Hello and welcome back for another recap for Hit Monkey. Bryce and Monkey are still bickering but manage to keep it together as they venture into a prison searching for clues.
1. Reverse Shawshank
The clue from the last episode about who double-crossed Bryce had a name, “The Accountant,” and an address that leads to a highly secured prison. Rather than attempt to break him out, Monkey decides to break inside and get some information from him. Monkey manages to get through a grate but eventually gets caught and tortured by the warden. This is a little confusing to me because Monkey gets tortured. After all, the warden is trying to make a point to guards about using his private bathroom. I understood when Monkey was getting tortured and tied up for messing with gangsters, but this one just felt out of place. Most wardens in movies and tv shows are crazy by nature, but it felt misplaced. Luckily Monkey gets some super strength when he’s upset and gets to turn the tables on the warden.
2. The Pit
Monkey and Bryce have to get through the next barrier, “The Pit,” an underground cellblock dedicated to the worst offenders and, according to the warden, has been sealed off for three years. The Accountant has also apparently gone insane, so it creates this question for the audience on if his information will be any good or not. Luckily I had a lot more questions as soon Monkey got into the Pit because he literally falls into a Gladiator meets Mad Max situation, and the Accountant is leading the charge. The Accountant sneaks a supply of drugs into the cellblock and uses it to control the other prisoners to do his bidding. The monkey quickly gets into combat to the death against another Marvel character, Fat Cobra. It’s a short fight that it’s entertaining nonetheless partially due to Bryce’s continuous commentary and tips to survive that ultimately ends with a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend situation” with Cobra. Bryce and Monkey manage to get another clue from the Accountant about someone named “Rooster” and how killing a politician is never a good idea. Bryce’s double-cross mystery is still the main focus, but it’s starting to become a thin thread.
3. Cop Check-In
We get another check-in with Lieutenant Ito and Haruka as they still trail Monkey and his crime scenes. I enjoy the realism that comes from the police and their coworkers for having the theory that a monkey is going around town killing people. Ito gets put on administrative leave for the theory, and it just makes sense because a veteran detective on the case thinking an animal is the culprit, they would get a psych check and out of the office. Haruka continues to push Ito with her theory by showing him pictures and evidence of scratch marks from the casino murders, and while he’s reluctant because of the scrutiny, I can tell that he knows she isn’t too off-base. She also reminds him that if something is true isn’t their job, as police officers, to speak up, and that summarizes her reason for being in the show as she is a reminder of what it means to be an officer.
4. Political Strategy
In this episode, we get a little more political action as Akiko Yokohama is riding her bike and is run off the road by one of Ozu’s campaign vans. When she gets back to her Uncle’s office, she’s upset, and rightfully so, and wants to go to press since she knows it was Ozu, but he does his best to calm her down and let him handle it. Shinji Yokohama has been in the political game a lot longer because of his friend and knows if she goes to press, it’ll just turn on him and make it easier for Ozu to call him out. This is a good teaching moment for the Uncle because Akiko was the one that wanted him in the political race, and now she has to follow the same rules. Although I don’t think there’s been enough screentime for either of them to have a solid idea of their personalities, we get a glimpse into her possible temper. Shinji shuts the situation down by threatening her off the campaign, and she listens, but it’s funny because, later on, she’s reading a Punisher comic to see “proper revenge.” I’m hoping it’s a slight hint at something she might get into later on, but for now, she’ll have to sit back and wait.
5. Monkey’s Code
As the title of the episode alludes to, Monkey is starting to develop his code when it comes it killing. In the last couple of episodes, it’s been shown how much the killing is beginning to affect his psyche, and the guilt is eating at him, so he decides to create a code to justify his actions. Bryce, throughout the episode, has been telling him how much of a bad idea that is when it comes to being a professional because the hesitation will end up costing him his life. For example, Monkey has a gun aimed at a guard dog at the prison but gets it knocked out of his hand because he doesn’t take the shot. However, by the end of the episode, the opportunities he chose not to kill, Fat Cobra and an innocent rat in a glue trap, were two of the most significant factors that helped him successfully escape the prison. I’m glad that he and the creators decided to go this route instead of just going around with a gun shooting people with no second thoughts. Monkey has already shown that he is the conscience of the show, and without that attribute, the show wouldn’t have made sense, so whether Bryce likes it or not, the code is staying.
