Stray Dogs – The episode begins as Andy Pruden (Ben Feldman) wakes bloodied and disoriented. While making his way back to town, he runs into Cassie (Perry Mooney), who appears to be just arriving in town or in the process of passing through. He flags her down and after a bit of awkward conversation, he scores a bottle of water and a ride into town. During their conversation, Cassie reveals that she is moving back in with her mother and sells beauty products. Even more important, she’s familiar with the town of Bidgeegud. Andy’s discovery of a billboard eventually leads them to what appears to be a popular stop on Hugo Drivas’s (Darren Gilshenan) UFO tour.
During their stop, Cassie not only mentions a familiarity with the spot but she appears to discover something that resembles a pearl. She doesn’t share the discovery with Andy, as he is attacked by termites.
When Cassie finally drops Andy in town, he asks her to keep their meeting a secret. When asked, he claims he’s a very private person. As Andy walks away, she sees one of his flyers for his father. A short phone call to her mother and a visit to the Chinese/Pie Restaurant gives the impression that Cassie plans on staying in town for a while.
Andy is visually accosted and filmed by Valerie Hogarth (Genevieve Lemon) while trying to take advantage of the pub’s outdoor shower. Elsewhere, Leon Croydman (Rick Donald) not only appears to have trouble choosing a pie at Audrey’s (Emily Taheny) restaurant, but he has trouble asking her out as well. As Leon is virtually shooed away, Cassie enters to ask about buying gas. After learning they don’t sell gas in Bidgeegud, she virtually has a pie forced on her. Returning outside, Cassie takes note of a bloodied shovel in the back of a Toyota truck.
Andy is in the middle of another enigmatic phone call with Dom (Christopher Kirdy) when Cassie practically bursts through his door to ask why he didn’t mention his missing father. She piques his interest with her discovery of the bloodied shovel.
Later that night, using a side window, Andy helps himself into Audrey’s Restaurant where he discovers what could be Hugo’s hat. As he descends deeper into the restaurant looking for clues, Cassie shows up as well. After an awkward encounter, he tells her about the hat when a vehicle pulls up outside. Seconds later, Audrey returns with what appears to be an axe. Hidden in the walk-in freezer, Cassie and Andy watch her drag in what appears to be a body wrapped in garbage bags and duct tape. Cassie immediately jumps to the theory that Audrey is cutting Hugo up and putting him in the pies. Once Audrey has the pies ready for the oven, she notices the freezer door is ajar and closes it.
Elsewhere, Dom leaves a voicemail for Andy, expressing the urgency for a Plan B. Andy and Cassie’s attempts to escape the freezer lead to an argument and the revelation of an ulterior desire to collect Andy’s reward. After he agrees to give her the reward money if she actually helps him locate Hugo, she proves herself useful by giving him a hooked pry bar to open the freezer door. As he quickly gets to work trying to open the door, Audrey is shown scrubbing away at what appears to be the bloodied crime scene.
Andy and Cassie’s conversation while he works on the door reveals that his mother died a year ago, and Hugo abandoned him when he was 9 (Alastair Bradman). The episode ends with him opening the lock to only be held at gunpoint by Audrey several seconds later.
Population 11 Review
I must admit, the show has my attention. It’s certainly not the best or honestly the most interesting, but something is intriguing about it. I can’t help but want to speed-watch the episodes so I can uncover the truth. The short runtime and the way each episode ends on a cliffhanger truly work for the show. I don’t think I would enjoy this as much if the episodes were an hour long. Some of the poorly executed humor is starting to fit wittier and I’m developing a bit of an affinity for the characters, so the show appears to be growing on me. For that, I’d have to give it a 5.5 out of 10.
In addition, knowing that all the episodes are available is another plus. I’ve noticed a lot of series doing that as of late and didn’t necessarily agree with it. However, I feel it works here!
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