IR TV Review: CITY ON A HILL - EPISODE 5 (“Take Me Home”) [Showtime-S3]

The continuing transmutation of morality within the main characters is a reflection of experience and situation. With Episode 5 (“Take Me Home”) of S3 of “City On A Hill” both Ward (Aldis Hodge) and Jackie (Kevin Bacon), know that the quid pro quo is eating away at the essence of their beings. Again it is about being pushed toward and away from the light. The final shot of last week's episode was an interesting metaphor when Jenny Rohr has a diver recover Jackie's FBI badge from the bottom of a canal. It is a matter of whether these rooks live to continue fighting or if their consistent jockeying will be snuffed out. Jackie is caught in a context that he doesn't often see that threatens the bottom line and his conscience which is a hard aspect for him to reconcile.

In a person with unlimited favors, Jackie ironically is running out of them. Secrets have no correlation for him except for money or power which he sees shifting either with his wife's problems with her father or even a new FBI agent trying to make his mark at the bureau. The question is whether Jackie thinks he should push his way back in. An image of what the badge means to him is an undeniable form of his corruption despite how much truthfully he thinks it means. That is why a final moment between him and Ward makes sense. The image of truth reflects in a mirror darkly and the irony of what Jackie stands to lose is not lost. B

By Tim Wassberg