The first two episodes of Apple miniseries, “Black Bird,” showed Jimmy Keane (Taron Egerton) going through a rollercoaster of situations by almost watching his childhood friend get killed, getting arrested, and then being covertly recruited by the FBI to get a confession out of Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser). Apart from these two, we follow FBI officers Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) and Brian Miller (Greg Kinnear), who are trying to make sure that Larry never gets to re-assimilate into society and start committing crimes again.
Jimmy Takes An Aggressive Step To Befriend Larry
“Black Bird” Episode 3, titled “Hand to Mouth,” starts with Jimmy observing Larry from afar. Then we see Dr. Aaron Zicherman (Christopher B. Duncan) asking Jimmy how he is adjusting to this prison life. He says that it is disorienting. Zicherman proceeds to convince Jimmy, who is getting second thoughts about this whole mission, that Larry deserves to stay in prison and that the outside world is safer without him in it. He talks him through the prison’s “predictable” patterns, what happened to the inmate who was in Jimmy’s cell, and gives him his personal number, which will act as an emergency passcode if things go completely south. While picking up his antidepressants (that the doctor has prescribed), Jimmy tries to strike up a conversation with Larry, but that plan flops hard.
Miller confronts McCauley about her whole plan to get Jimmy into Springfield and extract a confession from Larry instead of sending a seasoned professional. Then she explains that she’s basically going to do everything that Miller did back in 1994 to see if there’s something substantial to pin on Larry and keep him in jail. Miller fills McCauley in about his last encounter with Larry, where he started singing. At the cafeteria, Jimmy tries to establish contact with Larry, but he ignores him again. James (Ray Liotta) pays Jimmy a visit, thereby destroying Jimmy’s cover because he isn’t supposed to be a family man. Now, the prison knows that he is a cop’s kid. James regrets coming to meet him, but Jimmy calms him down. James tells him that he’s going to stay in Springfield for the time being. Jimmy tells him to “respect the visiting hours” from next time.
Jimmy requests CO Carter (Joe Williamson) to keep this revelation to himself because he doesn’t know how it’s going to bite him back if the inmates find out that he’s an ex-cop’s son. Carter tells him that Vincent Gigante (Tony Amendola) is looking for him and advises him to introduce himself to Vincent and name-drop Carter. McCauley and Miller go through the details of the Reitler case and find out how Larry has been let go multiple times because of his reputation as a “serial confessor.” Back in the jail yard, Jimmy cozies up to Vincent and wins his respect because of his manners. Following that, Jimmy tries to get close to Larry again and fails, again, and goes after him to the TV room to watch a show. That viewing is interrupted by some brute who changes the channel. Jimmy stands up to the brute and beats the living hell out of him (thereby risking his time in jail) to win Larry’s trust.
Larry Sees A Friend In Jimmy
After that violent altercation, Jimmy is thrown into solitary confinement. Later, he returns to his cell and notices Larry trying to strike up a conversation with him, and he doesn’t let go of that opportunity. They start talking about cars and vans. Carter interrupts the conversation to talk to Jimmy and takes him to his cell. Carter starts talking about Vincent’s trust, in very vague terms, and how Jimmy might have to pay for it if he breaks it. Jimmy asks him to come to the point. So, Carter brings up the topic of James and his stint as a cop. He then makes the correct assumption that he’s a snitch, and he threatens to out him as the son of a cop who is in this institution to rat on somebody. Realizing that he’s being blackmailed, Jimmy asks what Carter wants. He says that Jimmy needs to pay him $10,000 or else he is going to pay for it in some other way.
After Carter leaves, Jimmy goes to check if Larry has heard anything and finds him hard asleep. So, he restarts the conversation by touching on the topic of Civil War Reenactments. He tries to pivot into the topic of Larry’s relationship with Gary (Jake McLaughling), because McCauley had advised Jimmy to take Gary’s place to get direct access to Larry’s thoughts. But even that’s interrupted by the prison’s schedule. The next day, Jimmy asks for James’s help with the money and begins to realize that it is not going to work out. Still, he drums up a plan to bring a kilo of drugs into the jail and move it via the prison so that he can pay Carter. Miller and McCauley continue their investigation into Larry’s past, and they arrive at the same old confession: Larry is both a serial liar and a serial confessor. He always has a bunch of alibis. And he’ll do anything to stay in the spotlight, while possibly committing crimes on the side.
Jimmy and Larry talk about the Civil War Reenactments and start bonding over them. He then starts to talk about how many fields there are in the world and advises Jimmy to notice it the next time he travels by plane. Jimmy smoothly transitions into loving a girl, and Larry latches onto that. Carter interrupts their conversation again. As soon as Larry exits the room, Carter tells Jimmy that Vincent and his men cracked his cheekbone so that he could continue working in the prison. That means he needs his money quickly to pay off Vincent, or else he’s going to be killed. Jimmy assures him that he’s going to get his money because he plans to move the drugs that James is going to bring in. Larry confesses to his therapist that he is befriending Jimmy because he doesn’t look through him but looks at him.
‘Black Bird’ Episode 3: Ending Explained – CO Carter Becomes A Problem For Jimmy
McCauley and Miller talk about Larry over a couple of drinks. Miller says that the reason they can’t find the people Larry has killed is because he has buried them in construction sites on top of which buildings have been built. McCauley says that that might be the case, or that Larry just likes to tell stories. Larry takes Jimmy to the boiler room because that’s where he works most of the time. Jimmy tries to get him talking about his janitorial job and the worst messes he has ever had to clean up. Larry then starts talking about body fluids, and Jimmy realizes he’s going to say something about his crimes. He does, but it’s worse than you can imagine because he starts talking, in very graphic terms, about raping girls. Jimmy tries to get down to his level to keep him talking, but they are interrupted by CO Burden (John Jabaley).
Jimmy meets James, and he says that all the drugs are gone. James blurts out that Danny (Stephen Louis Grush) stayed at the house the drugs were supposed to be in, and Jimmy realizes that he has ripped him off once again. While going back to his cell, Jimmy finds out that Carter isn’t in prison anymore. Miller has a light-bulb moment as he starts to make a connection between Larry’s junkyard dives and his possible killings. McCauley meets Jimmy, pretending to be his girlfriend, and he tells her that Larry hasn’t spoken about anything substantial yet. Jimmy then tells her about the Carter situation and asks her for $10,000 so that his cover can remain intact. McCauley says she can’t do that. Jimmy realizes that there’s no way around this whole situation and that the only way is through. So, he decides to stay there, face the consequences and get a confession from Larry.
See More: ‘Black Bird’ Episodes 1 & 2: Recap And Ending, Explained – What Is Jimmy Keane’s Mission?
