The Fall - S2E4 – Strangler
Previously on The Fall, ‘It’s Always Darkest’
Stella is still my hero - granted, there were some wackadoo moments here. My biggest question going into this episode was can Stella still hold herself together without complete control? The answer is a resounding yes.
After being violated twice in 24 hours (once by Paul, and once by her colleagues) Stella was able to still keep herself focused on the investigation. She found out rather quickly that Paul had assigned himself to Annie Brawley as her bereavement counsellor and set things into motion to keep him away from her. She was able to intercept Annie, and keep her in the stairwell while another officer spoke to him. Paul was alerted when he saw the hairdresser leave (how did they end up in the same place?) so he leaves when Sally approaches him to avoid arrest.
When Stella tells Annie that Paul was a person of interest, she says something that seems to surprise her. Annie really liked him because he made her feel better and he was non-judgmental. It’s then that Annie remembers Paul in the bar when she lost her license and she also remembered that he assaulted her and killed her brother.
Police decide to search Paul and Sally’s home while they are at a kid’s birthday party. Photographs are taken to include pictures of a younger Paul and copy of the kids drawing that matches the one at the police station. They also installed a camera inside of the home. Unfortunately, one of the officers falls through the roof and they have to do some quick thinking to hide the damage they created. They flood the house with water in the hopes that Paul won’t find out. I don’t understand how this happens, but okay.
In the final scenes, Paul is schooling Katie about “embracing her darkness”. It’s an eerily sad conversation that includes what happened to their parents - Paul’s mother killed herself and Katie’s father was killed in a motorcycle crash. Katie admits that she has been researching the crimes he has done and creating multiple alibies for him in the future.
Observations
- Soooo, everybody has a journal now? I feel incredibly inadequate. Paul has a journal detailing his crimes and terrible thoughts. Stella keeps a journal to record her dreams, and Katie has a journal to absolve Paul of his crimes.
- The painting Paul put on Stella’s computer is called ‘The Nightmare’ by Henry Fuseli, which is telling since she was recording her nightmares in her journal.
- How selfish is Jim? There was a (ahem) killer/rapist in Stella’s hotel room for over 2 hours and you are only concerned with yourself? This guy.
- Where is Rose?
