WILD CARDS – Episode 306 – Return of the Corkscrew Killer (limited spoilers) ⁓

Jessica (Kaylah Zander) joins Cole for coffee on the boat in the morning. Cole is drinking coffee from the mug that Vivienne gave him when she was pretending to be Max’s Cousin Cheyenne. Marc (Jonesy the Cat) joins them wearing a Holmesian deerstalker and cape which Jessica says arrived in a tiny box from Ricky, but one suspects Vivienne might be behind that as well, though Ricky is quite fond of Marc (see “Barking Bad” – episode 209). Cole is surprised that Marc seems comfortable in the outfit.

Jessica, whose last name has not thus far been mentioned, is reading a novel featuring Sir Torvald the Untamed, a Scottish warrior who rides his horse bareback wearing nothing but a kilt, wields an axe, and writes poetry. She tells Cole she wonders how he’d look in a kilt and he answers “You’ll just have to keep wondering.” Cole gets a message calling him into work, and almost simultaneously, Jessica gets a similar message.

Soon Max and Cole are driving to the (fictional) town of Primrose (portrayed by Maple Ridge, B.C.) where the local police have asked for their assistance with a murder case. On the way, they talk about Vivienne. Last episode, Max told him that Gedeon Vargas was after her mother, and when Vargas died she was able to return home. Cole explains that he looked into Vargas. “You weren’t kidding about him,” he says. “Crimes from all over the world have been attributed to him. Murder, extortion, kidnapping, you name it. It’s like he’s a ghost. Nobody knows what he looks like.” Max asks Cole to tell no one about Vargas, or Vivienne, and he agrees.

In Primrose, Deputy Sheriff Wade McMiller (Jonathan Whitesell) tells them there have actually been two murders, both by a copycat of the Corkscrew Killer who died in a fire ten years previously. The recent killings coincide with the ten-year anniversary celebration of the Corkscrew Killer’s death.

The main suspects are:

— Mayor Clarissa (Amanda Kahn), who asked the Deputy not to call for outside assistance because it might disrupt the celebrations
— Sharon Bailey (Belinda Metz), whose father owned the factory that burned when the original killer was caught. She lost everything as a result and is now reduced to managing a local motel
— Deputy McMiller, whose father was sheriff ten years ago and took to drink after the town blamed him for not catching the killer
— Finneas Taylor (Michael Taylor), the only person to survive being attacked by the original killer.

The detectives are called to Taylor’s house because he has received something threatening in the mail. When they ring the doorbell, Jessica answers, and explains that she was assigned to cover the Primrose story because Taylor has a True Crime podcast abut serial killers and she had interviewed him before. Someone had mailed him the corkscrew used by the original killer, which should have been in an evidence locker. When Cole tells Taylor to temporarily relocate because the killer knows where he lives, Taylor says he’s an agoraphobe and hasn’t left his house in a decade.

Max stays with Taylor and persuades him to stay in Sharon Bailey’s motel for a while. Max sits outside the motel on a bench and keeps watch, but is frightened when she catches sight of a (probably decorative) owl with glowing eyes. This, combined with Ricky’s dinner menu from last episode, and all the relationship uncertainty somehow brings to mind a poem from LOVE’S LABOUR LOST (Act V Scene 2) called “Winter”.

“When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl.
Tu-who;
Tu-whit, tu-who: a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.”

Jessica rides with Cole as he continues to investigate. As he drives, Jessica writes, and Cole gets curious.

COLE: “This isn’t some ride along, okay? If you’re sitting on information that could compromise this investigation, I need to know it.”
JESSICA: “Okay, what is this really about?”
COLE: “Look, I just think that we have competing priorities.”
JESSICA: “I will always be real with you about the personal stuff, but professionally, that stays separate. For example, if I have a source, I am gonna protect them. That is not negotiable.”
COLE: “Okay. Understood. There’s gonna be things that I can’t tell you either.”

Cole isn’t talking about police work. He knows he can’t tell Jessica about Vivienne, or about Vargas.

Jessica comes to work with Cole, and provides critical information that helps solve the case. Chief Li (Terry Chen) thanks her, but warns: “Usually, journalists don’t make it into the building this far.”

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All episodes of WILD CARDS can be streamed on CBC Gem in Canada and on The CW website in the US.