A Smoke-Allergic Cat In The Closet
Episode 5 of Anxious People sees Jack follow through with his theory, determined to track down Maria. First up though, that involves interviewing Estelle, given Jim’s inklings that she conspired with Maria through this whole ordeal. It turns out Estelle’s husband actually died several weeks prior to this. As we also find out through flashbacks, Estelle had actually cancelled viewings for the past 6 months, changing her mind at the last minute and not wanting to give up what she has. When Maria arrives at the station, Jack learns that she’s been on a silent retreat for the last week. It turns out she was actually in the apartment during the hostage situation too. Apparently she was hiding in the closet most of the time. Jack grills her over the truth, determined to find out the truth, but she doesn’t budge. A call from Jim changes everything. Jill is in a rough way and has been taken to hospital. The interview is cut short as Jim and Jack race up to see Jill. As they do, we cut back in time and see that all of the hostages actually knew who the robber was; a woman desperate to see her girls and beside herself with grief. This woman is Liv, and she was so desperate for money, on the verge of losing custody of her children, that she resorted to robbing a bank. She didn’t know what else to do and that’s why she held them all hostage. Upon hearing her story, everyone decided to rally around her and cover for the woman. As the episode closes out, Jim and Jack head back to the police station, where the former admits that he deleted the surveillance footage. But why? Well, it turns out he actually knows who the woman is as well. Alas, the plot thickens.
The Episode Review
The penultimate episode throws one nice little twist our way but it still doesn’t make up for large parts of this show slumping into mediocrity. There’s a distinct lack of thrills here, and some of that comes from the contrasting tone Anxious People has wrestled with over its run-time. It can’t quite make its mind up whether it should be a crime drama or a comedic parody, settling for a weird grey area between the two. What we’re left with is a weird hodgepodge of ideas that doesn’t quite work. It turns out the robber is actually just a mother in desperate need of help with her girls, and I’d imagine the final episode will actually shed some light on what this all means. However, it also means the whole Jill side plot has been underdeveloped and thrown in without too much build-up. Will the finale throw one final twist our way?
