Summary
“Paldiski” sees Henna cross a line, as new information in the case suggests that maybe revenge is being taken against the wrong people.
This recap of Deadwind season 2, episode 5, “Paldiski”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
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In the wake of Sara’s kidnapping, “Paldiski” opens with Sten sitting opposite Henri and Mikaela and informing them — and the audience — that the tunnel Sara was in has been collapsed by explosives. There’s no reason to believe they’re in any danger, but there’s plenty of reason to believe that the Mayor is dead. Karppi and Nurmi are told that the explosion, a small and controlled one, was probably designed to bury Sara alive. Depending on the space she’s trapped in, she probably has between two and twenty-four hours of oxygen.
In Estonia, 40 miles outside of Tallinn, Henna is in the middle of her mule mission. From a decrepit building in the middle of nowhere, she and her babysitter pick up a hefty supply of Subutex — so much that I struggle to imagine how they’re going to get it anywhere without being caught. Perhaps that’s the point.
Meanwhile, Karppi and Nurmi discuss the case and Mari Routa’s possible motives. They go aboard the Meelika, where they run into a woman who knew Jimi Aho well. She has a recent video of him. She also knows the other victims, who he was apparently scared of, and only agreed to help out of fear. Turns out he wasn’t on the boat the day the Mayor was there; he had gone missing the night before. Nobody threw him into the sea. It was covered up for no reason.
Deadwind season 2, episode 5 delivers a further, bigger twist. Karppi and Nurmi go and see Jimi’s father again to ask him about Jimi’s tattoo, visible in the picture the woman on the boat gave them. But the body Jimi’s father identified had no tattoos, and he was too upset to look at the face. Jimi might not even be dead. Karppi wants to open his grave.
Karppi and Nurmi next head to a storage locker rented by Routa, where they come under fire. They get separated and Karppi takes a ricochet. Before Routa pulls the trigger, though, Karppi tells her that Jimi wasn’t on the ship; she’s taking revenge on the wrong people. After receiving some stitches, Karppi also receives GPS coordinates to Sara’s location.
In the hospital where Sara is recovering, Henri goes to see her in “Paldiski”. She describes how she felt in the tunnel, waiting to die, and she questions his involvement. He counters by reminding her that only Mikaela could access her emails and send them as her.
When Karppi returns home, she receives a video message from Matti’s dad that shows Emil beating his son. Emil still argues that he was provoked, but the kid presents more like a psychopath to me. Karppi’s handling of this situation is weak, calling back to what Nurmi said to her about trying to avoid dealing with personal situations by swallowing any lies she’s told.
On the ferry back to Helsinki, Henna overhears her babysitter on the phone laughing that she thought the mafia was involved. She confronts him and says she isn’t going to drive the car, but he pulls a gun on her. When he lowers his guard she pulls her switchblade and stabs him to death on the deck, having suddenly crossed a whole new line. She tosses both the knife and the gun overboard and, with some effort, the man’s corpse.
“Paldiski” closes with Karppi and Nurmi putting together a new lead: that the victims of the murders are all drug dealers.
