Clarice – Ghosts of Highway 20

By: Kelly Kearney

Trust, or should I say the lack thereof, seems to be a running theme for FBI’s most traumatized agent and who could blame Clarice? Agent Starling survived something that would normally knock any other person right off their mentally stable blocks. So, it is no wonder why in last week’s episode Clarice went rogue – disobeying her superior, Paul Krendler, by telling the press the truth about her case and how it did not involve a serial killer. This week Paul does not give Clarice a chance to take matters into her own hands by keeping a watchful eye over her until he can transfer her out of his life for good. Try as he might, Krendler cannot keep his star agent down for long, especially when the case involves her special brand of friendly negotiation tactics with hostile criminals. Clarice Starling was made for this.

Take me Home, Country Roads…

Returning to the Appalachian region was not high on Agent Starling’s (Rebecca Breeds) list of things to do, but when a standoff with an armed radical militia takes out a federal agent the FBI rolls in with the big guns. Cue Agent Starling, fresh off her last case and meeting with Paul Krendler (Michael Cudlitz) to talk about her role in the standoff. Immediately, Krendler tells her he countered her report about there not being a serial killer involved and claimed she spoke to the press before she had the whole story. Of course, none of that is true and Paul’s statement is just a way for him to save face. After all, the famous agent known for catching serial killers was only assigned to VICAP to make Ruth Martin (Jayne Atkinson) look good in the eyes of the Bureau. Always the voice of reason, Ardelia (Devyn A. Tyler) warned Clarice that her choice to ignore Paul’s orders and do her own thing could send him and her team a message that she does not trust them. Without trust, Clarice runs the risk of putting herself and her entire team at risk. When Paul all but tells Clarice the same, the reality of her choices begins to sink in. Not that she cares much about working for VICAP. She, herself, said she would rather be back to the Behavioral Sciences, but Paul makes it clear he has no interest in working with an agent that would put herself ahead of the team. Unfortunately for Paul, Ruth wants Clarice in this new militia hostage case and that means Clarice will need to focus her attention, stay out of Paul’s way and do all of this while trying to ignore her PTSD triggers swirling around her Appalachian memories.

Once she is put in her place and told not to leave Paul’s sight until he can have her transferred out of VICAP, he and his new partner Murray Clarke (Nick Sandow) reluctantly get the young agent up to speed on the case. A standoff between local police and a Tennessee Militia group called “The Statement” began when an ATF agent was shot trying to deliver a warrant on the group’s property. The leader of The Statement, Lucas Novak (Tim Guinee), started the group as a rehabilitation for addicts which eventually turned into an armed cult reminiscent of David Koresh’s compound. WACO is something Paul immediately makes a connection to and tells his agents he wants this siege to end without flames and National outrage.

As the team gathers to come up with a plan, Clarice spots a young boy named Peter (Tom Hulshof) hiding in the bushes and is immediately catapulted back to her own childhood in Appalachia. She puts the past aside to approach the boy, but he runs off before she can get any information out of him. After a few moments pass, the boy is scene standing outside the farmhouse on the property with a megaphone. The Statement’s leader, Novak, would like to talk to Clarice! Against Paul’s better judgement he agrees to allow Clarice inside, especially since Novak is known to surround himself with women. Clarice readies herself for the meeting by slapping on some make up to upgrade her feminine manipulation tactics. She hands her weapon to Agent Esquivel (Lucca De Oliveira) and turns on her hidden microphone before she heads inside. Esquivel, who will be the sniper watching out for her, goes out of his way reminds Clarice that the team wants to trust her, but after last week’s performance with the press, trust is going to have to be earned. “It’s a two-way street,” he tells her and Clarice is finally starting to get the bigger picture. Her life will be in her fellow agent’s hands. If she wants to survive, she has no other choice but to trust them and, likewise, they must trust her. Message received. Clarice is going in!

Quid Pro Quo Again, Clarice?

Once inside the militia’s farmhouse, Clarice immediately notices her surroundings. All around the house armed men are stationed and standing guard while the women, with track marks on their arms, occupy the floors of the home. After taking in the scene, Clarice gets to business. She tells the charismatic Novak that a federal agent was shot, and the FBI is not leaving without the shooter, whoever they are. Novak pretends he has no idea who was responsible for the dead agent. While trying to convince Clarice of why he cannot help her, she notices he is stringing green beans for leather britches, again flooding Clarice with memories from her past. This time it is of her panicked mother (Caitlin Robson) washing blood off her father’s hat at their kitchen sink followed by flashbacks to Buffalo Bill and images of her brother (Cody Black). Out of the three scenes flashing through her mind, her mother cleaning up blood stands out the most. Could Clarice be blocking out the truth about her father’s death? That is speculation. But before we get a clearer picture of what a young Clarice (Maya McNair) witnessed, we see Ruth Martin arrive on the scene just as the bullets start flying between the police and the militia. The drama quells when Novak agrees to talk to the local sheriff (Patrick McManus) and makes a plan to hand over the shooter. Clarice’s job in the farmhouse is done, but she does not leave and go back to her post. Instead, she walks out the door, turns and creeps around to the back of the house so she can sneak in unseen through an open window. She knew something was not right with all of this but could not put her finger on it. What she finds when she gets back inside confirms her suspicions. There behind a hidden space between the walls is a line of cameras. When she presses play to see what was recorded, she sees that this is not a rehab situation at all. The women with the track marks she saw all over the house are not addicts looking for help, but women who were forced into prostitution. This militia is a cover for sex trafficking! Even worse, the local sheriff is in on it. Outside, Ruth is ready to pull out of the siege when Novak hands the shooter over to the sheriff. Little does Martin and VICAP know they are being scammed. Clarice is the first to figure it out when she spots the young boy from earlier and the two have a heart to heart. She notices a bruise on his face and looks like it was caused by the kickback of a gun. She manages to drag the truth out of the boy about what really happened. He admits that he did shoot the ATF agent, but it was a cry for help. His mother is one of the women being sold by Novak and he could not go to the sheriff because he has killed other women who angered him.

Case Closed

Back inside the farmhouse Clarice sits opposite Novak and tells him a story about her sheriff father and the power he had right up until he was killed. She goes on to call Novak a coward which forces an angry militia leader to reveal the truth about The Statement. Not only is this a sex trade ring, but he has been paying off the sheriff and other local officials to turn a blind eye to what was going on. Things between Novak and Clarice escalate until he pulls a gun in the agent. Unarmed and panicked, the moment with Novak escalates and he pushes Clarice near the front window, placing himself right in Esquivel’s line of fire. In a split-second Clarice realizes the agent has the shot and ducks just as the bullet comes whizzing through the window killing Novak.

With the leader dead and the shooter of the ATF agent identified, Ruth Martin orders the dirty sheriff to fire his fellow dirty cops (which winds up being half the police force) and gives him six months to resign. The sheriff was not arrested because Ruth tells Clarice she is planning on forcing him to turn state’s witness in an attempt to bring down the entire sex trafficking ring. As the episode closes, Ruth Martin informs Clarice of Paul’s transfer request. The leader of VICAP withdrew it, meaning Clarice will remain on the job for the foreseeable future. Before Ruth leaves to fly back to D.C., Clarice admits that being back in Appalachia reminded her of her father who was killed in the line of duty when she was a child. This is something that does not fit into the narrative of her flashbacks with her mother and the bloody hat, but Clarice keeps that truth to herself. With that little tidbit of knowledge about Agent Starling, Ruth leaves and Clarice makes her way over to Tomas Esquivel. She thanks him for saving her life and he says he will always have her back. Apparently, she rebuilt her trust with the team and, in the end, that is what saved her life. Maybe in the future she should listen to her wise roommate Ardelia and save herself from any future workplace headaches. For now, Clarice will continue to work with Krendler and the VICAP team hoping the trust she built today will continue to their next case.