The third episode of Prime’s Neagley somehow manages to introduce more disturbing elements into an already disturbing plot, both putting off the viewer and, in a perverse, deeply human way, urging them to watch more, in the hope that these characters (which we are slowly growing to enjoy, possibly even love) may not have to experience these atrocities alone.
Like the previous episode, episode three begins right where episode two ended, with a violent pursuit of Davos, the man hired by Echo Canyon Farm to assassinate Neagley. Though she is able to shoot him, he gets away. As Neagley makes plans to go after him, Hudson (also known as Rats) informs her she must come down to the station to give a statement as she, technically, fired first. When looking to him for backup as to why she shouldn’t have to (as Davos is bleeding out somewhere, and she is desperate to find him quickly) he relies on technicalities, setting their relationship back a few paces. Though Neagley does agree to drive down to the station, she bolts, continuing her pursuit of Davos.
This, ultimately, culminates in a CIA-type interrogation, wherein Neagley injects Davos with a makeshift “truth-serum” and we see that, although it is dirty work Davos is doing, he is just another of Lawrence Cole’s victims. Any hope we may have for his future, however, is squashed when the police show up, shooting him point blank in a way that insinuates they are under Lawrence Cole’s thumb as well.
As this continues, Keno makes himself situated at Echo Canyon Farm, a place wholly unnatural and uncomfortable for him. When he is made aware of the barn in which those assigned to “The Project” are inaugurated, he makes it his mission to explore it. Upon doing so, he sees (in possibly the most disturbing scene of the show so far) a nude, drugged man rise out of the floor in a sci-fi like fashion, mutilating himself with a hammer. Horrified, Keno secludes himself in a corner, and sees for the first time the rye flour which Tommy had sent Neagley. Somehow, this reveal only raises more questions.
Though the episode shines in terms of plot, it seems to fall short on characterization. Incongruencies (or, put simply, plot holes) arise in the personality of Hudson. Though these incongruencies reduce the conflict within the story (as in, they brush over an argument that may have arisen) they do not wholly make sense when examining the character of Hudson as he has been introduced thus far. Hudson is, as he’s been portrayed, a very by-the-rules, textbook cop. This is in an effort to distance himself from his mob family, to establish himself as somebody who is not crooked, who is not corrupt. When the deputy asks Hudson if he saw Davos take aim at Neagley, he cannot even bring himself to lie, much to the dismay of Neagley herself.
Despite this, Hudson is portrayed as completely despondent when Neagley, wholly unemotional, drugs Davos during their undocumented interrogation of him in the makeshift operating room. Though he stops Neagley when she places the knife to Davos’s throat, he is ready and willing to let her extract – what would very well be seen in the eyes of the law – a false confession. There does not seem to be a strict line to his morals, and while typically that could be considered “complex character writing” it seems to read more as a lack of imagination, as his morals only appear when it works to benefit the plot. It feels, almost, that his character was an after-thought, and exists only to aid Neagley, not as a separate person himself.
“Hammer Time” is certainly not the pinnacle of television, but it would be a fundamental falsehood to say that it is bad, or even mediocre. While it certainly lacks in some aspects, it makes up for it in a varied, creative story, and acting that – across the board – astounds and awes, drawing the viewer in and keeping them engaged for the entire runtime.
8/10