Joe Pickett season 2 episode 8: The truth about Shannon

Is Joe Pickett season 2 episode 8 one of the best episodes in the history of the series? We do think you can make that argument. It is certainly dark, twisted, and paints a complicated picture of corruption and morality. It also tells an extremely important story about why it is so difficult for victims of sexual assault to often come forward.

At the end of last week, we learned that Shannon was actually the killer and now, we have a better understanding of why. Not only was she a victim herself, but she had seen first-hand what happened when you try to report these assaults to the authorities. You are either ignored or, in the case of Marissa, ultimately killed. A lot of this was because Sheriff Barnum himself was involved in what happened, and he would do whatever he could to cover it up.

Close to the end of the episode, Joe and Marybeth started to piece together what really happened and with that, they had to stop the Sheriff before he could kill Shannon. A “prisoner transfer” was actually more of him painting the picture of her “escaping” — that way, he could kill her and continue to cover everything up.

The story framed it in an effective manner — Shannon murdered multiple people, and there is no getting around some of what she did. However, they also peel back the layers of why it happened in a really effective way. This episode is not an easy watch, mostly because it is a subject of psychology and what happens when someone feels so unsafe and helpless to the point where they feel like taking matters into their own hands is their only option. That is what Shannon did.

Now, Marybeth has put herself on the line courtesy of that cliffhanger. She can take custody of Shannon, but what is the endgame going to be? There is still the matter of taking down the Sheriff, and that may not be easy.

Related – Get some other news when it comes to the next Joe Pickett episode

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(Photo: Paramount+.)