This show has me researching some absolutely wild things, my friends. As I watched Yancy dig up Nick’s arm this week, I couldn’t help but wonder how long fingerprints last on a decomposing hand. One study reported that they last four days in hot weather but 50 days in cold weather. Who knew?
While the idea of Yancy digging up Nick’s grave and using his putrefied finger to open his phone is both disgusting and hilarious, the majority of this episode serves to move pieces around on the board. Nick struggles to cover up his botched attempt to murder Yancy, Yancy runs from the cops after being identified as Izzy’s killer, and Neville attempts to bring Eve and Nick down with the information from the flash drive he stole from their offices.
Oh, and Bonnie is back in Key West. And the underage kid she fucked has found her at Yancy’s place, only presumably he’s not a kid anymore. Is anyone a bit confused about what’s happening with this Bonnie storyline? I know it was probably in the novel, and I’m truly having a fantastic time watching Michelle Monaghan dial her whole thing up to eleven, but every time we check in with her, I always feel like I’ve accidentally hit the remote and I’m suddenly watching a different show. Seeing as we left her on a big cliffhanger this week, I’m guessing her deal might intersect with the main story sooner rather than later, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
One thing is for sure — Bonnie might not take too kindly to Yancy having a new woman in his life. This episode firmly establishes that Rosa and Yancy are boyfriend-girlfriends, despite Yancy’s protestations. Rosa goes out on a limb for him multiple times in this episode, breaks the law a whole bunch, and introduces him to her entire family. The girl has got it bad for Mr. Big Bird.
Mendez also has it bad for Yancy but in a revenge way. He confronts Rosa, leers at her like a total creep, and insults Yancy, calling him Big Bird in the process. After Mendez and his scuzzy aura clear out of the room, Yancy emerges and goes on a rant about Big Bird that is as precious as it is true. He points out that Big Bird is not only awesome but also “loyal as hell to Snuffleupagus.” Underscoring the virtues of friendship is a theme that keeps coming up with Yancy. He talks about it later in the episode as well, stating that “courtesy is the foundation of all friendships.” Many of Vince Vaughn’s memorable characters are hyper-focused on loyalty and freely expressing emotions in friendships (see: Swingers, Old School, Wedding Crashers), and it’s a character trait that never gets old. With his undying love and loyalty to those he cares about, he’s almost like a puppy in human form … complete with digging up old bones to prove a point.
Yancy is also resourceful and clever. We obviously never thought that Nick had killed him with that blow to the head at the end of last week’s installment, but then Nick demonstrates some truly epic strength as he drags Yancy’s giant body down the pier and dumps him into the water. Yancy survives, and when he gets to shore he realizes that he needs to hide out, so he spends the night in Evan Shook’s architectural monstrosity.
There has been so much going on in this show that I have been, unfortunately, slacking in detailing the feud between Evan Shook and Andrew Yancy, so let me take a moment here. Bad Monkey is a series with oodles of funny moments, but this feud just might be my favorite. It’s always a delight to see Yancy try to constantly one-up Shook every time they interact. Yancy is dumping so many things into that house that it’s on the verge of becoming a Keys version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”: one dead raccoon, a thousand angry bees, a bedraggled Yancy, and a partridge in a pear tree!
Emerging from the sea after a murder attempt was only the start of a no good, very bad day for Yancy. Soon after, he finds out he is wanted for Izzy’s murder while he’s visiting Rosa inside the Miami precinct. Bad timing. Rosa attempts to sneak him out in a body bag, and, when Mendez tries to hit on her, she rejects his advances, saying that she’d rather fuck the guy in the body bag. Damn, Rosa. I’m all for rejecting creeps, but try to play it a little cool if you’re trying to help your boyfriend evade arrest for a crime he didn’t commit.
Rosa ends up bringing a wanted Yancy to her parents’ house for dinner. They’re a lively crew, but Rosa’s sister Mel and her mother are both skeptical of Yancy. Later, Rosa’s mom drives Yancy out of the house by telling him that he’s bad for her daughter. She’s right because moments later, we see Rosa headed to the cemetery to help Yancy rob Nick’s grave and make out while cops are chasing them. Fun date idea!
For some reason, Yancy and Rosa wait until daylight to look through the phone, and Yancy wastes a bunch of time scrolling through Nick’s pictures, which I might think would include way more Eve nudes (you just know she loves taking those) and fewer sunsets, but I digress. Eve is blissfully unaware of what Yancy is up to, but Nick has an idea. Why Nick hasn’t deleted his info using Find My iPhone or some other app is insane, but hey, he’s definitely Gen X because his phone still rings when someone calls it, and honestly, I don’t know anyone under the age of 40 who has their ringtone on, ever.
Eve wants to stop by Caitlin’s house real quick to threaten her before she and Nick go back to Andros. It’s reprehensible that Eve is engaging in this behavior, but Caitlin is also being an idiot. She told her fiancé that Nick is still alive, she’s buying expensive stuff, and she’s planning a trip to Andros to visit. Eve tells her that she needs to play the role of the grieving daughter, but shouldn’t Eve also be playing the role of the grieving wife? Eve doesn’t really think about stuff like that. What she does do is come up with totally sick (and sickening) burns like “You might share [your dad’s] DNA, but I swallow it.” Jaw. Dropped.
After Eve severs all ties between her husband and his daughter, she and Nick head to the airport to catch a private flight with their pilot, Claspers (Bob Clendenin). As discovered by Yancy and Rosa in Nick’s phone, Claspers is the type of guy who uses multiple exclamation points in his text messages and just wants to make a friend. Guided by info from an eager Claspers, Yancy and Rosa find the airport just in time to see the plane take off, and Nick distracts Eve with a bottle of champagne so she doesn’t see the large man lumbering down the runway after them. But Yancy shatters Nick’s peace with a phone call to Eve, promising he’ll see her soon.
Back in Andros, Neville is also trying to take Eve and Nick down with the flash drive he found when he broke into their offices. He and Dawnie contact Tanny (Krys Marshall), a friend of theirs who works for a high-powered dude who might be able to get the information into the right hands. Unfortunately, Neville once slept with Tanny and then ghosted her, so she acts like everything is forgiven and then quickly flips on him for a pair of Louboutins. When Neville shows up, Egg is waiting to snatch both him and the flash drive, but then Neville pulls a Driggs and hops onto the trunk of a palm tree, expertly scooting down like his monkey friend. He and Dawnie escape pursuit, but only because his boat miraculously washes up on shore.
Earlier in the episode, we saw Egg happen upon the Dragon Queen on the beach. When he sees that Neville’s boat has washed up on shore near her, he questions her about Neville’s whereabouts. She smartly responds, “why would I do that? He payin’ me, not you.” I need to channel this type of energy in my life, y’all. The Dragon Queen takes no shit and calls it like it is. In an effort to “help” Neville, the queen and Ya-Ya push the boat back out to sea, and coincidentally it ends up exactly where he needs it to be when he’s escaping from the murderous Egg. The narrator comments on this coincidence, stating, “Whether you think that Neville’s boat floating up was dumb luck or magical intervention is … but I know what I think.” I know what I think, too. The Dragon Queen’s magic is strong, and I can’t wait for Eve and Nick to finally be in her orbit.
Monkeying Around
• There are two other scenes with the Dragon Queen that start to suggest a life beyond her outsized public persona. The first is a scene with her friend Asia (Lauren F. Walker). The two women drink bottles of rosé and gossip on the beach, and here we learn that the queen’s real name is Gracie. She lets loose with her friend without any of the severe, searching glances or uncomfortable silences that she saves for her customers. Later, she contemplates a piece of land that Eve and Nick are trying to buy, and she happens upon Egg, singing the chorus of “Saving All My Love for You” in a heavenly baritone. She’s a bit smitten, and the two flirt. As Gracie and Egg are two people with severe external personas who both clearly have softer interior lives, I’m very interested to see where this relationship leads.
• Once you’re in a phone, you can disable passcodes pretty easily, so Yancy really didn’t need to break off that decaying finger. Ew.
• Tom Petty Cover Watch: There are three Petty covers in this episode: “Sins of My Youth” by Kurt Vile, “Yer So Bad” by the Meridian Brothers, and “You Wreck Me” by the War on Drugs. “You Wreck Me” is prominently featured as Nick and Eve take off from the airport with Yancy in pursuit. Now, it’s easy to think that the lyrics might be referring to the relationship between Eve and Nick — she sure is wrecking his entire life — but Yancy’s obsession with these two just might bring him down, too.