Terriers has been a very enjoyable and fresh feeling show over the past couple of weeks and while this week’s episode may not be as good as the past two it is still an entertaining and engaging hour of television. The characters have been established and so has the world.
The episode begins with an obvious pickpocket job that turns into something else entirely. Britt finds the target of the job to be annoying and his interactions with Hank afterwards are great. While at first I was confused at his hesitation and anger over stealing the wallet of Hank’s ex-wife’s fiancé, but it becomes apparent that this isn’t the first time that Hank has endangered himself and Britt to dig into his ex-wife’s life.
Britt and Hank seem to be at odds throughout most of the episode, which is interesting after what Hanks old partner said to Britt in the last episode. Britt has to be thinking about the warning and we learn that the two have been partners for only two years. In earlier reviews I have expressed my desire to learn more about the duo’s past and while this episode does expand on the relationship I guess I was just looking for more. The majority of the episode they are apart dealing with different problems but a few times in the episode they work together and we see that the pair has a special connection and that they do get work when they are together.
My biggest problem with the episode is the central story. Hank is still looking to get a loan so he can pay off the rest of the
house and so far has struck out everywhere. After another failed attempt to get a loan, one of the partners of the bank offers Hank a deal and a job. He wants evidence that his wife is cheating on him and if Hank can get it, he will make sure his application goes through. The story takes a weird turn when Hank cannot get evidence. I won’t say too much but I just never really bought into it. Listen I am no prude, trust me, but its odd and leaves you feeling a bit……icky (for lack of a better word).
Britt is forced to deal with someone from his past, and in doing so we get more information on who he was before his time with Hank. Britt was not a great guy but also not a terrible one. He was a thief but we get the sense that it was mostly small time stuff and he also states in the episode that he never carried a gun. The payoff to this storyline involves Hank and Britt working together, and as I have said before, it is both comical and smart. The information he didn’t want his wife to find out surfaces when he tells her, most likely because of Hanks advise, and while at first we were sad to see their relationship dampened it turns into a funny and oddly romantic discussion between Britt and his wife.
The theme of this episode was relationships and, more specifically, sex. It seems like everyone gets lucky in this episode, to both comical and emotional ends. At the end of the episode we see Hank do something that we can only look at as the most “bad guy” thing he has done in this young show. The acting was great and the characters were great, but the episode was just missing that ineffable quality that the other two episodes had. Still worth your time though.
