The penultimate episode of Culprits asks more questions than it answers. It’s a much slower – and, for that matter, lesser – outing than Episode 6, which boasted Season 1’s best sequence thus far. “This is Our Exit” does, to be fair, have its moments of tension, and its revelations, including finally putting a face to Devil’s employer. However, it’s also clear that Episode 7 is one of those that exists to shuffle pieces into places for the finale, and in that regard, at least, it’s very capable.
Culprits Season 1 Episode 7 Recap
As ever, there are some revealing flashbacks in “This is Our Exit”, mostly about the key that Devil mentioned in the previous episode.
Why did Fixer kill Right Hand?
It’s still not entirely clear what type of key this is or what it unlocks, but we at least get to confirm its existence. During the heist, while everyone else was busying themselves with the money, Dianne was sliding back a secret panel to reveal a large, ornate key on a marble plinth.
The real key is inside the plinth, which Dianne smashes on the floor. She pockets it. Which, as it turns out, is the proximate cause of Right Hand’s death.
In Episode 5 we learned through Azar that Right Hand was shot dead during the getaway, and in Episode 6 we learned it was Fixer who pulled the trigger. This is because Fixer had caught Dianne squirreling the key away and realized she was up to something the others didn’t know about. Since Fixer and Dianne go way back, he felt entitled to demand she cut him in. She agreed, then called Fixer to get rid of him.
Who does the house in Kent belong to?
Using Devil’s phone, Joe discovers an address in Kent that may contain clues about Dianne. It turns out to be the home of Right Hand, which now contains his widow and his children.
This is a weird section, almost as if there were other parts of it intended to be explained in earlier revisions of the script. Joe interrogates Right Hand’s widow, and while he’s doing so, one of the kids tips off some local skinheads that they’re under duress. The men arrive armed and force Joe, Officer, and Azar out of the house with a bit of a struggle.
During this whole thing, it’s unclear how capable Right Hand’s widow is intended to be, or how smart, or how much we’re supposed to care about Joe going pretty hard on her in front of the kids. Things take an especially dark turn when Azar bursts in waving a gun around, but frankly little of this sequence feels apiece with the rest of the season.
Lighting the Fuse
Likewise, I wasn’t entirely thrilled at the speed with which the connection between Right Hand and Fuse was revealed – it just felt a little too convenient. Similarly, Dianne and Fuse have a background with each other that has never been established or explored. I get that the entire point of the heist setup was that nobody was allowed to know anything about each other, but if pre-existing relationships are then just going to crop up out of nowhere, it feels a little too easy.
Anyway, after tracking Fuse down through his real name, Joe, Officer, and Azar head to his place, where Joe finds a bunch of empty shell casings and Fuse himself, dead. He’s promptly ambushed by a lot of very heavily armed men, who take him away. By the time Officer and Azar come inside, they find nothing but Joe’s gun and a pool of blood.
How does Culprits Season 1 Episode 7 end?
As it turns out, Joe has been taken captive by a man named Vincent Hawkes. This is the guy who owned the vault, and who hired Devil. He’s not a very nice man, but he’s also clearly a very wealthy and connected one, which is highlighted by reeling off a lot of information about Joe’s life and family in the form of a very obvious, nasty threat.
The idea is simple. Vincent wants Joe to kill Dianne. If he does, he and his family will be safe, and Vincent has a plan to set her up with the information Fuse gave them before her demise. Joe, seemingly with no better options, agrees.
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