Recap: There’s A Storm Coming In ‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 9

“The Calm Before the Storm” is a well-known expression, but it applies to Episode 9 of Bad Monkey more than usual since there is literally a storm coming. The impending weather functions as a useful ticking-clock device in this penultimate outing, which puts Rosa in a dangerous position and brings out some long-awaited confrontations.

This is still very distinctly the episode before the finale, the kind that is primarily devoted to getting the pieces in place for the ending, but I enjoyed it all the same. There’s enough drama here — and a very sweet emotional moment — for the episode to have value on its own terms, so let’s break down what happened.

The Calm Before the Storm

Nothing makes me more suspicious than things going well, and that’s precisely the feeling that drenches the early portion of Bad Monkey Episode 9. Neville and Dawnie kiss! Rosa and Yancy are considering making their relationship official! Gracie is finally getting off the island!

There’s even a break in the case — Nick and Eve want to fly to Miami immediately to beat the incoming Hurricane Mel. They’re walking right into the trap that Yancy and Rosa have sprung for them, and there’s excitement in the air. The finish line is in sight. And then you remember what happened at the end of the previous episode. It’s all going to go wrong, isn’t it?

Yes. This happens rather promptly. As soon as Rosa heads down to see Eve and Nick, it becomes clear that she did indeed see the photograph in the fritter place, and that’s before she theatrically presents it to Rosa. The next moment, Egg is there, armed and dangerous.

The Storm

Natalie Martinez and Meredith Hagner | Image via Apple TV+

Luckily, Yancy, who is going fishing with Neville, runs into Gracie, who has been prevented from getting on her flight due to the upcoming storm. Gracie knows through Egg that Eve and Nick have figured out who Rosa is, so Yancy rushes over there to save the day but finds Nick waiting for him with a shotgun.

Yancy is able to use Tilly — the episode’s title is “You Really Don’t Want to Kill This Scrumptious Little Puppy” for this reason — as a shield and the truth as a sword to make Nick question why he’s here with Miss Congeniality when he could be trying to build a relationship with a daughter who still inexplicably cares for him. The distraction works well enough for Neville to sneak up and stab Nick with a snapped fishing rod, giving him and Yancy time to flee.

Luckily, Rosa was able to escape on her own by accidentally shooting Egg with Neville’s gun that Yancy planted in her bag. It’s not exactly a slick getaway, but under the circumstances, it’ll do. But there’s the further problem of Yancy and Rosa sticking out like a sore thumb on Andros, and since all the flights are canceled, they have no means of escape except for one — Claspers.

But Yancy won’t leave with Rosa, even when she tells him that if he stays behind, they’re over (this seems a bit extreme to me and I don’t think it’ll stick, but she’s trying to prove a point.) Yancy can’t let Nick get away with what he’s done, even though, as Rosa points out, he has a hole in his spine and only one arm. So, predictably, he stays behind.

A Mother’s Love

Let’s talk about Gracie for a moment, who goes on quite a personal journey in episode 9. After tipping Yancy off, she gets chatting with a drunk woman in the bar who she feels a strong but indescribable pull to. The woman reminds her that her magic is real, and asks Gracie to walk her home. The path they take leads to the graveyard, where Gracie finds herself at her mother’s resting place. After a while, she realizes that the woman next to her is her mother, who tells her that she’s always proud of the woman she has become.

It’s a nice moment, foreshadowed earlier by Ya-Ya visiting the grave and imploring Gracie’s mother to help her. I’m not sure what it says about the show’s approach to mysticism — I think we’re to understand this as an aspect of Gracie’s interiority, not a literal, magical manifestation — but it doesn’t really matter, since it’s designed to serve the purpose of reconnecting Grace to her beliefs and lighting a fire under her. And in that it’s successful.

This is bad news for Eve, who is roaming the island looking for painkillers for Nick and happens to stumble into Gracie, now in full Dragon Queen regalia once again. Gracie has decided she has had quite enough of Eve and people like her colonizing the land and ripping people off, so she pulls out a knife and nicks Eve’s chin with it. She still has pretty murderous intent in her eyes when the episode comes to a close and Eve looks like she might have met her end.

And another thing…

Elsewhere in episode 9, Bonnie is incarcerated, but certainly not reformed. She charms one of the prison guards into moving an umbrella for her and, according to Tom Nowicki, this will kick-start a chain of events leading to the dissolution of his marriage. Bonnie seems to have that effect on people.

Bonnie made herself accountable, there’s no doubt about that, but she was thinking that a few weeks in federal prison would suffice, not eight years. After Agent Russell tells her she won’t pass this message along, it takes Bonnie roughly five minutes to escape with the help of the guard, Thomas, whom she exotically calls “Tomas” for no reason at all.

I thought that we’d seen the last of Bonnie in the previous episode. This feels like a bit of an epilogue to her story, so I don’t imagine she’ll have any role in the finale. But at this point you never quite know.

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