Carissa Pavlica
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This is one plan that has really gone awry.
Rabbit Hole Season 1 Episode 5 revealed just how far awry the plan has gone and just how alone this ragtag group John has assembled really is.
Suffice it to say, we didn’t see this coming, although it wasn’t entirely off the beaten path.
It was during Rabbit Hole Season 1 Episode 3 that Ben explained to John and Miles the steps to take over a thriving nation such as the US.
Now we know that everything has been leading to Crowley and his minions hoping to install Senator Nora Evers in the White House.
The plan to bring down Crowley has been in place for a while, but when Ben first read in John and Miles, they couldn’t have had any idea how dangerous it would be.
John has been racking his brain trying to figure out how his carefully crafted plan has failed so spectacularly.
Crowley is one step ahead of them the entire time, and it was driving John crazy, but not as crazy as trying to understand what led his person, the only one in the world who truly understood him and his tether to reality, to take his own life.
Whoever put Hailey and John on a collision course couldn’t have known how good she would be for him, and even if she laid it on a little thick with the “I stayed for you” shtick, it does seem like they’re kindred spirits.
She hasn’t had a person in her life that she could trust for a very long time, and John just lost his person, so there’s potential for a new relationship to blossom.
Those shoes will be hard to fill if John is continually blindsided, not knowing who he can trust, but he also needs to pay attention to those closest to him now, who are going out of their way to help when there isn’t much in it for them.
Ben: He kills a guy with a fire extinguisher, and suddenly he’s MI5.
Edward: I didn’t, I didn’t- you said he was OK.
Edward is just chuffed to bits to be doing something so cool. He gets excited with each realization and loves sharing with the others how he’s arrived at his destination. He’s a forensic accountant. That’s how they roll.
Edward is not cut out to be on the run from bad guys tossing various grenades and shooting from multiple angles. The poor guy was put throught the gamut. But after he got done screaming from the top of his lungs that he couldn’t hear, he was shot, and wondering why there was smoke, he was pretty game.
Of course, John would have issues trusting his father, given their history, and of the three people in John’s immediate orbit, he turned out to be the most problematic.
John has been suffering from anxiety and PTSD reignited after Valence’s death. Rabbit Hole shows that by placing us in John’s mind briefly now and again to great effect.
He imagined the look on Valence’s face as he fell toward the ground after his plunge, and when he tried to figure out who had betrayed him, he searched the faces of those he held dear, looking for clues.
John is old-school, though, and he does his best thinking by doing. Each memory came to him as he was in the midst of a task, notably dialing numbers trying to discover who last called Valence before his plunge.
He would have never imagined it was Ben, but it wasn’t done out of anything but love for his son and Miles. Ben couldn’t have known that the traitor he was looking for was on the other end of the phone until Valence confirmed it.
Ben, too, is old school. He saw The Intern Kyle as a loose end they should have killed outright. It’s hard to argue with that point, given what we know now.
Ben: We should kill that Kyle kid.
John: Well, there’s a surprise. You do know that the Cold War’s over, right?
Ben: He could be working for Crowley.
John: And he might just be an innocent FBI informant.
But John doesn’t like unnecessary killing. That’s a good quality to have most of the time, but maybe not so much when you’re dealing with someone like Crowley, who is on his way to ruling the world behind a Manchurian Candidate.
This is the first time we’ve seen Kyle as less than a ruthless killer, though. He did the job well enough (after catching Ben on his tail and wounding him), but much like John, he’s still recalling the look on Cara’s face and her deafening appeals for her life moments before he took it.
Maybe he’s getting queasy. Maybe there’s a chance he could turn against Crowley much as Valence turned against John and Ben. They sure could use the help.
The one-two punch John suffered, learning his team wasn’t in hiding after all and that Valence turned will either free him of his self-immolation or hinder him further.
For the time being, he has to get a grip because people are counting on him to survive, and in the longer term, the country and the world need him to destroy Crowley, even if they don’t know he exists.
Agent Madi was also on the scene discovering in real time the same thing as John, that his team is dead, not by fire, but by murder.
Madi’s interest was piqued by Cara’s wine and wine refrigerator, and I hope that she knows enough by now to suss out that John isn’t the culprit and could be in real danger himself.
She’s taking a lot of off-book chances, and it can’t possibly be long before Crowley knows she’s one to watch. She has had no team support, so when she gets on Crowley’s radar, it could be big trouble for her.
This series works because of the layers of secrets, and other than Madi and Kyle’s futures not being carved in stone, it’s also time to worry about John’s ex-wife, Liv. It didn’t take long for Madi to find her and get a peek around the house. How long can it be before Crowley uses her to get to John?
I wonder if we’ll get to see how Valance’s decisions played out and what led him to turn on John and Ben. That seems like a significant story that Rabbit Hole can unravel.
We only have three episodes left of Rabbit Hole Season 1.
Are you digging the storytelling and how the secrets are revealed?
Should Paramount+ renew the series, or are you OK with someone like Crowley getting his hands on the most powerful nation on earth?
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.