We’re back after that short, glitzy and boozy break to the exact opposite on Cardinal, our Canadian thriller/drama from CTV now in its fourth season. I’m not quite there yet, but hang in, we’re be there before you know it! Rolling into Cardinal S2:E03 Terri after the break.

It’s a rainy day by the water in Algonquin Bay, Kevin (Jonathan Keltz) spots Toof (Brock Morgan) teeing off into the creek and bikes over. Did Toof hear the screams the night before?

Their gang lead is a guy named Ray (Bruce Ramsay), a dude who likes selling drugs, unattributed quotes, self-flagellation and torturing guys like the biker they snatched the day before. Wombat (Jon Ambrose) was alive after Ray’s muscle Leon (Dan Petronijevic) jumped him, but he probably wishes he’s not now.

Toof’s your basic easygoing dude, he’s not asking too many questions. He just wants to sell a bunch of drugs, take his cut and be on his way. I have to wonder how all these guys met up, they’re very different.

OPD’s Alan Clegg (Kevin Hanchard from Orphan Black!) has been called to the police station by lead detective John Cardinal (Billy Campbell) and all of a sudden I’m wondering about John’s name.

*Tangent! Cardinal is a very common indigenous surname in Canada, it’s like Gomez or Lopez in Mexico. John is the first Caucasian Cardinal I’ve ever met, I wonder if that will come up at some point.

Anyway! Cardinal called Alan in to help him and his partner, Detective Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse) with their complicated case. It started with a young woman with amnesia, nicknamed Red (Alex Paxton-Beesley) for her fiery mane, who indirectly led the police a dismembered body connected to bikers, which led them to Alan, who’s been investigating the local biker gang for years.

Alan doesn’t see the connection between biker gang the Northern Raiders and Cardinal’s amnesiac, but Cardinal’s got an amazing grasp on it already. They found one of Alan’s informants at the house of biker Wombat and Cardinal’s connected that to a new group in town taking over drug distribution.

That is true! Ray’s is the new group! It includes him, Kevin, Toof and Leon, so not a proper gang or anything. He does have some unusual spiritual practices that may tip the balance for him.

Alan doesn’t seem to know the bikers too well, or he isn’t choosing his informants wisely. Delorme advocates for young Rachel Wells (Nicolette Pearse) who told her Wombat wouldn’t have run off with the drugs/money, he was close friends with Scott Lasalle (Kris Holden-Ried) who runs the gang. When Alan dismisses this information, Delorme asks him to stop using Rachel as an informant then. Delorme’s been working with her and other youth at the boxing gym, trying to sort of direct them at more useful ways to burn off energy.

Delorme and Alan face off over Rachel, but for once Delorme is not successful. She’s not as calm and collected and assured as usual, Alan is able to overrule all of her objections and for now Rachel will be staying in the program against her will. She was picked up selling drugs, this is what she’s doing instead of jail time. Her parents not finding out seems to be her primary motive for turning informant, that’s not going to be much comfort for them if the biker gang finds out what she’s doing. There’s not likely going to be much left.

Lasalle himself is wondering about Rachel, but in connection to what happened to Wombat. Someone knew Wombat was going to be alone waiting for Peter Crowchild (Brandon Oakes).

Let’s just say Rachel isn’t very subtle, after Lasalle wanders over to note that she’s been around a lot lately, she grabs her cell phone to text her “dad.” Boyfriend Zack (Greg Hovanessian) isn’t quite that dumb but thinks she’s just cheating on him.

The police looked all the usual places to find how Red came to town, now they’re checking all the gas stations between Toronto and Algonquin Bay (about 350km). Cardinal hits paydirt, finding Red on CCTV about an hour south of town the day she was shot. Holy cow, how was there time for all of this?

Red was found in a bar, unaware of her name and shot in the head. We met her earlier running through the woods trying to get away from Leon, we assume he was the one who shot her. We also know Red saw the decapitated body of a man named Dave Elhurst (Danny O’Malley) because that memory resurfaced sort of. Somehow this all happened in one day AND she knows Kevin, in fact she came to the area with him. How did all this happen and he’s still with the dudes, unaware that one of them tried to kill her? He’s still leaving her voice messages.

Cardinal and Delorme head to the gas station to baffling results; in CCTV you can see Red used a card, but there’s no record of it in the store, it says she paid cash. Was that a loyalty card, like Air Miles or something? Omigod that’s exactly what Cardinal says next, he has 30,000 miles! That means he can get to Regina, but not all the way back. Delorme: “but you never go anywhere.” Not everyone wants to go to Regina, Delorme, even if it rhymes with fun.

Ray is not just the head of their gang, he’s also a spiritual leader. He consulted the shells this morning and saw that Red had not “‘crossed over.” Leon has now sworn to Ray at least twice that he super duper for sure killed Red and buried her so Ray has to ask a third time with a sharp stick. I think he puts it through Leon’s hand, but I wasn’t watching. I listened to Ray direct Leon to bring Red back to them, he thought she had to be killed and but that’s because he didn’t recognise her power.

That probably means he wants to take that power through some kind of gross ritual involving pointy sticks, the removal of extremities and genital mutilation. That’s what he did with poor Dave, anyway.

*squishy noises*grunting*squishy* if I didn’t know this was CTV, I would have to wonder if I was listening to Showtime. Leon lurches away.

Cardinal’s wife Catherine Cardinal (Deborah Hay) is leaving to teach a two-day class on photography in Toronto, it’s been a tense lead-up, but she looks happy going. Catherine has bipolar disorder (what used to be called manic depressive, just two recaps ago) and lately has been feeling restless, not wanting to see her therapist. Cardinal has been…concerned, which he’s been trying to communicate as support, not as lack of faith or smother-y. Catherine has not always been receptive to this care.

Delorme calls with Red’s identity, she is Terri Tait (Alex Paxton-Beesley) of Vancouver, a long, long way from home. Her social media lists her working in Winnipeg and single, what’s the deal with Kevin then?

Delorme and Cardinal share with Terri what they know about her life, nothing is familiar. She is remembering more about her trip, flashing back to a hotel near a lake. She’s not being fully honest about her memory and Delorme picks up on that.

Delorme is also the first to mention my comment: how do they know she’s the good guy? Maybe lying about stuff is normal for her.

A little more information at the cottage by the water, Leon is bringing Kevin and Toof into town to start selling drugs, Kevin asks Leon if he saw Terri get on the bus. That’s a no, Kevin, but I’m impressed with Leon’s ability to improvise.

Terri’s being guarded by Constable Derek Fox (Erick Hicks), she slips over to see another patient named Lacey (Jessica Brown) and he loses her trying to help out some random guy.

If hapless was a person, it would be Constable Derek Fox.

Terri walks the street looking for Kevin, flagging herself to Leon’s spies while the police look for her. At least she recognises Leon’s truck meaning danger, so she hides before he can see her.

Before she left the hospital, Terri called the number she had for Kevin, which is a local number but one he doesn’t have any more, thanks to Ray’s new disposable phones. This confuses the detectives, if she knows someone local why didn’t anyone put in a missing persons report? Cardinal accedes to Delorme; she was right, Terri was lying.

That…seems to be about more than the lying.

We haven’t talked about it this episode, but the whole last season was about Delorme being transferred Cardinal’s unit for the express purpose of taking him down as a dirty cop for RCMP villain Malcolm Musgrave (David Richmond-Peck from Orphan Black!!). However. Once she did the investigating, Delorme realised the situation was much more complex than she’d been told and that Malcolm was nursing a one-man vendetta against Cardinal that went beyond any unintentional wrongdoing he may have done. She chose supporting Cardinal over advancing with Malcom’s help once again when he approached her, threatening to torpedo her career by derailing training she had applied for.

So Malcolm managed to exact some petty revenge on Delorme, that must have been like Easter because the email he gets tonight is Christmas.

Is Tammy Lidstrom the attractive brunette we saw Cardinal visiting when he told his wife he was “working” late?

For the record: if ever a person had a reason to step out and find a modicum of comfort, it’s John Cardinal but I don’t believe that for a second.

Ray waxes poetic by the fire about finding the “power in pain” but he may want to check his audience. Toof is probably too high, Leon too distant and Kevin too nervous to think about whipping himself for relaxation purposes.

Ray listened to the spirits of the dead, now they give him anything he wants which makes me think the spirits of the dead are like the nice old ladies on your paper route. Spend five minutes a day listening and you’ll have cookies for life, my friend.

A clearly uncomfortable Kevin tries to bail after Ray stops speaking, but Ray makes him stay. He’s going to read Kevin’s shells. I sense this will not go well for Kevin, Ray seems like one of those guys who likes to toy with his prey before he kills it horribly.

Ray rolls the shells then asks Kevin why he’s thinking of leaving? The shells, not his eyes and ears, told Ray that. Kevin wanted to make money, but the violent and brutal attack on Wombat, followed by the torture and screaming freaked him out. Ray holds Kevin’s hands and asks him to stay until the end of the week, then Ray will buy him a ticket home. Kevin is grateful.

Oh Kevin. You dumb, over-educated white boy with no confidence in your own ability to judge a situation.

Ray looks at Leon as Kevin looks down, that couldn’t have been more obvious if his name was Vizzini and he was screaming “FINISH HIM” on the Cliffs of Insanity.

Catherine Cardinal is teaching in Toronto, that’s where she and John’s daughter Kelly (Alanna Bale) has been living so they meet up for lunch. Kelly’s been there for five years already, Catherine chooses to view this as Kelly saying she was abandoned there by her parents.

Gah, I’m like John already, watching everything she’s saying. It must be exhausting for everyone in that family, including Catherine.

Ohhhhhh, Cardinal and Delorme sweet-talk a reluctant city clerk into checking records on Terri, it seemed she is from Algonquin Bay after all! She and her brother KEVIN went to high school there until their parents were killed in a crash and they were sent to Vancouver.

Why did we all assume Kevin was Terri’s boyfriend? I mean, she did say something about boyfriend and maybe we jumped all over that.

They assume Terri lied about her memory to protect Kevin, that makes sense to them.

Malcolm didn’t waste any time dragging Tammy Lidstrom (Fiona Highet) up north from Toronto to see what she had on Cardinal. She wants him to clear her record of some fingerprints left in an inopportune place before she’ll tell him anything, he’s his usual dick self.

Cardinal and Delorme get a lead on Kevin from Alan Clegg, Kevin’s been seen hanging out with a low-level Northern Raider named Gordie Katyuk (Aiden Chase). Nobody’s home at Gordie’s apartment but some suspicious blood pooling sends our pair into overdrive. They check out the whole apartment, ending with finding Wombat’s decapitated head that is hung by hooks through the eyes

AND HEY PERSON WHO SAID THIS WASN’T GROSS LIKE SEASON ONE. I beg your pardon?? Hm?

Cardinal leaves Delorme to call in this mess that’s probably a message (to whom?) while he follows up on something to do with Terri and Kevin’s dad, who worked on the local air force base.

Alan Clegg meets with his informant Rachel, who has news about the general jumpiness of Lasalle, he received the hands of one of his dealers in a box. Were those Wombat’s hands? Alan is shaken when he hears this, maybe replaying his conversation with Delorme in his mind. He tells Rachel to back off, she’s off the hook and doesn’t have to do any more surveillance for him. Is this in time?

There’s also the loose thread of Zack, Rachel’s possessive and jealous ex-boyfriend that she started dating again so she could do that surveillance. “He’s never going to let me go” is something cops hear a lot, I bet. Alan doesn’t take it seriously, which is also something that happens a lot, I bet.

Ahhhh, Cardinal is looking for Terri at the air force base, which is no longer in use and a totally decent guess. He finds a terrified Terri in the corner of an empty room, she..uh…doesn’t think she smokes. She cries in his arms.

Cardinal gives great dad.

Ray’s taken Kevin and the boys out on the water, Kevin’s even more nervous than usual. He doesn’t get any more comfortable when Ray shows him Wombat’s headless torso, throwing up overboard and whispering “what are you doing??!”

Ah I am starting to understand the particular mutilations; Ray explains that the decapitated head has eyes that see for them now, the feet travel, etc.

Still like yuck.

Kevin starts to panic and tries to run but Ray stops him with a showy backhand. It’s the jazz hands of physical aggression.

Ray forces Kevin to help him throw the torso overboard, Wombat was a big dude.

Kevin runs back to his room to start smoking drugs, recovering addict no more. Ray only has three rules and one of them is to never use their drugs so Kevin’s going to be quadruple murdered any second. He nods out and so do we. Until next time. Cheers.