Episode 2
Episode 2 of The Breakthrough begins with Karin giving a vague description of the culprit. He has no identifiable facial hair (like Ante) or any marks. John makes the composite sketch public just to prove to the town that the police are still working on the case.
During the press conference, a head-strong journalist, Stina grills him for not catching the killer and making empty promises. Upset, John throws himself into the case, ignoring his wife, Anna whose due date is upon them.
Coach learns that Ante was racist to someone, lost it and quit the team. Coach visits him and notices a huge Swedish flag in the living room. Coach calls him out for missing the swab and an angry Ante kicks him out.
That night, Elena, Adnan’s mother gets a racist message to leave Sweden. The family moves out of town as everything also reminds them of Adnan. Saad takes out his anger on John who promises he won’t stop till he catches the killer.
Anna gives birth to Henry and John makes it in time. He holds his hand and is reminded of Adnan. There is suddenly a new witness and John leaves much to Anna’s disappointment. His colleagues ask him to hand over the case to them for her sake but he refuses, citing Anna will be fine.
Meanwhile, Gunilla’s husband is unable to move on, collecting news clippings of the investigation. John tries to assure him that the killer will be found but he seems defeated.
It is New Year’s Eve and Anna decides to move in with her parents. John begs her to understand but she is adamant. At the same time, Ante visits the crime scene which has become a memorial for Adnan and Gunilla.
Stina spots John drinking at the bar and joins him. She sympathises with him and asks how he does it. He confesses that he feels like giving up at times and she puts the statement in the newspaper much to his shock.
16 years pass but he continues to investigate. Miran, the new superior from Stockholm reveals that they don’t have the budget to fund the case. He also points out that John is needed for active cases. John tries to argue with him but Miran gives him 2 weeks to wrap up the case.
We learn that Anna has divorced him and is with someone called Anders. Henry is disappointed in John as he misses his latest match and cancels their weekend together.
As an upset John heads home, he learns of the Golden State Killer who was caught 44 years later with the help of a genealogy website. John finds a similar DNA expert, Per Skogkvist in Sundsvall.
Per is not good at reading emotions and is a history buff. He hates that his technology is used for simply tracking parents who have abandoned their children. His lecture is bland and attended by people to pass the time.
John attends one such lecture and asks Per for his help. The genealogist declares he can find the killer as long as they have his DNA. At the end of The Breakthrough Episode 2, he explains that it is unique and no one can change their DNA. John is impressed by his confidence.
The Episode Review
The Breakthrough Episode 2 puts a pin in the case, literally and focuses on character exploration and their reactions to the case. John takes an emotional approach and as a result, is trapped by his promises to the bereaved, makes mistakes that costs him his reputation and his family. We figured he would lose his wife but it is quite sad that he loses his son as well.
It is interesting how the Netflix show knows when to slow down and when to implement time lapses. While the previous episode takes place over a month, this one skims 16 years while keeping the same urgency of solving an unsolvable case purely because their methodology and technology were faulty in the past.
But it does beg the question of why they were not able to gets swabs of all 17.7k suspects in 16 years. It seems that Ante is indeed the killer with the racism hints and rather than wondering who the killer is, viewers wait with bated breath to watch how John finds him.
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Episode Rating
(3)