The Funeral
Briarpatch returns this week and slows the pace down as the entire 40 minute episode revolves around Felicity Dill’s funeral. As players step into the limelight and show their credentials for potentially being the one involved in her death, the episode ends with one climactic moment that throws more shade over this whodunit and leaves things wide open for next week’s episode to follow. Episode 4 of Briarpatch begins with Floyd ringing Allegra and giving her something to think about before the funeral. A hungover Allegra finds herself driven to the church by a very chatty limo driver called Henry. En-route, she stops by the police station where she comes face to face with Kim and the other officers. She tells Kim that Floyd called and told her he’s not guilty, prompting more suspicions to come to the foreground as she brushes off these concerns and remains defiant that he is the bomber. Kim introduces her to the rest of the force and gives a rousing speech before Gene invites her into the office and asks if she wants to say a few words at the funeral. Allegra refuses though, before divulging more about Allegra’s family past. At the funeral, Allegra is greeted personally by a number of different people who all pay their respects until the noise is deafening and she’s escorted inside by Jake, wearing all black of course, complete with a black cowboy hat for good measure. They reminisce on old times before the service begins. The group start singing but it’s all too much for Allegra who heads out the back for some air and a cheeky cigarette. She also happens to come face to face with Cyrus, where she tells him about the warehouse and the drones she found last episode. She believes Brattle was sending her a message and to get to the bottom of what this means, Cyrus encourages her to meet him again, much to her displeasure. Lucretia Colder heads outside and talks to Allegra about how hard funerals are and as she leaves, Allegra leaves too in the limo. On the way, she talks to A.D. and tells him she believes Floyd is innocent and didn’t kill Felicity. She refuses to accept what the police are saying and, driven by her quest for the truth, she heads to the funeral site to lay down flowers. While A.D. goes alone to pay tribute to his grandmother, the rest of the group gather and await Allegra’s words. Gene encourages her to speak but she remains silent, watching everyone suspiciously behind her glasses. Eventually she has enough and marches away, letting her laughter turn to tears. There, she finds Floyd waiting behind a tree and telling her to scream as he presents himself and holds her round the neck. Gene approaches and holds him up at gunpoint, with Allegra telling Floyd she knows he’s innocent. Suddenly, he lets her go and throws himself into the path of the officers as they shoot him in cold blood. As a pool of blood trickles from his body, Allegra hides something from the police in her jacket as the episode ends. Who killed Felicity Dill? It’s the question that’s driving this series at the moment and the various colourful characters are intriguing and suspicious enough to keep you watching. Having said that, beyond Floyd sacrificing himself at the end there really isn’t an awful lot in this episode worth getting excited about. While it’s not necessarily a filler, the episode itself fails to inspire as much excitement as previous ones have. Still, there’s enough here to keep you enticed and hopefully next week things speed up a little.
