Editor’s note: The below recapcontains spoilers for Bad Monkey Episode 7.
Darkness snatched both Jodie Turner-Smith‘s Dragon Queen and us from the screen at the end of Bad Monkey Episode 6 — for one, it was in the form of a brusque burlap bag; for the other, the closing credits and a week-long wait. Helmed by Bill Lawrence, Bad Monkey has maintained a pattern of end-of-episode cliffhangers that keep our anticipation levels at an all-time high while we wait for the new episode to drop. And Episode 7 dropped with a torrid breeze that rolled us into the emotional past of the Dragon Queen, who we now know as Gracie. As she writhes in the trunk of an unknown vehicle, narrator Tom Nowicki points out how clichés come to be, as her life does indeed flash before her eyes. We are privy to her childhood, dreams, and insecurities in an intimate and heartfelt montage — meanwhile, Vince Vaughn‘s Andrew Yancy still cannot resist finding new ways to threaten or infuriate his code-violating neighbor.
Yancy Is Reinstated as Detective in ‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 7
Yancy is finally vindicated of the murder charge his old nemesis Officer Mendez (Gonzalo Menendez) was relentlessly trying to stick him with, and is closer than ever with his redeemed friend Rogelio (John Ortiz) — well, after he squeezes a reluctant, yet well-deserved apology out of him. With Mendez on the run for tampering with a witness, the two friends go on a stakeout in front of the vets where Mendez takes his cat. This is one of the rare times that Yancy’s hunches bear fruit, as Mendez is promptly arrested after trying to pick up his ill feline, and also becomes the butt of Yancy’s cruel joke (cat people, cover your ears). Once in the car, Mendez manages to briefly escape with Rosa’s (Natalie Martinez) lost unicorn hair clip and by shooting Rogelio in the leg. But with the help of Midwest Medical’s former security guard, Yancy takes the dirty detective down in a parking lot shootout.
At the hospital, Yancy also meets Neville (Ronald Peet), who Rosa had fished out of Nick Stripling’s (Rob Delaney) private lane the episode prior. Neville reveals everything he knows about Nick and his operations, and even hands him proof of Nick’s living status via a picture. With this new incriminating lead in th case, Yancy and Rogelio manage to convince their boss to re-open the case and allow them to investigate it, with Neville also agreeing to give testimony once it comes to trial. After some time, Yancy gets a call from Chief Sonny (Todd Allen Durkin) and meets him in an empty parking lot, where he is finally reinstated as a detective, but with one suspicious caveat. He is also greeted by the director of the FBI (Lauren O’Quinn), who firmly instructs him to move past the Nick case unless he wants to be demoted again. While Yancy keeps his answers ambiguous, we already know the stubborn investigator is incapable of turning a blind eye to crime.
‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 7 Reveals the Dragon Queen’s True Motivations
Episode 7 of Bad Monkey delves into the Dragon Queen’s childhood, specifically, how Gracie became the powerful queen she is now. After her mother’s death, she was put under her Ya-ya’s (L. Scott Caldwell) care, and while the two were close, Gracie was completely disinterested in learning her ancestral practice. It is only after a teenage heartbreak that she informs Ya-ya that she is ready, leading to a year of wearing only white, not letting the sun touch her skin and only speaking to Ya-ya. From Asia (Lauren F. Walker), we also learn that Gracie had lost many of her friends during this process, but it did result in her being attuned to her powers.
So, who was the Dragon Queen abducted by? It was none other than our favorite psychopath, Eve Stripling (Meredith Hagner), with Nick as her faithful lackey — who is trying to reconnect with his daughter Caitlin (Charlotte Lawrence) but is failing miserably due to his commitment to his wife. Eve hadn’t appreciated the Dragon Queen’s idle threat in the previous episode, and thus used the abduction as a display of her power and to expose the Queen’s vulnerability. During the night, the Queen admonishes herself for misreading Eve, but later on the sandy beach in broad daylight, she reconsiders Eve’s offer. During their one-sided negotiation that resulted in the Queen selling the property, she unexpectedly finds out she has more in common with Eve than she thought: they both want more out of life and are willing to cross lines to achieve it.
With a deal made, the Queen takes her first check and uses some of it to buy Ya-ya a fancy new wheelchair, who graciously accepts alongside Driggs (Crystal the monkey), and also concedes to the Queen’s reasoning about being able to charge their clients less now that they have more income. However, when Asia reveals her concerns about the property’s deed not being morally signed over to the Queen, Ya-ya is torn with doubts and confronts her granddaughter. A heated argument erupts between the two of them with Gracie expressing her dreams of leaving the island, not believing in the practice and calling Ya-ya’s love conditional. Though Ya-ya tries to reassure Gracie, the two part ways, with tears rolling down Ya-ya’s face as she warns Gracie about the dark path she is heading down.
Bonnie Hears the “Pickle Speech” in ‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 7
The last time we saw Bonnie (Michelle Monaghan), she was fleeing from the feds in a boat. The next time we see her in Episode 7 of Bad Monkey, she is reaching her hand towards an approaching alligator, contemplating giving herself up to nature in an ending that would befit a novel’s protagonist from the romantic era. But there is still some sliver of drive left in Bonnie, so instead she heads to the place she knows she will always be welcome: Yancy’s house. Still feeling lost, morally and spiritually, she reluctantly allows Yancy to give her the “pickle speech” that his father, Jim (Scott Glenn), was going to impart on her before she bailed. The moral of the story was that Bonnie needed to take accountability for her actions if she ever were to find peace.
But old habits die hard as she once again gives Yancy a dramatic farewell and runs away. This time she finds herself in her storage unit, surrounded by the familiar and comforting atmosphere of bookshelves, but the feds have bugged all her usual haunts. Upon spotting the camera, Bonnie finally cracks under the pressure, screaming and breaking down at the camera, and ultimately decides to turn herself in. When she is collected and arrested, she does so as coolly as ever, cracking jokes about road trips and aux cords to disguise her more complex feelings involving guilt, panic, and despair.
‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 7 Ends With Unwanted House Guests
While the chaos of the investigation and bloody bullet wounds surround them, Yancy and Rosa manage to find moments of peace with each other, although some moments may be more of an active kind of peace that demands Neville go fishing without them for a couple of hours. There is an easy chemistry between the two as they relax into the rhythms of their undefined relationship, and they are quite happy to leave it undefined. While her love life was bringing her joy, Rosa’s workplace became too much to handle anymore as a young boy who drowned due to neglectful parents reached her table. After being chipped away by these grim stories and sights for so long, Rosa promptly leaves work to confide her concerns in her sister, who is happy to claim the title of the golden child.
After this tough day, the two share a beer and a cuddle on the couch in the closing scenes of the episode, only to be interrupted by an unexpected intruder. With Bonnie abandoning Cody (Alex MacNicoll) at Jim’s place, Jim was unsure about what to do with him. He just knew he didn’t want Cody at his house, so instead he took him to Yancy’s. While they sit down in the lounge room for a discussion we are yet to see, it seems that the revolving door of unwanted guests is about to continue, as unidentifiable silhouettes armed with guns are sneaking around outside Yancy’s red-lit house.
Episodes 1-7 of Bad Monkey are available to stream on Apple TV+, with subsequent episodes dropping every Wednesday.
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