The Place I Lie
Episode 5 of Black Bird starts with Jimmy walking purposefully through the prison. All the inmates stare a hole through him, but in reality it’s just his own paranoia. Jimmy is brought in for his regular meeting with Dr. Aaron Zicherman. Only, he’s not actually there, he’s on vacation. Instead, he’s confronted by Larry’s doctor. Jimmy is guarded and questions the new doctor, asking exactly why she’s filling in and knowing that Jimmy would be there. She shrugs it off, claiming she’s just interested in helping those with mental health issues. The doctor urges Jimmy to show some compassion. “Are you a threat to the mental health of any of my patients?” She asks. This is, of course, in reference to Larry – and Jimmy is quick to ask as much. She doesn’t need to say anything but Jimmy can sense this is where the conversation is going. Jimmy intensifies his questioning with Larry after this, asking about Gary. Well, Larry is not happy with his brother’s wife, calling her a “stinky bitch” after she called their re-enactments dress-up. Larry has pretty strong opinions about the education system, and Jimmy plays right into this, asking about the “brides” he’s had and asking how young these girls were he’s slept with. Larry bites right back, and it’s a really tense conversation, especially as Jimmy is forced to lie in a bid to get his new friend to open up. Meanwhile, Brian and Lauren continue to trace Larry’s moves and move up through Illinois to do so. There are a number of different roads and it would appear that the pair stopped somewhere that intersects. The gas station up on the road opened in the Spring of 94. The manager believes they broke ground around the summer of 93 though. Continuing on, at the autoshop, JT ( the tender) recognizes a picture of Larry and points out that he’s memorable and “creepy as old fuck.” Apparently he used to constantly hang out and chat up the young girls. JT eventually ran him off though, given he made too many of the girls uncomfortable – including his own daughter, Audrey. Brian and Laure decide to question her next. According to Audrey, Larry used to encourage her to go to his van and check out his cleaning products. He used to give her things too, including a locket and earrings. They were all her size, which made his earlier comments about her ankles and earlobes all the more unnerving. Audrey admits that most of the items she threw away – but one thing she kept. This happens to be a mountain bike. Jessica Roach’s mountain bike to be precise. Meanwhile, Jimmy is approached by Vincent Gigante who warns him off bringing drugs into the prison, telling him this is a bad idea. Jimmy claims he thought about it but changed his mind. The thing is, Gigante is suspicious of Jimmy, especially as nine of his contacts have actually seen Jimmy in person but it’s all hearsay, and as such it puts Jimmy in a precarious situation. Speaking of precarious, an agitated Larry heads into therapy and lashes out at his therapist. He brings up how he’s in a great mood, and how there are “positive signs” in the prison. Larry’s cockiness is a projection of Jimmy’s behaviour and she sees straight into this. Jimmy’s projected cockiness hides a much more vulnerable core though, specifically his own paranoia. Between the situation involving Gigante and Carter, Jimmy is caught off-guard by Larry’s chat in private. Larry points out that he’s never raped anyone… but he has slept with different girls. He brings up Jessica Roach and how she was “nice at first”. She had a mountain bike and ended up getting a flat tyre. Larry gave her a lift and he’s convinced the girl was happy to chat and take a ride. As Jimmy listens, Larry likens her to a rabid squirrel. He reveals everything in excruciating detail, including knocking her out with the liquid, “ragging her” in the back of the van and how Jessica scratched him deeply. He doesn’t remember having sex with her but when he woke up his clothes and hers were both off. Jimmy keeps a straight face through all of this, even when he points out Jessica was crying after. It’s an admission of guilt and he could go down for this. However, it’s not enough right now to get Larry off the hook. Larry’s hearing is coming up soon and despite Jessica Roach’s bike being found with Audrey, there’s not enough evidence to keep him behind bars. One thing’s for sure though, Larry is 100% guilty here.
The Episode Review
How tough must that have been for Jimmy? We finally get a confession from Larry and not only is it a chilling admission of the truth, it’s all stomach-churning and sickening to hear how nonchalantly he discusses hurting these girls. I’ll admit that I was convinced there was more going on here, like a twist involving Gary being the ringleader, but it would seem that Larry really is that messed up and is the one responsible for everything that’s happened. The investigation involving Brian and Lauren has ultimately played second fiddle to the more interesting story beats involving Jimmy in prison, and it would appear that he may well be getting out after all – if he can convince Lauren and Brian to believe him over what Larry has confessed to. Either way though, everything has been left on a precarious knife edge, with the finale promising to be quite the dramatic affair next week.
