Hi, we’re back in the third series of Cardinal, who did we just find? Let’s find out after the break in my Cardinal S3:E02 Roman & Irena recap.
So. Last time we heard two people being murdered by a third, who sunk their bodies in a boat in the lake directly adjacent. We don’t know who the killer is, but we have an earwitness in the form of Sam Duchene (Devery Jacobs) who was there chilling post-coital after knocking boots with otherwise involved Randall Wishart (Aaron Ashmore), the local realtor using the listed property on Island Road as a slam pad. The killer has just found out Sam’s name from the phone she dropped while running away.
ALSO Detective John Cardinal (Billy Campbell) has lost his wife Catherine to a supposed suicide brought on by her mental illness, but he doesn’t buy it. He’s being tortured with mean notes blaming him for Catherine’s death and is conducting his own investigation.
FINALLY Detective Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse) is tracking a robber targeting ATM users, they’ve just shot someone, possibly fatally.
We open on Island Road where we getta see super gross footage of the dead people being brought up from the deep, what parts the fish didn’t eat anyway.
I absolutely hate how graphic this show is for violence and gruesome injuries so I’m listening to the autopsy, not watching.
The man and woman who were killed and dumped in the lake were married and rich, that’s all I got!
When Sam was driving away from the killer on Island Road, he shot her car in several places. I have no clue why she hasn’t gone to the police yet, instead she’s out there digging bullets out of the bodywork. It may be because her married boyfriend doesn’t want to have to answer any more questions about where he was.
Sergeant Noelle Dyson (Kristen Thomsen) has been having a rotten time lately, her sister just died of cancer but she can’t take any leave, partly that has to be because of Cardinal’s wife’s suicide. She’s still shellshocked, she and her partner Sylvie (Meredith Zwicker) are raising Noelle’s niece Jane (Rachel Pellinen).
That’s a lot, but Noelle’s day is about to get much more complicated. A distraught young woman (Yasmine Shawana) walks into the diner where Sylvie and Noelle are eating, there’s a man with a gun in the nearby laundromat.
Noelle secures the area, calls for backup and makes her way into the laundromat where she finds Perry Dorn (Munro Adams) sitting on the floor looking forlorn.
She tries to talk to him, but he shoots himself after only a minute or two and she is left with the aftermath. More trauma.
None of the prints found at the scene match anything in the system, huh, not even the killer? Weird. Detective McLeod (James Downing) was able to identify the victims, they are Roman (Drew Zeran) and Irena Barstow (Marlaina Andre), in town for the local gun show.
I don’t know what this was for, but it’s beautiful.
Lise and John search the boat where they Barstows had been staying, some jeans are found with sawdust on the bottom.
Sam goes to school, holy cow, how young is this girl?? Is that high school? *Breathing into a paper bag* The killer is there, she unwittingly sits next to him then we get a look at him too before she freaks out and runs away. He’s also super young, what is going on?
He watches her at a bus stop, holding up her phone to get her attention. She gets on the bus, he follows in his…minivan?
Once again, when in danger she does not call the police, but rather her lover Randall who tells her to stop making things up, he can’t see her anyway.
He’s busy supporting his wife Laura Carnwright’s (Genelle Williams) career, she’s leaving the realtor office to run a by-election so he’ll be moving up. He’s a former big hockey player, looks like he’s marking time and trying to figure out what to do. It does NOT look as though he’s planning to leave his wife any time soon, Sam.
Noelle snagged OPD Detective Gerry Commanda (Glen Gould) to come with her to do the death notification for Perry Dorn’s estranged partner, Margaret Murphy (Jessica Rose) shrugs the news off and goes about her day.
Stone COLD.
Roman and Irena were regulars at the gun show, she made custom bows that were very popular and high end. Everyone liked the couple, except maybe Irena’s ex-husband Monty Logan (Ivan Sherry).
Lise and John find an extremely intoxicated Monty passed out on the floor of his hotel room, Lise tends to him while trying to find out what he knows. He calls Roman shady, but he wouldn’t be the first ex-husband to excoriate his supplantor.
Lise finds Noelle in the washroom where she’s been for an hour, scrubbing her nails.
Noelle gravely needs time off.
She was shocked by Margaret’s lack of outward emotion at the news of her boyfriend’s death, Lise carefully reminds Noelle that maybe Margaret doesn’t grieve out loud.
My favourite thing about Lise Delorme is that she complicates literally everything. She refuses to take easy answers for anything and doesn’t go along with the pack, hardly ever.
John is still getting those extremely gross notes about his wife’s death so he takes them to Catherine’s psychiatrist Dr. Fredrick Bell (Stephen Ouimette) who immediately assumes that John wrote them to himself. John pushes him past that, what kind of person would write these? Dr. Bell is a reluctant profiler, but he does give John some ideas. The writer is sneering at John and likely feels insignificant, like a failure and a person who’s suffered.
*Here’s where I’m in trouble because I remember just enough of the book to be dangerous.
John asks if the person could be violent and suddenly Dr. Bell understands what he’s working with here. John thinks the letter-writer killed Catherine, to Dr. Bell that’s a huge sign that John is not accepting reality. You know how psychiatrists get all excited about that sort of thing.
But John did suspect that another suicide attempt was likely, he was doing everything he could last season to prevent just that happening.
The doctor’s wife Helen Bell (Susan Coyne) presses some muffins on John before he goes, he retaliates by asking if any other patients noticed Catherine or if there were ever any arguments. Patients were usually scheduled without overlap, though, to help keep things private. Catherine and Helen used to visit, though, Catherine always made her smile.
John brings the muffins to work, using them as a bribe for Detective Ash Kular (Zack Smadu) who has pulled all the files of everyone John put away that was married. Dr. Bell wondered if maybe someone John imprisoned who had lost everything might be holding a grudge.
McLeod and Kular fight over the muffins, I love feeding people and if I thought the police here needed some goodies, I’d be all over it.
Lise comes in all smiles, she found out the Barstows had a rental car and is following up. She sees John with a stack of files in his hands, did he pull suspects? He’ll tell her later.
Sam is home watching the news with her mom Wendy Duchene (Jennifer Podemski) when the police have a press conference about the murders, again she freaks out and calls Randall, but he’s not answering any more.
The killer calls instead to tell her he likes her drawings.
*when your stalker and attempted murderer is more supportive and a better communicator than the guy you’re with*
Catherine’s memory is always with John, lurking in the darkroom, standing in the woods, she’s ever present. He’s in her darkroom when his phone rings; it’s Noelle’s wife Sylvie. Noelle’s gone missing.
John finds Noelle at the diner where she was before the laundromat incident, she doesn’t want to go home any more than he does. Home is where her sister isn’t, her niece is and John doesn’t have Catherine any more. Their spaces are too empty yet too full.
Lloyd Kreeger (Tom Jackson!! This is as close to Canadian acting royalty as we have, Tom Jackson is a legend) lands his float plane late at night.
He’s met by Henry Sizemore (Gregory ‘Dominic’ Odjig) who leaves shortly after to have his throat cut by the killer, who says “Milo/Mama wants you to know this isn’t personal.”
What
Ohhhhhh, soon after Lloyd is disturbed by the killer coming in his unlocked front door (yes, we actually do that in Canada, especially in the woods but NO you may not just walk in. RUDE) with two other youths. Lloyd asks them angrily what they’re doing in his house but a woman walking up the stairs holding a very large handgun shuts him up.
This must be Mama! And this is where we leave it for today, until next time. Cheers.
