After the murder of his great-nephew, Reginald “Reggie” Lloyd, Ptolemy Grey, an old man on the last stages of dementia, decided to take an experimental treatment developed by Dr. Rubin that would help him to regain his memory temporarily and solve Reggie’s murder. Also, throughout Episodes 1 and 2, Ptolemy Grey was tormented by the traumatic memories of the past in which Grey usually saw his old friend/uncle, Coydog, and wife, Sensia Howard. In these faded memories, Coydog tells Grey about a hidden treasure whose mystery is further revealed in “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” Episode 3.
Episode 3 doesn’t drive the narrative much further, except to reveal some new information that helps the viewers connect some missing links and prepare them for a showdown that is going to take place in upcoming episodes.
See More: ‘The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’ Episode 1 & 2: Recap & Ending: What Happened To Reggie?
Is Dr. Rubin’s Treatment Temporary?
Grey’s demeanor changed completely after taking the first shot of Rubin’s experimental treatment. He felt physically young, and gradually, he could recall the lost chunks of his memory. However, due to the side effects of the therapy, Grey suffered a stroke at the end of ‘The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’ Episode 2 that completely horrified his new caretaker, Robyn Barnet.
For this reason, Robyn didn’t want Grey to take the last injection from Rubin, yet Grey insisted because he was an old man who had nothing to lose and had some unfinished business to do for which he needed his memory.
But getting his memory back was not an easy deal for Grey. He called the treatment the “devil’s brew,” for which he had to sell his soul. He sarcastically called Rubin “Satan” because he lied to both Grey and Robyn. The peak effect of his treatment would only last around four weeks, six or seven in rare cases. But after its effects have faded, Grey won’t go back to his normal state. The treatment accelerates the cognitive deterioration, which means Grey is going to lose it all, or maybe won’t recognize anyone after that. He slightly suggested to Robyn that with this kind of mental state, anyone would just jump out of the window and end the suffering, but only if they would remember how to open it. And maybe that is what Grey had planned for himself in the end.
Did Grey Find Coydog’s Lost Treasure?
At the beginning of the episode 3, Grey recalled the events of 1930s Mississippi, where he lived with his uncle Coydog after the death of his family. In this conversation, Coydog told preteen Grey about a person named Clive Miller, whose kinfolk enslaved people back in the old days and did terrible things to them. After the revolution, Miller changed his profession but levied huge debts on the black folks that compelled them to work for him for the rest of their lives. Coydog wanted to teach Miller a lesson and therefore stole a treasure from him and named it “Black Heart.”
Coydog had been really ambiguous about the nature of the treasure, or maybe he had exactly told Grey what it was, but it was Grey’s mind that played games with him. Nevertheless, Coydog had to run away, and thus hid the treasure under a red cobblestone in a dry well, whose location was only revealed to Grey. Before leaving, Coydog wanted to take his mother’s bible from his house, but when he returned, Miller’s men caught him by surprise and hanged him from a tree.
Grey had been struggling throughout to remember the location of the hidden treasure, and that took him to another memory in which he met his wife, Sensia Howard. When Sensia met Grey, she was in an abusive relationship with a man named Ezra Bundle. Sensia wanted a man to read to her in bed and thus left Ezra for Grey, which is when Ezra attacked Grey in his own house, seeking revenge. At this point, Sensia pulled a gun on Ezra and also shot on the carpet to warn him.
The significance of this particular scene is that the gun Sensia was holding is the same gun that was revealed in the opening sequence of Episode 1, in which Grey was going to commit a crime, probably shoot Reggie’s murderer. The second useful piece of information was that Sensia’s warning shot left a hole in the floor where Grey had hidden Coydog’s treasure or the black heart that he finally remembers at the end of ‘The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’ Episode 3. However, the episode fades out without revealing whether Grey found the treasure or not, and, most importantly, the nature of this mysterious treasure.
Will Robyn Barnet Inherit Grey’s Property?
In the opening sequence of Episode 1, Grey records his will, in which he hands over all his belongings to his caretaker, Robyn Barnet. However, as Grey suggests further, his family may not be happy with this decision, but they will eventually understand.
There is a direct reference to the conversation when, after Robyn takes away all her belongings from Aunt Niecie’s house, Niecie’s nasty son, Hilliard, conveys to his mother that Robyn has her greedy eyes on Grey’s money. Hilliard, who had already stolen from Grey in Episode 1, believes that the man has saved a lot of money in a box inside his apartment, and Robyn is probably planning to take it.
So far, Grey has grown fond of Robyn, and will eventually leave everything to Robyn, which will allow a child without parents to survive in this lonely world. The upcoming episodes of ‘The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’ will clear the air better.
