Summary
Memory of a Killer picks up the pace in “Betrayal”. Despite being told largely in flashback, it’s the most urgent the show has felt thus far.
It’s fair to say that Memory of a Killer hasn’t been in a rush to get anywhere, but that changes in Episode 5. “Betrayal” shouldn’t feel like a turning point, since most of it is set in the past, but the impact of its reveals gives the whole thing a sense of new urgency. Angelo’s mind is failing, history is repeating itself, and the only potential outcomes seem terrible. For Angelo, though, it’s nothing new, a realisation that is probably only hastening his own decline.
Flashbacks can be hit or miss – Paradise is doing a pretty good job with them at the moment – and they’re often relied upon as a crutch, but they’re a fitting choice here since Michael can’t exactly explain his own backstory, can he? And Michael’s backstory is the point of the episode, since Michael’s backstory is intimately tied up in Angelo’s history and Dutch’s operation, two things that remain of paramount importance in the present day.
Back then, Angelo was on the cusp of retirement. He had dared to dream of a relaxed life with his wife and daughter in Middle-Of-Nowhere, Montana, and he had even persuaded Dutch to agree to his departure, though admittedly hadn’t given him the full story of where he was going or who with. At that time, Michael was a part of the operation and handled Dutch’s books. This means that when Dutch realizes a not-insubstantial amount of money has been going missing, Michael is implicated, even if Dutch immediately suspects his jealous, flashy brother, JB.
The truth of the matter is that nobody has been skimming anything off the top; Michael’s failing mind has just meant that he hasn’t been able to keep track of the money. But once Angelo discovers this, he knows he can’t exactly share it, since Dutch’s operation is built on absolute secrecy, and people with early-onset Alzheimer’s don’t tend to be great in that regard. So, Angelo has to make sure that JB looks as guilty as Dutch thinks he is.
We’re in morally grey territory here, since Angelo is technically framing an “innocent” man to protect his brother, but I suppose innocent is a pretty relative term. These people are all criminals, all monsters, so the finer distinction doesn’t make a great deal of difference. I can’t say I was surprised when Angelo cold-bloodedly executed JB on Dutch’s orders, since we’ve already seen him do similar stuff. But it’s impossible not to feel a pang of sympathy for Michael, however complicit he might have been.
Getting rid of JB is supposed to be Angelo’s final job before he sails off into the sunset with Leah and Maria. But Memory of a Killer Episode 5 contrives circumstances in which that’s impossible. When Michael – who didn’t even know about Angelo’s secret family, but helps him maintain the illusion when he finds out – has to tell Dutch about his Alzheimer’s, Dutch does the mob boss thing and tells Angelo that he’s going to need him taken out. Michael knows too much. As his mind continues to fail, what might he say? And who might he say it to?
Angelo can’t have this, so he makes the ultimate sacrifice. He tells Dutch that he’ll vouch for Michael and keep a close eye on him if he’s allowed to live, which means giving up his dream of a Montana retirement. If you were feeling nitpicky, you could question how believable it is that Leah would accept this, since Michael claims the time isn’t right to move, since there are people at work relying on him. But as far as Leah knows, he sells photocopiers. No wife in her right mind would be buying this!
She knows something’s amiss, though. I suppose subsequent episodes may reveal that she perhaps came to know more about Angelo’s double life than she did here, but we’ll see. Either way, Angelo’s staying. But the sacrifice for Michael is even steeper. He’s forced to move into a full-time care facility, even though he isn’t far enough gone for that to really be applicable. But at least it’ll keep him alive. His final conversation with Angelo is brutal, revealing that Angelo killed their abusive father to keep Michael safe, but that Michael has never felt safe since. How tragic.
In the present day, Angelo is still unceremoniously shooting people in the head for Dutch. But his own life is beginning to resemble Michael’s, with his mind letting him down. The trauma of killing another brother proves a bit too much, and has Angelo talking to Joe as though he’s talking to Michael, confessing some of his sins – including killing JB to protect Michael – to Joe. It isn’t entirely clear how much Joe took in or understood, but it’s certainly not a good sign.
