Well, she did it, folks. Bonnie and her wacky story line finally intersected with the main plot, and it yielded glorious results. After Detective Johnna returns Bonnie to Oklahoma, the women find out that the state is not at all interested in prosecuting her, and so they return to Florida. Having finally taken responsibility for her actions only to be told that her admission of guilt didn’t matter, Bonnie snaps, channeling all her frenetic energy into becoming a badass arsonist. I’m not totally convinced that the demolition of Evan Shook’s garish McMansion was worth the slog that we had to endure leading up to Bonnie’s Big Moment, but damn if it wasn’t fun to watch it unfold.
Unlike Bonnie’s narrative, the Evan Shook plotline has been welcome throughout the series, his short but charged altercations with Yancy sprinkling laugh-out-loud moments into every episode. He’s the antithesis of everything that Yancy stands for and also a Key West proxy for the show’s real-estate-greed-is-wrecking-nature through-line. So, after eight episodes of Shook trying to sell the house and Yancy antagonizing him, it was thrilling to see someone else take matters into their own hands.
I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Michelle Monaghan — like Yancy has noted in the past, Bonnie just keeps popping up — and even though her plotline has felt tedious at times, her performance is captivating, and I kind of hope she stays in the mix. Her triumphant return is scored to a rockin’ cover of Tom Petty’s “Here Comes My Girl,†by Weezer, and the moment she emerges from the fiery wreckage of Shook’s house, everything she does is a delight to behold. As she approaches Yancy and Rosa, Bonnie’s face is full of exuberant, unhinged energy. “Hi, Andrew. They wouldn’t arrest me,†she breathlessly admits. A seemingly nonplussed Yancy responds, “I think they will now.â€
Although Yancy is with Rosa now, Bonnie’s lingering influence on him is apparent later in the episode when Yancy dramatically quotes Edith Wharton and Neville casually drops some knowledge about The Age of Innocence, so it doesn’t feel like the show — or Yancy — is done with her quite yet, but what she can do from behind bars is yet to be seen. Her influence on men is legend, so something tells me she’ll find a way back to her friend somehow.
Honestly? After Evan Shook tried to hire the Russian mob to kill Yancy and everyone in his house, he deserved to have his house burned down. Bonnie should get away with a short sentence and a handshake from the mayor for burning down that atrocity to the skyline. And Shook was dumb enough to hire a dude that knows and loves his target. When Pestov finds out that his goons are attacking Yancy’s house, he calls it off. Scott Glenn gets in a good headbutt, and Rosa shows off her fledgling weaponry skills, but in the end, no one gets hurt, and Yancy decides to instruct the goons to clean up the mess instead of reporting them because he doesn’t want Pestov to get in trouble. Nice guy.
As we approach the final two episodes (fingers crossed for a second season), it’s starting to feel like Yancy might be a bit too chill. Sure, it’s cool that he doesn’t sweat it when his house is shot up by Russian gangsters, and his bemused reaction when his ex blows up Shook’s McMansion to get his attention is pretty hilarious, but his lax attitude about bringing Rosa undercover is irresponsible at best. Yancy is used to playing fast and loose as a single dude — he pushes everyone’s buttons, even the people he loves — and he’s been warning Rosa about his tendencies this whole time. However, she likes him, and she’s hooked on his adrenaline-fueled lifestyle, so she’s starting to find herself in compromising situations, like having to use a BBQ fork to stab a huge would-be assassin in her boyfriend’s living room and taking on the persona of Rosalba Ramos to try and take down a couple of murderous criminals.
Yancy and Rosa take Bonnie’s blowing up of the house as a sign that they need to go to Andros. Why? I’m not sure. It’s a wild thing, but the only real thread that connects the two is preventing greedy developers from plopping horrific monstrosities on beautiful land. As lovely commenters on these recaps have stated, the idea of conserving and protecting the natural world comes up in Carl Hiaasen’s work again and again, so perhaps that’s what the show was trying to say here?
No matter. Bonnie’s totally wild actions somehow convince Yancy and Rosa to go to Andros to catch Eve and Nick. Not that they needed much convincing to begin with, but hey, witnessing the explosion of a giant Day-Glo-yellow building might just trigger some life changes. The two get Nick’s daughter, Caitlin, onboard, and she calls her dad with a hot tip about a woman with “stupid money†who might be interested in investing in the resort. Nick is elated, but Eve is dubious.
As Yancy and Rosa plan their trip to Andros, Eve and Nick invite some key players to their new yacht. Gracie brings Egg as her guest, and she talks about business with Eve as Nick flounders with one flipper in the water. I get a good laugh every time Nick struggles with his new one-armed existence and Eve fully refuses to acknowledge his limitations. But, as I’ve mentioned before, Nick is terrible too. His consistent contempt for everyone in Andros is a repeated theme, and when he mentioned that they were in a third-world country, I had to look it up because I couldn’t possibly believe that would be true. (It’s not true.)
The racist and classist undertones of Eve and Nick’s continued rise in Andros are underscored by Gracie stealing Nick’s very expensive watch and Nick not noticing until the next day. While Gracie was once conflicted about selling to the Striplings and getting out of Andros, she seems even more determined now. She promised Eve that she would handle her old friend Asia, but Eve sends Egg to vandalize her boutique anyway. When Gracie calls Ya-Ya for some support, Ya-Ya turns a cold shoulder to her, saying that now she can feel what it’s like to be truly alone.
But Gracie isn’t actually alone. She has Egg, and they seem like a good match, even if their relationship is probably doomed. Egg respects Gracie, and Gracie likes the way that Egg makes her feel. And she really loves his magical singing voice. Memo to Hollywood: Put David St. Louis in more things where he gets to sing! If this man does not get to belt out a Tom Petty cover by the end of this series, I will consider it a missed opportunity.
Gracie is packing to leave as Yancy and Rosa arrive on the island. They do not seem to care about being seen together, as they go out to dinner and make friends with Claspers, the Striplings’ pilot. Claspers desperately needs a friend, but should these two really be canoodling in public where anyone can see them? And then they take a picture for the restaurant’s wall of fame to boot! Eve and Nick know what Yancy looks like, and it’s not like a tall, gregarious man blends in with a crowd, exactly. All of these things feel like poor decisions on Yancy’s part.
Andros is a small community. Within a day of being there, Yancy encounters two people close to the Striplings, first Claspers and then Gracie. He spots her with Nick’s watch and informs her of exactly how much it’s worth. This actually gets a small but marked reaction out of Gracie. She tells Yancy she stole the watch from “a bad man,†and Yancy tries to get more information out of her, promising her a coffee. Gracie playfully tells him to throw in a muffin too, and when he goes to the counter, she disappears without a trace. This encounter is the polar opposite of Nick’s initial encounter with Gracie; Nick was dismissive and nasty while Yancy is pleasant and kind. Granted, Yancy wanted something from Gracie, but he always approaches others from an angle of curiosity. Come to think of it, he’d probably get along with Ted Lasso.
While Yancy chats with Gracie, Rosa, posing as the car-dealership scion Rosalba Ramos, goes out with Eve and Nick to see the land. She tells them that she’s in and that she can give them the money in two months. Or, if they want cash, they can come directly to Miami to pick it up. Before agreeing to this risky trip, Eve tests the waters by asking Rosa how well she knows Caitlin. It’s music to Eve’s ears when Rosa tells her that Caitlin is a little bitch. Shitting on her stepdaughter is one of Eve’s love languages, so she agrees to travel back to Miami to get her payday.
As the episode ends, Rosa and Yancy deliver the good news to Neville and Dawnie. They have a lovely dinner together and watch the news. Rosa’s sister is there, reporting on the weather. A hurricane is bearing down on Andros, and it’s sure to bring the chaos that Gracie promised when she cast Neville’s curse back in the second episode. And, as if we didn’t already know that chaos was upon us, the last moments of the episode see Eve waiting for a table at the local conch-fritter joint. Just behind her is the Polaroid of Claspers, Yancy, and Rosa, grinning like fools who wildly underestimated how far luck would take them.
Monkeying Around
• Gracie never wears a bra, and I’m starting to believe that at least some of her magic comes from the freedom of no underwire.
• Best line of the episode: When Bonnie is released from jail, she says she wants to go to “the bottom of the ocean, straight to the depths of hell.†To which Johnna responds, “Done. I already set the GPS for Florida.â€
• Tom Petty Cover Watch: As I mentioned before, a Weezer cover of “Here Comes My Girl†plays over Bonnie’s big moment, but we also get a chill cover of “You Don’t Know How It Feels,†by Stephen Marley.