Hap and Leonard Season 2 Episode 6
Right off the bat, I want to say how much I enjoyed this season of SundanceTV’s Hap and Leonard. There’s a tremendous amount of talent involved, both on screen and off. This is not some slapdash enterprise, simply going through the motions as it chews through one genre trope after another. Rather, Hap and Leonard is a crime show with heart, a story of friendship packaged as a twisting, turning whodunit. While it seemed as though this season prematurely drew to a close with major revelations and three deaths in last week’s “Pie a la Mojo,” there was still the matter of unearthing who murdered little BB. As is this genre’s wont, there is a fair bit of misdirection that points a finger at Sheriff Valentine, a racist cop who not only had it in for Leonard, he also tampered with evidence in BB’s case. The show walks a fine line in this regard, first by casting a heavy like Brian Dennehy as the sheriff. And second, by making him so shady and suspicious that he couldn’t possibly be BB’s killer. Still, that doesn’t stop Hap and Leonard from seeing what they want to see in circumstantial evidence, following a trail back to the man who they already believe in their hearts to be guilty. In the end, they’re no better than Hanson and Blank, who were on a similar witch hunt for Leonard. And speaking of Blank, he’s still wrestling with TJ’s death. He tries to rationalize his pulling the trigger by blaming the victim. “That boy should’ve never have picked up that shotgun,” Blank insists. But Leonard isn’t about to let Blank off the hook. “That boy should’ve never have been black,” he says. “Had he been white, he would’ve been in the hospital with a hole in his knee.” There is a terrible resonance to these words, for all the truth they hold. Leonard Pine is the furthest thing from a social justice warrior; as a disenfranchised black man, he’s simply telling it like it is. This is also Hap and Leonard telling it like it is, as it’s done throughout the entirety of this season. It’s likewise difficult to separate Michael K. Williams from Leonard Pine in his final scene with young Ivan, whose father has come to collect his wayward son. Here we see Leonard at his most vulnerable, as he’s suddenly faced with losing someone he never thought he could care about. We see the measure of Leonard’s influence on Ivan, who’s finally read—and liked—Huckleberry Finn. I was surprised Leonard didn’t tell him to keep the book, but then he does one better by giving his hat to Ivan. It’s a sentimental gesture from someone who tries hard to bury his feelings. In light of this, that Ivan’s dad would offer Leonard money for his troubles seems almost crass. Ivan returning home is in itself a just reward. Bravo to Williams for showing so much vulnerability in this scene. Dennehy brings a lot to his role as Valentine, presenting us with a man who is by turns guarded, avuncular, intimidating, and brokenhearted. As I mentioned before, Hap and Leonard think they have him all figured out, that he’s BB’s killer. Instead, in a fine twist, we learn that not only is Miriam his lover, but that little BB is Valentine’s son. He loved his best boy, even if he could never claim him as his own. But, of course, with that final, lingering image of the noose dangling from the Klansman’s tree, we know that Hap and Leonard isn’t done examining issues of race. As of this writing, the show still has yet to be renewed for a third season. I sincerely hope that SundanceTV sees what a valued property it has in these characters and in this world created by Joe R. Lansdale and brought so ably to life by the show’s cast and crew. Not renewing this show would be the biggest crime of all.
