Bad Monkey – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

“Just Be Patient”

Episode 1 of Bad Monkey starts with us on a hot Florida day, as we catch up with a man out fishing. However, he ends up capturing a severed arm with its middle finger up, as you do.

Former detective Andrew Yancy chooses to ignore his phone pinging off, as he wants to enjoy the weather. However, that tranquillity is shattered when a construction truck shows up to do work on the next door’s house.

Yancy has been suspended from the police force for an altercation with the captain (which we’ll get to shortly). his old partner, Ro, shows and offeRs him a way back into the force. He’s to transport this severed arm over to Miami and of course the allure of this mystery box is enough to pique his interest. The arm belongs to a white male in his mid-40s by the name of Nick, and its positioned with the middle finger up which is apparently rigor mortis.

Yancy drives the severed arm up to Miami PD and hands it over to Dr Rosa Campesino. Yancy yammers on about how he feels, but through all of this, it would appear that it could be homicide and not a shark attack as they initially believed. The indents on the wrist seem to hint that a watch has been taken, but she refuses to investigate further, given it’s not her case.

When they get nowhere, Ro suggests that Yancy drive out to a remote part of Florida and feed the arm to crocs instead. Yancy has second thoughts as he’s not sure if this was an accident or not. He wants his job back but that’s not going to be easy. Cliff is a detective at the force and he found out Bonnie and Yancy were having an affair. To make matters worse, Yancy pushed Cliff’s golf buggy into the water, so Cliff is currently in the middle of legal proceedings with him. Bonnie is due to testify but Yancy is continuing his affair with Bonnie.

Cliff  isn’t divorcing her and that night, Yancy invites Bonnie over for some freaky time (and to try and convince her to get his job back). However, when she opens up the fridge, the severed arm is inside. She drives off, shocked.

While this is going on, we catch up with a kid called Neville Stafford in the Bahamas. He’s joined by a pet monkey, Driggs. He’s well-trained and apparently the same monkey as that from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. An American called Christopher is buying up the area – including Neville’s shack – to turn it into a big resort called Curly Tail Lane.

Neville is not happy about the construction workers and decides to urinate in their gas tanks. After the light sabotage, Neville ponders over exactly how to save his home. After some fables about someone called the Dragon Queen, Neville is encouraged to go speak to her. But he also needs to bring some money.

Neville arrives to see the Queen, pointing out he wants to curse Christopher. He has money and an item of clothing belonging to him, and after handing it over (and the threat of death hanging in the air) Neville races off.

Back at the Keys, Yancy meets his neighbour, Chuck. He’s found a dead racoon in his house (which Yancy planted obviously) but he feigns ignorance. This brief intermission eventually paves way for Ro returning to see Yancy. It turns out a woman has called in about her deceased husband and she wants the severed arm back. Apparently, they were heading out to the Bahamas together, and her name is Eve Stripling.

Eve identifies the arm and it turns out her husband, Nick, has a daughter called Caitlin. She’s coming down for the service on Saturday. Yancy watches as Eve tries to cry but it would appear that she’s faking it. Yancy speaks to Rosa again about his findings and to try and woo her. She shoots him down but he takes it well. Yancy remains determined to find out what happened to Nick.

Although Yancy is already suspended from the force, he gets his ass chewed out by the captain, Sonny, when he shows back up at the force. He’s no longer suspended and fired outright for insubordination. In fact, he even has to lose his car too.

However, that doesn’t stop Yancy snooping about, and he shows up at Nick’s funeral. Caitlin, is there and clearly she and Eve don’t see eye to eye. Yancy notices two shady looking men in sunglasses watching from afar, and he believes they may be feds.

Yancy speaks to Caitlin, who reveals that the wedding ring was switched out on Nick’s finger. It was platinum but now it’s 14 karat yellow gold. She and Eve hate each other, and Caitlin believes Eve killed Nick. There’s no evidence though, but it does seem very suspicious, especially as the Bonnethead shark teeth found on the end of the arm appear to be planted. There’s no way a shark like this could have torn a man’s arm off.

Yancy learns from the boat captain that his assistant, Phinney, came into some money not long ago. He cuts right to the chase and speaks to him about the money, but Phinney immediately gets cold feet and rushes outside. However, someone on a motorcycle shoots him in cold blood before racing away.

Episode 1 Review

“Just be patient” – Is this Apple becoming self-aware that its own shows tend to drag on for too long? Either way, Bad Monkey gets off to a really enticing start. The tone is excellent, with just the right amount of quirkiness mixed in with humour, mystery and drama. The characters are well-written for the most part, and the narration definitely helps with this one to give it some flair and style.

So far Bad Monkey has been a decent watch and with two episodes releasing today, thankfully we don’t have to wait too long to find out what happens next!