Following last week’s premiere of TNT’s I Am the Night, episode 2 finds Fauna attempting to track down her family after arriving in Los Angeles, including her mysterious grandfather, George Hodel (Jefferson Mays). Meanwhile, Jay continues his pursuit of the Bloody Romeo, but he can’t let go of the story that ruined his career years ago — a story that involved Dr. George Hodel.
Welcome to Hollywood
After arriving at her aunt’s home, Fauna’s cousin Tina takes her on the bus to find her grandfather George Hodel. While on the bus, Fauna witnesses a black woman attempt to board, but upon seeing her, the white bus driver refuses to let her on saying she never has enough to pay. A black man stands, saying he’ll pay for her. When we later return to the scene, the man is fighting with the driver and is then beaten by white police officers who show up and arrest the man. When the situation escalates further, a shocked Fauna and Tina take off.
The girls eventually arrive at Dr. Hodel’s home. Fauna is confused when no one answers the door since her grandfather asked her to come. That night at Tina’s, a party is taking place and Fauna is introduced to Terrence Shye and Nero. The latter isn’t convinced that Fauna is mixed race, saying she doesn’t have black in her.
Fauna begins to feel uncomfortable after Nero tries to kiss her. Terrence notices and invites her to sit with him. She explains to Terrence why she’s in town and confirms that her birth father was black and her mom was white. When Fauna, her cousins, and a small group take a walk that night, she spots the man from before still following her in his car.
People in Power
Jay meets with his editor, Peter Sullivan, at the King Eddy Saloon telling him about the anonymous phone call he received the previous night about looking into Dr. Hodel. Peter reminds Jay that Dr. Hodel walked after going to trial years before, but Jay presses the possibility that the caller (who we know is Fauna’s adoptive mother Jimmy Lee) might have new information.
The argument between the two men reveals details about the old case that “nearly took down an entire paper.” Hodel’s daughter — Fauna’s birth mother, Tamar — accused her father of murder and then supposedly took back her accusation. Jay argues that he couldn’t find her after that because Hodel’s people had her shipped off somewhere. Peter reminds Jay that he wasn’t the only one who suffered after “the stunt” Jay pulled. Jay yells that he lost his entire life.
When Jay starts to press that he wants to prove at least part of the truth, the scene transitions between Jay and Peter and the black man getting beat by the white officers on Fauna’s bus. Peter tells Jay that it has nothing to do with right or wrong, that those in power will always bury you and you have to remember who runs the city. Peter finishes his speech saying that Dr. Hodel might be a lot of things, but he isn’t the boogeyman and Tamar was not a credible witness.
Corinna Hodel
The next day, Fauna asks her aunt if Jimmy Lee ever talked about her real mom. Her aunt says that Jimmy Lee is her real mom and loves her, but she doesn’t know anything about her birth mother. Fauna feels like maybe she wouldn’t feel so different if she could just find her blood parents. Her aunt tells her she can stay until “Jimmy Lee comes knockin’ heads.”
Nero calls the house wanting Fauna to hang out with him, and her aunt is quick to hang up on him saying he’s a bad apple from a rotten tree after praising Terrence for being a good boy. The man in the car is still stalking Fauna outside of the house. Later, Fauna contacts Corinna Hodel, her step-grandmother, who tells her that her last name is Huntington now. She also informs Fauna that Tamar is deceased. Corinna agrees to let Fauna come see her if she comes alone.
Corinna is an art admirer and collector who holds great disdain for Tamar, remarking that what Fauna’s mother did to the family was a tragedy. Fauna tries to ask when Tamar died, but Corinna offers lemonade instead. Corinna makes it clear that Tamar was not her daughter and that she met Dr. Hodel when Tamar was nearly six. Apate, a.k.a. the Goddess of Deceit, was Corinna’s nickname for Tamar, saying the doctors called her a pathological liar.
Where is Tamar?
When Jay arrives back at his building, he helps a strung-out woman, Lily, into his apartment after he finds her in the lobby. After putting her on the couch, Jay begins pulling out previous research and articles from the Hodel case. When Lily wakes back up, he asks if she had any nun friends because he knows Tamar was sent to a convent, but she would be about 30 years old now. Lily calls Jay a loser and storms out when she asks if he has any drugs on him and he says no.
The next day Jay meets with Peter again, this time at his office. Peter tells him that he screwed up his last story on Janice Brewster, the dead lady in the morgue, who the LAPD confirmed was a prostitute. Peter reveals Jay’s story was scooped by one of their competitors, the Sun Examiner, who refer to the killer as “Bloody Romeo.” The police have a man in custody, Brody Styles, who apparently confessed but Peter and Jay think he’s likely innocent. Peter tells Jay to work the case.
Jay meets with a guy who tells him that Brody dummies up confessions all of the time for the LAPD, and now they’re setting him up for the Janice Brewster murder. Jay then meets up with his friend, Detective Ohls. After briefly discussing Brody, Jay brings up a question about a missing person’s case involving a suspicious father without specifying he’s talking about Tamar, looking for some advice. Ohls suggests that Jay question the ex-wife.
Property of George Hodel
Jay shows up at Corinna’s in time to see Fauna and her leaving the house. He follows them in his car while Corinna tells Fauna that Dr. Hodel is a very important person, “one of the greatest minds of the century.” After they pull up to a building, Jay decides to leave, but not before we see the mystery man in the car following Fauna and Corinna towards the building.
Sitting down to eat, Corinna berates Fauna about proper dining etiquette while discussing Dr. Hodel’s medical career. Fauna wants to see Hodel, but Corinna says he’s busy and will show her his surrealism art collection instead. When Corinna leaves her alone inside of the gallery, Fauna hears someone call out her name. She seeks out the person, coming across two men talking. She quickly recognizes one of them as her stalker.
Back to pursuing the Bloody Romeo, Jay questions a prostitute who knew Janice who confirms that the dead girl wouldn’t have known Brody. She mentions that Janice had been in such a good mood lately after meeting someone she had said was nice and smart. Jay ends up getting high with a prostitute named Mary. After he wakes up, he learns from Mary that when one of the prostitutes gets pregnant, they go to the convent and then the baby is taken away after they give birth. Jay remembers Fauna and seemingly puts two and two together.
Exploring more of the gallery, Fauna comes face-to-face with the strange man she met at the bus stop in the premiere. As she runs away, Jay shows up. Fauna finds Corinna, who is staring out a window with a black veil. Removing the veil, Corinna takes Fauna outside as Jay enters elsewhere, searching for Fauna. When he gets back outside, he sees they are gone and punches out a security guard who tries to confront him.
Corinna drops Fauna off at a bus stop. Before Fauna exits the car, Corinna tells her that she is not mixed race, and makes a racist comment before saying that her birth father was a French ballet dancer. Fauna calls Corinna a “racist old cow” before saying that her birth certificate stating that her father was black is a legal document. Fauna gets on the bus as Corinna drives away, unaware her stalker is on the bus.
What did you think of episode 2 of I Am the Night? Let us know in the comments below!
