Ragdoll: Season 1/ Episode 3 – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

As the cops focus on the next person on The Faust’s list, and Lake continues to push focus on Nathan, we see the Faust’s face.

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Aired	11/25/2021
Network	AMC+
Directed By	Toby MacDonald
Written By	Freddy Syborn
Introduced This Episode
Eric Turner	Douggie McMeekin
Daniel	Cannon Hay
Keith	Dave Hart
Thomas Massey	Sam Troughton

Recap

More Pieces Of The Ragdoll/ Stuck In The Middle – Emily, Lake, Nathan, Daniel

Elijah Reed, Mark Hooper’s priest, and Ashley Lochlan, Mark Hooper’s doctor, alongside Vincent Lewis, his lawyer, join the other discovered identities of the ragdoll and make the current list all the more terrifying. Hence why Lake and Nathan take talking to Daniel, Alyssa’s son, seriously. For one, he got kidnapped, hence Alyssa’s willingness to walk into the street and get hit. But, the methods used to get him to talk don’t necessarily settle right with Lake.

Why? Well, because Nathan lies to the kid to get him to open up, and with Lake not being someone who purely operates on getting the job done, but doing it right and there being some attempt to care about people’s feelings, she is offended. In fact, the two of them are in a bit of a tit for tat at this point. He has begun questioning whether she is ready for certain aspects of the case, and Lake continually questions if Nathan was ready to return. Never mind, return to a serial killer case in which he is a target!

Thrown in the middle of this is Emily, who, honestly, a part of her is sort of entertained by this but also, as both Nathan and Lake’s supervisor, it is getting tiring. Especially since it isn’t like Lake doesn’t have logic behind her points. Her noting what she heard from the window cleaner, Nathan being late due to him investigating those involved in the death of Joel’s sister, and his eccentric behavior, it isn’t making it easy for her to publicly go to bat for him.

Though to make it worse, Emily is starting to bond with Lake – she even learns her first name this episode, and with Lake lonely and Emily the closest thing to a friend, you can see her maybe catching feelings. I’d even submit, similar to Nathan, Lake may see the lines blurring between her and Emily. However, with Emily not necessarily fond of Lake’s idea women of color should run everything, and some of her other viewpoints, while they might become more than simply colleagues, I doubt anything romantic is on the table.

The Death Of Eric Turner – Eric, Keith, Lake, Emily, Nathan, Joel

For a notable part of the episode, Nathan is looking into who killed Teresa, Joel’s sister, and he is directed to the names of Adam and Keith. Both would hang around Teresa, and when Joel spoke to the Faust and asked for his sister’s killer to be handled, Adam disappeared. Thus leaving Keith, who, thanks to other activities, simply ended up in jail.

Nathan visits Keith and learns not only was Teresa a junkie, but also a woman named Kate might know what happened to Adam. So, that seems to be the next person Nathan will look into, and because of his off-the-books investigation, he finds himself on Emily’s s*** list. After all, while they are friends, Lake keeps calling out Nathan and making it hard to ignore any mistake he makes or eccentric moments he has. So, as much as Emily may want him to join her when it comes to trying to protect Eric Turner, the next on The Faust’s list, she just can’t. He was late, she has to show her authority as a supervisor, and Nathan is really just pushing her too far.

But at this point, even if Nathan and Emily stuck together, could they stop The Faust? From what we learn, Eric, who is a conspiracy theorist, didn’t know his house was bugged, and with it being bugged, The Faust heard all of his conversations with Emily and thus planted a trap. One which included, as Eric was transporting prisoners, including Keith, hiding a golden bag belonging to Eric’s daughter in the backseat of Emily’s car. In the said bag, a venomous snake was placed to be found. Alongside that, Eric’s pain medication is swapped out, and what he takes ends up causing him to hallucinate.

From there, a lot of stuff came to be based on luck, knowing procedure, foresight, or a combination of these many things. Because The Faust knew the route Eric is supposed to take to move prisoners, they planted a bomb to cause a distraction. With knowing the prisoners would have to be checked on, it was assumed one would get rowdy, and considering how they know Nathan is going nuts, they banked on him not being with Emily. So with a prisoner attacking Eric’s partner, then Emily, and Lake unable to watch Eric and monitor him, this allowed for Eric to discover his daughter’s backpack, get attacked by a snake, and that be the end of him.

Thus, once again, the police look incompetent for someone dies in their custody.

Faust, Is That You? – Thomas

A gentleman, participating in a war reenactment, blows a man’s hand off for overacting and takes it home, experiments on it, and you are led to believe this man could be The Faust. Now, is a copycat possible, an additional serial killer? Maybe. But right now, it does seem we may have met the man who is the mastermind behind everything we’ve seen.

Things To Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered

Things To Note

• Eric Turner was the security person who took Nathan off of Mark when he was getting the hell beaten out of. For this, he injured his back, and that set him up to be drugged. Also, to add to the theatrics, heads of various animals were put into Emily’s trunk to symbolize Eric killing his father, when he shut off his ventilator the day Mark Hooper got off.

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Who bugged Eric’s home, and how did they quickly get his daughter’s backpack, put it in Emily’s car, never mind get all those animal carcasses in there?
2. Was Joel’s sister really murdered and, if so, why?
3. So all these people are allowing a kid to be questioned by the police without a parent or counsel? You’re telling me, his mother, a high-powered attorney, would not have taught her Black son not to talk to cops under any circumstances? Never mind, not to talk to them without counsel?
4. While the assumed Faust is by no means a scrawny guy, how did he make the Ragdoll piece hang from across from Nathan’s apartment?
5. Considering all Nathan has going on, why is Andrea deciding to get involved with him? Is it because her source is dead and she hopes to make Nathan into a new one?

What Could Happen Next

1. I feel like Lake is going to attempt to kill Nathan and that her ex might have been one of Mark Hooper’s victims. Heck, The Faust might have been her ex’s father. For consider this, we haven’t heard of The Faust operating before Joel revealed their existence. So who is to say The Faust didn’t use Joel to get to Mark, and this isn’t a very elaborate revenge plot?

Review

Highlights

Emily’s Entanglements

Is it likely Emily and Lake will become a thing? As noted, probably not. However, I do think Lake is the type to take kindness as a vibe and pursue something that isn’t there. Especially considering Emily is the only one who seems interested in Lake opening up and reciprocating some kind of interest. Plus, when you take note of Lake’s professor and her making it seem the lines blurred, there is the question of whether or not that was just in her mind or if something was going on?

Add in Lake was bullied as a kid, followed someone over to the UK, got dumped, and seemingly has been scrambling for a meaningful connection ever since? Yeah, Emily might have a problem. Especially since Lake’s investigations into Nathan, including reading his journal, will complicate Emily defending him and trying to make up for ruining his life.

Plus, while there isn’t likely anything to happen between Lake and Emily, it remains hard to say if Emily wouldn’t allow something to happen with Nathan or if she would make a move.

Lake Getting Told Off & Succumbing To PTSD

Lake is quickly evolving into a love-to-hate character, and that makes one of Emily’s superiors telling her off when Lake is coming for Nathan a bit hilarious and a nice comeuppance. Now, as always, Lake does make valid points in her argument. However, as one of Emily’s supervisors noted, they do not care about her feelings. They don’t care about her feelings about politics, gender, or how results are made as long as they are legal. Which Emily has tried to help Lake understand, like in the bathroom in the last episode, but it seems she just refuses to get it. Thus making either awkward or volatile moments.

Which I think are taking a toll on her. You can’t work as hard as Lake does for acceptance, camaraderie, and validation and keep getting rejected without it taking a toll. Add in Lake just took on the first death she is responsible for? That hits hard, and she has no one in the UK to turn to, and, honestly, who knows if anyone in the US could be there for her?

At this point, there is a need to question if Lake has anyone and whether she needs Emily to befriend her as bad as Nathan needs Emily to stick by his side.

On The Fence

Seeing The Faust, Knowing One Of His Hobbies, And Seeing His Lab

I’m a bit underwhelmed by what can be seen as the reveal of The Faust. Be it the look, us seeing him do a reenactment of some battle, or just not living up to the hype in our mind, it sort of begins the deflation. But, who knows, maybe this isn’t The Faust and is a complete misdirection? There are others on the list, this could be another serial killer, so there are options here.

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