I Am the Night (1.3) - Two Become One

In the third episode of I Am the Night, it appears I got exactly what I wanted. The opening scene of the episode is a surrealistic nightmare featuring George Hodel, lavish orgies, and his daughter running through the house after spying on him (a recurring theme throughout the episode). All of this happens while Hodel himself recites an Edgar Allan Poe poem in the narration. The start to the episode is eerie, foreboding, and hints at something much darker lingering below the surface of Hodel himself. It also sets the tone for the rest of the episode, which straddles the noir aspects of the two earlier episodes and something far more tonally and stylistically sinister. “Dark Flower” opens up George Hodel and his apprentice Sepp’s (Dylan Smith) characters, consists of another great Chris Pine performance, sees India Eisley start to take the reins herself, and demonstrates the directing prowess of Victoria Mahoney.

The two big plot points that transpire in “Dark Flower” have to do with George Hodel (and subsequently Sepp) and the convergence of our once separate storylines from Fauna Hodel and Jay Singletary. Most of what we know of George Hodel comes from Jay’s reporting, and that doesn’t change in this episode. There are hints at things far worse than Jay imagines though. Hodel himself spends most of his screen time waxing poetically. Hodel’s speech largely lies in the abstract, only hinting at the grotesque nature of his “secret projects,” as Sepp calls them. Those clues only draw the viewer closer, knowing they are not going to like what they are going to see but not being able to take their eyes off the screen all the same. Jefferson Mays performance as George Hodel is uncomfortably captivating. One of the final shots of the episode happens as he bends down to look under the crack of a door at some sort of creature stirring in his house. Though we only see the creature’s hooves, they are primarily reflected in the eyes of Hodel, serving as the most unsettling shot of the entire episode (notwithstanding when Hodel has the deer mask on in the opening surreal sequence). The convergence of the storylines of the two show’s protagonists is almost overshadowed by trying to figure out what exactly Fauna and Singletary have gotten themselves into by pursuing George Hodel. That moment we have been waiting for does finally occur in “Dark Flower,” however briefly. Jay provides Fauna with an escape as Sepp continues to stalk her. He takes her to Chili Joe’s (a real restaurant actually!) to get some pie and talk to her about her family. The evening is cut short when Fauna excuses herself never to return, cutting off our anticipated interaction between the broken journalist and teenage enigma.

From the start of I Am the Night, Chris Pine has been called upon to carry most of the acting weight. India Eisley has given quiet performance after quiet performance. This episode allows both Fauna’s character and Eisley herself to breathe a bit more life into the character. As Jay continues to sleuth around, Fauna herself embraces such techniques by breaking into Corinna Hodel’s (Connie Nielsen) house to look for her mother. As she sits in the onlooking bushes, her hidden spot mimics Jay’s in last week’s episode as he spied on Fauna and Corinna. Fauna does not get any captivating monologues or witty lines that Jay might get, but it feels as though her character moves significantly more in this episode than the previous two. She continues to uncover more information about her mother and George Hodel, and Eisley has situated herself nicely into the muted role. Fauna’s best scene similarly demonstrates some of Victoria Mahoney’s best directing in the episode. As Fauna is snooping around Corinna’s house, Sepp comes through the door to find her. Knowing her only option is to run, Fauna takes to hiding just behind doorways as to not give herself away until she can pinpoint an exit. The apprehension that emanates from Eisley’s face and clenched fists adds to the existing tension of the scene itself.

Victoria Mahoney’s direction in the scene adds yet another layer. The way Fauna stands behind the doorway in the foreground a few feet away from Sepp in the background, where one shift in weight could give away her position, is wrought with anxiety. On top of that, the audience can only guess at what Sepp might do if he caught her. Despite the fact that we know more about Sepp now – he apparently has a fondness for turning mannequins into violins, a totally normal guy thing to like – his presence is still mystifying. More than anything, he feels like the extended hand of George Hodel, keeping people who might interrupt Hodel’s odd orgies and likely anatomical experiments at bay. Last week we finished with more questions than answers. Did I really anticipate that would change this week? Did I even want it to? The answer to both of those questions is absolutely no. That is what keeps us coming back to detective fiction. We want to know the answers to the mystery, sometimes at our own detriment. I Am the Night seems to be trending there given the disturbing questions surrounding George Hodel. Next week looks to be an even deeper dive into the seedy underbelly of 1960s LA.

Until then, thanks for reading.