While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes a break, let’s take a look at the second and third episodes of Killer Women with Tricia Helfer. Last week’s episode was as cheesy as the pilot, but this week’s edition was much better.
The second episode, “Some Men Need Killing,” centered on men being killed for being abusive towards their wives. Those deaths had one thing in common: their wives all had the same interior decorator. The wife featured in the story told Molly that she tried hard to please her husband, including having several plastic surgeries. But the last straw, apparently, was when he threw away her Girl Scout cookies. With a motive like that, it’s best to turn the channel.
Still, Beth Reisgraf is one cold and calculating interior decorator as Jennifer Jennings, and was the best thing about the story. It would have been better if she knocked off the husbands herself. Instead, she got a hit man to do it, then eliminated him when Molly got too close.
The episode also reminded people that Molly Parker is one sexy Texas Ranger, in a hot relationship with DEA Agent Dan Winston (Marc Blucas). The first scene is them having fun in the shower, then realizing they have to go to a special event that includes Molly’s clingy state senator husband, Jake Colton (Jeffrey Nordling), who she’s trying to divorce. Jake tries just a bit too much to stop the divorce (my guess is without a wife, he’ll lose the Happily Married Conservative vote in the next election), even having a judge impose marriage counseling on them.
Jennings, the killer interior decorator, uses that to try to kill Jake and frame Molly, but Molly stops her in time. He still wants Molly to attend counseling, though. That’s why I wish Jake wasn’t on the show. He, supposedly, physically abused her, but we don’t know too much aside from that.
The next episode, “Warrior,” was much better. Someone is robbing banks, then giving the cash to local war vets. It turns out to be a former medic, Andrea Corbett (Peyton McDavitt), who earned a Silver Star in the Afghan War. A visiting FBI agent (Aisha Hinds) says no matter the motive, Andrea has to be brought in.
Molly seems to be sympathetic to Andrea, but figures out Andrea’s really doing this to get back the adrenaline rush she got while in battle. It gets more complicated when she shoots a bank guard, and actually visits him at the hospital to apologize. That leads to a hostage situation where Molly tries to talk Andrea out of shooting anyone, including herself. The script makes great pains to argue the VA is supposedly not helping recent war vets as much as they should, which lead to what Andrea did. It’s also why one of the FBI snipers pretends he can’t shoot her: because he has a Marine tattoo. That’s a bit much, and it may lead to the show being accused of being too liberal to be set in Texas.
There’s some nice scenes where Molly and Dan talk, and we get some insight about her. However, when Dan gets subpoenaed for her divorce case (thanks to Jake), which would affect his job at the DEA, there’s conflict.
Molly’s frustration over Jake also affects her relationship with her brother. He acts suspiciously, and she thinks he’s being unfaithful. The truth is he’s planning his daughter’s Quinceañera party, and she winds up looking dumb. That’s also a bad idea.
It looks like the drama may become slightly serialized. In the final ten seconds, Molly’s boss tells her Dan has been shot. Tune in next week, and all that.
If Killer Women centered on Molly and her job, not her divorce drama, it would be a nice summer diversion at least. Four more episodes will air through February 18th.
