Episode seven of Cape Fear, “Mongrel,” follows the tension of the previous episode by delivering reveals and peeling back the layers of Cady’s backstory. The episode begins with Tom charging across the street to take his son back from Cady. Nevaeh gets arrested, Tom beats up Cady, and it is revealed that Zack has been effectively brainwashed into thinking Cady is his father. Anna sends Ray to look into the masked woman as she and Tom contemplate planting drugs in Cady’s house to get him arrested. The second major plotline follows Cady as he returns to his father and seeks information about the masked woman, with Natalie insisting on tagging along. Tom and Anna convince Anna’s father to plant the evidence, fully bending their ethics to combat Cady. Cady, at his father’s house, is shown to quiver in the presence of his abusive father, but ends up getting the necessary information about his sister, the masked woman. The episode concludes with Cady killing Ray, baptizing Natalie, and then dropping her off at home.
“Mongrel” capitalizes very well on the tension of the previous episodes, notably in how Tom and Anna react. On the other hand, this episode returns to suffering from issues that were more common in the first half of the season. Specifically, much of the tension in this episode feels forced and relies heavily on Natalie’s almost comical lack of survival skills. That said, the details in this episode about the drug that makes people susceptible to persuasion recontextualize some of her actions and choices. Similarly, however, many storytelling shortcuts are utilized to justify Natalie’s actions, such as with the potential drugs and overt alcoholism. On its own, paralleling her mother’s vice is very interesting, but it occasionally comes across as shorthanded, justifying some of her less intelligent choices. Ultimately, the character’s endpoint with Cady was very compelling, notably in how it escalates the tension over the final three episodes. Much like Zack in the beginning of the episode (and to a more intense degree throughout the season), the children fluctuate between interesting characters and plot devices in Cady’s schemes merely to serve as tension for the Bowdens to the point of questionable believability.
While a relatively minor aspect of the episode, Anna and Tom’s plan to plant the drugs at Cady’s house was the highlight. Throughout the season, the Bowden parents’ storyline has been twofold, with their reactions to Cady in the present and their contemplations on their past secrets. With most of the latter given to Natalie’s arc this episode, the Bowdens’ descent into law-breaking this episode was very compelling, especially in how it tied into Anna’s relationship with her father. An additional highlight of the episode was Tom’s dream about his family, as placing such a smart and powerful man in a position subservient to inevitability has been fascinating to watch. Finally, the standout scene in this episode was with Cady’s father. While some of Cady’s discomfort might have been manipulative or performative, the glimpse into how they interacted when Cady was a child was terrifying yet engrossing to see. Overall, despite this episode’s reliance on some convenient elements, it was ultimately a very interesting expansion of this season’s story and underlying mysteries.
Rating: 7/10