Well well well, we’re here again already, digging deeper into our super mystically gross parable on Cardinal that also involves a biker gang. Join me after the break as we roll into S2:E04 Toof!
We open in a police interview room with Terri Tait (Alex Paxton-Beesley) who we used to call Red because she lost her memory after being shot.in.the.head.
That memory is filtering back now, but she still doesn’t know why or who shot her, although she recognises the truck the shooter was driving.
WE know that she was shot by a guy named Leon (Daniel Petronijevic) who is in a gang with Terri’s brother Kevin (Jonathan Keltz). The gang is run by a deeply weird dude named Ray (Bruce Ramsay), he claims spiritual powers and does hella creepy things to dead bodies and his own live body.
Besides Leon, Ray and Kevin, there’s a super chill stoner dude named Toof (Brock Morgan), I bet we’re gonna learn a whole lot about him today!
Terri’s with the police because detective John Cardinal (Billy Campbell) and partner Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse) have been trying to help find out who shot her and who killed the guy she led them to, sort of by accident. She remembered a cave, in that cave Cardinal and Delorme found what was left of a guy named Dave Elhurst (David O’Malley).
Ray and the gang also brutally murdered a biker named Wombat (Jon Ambrose) while taking over the distribution of illegal drugs for the Algonquin Bay area. Ray’s not just a shamanistic dark priest into blood rituals: he’s an entrepreneur.
Terri takes Cardinal through her trip to the area, starting with being picked up at the airport by her brother Kevin. Kevin had some trouble with drugs a while back, she doesn’t know he just started using again but she did sense something was up with the fancy black car he was driving.
Terri doesn’t know who shot her, but she kind of remembers the truck. Cardinal asks her point blank if her brother was driving that truck.
So. Last time Cardinal and Delorme found the decapitated head of Wombat in the bathroom of a low-level biker named Gordie Katyuk (Aiden Chase) who Kevin hung out with sometimes. He apparently ran, but Delorme’s got him in interview and she wants to know wtf?
He ran because of the head in his shower, Delorme! That makes perfect sense. He doesn’t know anything else about it other than there’s a new player moving in to the Northern Raiders biker gang drug turf.
The leader of said biker gang would like to know who that is, please. Scott Lasalle (Kris Holden-Ried) had to call in a favour to get the name, Northwind; he’s not happy about that. He directs his crew to pull out all the stops and get him those peeps.
Cardinal and Delorme take Terri to a women’s shelter/safehouse.
Toof finds Kevin passed out on the floor after getting high the previous evening, he’s freaked out because he knows Ray will kill Kevin for using his drugs. The fact that Toof thinks he can just say Kevin is sick and Ray will believe that tells us Toof is not exactly a rocket scientist.
To be fair, Ray is going to try and kill Kevin regardless. He just wants to find Kevin’s sister Terri first, he thinks she has special spiritual meaning, living after being shot in the head.
Cardinal wakes up to a dismaying sight, his wife Catherine (Deborah Hay) is in Toronto teaching a two-day course but neglected to bring her bipolar meds with her. He calls and gets her voicemail, he will be worrying until he hears back from her.
When we met Catherine last series, she was in a psychiatric facility after a breakdown, lately she’s been pulling away from some of her support systems, like her therapist. Cardinal is very concerned about all these choices.
Cardinal catches the rest of the detectives up on where the case has landed then he and Delorme take Terri out to the cave where they found their first dead body of the season.
Rather, they take her to the area and very carefully avoid pointing her at the cave so they’re not leading her. They think she knows something about it, but aren’t sure until she takes them in and remembers Leon’s boots and face.
Cardinal calls Catherine, again getting her voicemail. He decides to head to Toronto to see the expert on rituals.
Delorme coordinates with OPD detective Alan Clegg (Kevin Hanchard from Orphan Black!) on a photo lineup for Terri, before she leaves she thanks him for releasing his confidential informant and Delorme’s protege Rachel Wells (Nicolette Pearse).
He is not convinced that he has.
In order to inform on the bikers, Rachel rekindled a relationship with ex-boyfriend Zack (Greg Hovanessian), the tough part now will be getting away from him. He’s extremely possessive and currently staking out the gym where she, Delorme and a nice kid named Jordan Akiwenzie (Asivak Koostrachin) box. Rachel grabs Jordan and bails, I don’t know how much longer she’ll be able to stay hidden.
Cardinal’s time in Toronto with Dr. Wasserstine (Lisa Codrington) is not wasted, she identifies some of the symbols shown by our creepy shaman. Moons play a big part, the most powerful time to give a sacrifice to the gods is on a night of a new moon, when is that?
Cardinal shows the doctor pictures of the mutilated bodies and while human sacrifices are not part of these rituals, she can connect it to what they do to animals being sacrificed.
(Okay, so we know that part, what’s the genitalia for??)
Ray is back at the cottage, sharpening more pointy sticks. Toof is in town playing pool with a local and dreaming of buying his mom a fancy new house with a bow on it.
(Obvious sacrifice is obvious)
Leon gathers up his chatty gang minion before he can spill more than “The Northern Raiders don’t own this town any more” to a friend.
Jordan and Rachel go to the beach to swim, I can’t help but think this is the last time we’ll see Rachel.
Delorme has an unsettling run-in with RCMP villain Malcolm Musgrave (David Richmond-Peck) before getting a call from Cardinal, looks like there are three days before Ray will kill anyone. That’s the good news, the bad news is that he probably plans to have Terri as the sacrifice.
OPD Detective Jerry Commanda (Glenn Gould) interrupts, his call brings a distraught Delorme running into the hospital. Rachel’s been hurt.
(and, oddly, redressed, with no marks on her)
We get the story from Jordan, Rachel hasn’t been hurt. She overdosed on heroin that she bought from Toof. She was scared of Zack and on the run, that’s why no marks.
Leon wakes Kevin up roughly, they’re going to a movie and Kevin’s driving! He’s sure glad Kevin’s feeling better. Toof asks to pick the movie, it’s his birthday tomorrow and he’s 50/50 on which birthday it is.
Instead of a movie, Leon directs Kevin to a clearing in the woods, then orders Toof out of the truck. He shoots Toof twice in the head, those must be terrible bullets because like Terri, Toof is still walking and talking. Leon gets a golf club out of the truck and several loud thuds and squishy noises follow.
Kevin’s been watching all this in horror, probably wondering why not him? He and Leon return to the house where Ray explains that Toof had to be killed.
He’d like Kevin to thank Leon for taking care of the problem, Toof broke a rule.
Jerry takes Jordan home to help him face the music with his grandma, Jordan’s having a terrible day. Oh no, Rachel died, her parents told Jordan he wasn’t allowed at the funeral, even though he didn’t use drugs with her.
Mannnnn.
Jordan’s grandma has some other information for Jerry, there have been bikers making a fuss at the rec centre, flexing muscles basically. Jerry will look into it.
Speaking of flexing, Lasalle is more and more on edge, flipping out on Zack when he suggests maybe collecting some more intel is in order.
*It’s strange watching Kris Holden-Ried as Lasalle because he looks just like Des from Girls.
Alan Clegg and another detective on the Algonquin Bay force are friendly, McLeod (James Downing) is no fan of Delorme either, so they have some bonding points. Alan’s not working as hard as he could to find out who’s after the Northern Raider turf, he’s ecstatic watching the guy he’s tried to take down for years being destroyed.
*Digression! I read a book about a similar method of policing…what was it…it’s based in Baltimore and David Simon recommended it…anyway, it was about how police both over and under policed high crime areas. They didn’t help the residents feel safe by investigating crimes carried out by the criminal element, the neighbourhood filled that gap by policing itself, causing more crimes. I’m explaining it poorly, but basically: they liked it when gang members killed each other, it’s like they were taking care of their problem for them. They did not investigate those crimes thoroughly but were overzealous in use of programs like Stop and Frisk, which undermined the confidence any resident had in the police. Over AND under policing and that looks to be what Alan is aiming for here.
Ray’s tired of waiting for Leon to find Terri, he’ll take care of that himself.
Cardinal still hasn’t been able to reach Catherine in Toronto, but he gets a lead on where she is from Doug Feng (Minh Ly). Yikes. This is not a good area of town.
He races through the building to the top, where he finds Catherine looking precariously perched, about to fall.
Or so it appears; she’s got her camera on and she’s quite safe. She’s teaching and angry with him for not trusting her. Her students listen as she excoriates him: if she was going to jump, she would. He wouldn’t be able to stop her. Now go home.
You can just see the frustration and anger radiating off her and the sheepishness from him.
We’re out. Until next time, cheers.
