Sky Atlantic’s Tin Star
Season 2, Episode 4: “Jack and Coke”
Directed by Jim Loach
Written by Thomas Martin

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Resist Not Evil” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Consequences” – click here
We’ll see what Jim Worth (Tim Roth) – whom we’ll just call Jack from now on, given he’s merged his personalities, for better or worse – and his wife Angela (Genevieve O’Reilly) were up to last episode, when they came together as one. At night, Jack goes back up to the mountain where Whitey a.k.a Simon lies buried under the snow. He finds a ring on the kid he takes. He also drags the corpse to a spot where he sets up a funeral pyre. He watches the evidence burn away, recalling memories of the boy.
Can he burn away his memories? Probably not.
Jack has his stolen trailer shot up with paint balls by the Ammonite girls. Well, he’s actually urging them on. They do target practice on the trailer before shooting up the church while Pastor Johan Nickel (John Lynch), Anna (Abigail Lawrie), and the congregation are inside. Later, Anna talks with her dad, a little less angry with him but still angry. She sees the ring and knows where it came from, taking it off his neck. There does remain hope for her and dad.
At the trailer, Jack gets a visit from Angela, both emotionally fragile. They’re brought together by the loss of their child. They’re able to grieve more now that things have calmed. It’s exacerbated by the distance between them and their daughter. This bonds them as a couple.
The “two sweethearts” head towards the hills, casually discussing how Angela chose their daughter over Jack, leaving him on the mountaintop. They understand one another. They’d do anything for their children. After that it’s up to the well to retrieve the bag of stolen drugs. They then go to the store for baby formula and other items, presumably to cut the drugs and repackage them. Jack gives his wife a tutorial on how to do these things. What better way to resuscitate the marriage. This gives them a whole other bag of drugs to put back in the well. Ooh, shady! A little later Jack commandeers a cab.
Randy (Lynda Boyd) and Frank (Ian Puleston-Davies) are trying to make a new life for themselves, though it’ll take a while. He gets done dealing with Elizabeth Bradshaw (Christina Hendricks) and she heads outside, running into Jack and Angela. Frank has Elizabeth followed, believing she’s just “a honey trap” to take him down. He then finds Jack at the Roadhouse with drugs to sell. The chief isn’t treated as trustworthy, y’know, with what he did one of the last times he was there. He sits for a drink while Angela waits nervously outside. But Frank wants no part, even though Jack keeps bidding and then accuses the man of incest— remember, Jack was intimate with his sister. Before Frank can get pissed Angela’s got his men at the end of her gun. The married couple are an ass kicking comedy duo when they’re together. Once they discover the back room poker game they rob the place. Jack lets Randy in on the man she’s with before they go, too. He and Angela stop for a passionate moment in the cab before going anywhere else.
Soundtrack note: For those who, somehow, don’t know, “Bad Moon Rising” by CCR is playing while Jack fumbles cash into a bag and Angela keeps the men under control.

“He’s more a part of you than I am, isn’t he?”

Frank has his man taking care of Elizabeth, though they’re unable to find the drugs. He’s more concerned about Jack. Their feud goes back a long way. Meanwhile, Jack and Angela are waiting for Elizabeth, unaware of her predicament. He then finds a bullet hole in the fridge and they realise something bad’s happened. They have no clue Elizabeth’s down in the basement below their feet, tied up, and locked inside a dark cabinet. Oh, my.
When the couple go back to the trailer Anna’s waiting. Angela is happy to see her daughter again, as is Jack. They don’t have a home anymore, but they’re under one roof for the first time in ages. Now, Anna’s most surely going to ask her father to help with the situation in which Pastor Johan finds himself.
The family go back to where Jack hid the second bag of drugs. They find the stash is gone and in its place is Jaclyn’s corpse. Angela knows it was due to the confrontation between the Indigenous woman and Elizabeth that caused this awful mess, complicating everything further than before.
Soundtrack note: The song over the credits is “Crawl” by Joseph J. Jones. Jam on it.
Another episode, another bit of emotional resonance with some dark comedy and plenty of crime. Love Genevieve O’Reilly! She is a goddamn star and a revelation in Tin Star. Her chemistry with Tim Roth is also spectacular.
“Consequences” is next time.