Harper’s Island - Episode 3

So I will say this, yet again, before I really get started. If you haven’t seen the 3rd episode and plan on watching it, stop reading. I don’t want anyone blaming me for spoiling the show…

Ok, so after the third episode I’m still feeling confident in my assertion that Jimmy Mance is the murderer. Points to consider, from episode three, that I believe back up this position.

1. Shane was shown to be crazy, but obviously not killer crazy. He abducted JD, but only because of his still burning love for the now dead Kelly. And, no I’m not condoning running someone down on a dirt road and duct taping said person in a shack. So, Shane’s got “issues” but he still didn’t kill JD.

2. JD appeared upset about Kelly’s death. Now, this might be a rouse, but my initial claim that both JD and Shane were “too easy” as the killer still seems to hold. Unless we see some sort of major character development from these two, then I’d say that neither is someone I’d want to hang out with, it doesn’t seem like either is the killer.

Which, on the subject of character development, brings me to Richard Allen. The soon to be brother-in-law of Henry has already married one Wellington girl and, through the first two episodes, was nothing more than an extra with a name. In episode 3, though, he gives Henry a nice “you gotta suck it up to marry a Wellington girl and let daddy Wellington be in control” speech just a few minutes before we find out that he’s carrying on an affair (with some strong S&M overtones) with Mrs. Wellington, his wife’s (and Trish’s) step-mom.

In my last post, I lumped Richard in with nine other characters as, essentially, fodder for the killer. Even with Richard’s “sticking it” (see what I did there, huh, huh?) to Mr. Wellington, I still don’t see him as killer material. He’s an ass (which is a recurring theme on the show, it seems) but not a sociopath.

So that brings us to the lone (is the murderer slowing down?) character to bite it in episode 3…Hunter Jennings. Here’s a guy you don’t feel sorry for in the least. Sure, he took a shotgun blast (thanks to a cleverly placed gun and a sticky hatch) to the chest, but he came to the island to break up Henry and Trish’s wedding only because Mr. Wellington paid for his trip, and when that backfired he then decided to blackmail daddy Wellington for hush money. He almost got off the island…well, he got off but not very far, and the previews of episode 4 indicate that his body is found.

So, who didn’t we see in this episode? None other than my main man Jimmy Mance. I’m really starting to believe it could be him. Really, I just picked someone that seemed likely, expecting him to die in the very next episode, but now…who knows?

The one thing that’s bothering me, so far, is that no one seems to notice that other people, besides Kelly, are dead. OK, cousin Ben never showed up, and the killer made it seem like Uncle Marty left the island, but what about Lucy? Remember the chick with the dog that got torched in a dead fall? No one commented about her absence in episode 3. She might have been annoying, but someone should notice she’s gone.