After the drive-by shooting in the previous episode, the police briefly intensify their questioning of Charlie and Linda. Fonso and his mother Rita have the couple followed and the affair that Linda is having with Gina is discovered. Charlie goes with Eduardo to question a suspect in the shooting and once there, he discovers the reason for all those “boiling” donut visions.
Charlie is concerned enough about his dizzy spells and those new precognitive flashes that he has tests run. Dr. White keeps him in and runs some tests. Linda shows a tinge of jealousy when she meets the attractive doctor. White learns that the blow to Charlie’s head left no obvious brain damage.
Nick says he will score drugs for some schoolmates but fails abysmally when they learn he only brought adderall and not “real” drugs as promised. Nick’s attempt at impressing his friends fails.
This episode spends a bit more time on Linda and Gina’s trists and also shows just how tough Charlie’s wife is. She is not the least bit intimidated by Fonzo when he shows up uninvited at their house. In this relationship, it is Linda who has the cojones, not Charlie.
The visions continue although this time there are not a large amount of the precognitive sightings to choose from. Charlie sees boiling donuts twice. Later when he accompanies Eduardo to the donut shop, he sees Mario shoved headfirst into the donut fat fryer.
The gangster picks up a fresh donut from the floor and takes a bite. He is unperturbed by his act of murder. Charlie is shaken but struggles to hide it.
Linda’s mark, Nadine Davies is passed over to Fonzo for bilking and at the end of the episode, she wakes to find a crown wearing rooster in her bed and a tree crashes through the ceiling shortly after. Davies screams in fear.
This second episode of Shut Eye is a tad darker than the first episode. Charlie’s sister may have had the letter “M” carved into her cheek but she is not alone. The henchman sent to watch Linda also has a huge “M” on his cheek.
Gina, Linda’s lesbian lover asks “Am I your first trip down lesbo lane?” Linda responds with a cool “You are not my first anything.” In this side relationship, Linda is in charge, just as she is in her marriage to Charlie.
It is not yet clear just how Davies will be relieved of her money but the angle of her “cursed” money may have a lot to do with the Fonzo orchestrated events at the end of the episode.
Jeffrey Donovan has slipped right into Charlie Haverford’s shoes. While he is still recognizable as Michael Weston in Burn Notice (2007 – 2013) his character is different. Haversford may well be boxing clever but in the end, it is Linda (Strickland) who has the brass to fight the odds.
Angus Sampson is downright dislikeable as Fonzo. Rossellini is adequate as the mother but it is a part that cries out for Grace Zabriskie the brilliant character actress who played Mrs. Minassian in Ray Donovan. Zabriskie was scary as the head of the Armenian family, Isabella is just…odd.
The shape of this first season is such that it will not be suprising at all if Charlie uses Eduardo against Fonzo sometime soon. If this does happen it will be an interesting event.
Shut Eye is on Hulu at the moment and all the episodes can be viewed right now. Check this one out. It is, in our humble opinion, worth the trip.
Cast:
- Jeffrey Donovan – Charlie Haverford
- KaDee Strickland – Linda Haverford
- Angus Sampson – Fonzo
- Isabella Rossellini – Rita
- Emmanuelle Chriqui – Gina
- David Zayas – Eduardo Bernal
- Mel Harris – Nadine Davies
- Leah Gibson – Sylvia Haverford
- Susan Misner – Dr. Nora White
- Dylan Schmid – Nick
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