The Sinner
4×02: “Part II”
Directed by Adam Bernstein
Written by Jonathan Caren

* For a recap & review of Part I, click here.
* For a recap & review of Part III, click here.
There’s still no sign of Percy. Searches are still being conducted and nothing’s been found in the water. Chief Lou isn’t quite sure where to head with his investigation, so Harry suggests trying to figure out who was on that security footage and checking into Percy’s relationships. One bit of evidence: CJ Lam’s (David Huynh) prints were found in Percy’s car. Apparently CJ was arrested for assault on Colin Muldoon. The families have had a longstanding feud since the Lams became competition for Muldoon Fish Co. So Chief Lou and Harry go speak to CJ at the family restaurant, but the guy doesn’t have much to say about Percy. Harry asks about the fingerprints. CJ says it was from a ride home Percy gave him a while back. His father gives an alibi for the night she disappeared, too.
Will CJ prove a red herring? Or something more?
Before Harry leaves the restaurant he sees a tiny buddha like in the woods.

Outside the restaurant, Harry notices “red dirt” on CJ’s car from the clay that’s out near where Percy’s car was found. Later, Harry goes back out to the area and talks with the man in the camper, Diez, asking whether CJ was in the area. Diez is a meth user, and probably a dealer, so Harry uses that to convince him to give up info. Apparently CJ was there recently and “looking for a fight.” We see that CJ is, indeed, a user himself. He’s also got pictures of Percy on his computer. Creepy. A flashback shows CJ on the dock, watching Percy, taking any chance to be near her. And back in current day, he’s jerking off to her. Again, creepy.
Harry and Chief Lou continue about their day while wondering why Mike would vouch for his son if CJ’s story was a lie. Hmm! The two men go visit Percy’s ex, who witnessed the assault CJ committed on Colin. The whole thing involved a slight bit of racism and Colin’s general mockery. The ex blames it on newcomers to the fishing industry, not knowing how to joke around, so on. He also mentions the breakup with Percy. She suddenly turned up one day drunk and left him out of nowhere. A lead? Or just another thread poking out?
Later at a get-together, Harry notices a woman he saw in the woods making strange noises at the moon. He tries to talk to her, mentioning he saw her swimming, but she laughs, brushing it off.

Chief Lou and Harry go pick CJ up to take him to the station, since they know he lied to them. A flashback shows Percy knocking at CJ’s door. She wanted to talk and seemed nervous. She was convinced CJ would hate her, unable to get the words out and calling herself “a horrible person.” Then he leaned in and kissed her. Wrong time, dude! Or, maybe not. Percy was desperate for a bit of warmth, or connection, or safety. And they continued to kiss. Percy never told CJ anything. CJ now tells Harry that Percy would occasionally show up high and they’d fall in bed together. He also admits he saw Percy the night she went missing, even though he no longer wanted her in his life. “She made me do things,” CJ says. Yet he never says what kind of things. That sounds ominous. Then Mike interrupts the interview, pulling CJ out at the suggestion of his lawyer.

The Muldoons are pretty convinced CJ knows something about Percy going missing. Right now there’s no evidence other than CJ’s fingerprint suggesting he had anything to do with Percy going missing. That night, CJ’s having a bite to eat when he hears glass smash; a rock came through the window. Someone’s standing outside in the shadows, too. And someone’s also standing inside, right behind CJ.
In the morning, Harry and Sonya talk about suicide. She asks whether he’s ever considered it. She admits she once contemplated dying after the nasty end of a relationship: “The possibility was there in my mind.” She was pulled out of it after her sister got ill and needed care, finding purpose even in a dark time for her family. Though Harry doesn’t say it we can probably assume, from what we know of his tortured past, he’s probably thought about dying once or twice, too. He goes with Sonya back out to where he saw Percy jump from the cliff, again feeling as if Percy’s right there, speaking directly to him, the need to solve Percy’s disappearance nagging at the back of his mind.
CJ got beat up the night prior. They call Chief Lou and Harry, obviously, and Mike claims he saw Colin Muldoon running away from the scene of the crime. Things will only get worse if CJ doesn’t tell the cops what he knows. Mike’s only concerned about his family in general. He doesn’t want people to hate them more in that town if they cooperate with police. Harry knows it’ll only get worse from here. So CJ caves, agreeing to talk to Harry. He says Percy wanted him to hurt her. Like BDSM? The plot thickens.
Another flashback shows Percy going to Diez’s camper, taking CJ along to get drugs. Later, they went back to CJ’s place and got high together. After that Percy wanted to fuck and get hit in the face. Eventually Percy left town and when she came back she faced a rejected CJ and their relationship was no longer the way it was once; she got off the drugs, he didn’t. CJ got angry and grabbed Percy, resulting in her cracking her head—the wound Kerry saw the night Percy disappeared. There was something much bigger going on with Percy, as she referred to a mysterious “they.” Harry wonders if CJ was the mysterious figure on the security footage, and out in the woods by the cliff, but CJ denies following Percy that night.

Also, the little jade statue? It belonged to CJ.
More flashback to Percy and CJ in bed together as she told him about wanting to leave the island. She noticed the jade statue which CJ’s father brought back from China; one for each member of the family. CJ gave the statue to Percy—another way for her to preserve moments.
Meg does not believe CJ isn’t guilty. She also didn’t mention Percy left the island last year, which Harry thinks is suspicious. But she has tunnel vision, sure that CJ’s lying to the police and knows more about her granddaughter’s disappearance. Harry is again suspicious when he realises Meg shouldn’t have known about the cut on Percy’s head given the established timeline. This realisation means that Meg saw Percy later the day the latter went missing. Why would grandma be telling lies?