Mr. Mercedes Recap: 'No Problem' 

‘ titular fiend was effectively taunted this week, while a burning question — Why doesn’t Bill simply get his police pals involved? — got answered.

Having spiffed himself up more than a little for his latest tête-à-tête with Janey, Bill was presented with a wealth of letters written by Mr. Mercedes to Olivia, the owner of the car used for the years-ago massacre. In them, akin to the messages Bill himself now is receiving, Mr. Mercedes pretended to offer a sympathetic ear in the course of actually preying upon Olivia’s sense of guilt over her unwitting role in the tragedy.

As Bill pored over the letters, Janey deftly inquires as to what the two of them are up to — meaning (for now), are they seeking justice… or something different? Bill maintains that he seeks the former, and having been made privy to Olivia’s letters, he must now take the matter to the police. Janey attempts to derail his effort to do right by retaining him as a private eye, but Bill soldiers on to the cop shop, new, hard evidence in hand.

Pete, though, is in no mood to revisit this bit of the past, in part because the boys in blue are celebrating the collaring of a different long-elusive killer, “Turnpike Joe.” Bill manages to get Pete’s attention for a moment, but his bid to get the Mercedes case cracked back open is all but waved off. (For one, Pete argues, the chain of custody for the letters has been compromised. Plus, he questions if Bill and the “disappearing” videos are actually the work of Mr. Mercedes or a mere poser.) Insulted even further by Pete’s new partner, Bill huffs away, nearly mowing down some flatfoots outside in the process.

Turning as he does to drink, Bill rails against young’uns a bit more by taking the bartender to task for his “No problem” response to the customer’s “Thank you.” (Cranky old me: Is he right or is he

??) Bill gets so vehement and vulgar in tackling this matter of manners that Pete somewhat magically materializes to drag him off of the bar stool. Pete’s latest avalanche of advice — observing how the case that cut short Bill’s career is now wrecking his retirement — is far from wanted, though.

Bill goes home to find another foul video from Mr. Mercedes, is viewing of which is interrupted by a late-night visit from Jerome’s father, who has gotten wind of his son’s involvement in a possible dangerous enterprise. He beseeches Bill to not ruin his stellar son’s bid at a promising future, and Bill agrees to comply. Bill then returns to his laptop to do a real number on his stalker, by sharing, in convincing detail, that the “Turnpike Joe” that the cops are about to announce as having captured has also claimed responsibility for the Mr. Mercedes massacre. He then asks to be allowed to go about with his quiet retirement and not be bothered by “Mr. Nothing” — a big, fat lie that evokes the reaction Bill surely desired, likely planting the seed for his pen pal to do something stupid and out himself.

(Prior to that unsettling exchange, Brady was having a typical workday at Supreme Electronix, shrugging off Robi’s LOL complaint that no one visited him at the ER, and then ducking out at lunchtime to play ice cream man at a kid’s birthday party. Brady, though, is going through a

spell of headaches, seemingly born of and triggered by memories of catching Deborah get rogered good on the living room couch… and persisting in peeking despite his moaning momma’s protests. We also get a flashback to Brady not exactly doing much to save his kid brother from choking on a piece of food, until Mom intervened.)

The next day, Bill gives Jerome the bad news that their partnership in crimesolving must come to and end — which a saddened Jerome goes to commemorate with a goodbye treat, though oddly the ice cream man won’t stop for them. Bill then pays Olivia’s elderly mother a visit, but when she proves to be not lucid enough on this particular day, Janey promises they will try again. Janey and Bill then go out for some drinking, which Janey turns into some dancing…. As their swaying bodies get closer and closer, we see that Brady and his mother are getting their own kind of intimate, as Deborah spoons her boy in bed and sets out to massage away his

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