If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Gamby fingers a suspect, with Dayshawn’s help; Russell tests out a kindness strategy at school. (HBO)
Writers: Danny McBride, John Carcieri, and Ben Dougan
Director: David Gordon Green
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 31mins
The title of this episode, “Slaughter”, was very appropriate here as Gamby and Russell executed their own slaughters in their own misguided ways with each garnering a different result.
Gamby is still on the hunt for the person who shot him and enlists Dayshawn’s help since he was the one who found him. Gamby of course had his large binder of potential suspects so he asked Dayshawn if he recognized any of them. There may or may not have been some profiling done in assembling the binder based on how Gamby interpreted what Dayshawn said. This became a little awkward for Dayshawn as Gamby shared his theories of a black person being responsible in front of another black person.
He eventually came across a disgruntled former student named Robin Shandrell (Conner McVicker) for whom he had past history with. Along with Mrs. Deets, they tracked down Shandrell and he wasn’t quite the same person that Gamby had described. It was immediately clear that Shandrell was not responsible for Gamby’s shooting but he found it hard to believe otherwise, including Russell who believed that he was responsible since he was poor and poor people commit crimes. Ultimately, Gamby admitted that he was responsible for Shandrell’s dismissal and felt guilty for it so he reinstated him.
Russell, on the other hand, could not stand the fact that the other teachers were talking about him behind his back. This was a major hit to his ego and his recording of them just confirmed it. It was kind of funny to hear what they were saying about him coupled with Russell’s reaction as he is so over the top in everything he does. He was being nice to them so he couldn’t understand why they would feel that way. It was because they had a different relationship now that he became the Principal. He tried to fight back with kindness but when that didn’t work. He fired the culprits.
The last subplot involved Snodgrass who had a new boyfriend. The others were curious about who he was but she claimed that they would never see him. The episode ended with her being picked up in a foreign sports car and causing some raising eyebrows from the surrounding people.
Overall, this was another good episode with Gamby and Russell’s respective plots being entertaining to watch. In them we saw the difference between both of them in their handling of their situations. Both started off as unlikable but Gamby’s slow redemption has been the most interesting part of the series so far. Let’s just hope they don’t drag out the Gamby’s shooter subplot for too long and that we see Dr. Brown again.
Score: 8/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
