‘Murder in the First’ season 3, episode 4 review: Back to the beginning?
If there was a way to describe Sunday night’s new “Murder in the First” episode, it’d probably be “frustrating.” After all, despite whatever development we’re seeing with the characters, it feels like we’re going somewhat back to where we started in episode 1.
For example, take a look at the state of things between Terry and Hildy. Are the feelings between the two still there? Certainly, but seeing the two move away from the idea of a relationship so quickly after it was discovered was a bummer after getting the moments so many fans were waiting for. Obviously, they had to anticipate this, so couldn’t there have been more of a plan? We imagine that there will be between the two of them to come, but this episode leaves it on an unsettling note. Having them care about their jobs makes sense (especially given what they’re working on), but we still want to see them care for each other.
As for the Normandy Parker case, the investigation almost has to reboot now thanks to the death of Billy James after his release. While it’s now clear that Parker was hiding a heart ailment during his playing career, we want more to show from the past few episodes. In turn, we also expected even more blowback from Terry and the shooting, even if the discovery of the gun validated his sign of the story.
As for Siletti, there was some movement as he looks to get himself in better standing, but we still wanted more mostly so that we could get back to trying to connect him more to the rest of the show. This is a compelling character, but we want the show a little more unified.
We’ll admit that we’re being hard on “Murder in the First” in this review, but the truth here is that the performances led by Taye Diggs are still fantastic, and we appreciate the show’s effort to tell a larger case over the course of the full season. We just felt that in around episode 2 we were really pushing in some extraordinary directions, and we want to see the stakes that high once more where everyone has more to lose, and you wonder what is lying around the next corner. Grade: B-.
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