We have to say that The Hunting Party Season 1 Episode 3 ‘Lowe’ is our favorite of the show so far. Brenda Lowe, our first female serial killer who trained wolves to eat her victims, was ruthless. She targeted innocent people in anger because so much had changed when she was thought to be dead in The Pit. We agree with Bex. Lowe was fascinating to watch. In a terribly dark way, of course.
We loved the added pressure to the chase knowing she wasn’t holding back from the kill. When you throw an unstable relationship between the team and authority into the mix, it was an hour of television well spent.
It’s messy in the best ways. We were able to watch team relationships grow as they got to know each other. There’s a moment where Bex stands up for herself that we love. She demanded answers from Oliver and the attorney general while the team was in crisis. The debate and conversation over who to trust out of Hassani and Oliver is never-ending. It’s also impossible to forget the reveal at the end. We knew we were getting more information on Oliver’s sketchy behavior the day of the blast because Hassani is relentless. That wasn’t a surprise. But to find out he’s playing the team as a sort of double agent? It made our jaw drop.
To start off on a lighter note, the team bonding in the episode is something we enjoyed. They’re finally starting to form connections.
The Team Is Getting Closer
If you’re hoping for Oliver and Hassani to become friends any time soon, you should bury the thought immediately. There’s no conversation they’ll be having in the near future to try and get on the same page. Not when they’re both trying to pretend they don’t hate being next to each other.
We liked how their distaste for each other didn’t take away from how they interacted with the others. We got to see a moment between Oliver and Morales when they were trying to find out who Lowe was calling on an old payphone. They were both mutually competitive toward the same goal. Although Oliver found out the information first, it was sweet to watch Morales’s personality shine through.
Learning that Florence was a tracker during his time stationed in Afghanistan was interesting. He played a big part in solving this case. It was nice to watch Hassani and Bex rely on him as someone more than a guard who knew information about The Pit. We could all use someone who could tackle a bad guy off of us in a fight. Or someone who could track blood on the ground like a dog.
Hassani and Bex grew as partners despite the initial miscommunication concerning Oliver. He was the first one to check up on her after her confrontation with Lowe at the end of The Hunting Party Season 1 Episode 3 ‘Lowe’. He complimented Bex’s skill after the fight by saying “I don’t think it was luck”. When Hassani buys her a beer at a local bar once they get back to base to celebrate the closed case, he tries to soften the blow of telling her about his Oliver findings by telling a childhood story first.
Oliver vs. Bex vs Hassani
We’ve had a feeling since The Hunting Party Season 1 Episode 1 ‘Richard Harris’ that Bex would eventually get between Hassani and Oliver. She’s stuck in the middle when it comes to them.
Oliver had an attitude when asking Bex if she felt comfortable riding with Hassani to work. He doesn’t trust him because he’s CIA and believes he’s operating off the book. Oliver thinks Hassani is suspicious of him simply to blame someone who worked in The Pit for the blast. Which, come on, we’d expect him to be a little more aware of how smart the others on his team are. Hassani wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t have evidence. And he does.
Hassani’s the one who found the data breach on Oliver’s computer in The Pit. When he asks Bex if she knows anything else about Oliver’s job as The Warden, it doesn’t come off as an interrogation. He doesn’t want to be the bad guy here. Hassani wants to uncover the truth about the blast and figure out the whole story. If he can’t trust someone on his team, he’s going to find out why and stay at a distance. No matter who it is. It’s something Bex begins to understand in a pivotal moment of the episode.
After surviving a shoot-out with Lowe, the team’s frustration with not being told the entire story about her case boils over. It’s Bex who calls out Oliver and the attorney general for being so secretive about withholding information. The facade she had begun to repaint about Oliver being someone she could trust cracked open yet again. Her fiery attitude even gets a smile out of Hassani as he listens in on her demanding answers from Oliver. There’s little debate here. Bex is leaning toward Hassani as someone she could trust more than Oliver. And we’re thankful because it’s the right choice.
MORE: Read our interview with Patrick Sabongui and Melissa Roxburgh about Bex and Hassani’s partnership!
The Truth Is Revealed
We can’t say we’re surprised with the truth being revealed about Oliver’s involvement with the blast. We knew, deep down, that Oliver’s ability to be cold-hearted wouldn’t vanish overnight in those two years he went missing before guarding The Pit. If we were Bex, we’d also hope at the very least that he took the time to heal after doing something traumatic in killing another person. But we’re not her. We can’t be optimistic about an old friend who in reality, was doing everything but sticking to good morals.
Oliver had disabled the prison’s firewall just minutes before the explosion after getting a phone call. He then transferred classified data into a drive and rushed to escape from The Pit. Which tells us one thing. Oliver knew the blast was happening.
In a chilling confession, we see that Oliver isn’t as ignorant as we thought. He gets into a car with a mysterious woman and hands her the drive. She doesn’t even flinch when he tells her that the team is asking questions about his past. He knows they’re going to find something out soon.
Why did they want to destroy The Pit? Why try to kill everyone if he could’ve stolen the information under Oliver’s excuse of being an authority?
There are so many questions and one fear we’ll keep in mind. Will Hassani be a threat to their operation once he gets too close to the truth of exposing Oliver? We really hope not.
What did you think about The Hunting Party Season 1 Episode 3 ‘Lowe’? Let us know in the comments!
The Hunting Party airs on Mondays at 10 pm ET on NBC.
