind up in a love motel that for some reason has racecar beds (which it turns out was in an actual adult video). They also break down in the middle of nowhere and stumble upon a house with a couple arguing about a situation eerily like the one in which they find themselves. Then somehow Style ends up officiating their wedding (which may be legal now in Thailand but I’m sure Style isn’t licensed to do that). And then the couple tries to attack them, so Fadel ties them up, and he and Style make use of their bathtub.

Style continues to push Fadel’s buttons with absolutely no fear. Minus the scene in the racecar bed, where he cried about the possibility of never getting to see his father again, Style is sashaying through his hostage crisis without issue. I think he realized that as soon as he left the pool alive, Fadel wasn’t going to kill him. I think Fadel lost the power in the relationship when he told Style that he misses his harassment when he’s not around. Once Style found that out, it was game over.

So while Bison is having Kant roleplay Castaway at gunpoint, Style and Fadel are bickering like an old married couple who are on day five of a week-long car trip and are just done with each other. Honestly, that whole conversation about cannibals was hilarious. Not to mention Fadel threatening to steal one of Style’s cars and him being like, “Go ahead. You already own my heart, what’s one more thing,” all blasé like it’s just a fact of life…

I think it’s important that Fadel and Style wound up in that house with that couple. That Popcorn was still willing to marry Jimmy even with the infidelity (I do not agree, y’all know how I feel about cheating) because Jimmy was willing to die to save Popcorn. Their relationship is all about how love is a risk, and you may get your heart broken, but maybe you won’t. Fadel needs to see that; he needs to see forgiveness and acceptance.

I think part of the reason he’s so upset at Style’s betrayal (even though, I reiterate, Style didn’t do much betraying) is because he’s so casual about it. But I think Style is so casual about it because he honestly seems to have thought that Fadel would come of this with his freedom. Style was so sure that Kant was going to figure out who their boss was and that he and Fadel would be able to ride off into the sunset. (Also, again, he wasn’t informing to the police.)

All Fadel wanted was for Style to take the situation seriously, to see him as the danger that he can be. But as soon as Style acknowledged the reality of the situation and finally showed some fear, all Fadel wanted to do was comfort him.

With only four episodes left, I think we’ll see the plot start to move along. Keen is obviously eager to prove himself to Mother and using this opportunity to take out Bison and Fadel in the process. And there are still so many unanswered questions about what happened to Bison’s and Fadel’s parents.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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