Episode 5 of Cape Fear, “Faith,” starts with Nevaeh antagonizing her mother, then being confronted by Anna, and eventually being hit by a car. After the accident, Anna is presented as having pushed her, and Nevaeh disappears. Anna’s plotline begins with her telling Natalie the truth about Nevaeh, fully believing that Nevaeh is working with Cady to tear the family apart. The rest of the episode follows Anna tracking down Nevaeh’s mother and, eventually, finding the mausoleum where Nevaeh sleeps. Cady and Tom, on the other hand, are mostly intertwined in this episode. Tom’s upcoming case becomes complicated when his client accuses him of being distracted by his colleague, Lexi. After a tense, mysterious scene with the woman who has been following him, Cady manipulates Tom into getting into a bar fight. In the final minutes of the episode, Tom and Anna are suspended from work, Anna finds Nevaeh’s mother dead, and it is revealed that Cady lives across the street from the Bowdens. 

Since the second episode fully established the concept and tension of Cape Fear, each episode has been extremely consistent in deepening the plot and hinting at the characters’ mysterious backstories. With that consistency, though, there are elements of the show that are not going to magically improve from episode to episode, such as exaggerated and inauthentic portrayals of teenagers and the internet. Despite appearing disingenuous or forced for the plot to escalate, the teenage scenes are often worth it for how they relate to Anna and Tom’s story. As for this episode specifically, Cady’s focus on Tom was an exciting direction for the show to go, especially during scenes that hinted at Tom’s past with Lexi and, especially, his brother. Some believability is sacrificed for the plot to unfold, though, as Tom seems to put a strange amount of trust in Cady despite being his initial prosecutor. Similar to moments of teenage inauthenticity, Cape Fear sometimes heightens the tension, but these strange moments are often worth it as the Bowdens are dug into an ever-deeper hole. 

While the character highlight this episode was Tom Bowden, Anna’s plotline was the most engaging. This is largely due to Anna’s role in uncovering the mystery of Nevaeh, especially given Cady’s earlier claim that he has nothing to do with her. Anna’s plotline plays out very similarly to the previous one, with her trying and failing to get someone to talk. This time, however, it is made much more interesting by her figuring out the solution on her way and going to Nevaeh’s mother. The ending of the episode, though, came as an incredible surprise, notably given the brutality with which Nevaeh’s mother is killed. The shot of the corpse was a great reminder of how sparse Cape Fear has been with actually showing violence, with the last truly brutal scene being when Cady attacks the men in prison. The uncomfortable imagery in this scene was effective, and the nature of her murder raised fascinating questions, especially with the discovery of the totem last seen by Anna when she threw it away. Finally, while this episode plays out similarly to the rest, with Cady manipulating someone and Anna investigating something, it furthers the story effectively and explores its characters well. 

Rating: 7/10