Memory of a Killer Episode 9 ties together two of the season’s biggest storylines: Angelo’s grief and that of the Ferryman’s steps toward revenge. Earl (played by Ian Matthews) was the culprit for the hit-and-run that killed Angie’s wife, Leah. He served time for it, was released from prison early, and has now resurfaced, this time recruited by FBI Agent Linda Grant, to finish the Ferryman’s work. Earl was not motivated by revenge or personal hatred. He was used as a weapon aimed at Angelo’s daughter, Maria.
Grant chose Earl by choice. She knew who he was and knew about everything that he had taken from Angelo. Using him to track Maria was not just about efficiency; it was yet more manipulation of pain to add to the already-existing trauma.
By the concluding moments of Memory of a Killer Episode 9, Earl is dead. But his reappearance leaves a trail of questions, and his place in the show’s larger mythology tells us a hefty amount about the extent to which Grant is prepared to go.
Memory of a Killer Episode 9 – Who is Earl?
Earl Hancock has been a presence looming over Angelo’s personal life since early in the season. He was convicted of running down Angelo’s wife. His early release from jail has been a source of conflict for some time, including a scene in which he threatened Maria in court and was taken into police custody. But in Memory of a Killer Episode 9, he finally comes to the fore and becomes a genuine threat.
Grant uses Earl to break into Maria’s house and kill her. Earl is uneasy about getting into the house, but Grant is unconcerned, saying she will handle how he gets in. That “handle” is Nicky, Angelo’s love interest, who Grant has been blackmailing for the entirety of this season.
Nicky murdered her abusive ex-husband in self-defense, and Grant used that knowledge to coerce her into becoming an unwilling partner. Nicky disables the security system at Maria’s house when she visits the house, making it easy for Earl to get in.
In Memory of a Killer Episode 9, Earl makes it in, but Maria is prepared. Nicky was coerced, but could not go through with it. She had warned Maria just before the attack. When Earl confronts Maria, he badly misjudges her. She shoots him, but he is back on his feet and approaches Maria from behind as she screams for help. Angelo arrives just a moment and shoots Earl himself, definitively putting an end to him. For Maria, each is another blow: surviving the attack, only to watch her father do the deed.
Why did Grant use Earl?
Grant’s decision to use Earl was not random. She is the Ferryman whose true identity is introduced in Episode 8 as the mother of Angelo’s victim, Dr. Robert Parks, who was killed by Angelo, thus triggering everything. The ‘Ferryman’ refers to Charon, a Greek mythological figure who shuttled the dead across the river to the underworld. Parks’ daughter, Grant’s granddaughter, had a Charon doll, an observation that was the revelation that cracked the Ferryman’s identity wide open.
Grant has spent nearly two years working up to Angelo instead of directly targeting him. She is a recovering alcoholic who has channeled her obsession through her pursuit of revenge. One wall in her home is just dedicated to following Angelo’s movement, associates, and family. She knows everything about him.
Selecting Earl, the man who already robbed Angelo of his wife, to go after his daughter is another step that spells out that she is in it for the maximum pain, not a simple revenge.
How does Nicky fit into all of this?
Memory of a Killer Episode 9 is one of the most heartbreaking storylines where Nicky is concerned. She didn’t willingly take part in this storyline; instead, Grant blackmailed her by knowing she killed her selfish and abusive ex-husband. She killed him in self-defense, but this didn’t bother Grant, as she threatened to tell the police if she didn’t cooperate. Nicky couldn’t sit by and let an innocent woman get killed, though. She tips Maria off and calls Angelo to apologize, telling him she is leaving town but is determined to do his case right. Takes the smallest bit of conscience in an episode full of downright moral collapse.
What does this mean going into the finale?
With Earl no longer alive, and both Maria and Michael making it through their attacks in Memory of a Killer Episode 9. Michael was targeted at his care facility at the same time as an attack meant to distract Angelo on two fronts, as Grant had planned. The pieces are flying toward the show’s remaining episodes. Grant told Angelo directly that before him, she was someone else. But he created her.
Now, the final question Memory of a Killer leaves viewers daring to wrestle with is whether the finale supports that assumption or not.
Edited by Sahiba Tahleel