Starting in a church and ending in a sleep clinic, Coroner Season 2 Episode 5 is filled with unexpected twist and turns. Okay, so maybe some of them were expected.
The fact that Jenny moved the gun when she was sleepwalking, for example, was very expected. It was only a matter of time before the problem leaked into her work. The second the gun went missing; there was no mystery as to who took it.
There is the question of why. Jenny's past sleepwalking escapades have involved walking into moving traffic, trying to drown herself, and nearly burning down the house. She's also dug up the backyard and opened the refrigerator.
River: The calls are coming from inside the bags.
Jenny: It's, uh ... it's family members. They're trying to reach their loved ones.
Casey: It's unnerving. It's sad.
Some of what she's done seems self-destructive. The digging was inquisitive. The 'fridge? Well, maybe she was just hungry.
What she did on this episode was incredibly dangerous but also not as dangerous as it could be. It would be a lot easier to use the gun than to simply hide it and wait for it to be found.
In any case, it's great that she's finally getting help, because if Ennis wasn't such a good kid, this could have been catastrophic. It might even be more catastrophic than a shooting that left seven dead and three in the hospital.
Going into this episode, it was easy to assume this was going to be political. A shooting at a church. A shooter speaking in another language. All the tropes were there.
The tropes were also there for a priest who molests little boys. Father Vince's eyes seemed to be on Ennis while he played. McAvoy wasn't the only one to jump to that conclusion.
However, this wasn't about religious prejudice or sexual abuse. It was about physical abuse and, possibly, racial prejudice.
We can't know if Kent Wilkins abused his foster sons because they were indigenous, or if he would have abused white foster kids just the same. It doesn't really matter. The guy was trash. He was a garbage person, and it's no great tragedy that he's dead.
His wife wasn't much better, though those situations are never easy. She may have been scared of her husband, even if it didn't seem like it. That hardly makes her the real victim.
Darla: I never laid a hand on either of those boys.
McAvoy: I believe you. I also believe you didn't raise a hand to stop your husband's abuse. So many people are dead.
Despite everything, Ennis came out of this better off. A large part of the credit for that goes to Alison. She's amazing. We've always known that. But this is the first time we've really gotten to hear her story.
What happened to her mother was tragic. Sadly, it isn't surprising. There's a reason law enforcement officials are under such scrutiny right now. Canadian television of the past year highlighted discrimination against the indigenous population.
It's good to know Alison's roots. It's also good that she's going forward, embracing being a mother and having a relationship with the woman she loves, while at the same time working to help kids like Ennis. Now if she could only get proper maternity leave!
Alison: There's a reason why I joined the coroner's office. When I was a kid, just a few years older than Ennis is now, my mother died.
Jenny: I'm so sorry.
Alison: It, it was a school night. And we'd run out of cereal, and i wanted it for breakfast the nest day, so my mom popped out to the grocery store, like she'd done a million times. And I remember it was raining because my dad chased after her to give her an umbrella. And she never made it home. And the police came to our house around midnight and said that there'd been an accident.
Jenny: What did they say happened.
Alison: That she must have fallen, slipped in the rain and hit her head. The coroner said blunt force trauma to the back of the skull was consistent with a fall.
Jenny: But you don't think that's what happened.
Alison: My dad went in to identify her body, and when he saw her, her lip was split, and there was bruising around her face. Bruising. You know, if she fell and hit the back of her head, that's one thing, but then how did she get bruises on her face? How did she get a split lip? The coroner saw a Ntavie woman and he assu ... I joined this office, so that I could make sure that no other kid had to go through what me and my family went through. You think that's naive?
Jenny: No, Alison, I think it's incredibly brave.
Alison: I'm not telling you this so that you go easy on Ennis. More to say that, we don't know what he's been through up til now.
Kelly also seems eager to help, but her motives might be a little more dangerous than Alison's. The similarity between Kelly and Kaite was, once again, pointed out. We still don't know why, but there has to be a reason for that. There are no coincidences.
She's becoming a part of The Coopers' lives. Once, I would have cheered, but now I'm worried.
She hit on Liam! She says she owes Jenny and that they have this great bond, but she goes after her live-in boyfriend?
Liam is clearly struggling. It's like being a pseudo-father and son-in-law is not what he signed up for. In fairness, he knew about Ross and Gordon when he and Jenny decided to get serious.
He told Jenny that he liked her son. It seemed like fitting into an insta-family was part of the draw for him. He was lost and lonely. He was trying to find his way home.
Now it seems like it is all too much for him. He wants simple again. He just wants a girlfriend he can be romantic with, without her son and father interfering.
Kelly: i have to admit, I have a real soft spot for her. It's more than just giving me a job, she sort of, um, took me in.
Liam: Yeah, me too. I'm gonna start to think that, she has a thing for strays.
He doesn't want to have to take care of someone because he can barely take care of himself. Losing himself in solving others' problems isn't working anymore. He needs to work out his mental health.
That doesn't mean he's ready to cheat on Jenny. There was chemistry between him and Kelly, no denying that, but there was also chemistry between Kelly and Jenny. I'd like to think he wouldn't cross that line. Then again, we know he's cheated before.
As for Kelly's intentions, it's hard to say. She could be single white femaling Jenny; it could be out of grief, or jealousy, or she could be a long lost relative closing in on what should have been hers.
Or maybe she really is Katie. We never did see the body of that little girl. Though I don't think she's the same ethnicity as Jenny and Gordon, but they could have a different mother.
She can't be like the black dog because, at this point, everybody has met her. Ross and Liam maybe have mental issues, but I don't see them hallucinating the same woman as Gordon and Jenny.
She's real, and she has an agenda. Much as I dread the trouble she might cause, I'm also strangely excited about it. I want to know her story. What is she planning? Why is she doing it?
We had a few other stars this episode. Dr. River Baitz made an impression in her reaction to Earnie's body and the signs of abuse. Matteo wasn't around for more than a minute, but he made an impression just by being Matteo. It was so good to see him again!
We didn't see Noor, which was sad, but there are still a few episodes left in the season. Hopefully she pops up again soon.
River: He's just a kid.
Jenny: You okay?
River: Yeah, it's just, we see too many brown faces in our line of work. You know what I mean?
So, what did you think Fanatics?
What is Kelly up to? Can Jenny get her sleepwalking under control? Would Liam cheat?
Let us know in the comments, and remember, you can watch Coroner online right here via TV Fanatic.
Coroner airs at 9/8c Wednesdays on The CW.
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