In episode 5 of Murder In A Small Town season 2, we see Cassandra and Karl in quite a relaxed state as a couple. More importantly, Cassandra and Holly seem to be getting along well, trying to solve a mystery of their own. Meanwhile, today’s episode mainly focuses on the difficulties of being a foster child and the misunderstandings that come with it. We see how a young boy’s mind can be affected by bullying, and how it’s a systemic problem that is enforced by those who are not within the foster system, reminding us that it’s not the kids who are the problem. Additionally, it stars “Teen Wolf’s” Tyler Posey, who makes a guest appearance here, so fans will be delighted to see him! With that said, let’s jump straight into episode 5 of season 2.
Spoiler Alert
Who Tries To Kill Jack?
Murder In A Small Town episode 5 opens with a kid being bullied at school and, at the same time, a physical altercation between two older men. It almost feels as if it’s their older versions at first, but it just happens to be a fight happening in parallel. It ends with one of the men getting shot. Elliot is one of Holly’s schoolmates, and we see her defend him, or rather not take the side of the bully, the mayor’s son apparently. When Elliot is returning home that day, he encounters a man on the side of the road. This man is supposed to be Jack Coutts. This time, there’s no murder in the small town; just an almost murder in the town.
Jack is rushed to the hospital thanks to Elliot’s quick thinking, but he’s in critical condition. On the other hand, Elliot has also found a gun where he found Jack and kept it with him; this is important evidence and he’s essentially tampering with the investigation. Elliot wants to get away because he’s been in the foster care system for years. He’s got a quiet disposition and doesn’t appreciate being bullied at all. He doesn’t want to defend himself. Elliot’s also got a 13-year-old foster brother named Greg, who follows him around. He ends up seeing the gun with Elliot and learns of his plan, asking to go along with him.
Meanwhile, Ryan, one of Jack’s friends, visits Karl and cooperates, making it seem as if he has nothing to do with what happened to Jack. But it’s clear he’s lying. Ryan’s a party guy, and he’s got some drug suppliers too. He tries to deflect Karl’s questions and walks away. But, the next thing we know, he’s in the hospital, and a fire alarm is going off. Ryan doesn’t want to kill Jack, but he’s desperate now, hoping he doesn’t wake up. Turns out he shot him in self-defense after Jack learned that Ryan was responsible for his daughter’s death many years ago. It seems he got close to Jack in the first place specifically because he felt guilty for killing his daughter but also to make sure he was off his scent. Jack had gone to see Ryan to confront him, but that’s what led to Ryan shooting him. Karl manages to get him just in time before he kills Jack in the hospital. On the other hand, Greg takes Elliot’s gun to scare the bully because he doesn’t like watching Elliot being bullied. He just wants to scare him, but it’s too late because Greg is a foster kid who now looks like he’s going to become a bad person. If only Elliot had handed over the gun first thing. But hopefully because of Karl and his team, the kids will be okay, whereas the mayor’s son has actually learned a lesson from this.
Meanwhile, Laila goes through a complicated time personally. She’s seeing a woman who gets caught for shoplifting. Laila ends up believing the fact that she stole, rather than trusting her girlfriend when claims she didn’t do such a thing. Maybe she has trust issues, and Karl tries to reach out to her throughout the episode, though she’s still going to take time to trust him and the team too. Additionally, now that Sam has made her take the gun from the little child, I feel like there’s going to be some issues there, but we’ll find out.
How Do Holly and Cassandra Start Bonding Over Roadside Memorials?
Cassandra and the mayor have had a rocky relationship from the start, but Cassandra knows she needs Mayor Christie’s cooperation if she wants to bring a change to Gibson. So when the mayor calls up to ask Cassandra for a favor—to attend a meeting of the Gibson Safety Society in her place—even Christie is surprised by how quickly she says yes. The lady running the meeting is pleased to have an enthusiastic attendee for once, as everyone else snoozes through her presentation about safety railings at danger zones. When they meet up again to compare notes, Cassandra notices something peculiar in one of the photographs she’s shown, the roadside memorial for a woman named Lauren Park, who she went to high school with.
Holly, Karl’s daughter, has been doing a project about roadside memorials that Cassandra had taken an interest in earlier. She notices that the flowers in one of the bouquets left at Lauren’s memorial are the same as from another gravesite from 25 years before she died. She contacts Holly and compares the photos, revealing that the flowers are enchanter’s nightshade, which has symbolized revenge going as far back as the Odyssey, composed 2800 years ago. This makes no sense to either of them; enchanter’s nightshade seems a very tactless choice of flower for a bouquet to leave at a memorial, especially when the deaths were apparently accidental.
At the end of episode 5 of Murder In A Small Town, Cassandra asks if Holly’s still working on her roadside memorial project, and the young girl’s quick to realize she wants to know if there’s more enchanter’s nightshade at gravesites. As Holly heads off to grab her some pictures and welcomes Karl home along the way, they almost feel like a regular happy family, bonding over common interests and grabbing some pizza in the kitchen. It’s clear there’s something dark waiting for us though, and maybe some of those accidental deaths from years ago weren’t quite as accidental as they seemed. Seeing as Cassandra mentioned knowing Lauren in high school, maybe there’s a chance she knows the perpetrator too; they might even have been classmates together.
