‘Bad Monkey’ Premiere Recap – The Murder Mystery Kicks Off

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Bad Monkey Episodes 1 & 2.

The Big Picture

• Comedy connoisseur Vince Vaughn leads
  Bad Monkey
  as former detective Andrew Yancy.
• Yancy and Rosa are drawn into a murder mystery involving a severed arm, unveiling a web of secrets.
• Bonnnie’s secret past is revealed to Yancy, leading to further chaos in his personal and professional life.

Comedy connoisseur Vince Vaughn leads Apple TV+’s latest show, Bad Monkey, where he heads to Miami as former detective Andrew Yancy, who eagerly awaits the day his suspension is lifted but can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Adapted from Craig Hiassen‘s novel of the same name, Bill Lawrence‘s black comedy kicks off with a memorable sequence that is narrated by the omniscient and enigmatic voice of Tom Nowicki, who also appears as Captain Fitzpatrick. On his boat, an enthusiastic tourist tries his hand at fishing for the first time, only to reel in a rare and unique catch: a severed arm pointing the bird at him. Little did anyone know the cascade of events the arm was about to catalyze.

‘Bad Monkey’s Murder Mystery Begins With a Severed Limb

Lounging outside his house, Yancy’s tranquility is disturbed by the arrival of his friend, Rogelio (John Ortiz), who brings the aforementioned arm to Yancy’s doorstep. He explains that the arm’s crass gesture was likely due to rigor mortis, though symbolically it was probably just letting Yancy know it was going to “F” up his life even more. Whether the severed limb was due to a shark attack or a homicide, Yancy’s and Rogelio’s boss, Sheriff Sonny (Todd Allen Durkin), wanted it off his coast and up in Miami. Having nothing better to do on suspension, Yancy reluctantly agrees to deliver it to the Miami morgue, straight into the hands of a disinterested Rosa Campesino (Natalie Martinez).

She notices the wedding ring on the arm’s finger and the tan lines that indicated a removed watch, perhaps suggesting it wasn’t a shark attack — confirmed by the teeth they found that belonged to sharks that were too small to rip off a limb. But this is where Rosa’s help ends, and she sends him packing with the body part. Despite Rogelio’s instructions, Yancy refuses to throw out the arm and instead tucks it safely away in his fridge; a sight that his girlfriend, Bonnie (Michelle Monaghan), sees, shrieks at, and reasonably runs away from. The consequence of firmly injecting himself into the unwanted mystery of the arm and directly disobeying orders? Yancy is no longer suspended, he is fired — but at least he has a bike.

Yancy and Rosa Are Reluctantly Drawn to Nick Stripling’s Case

The owner of the limb is finally identified as Nick Stripling by his second wife, Eve Stripling (Meredith Hagner). When Yancy returns the remains to Eve, he hosts an impromptu interview where he learns that Nick had been out at sea fishing for days before his arm turned up. He leaves the interaction questioning Eve’s tears and her Bahamas-shaped way of grieving. Yancy’s suspicions over Eve’s behavior escalate after meeting her step-daughter Caitlin (Charlotte Lawrence), a reformed drug addict who is now religious and vehemently despises her step-mother. She accuses Eve of stealing her father’s wedding band and urges Yancy to look into her as a primary suspect in the murder. She even secretly meets up with him and encourages him to break into Eve’s house, though he resolutely declines the manic offer.

Meanwhile, Rosa is plagued by curiosity, to the point that she hallucinates herself as a cadaver during a bath. Her sister Mel (Gizel Jimenez) and her parents are worried about her workaholic tendencies — which is not entirely unreasonable since she showed up to her sister’s party in a corpse’s cute top. During said party, Rosa had also figured out the kind of egregiously expensive watch Nick’s detached arm had been wearing, leading her to Eve’s house to follow her own line of questioning. There, she meets Yancy, who had decided to break into the house to find evidence despite his initial reservations. When contractors also enter the home, the abrasive pair find themselves cozied up in the shower (sparks?) and they find mysterious bones in the shower drain.

Cut to scenes of Eve with her new wealthy beau, one that she may have not just recently attained. We also see scenes of Eve meeting Caitlin in a church, where she approaches her step-daughter with open arms and her late husband’s wedding band on a necklace. Caitlin is shocked to discover that Eve hadn’t immediately sold off the ring, and is doubly shocked to find out that she was on her estranged father’s $5 million insurance policy (talk about motive). Though their scene ends with a warm embrace, it is clear that there are secrets still bubbling beneath the surface.

Bonnie Is Hiding a Secret Past From Yancy

Alongside his tumultuous career, and a case that he is unwillingly drawn into, Yancy’s love life experiences its own kind of chaos: everything else about Bonnie is slightly off. Bonnie was married when she first met Yancy, and they promptly began a torrid affair much to her husband’s, Clifford’s (Jeffery S. Herman), dismay. Despite knowing about it, he still stays in the marriage, even after Yancy hits his buggy with a car, causing him to fly off a pier and into the sea, which is all filmed and uploaded to social media. Clifford immediately served up a lawsuit against Yancy, which was the reason for his initial suspension from the police force.

Throughout the first two episodes, Yancy still engages in this illicit affair with Bonnie, all while asking her to convince Clifford to drop the charges so he can return to detective work. However, Bonnie only hesitantly does this, constantly inferring that he has something on her that doesn’t allow her to push too hard. Eventually, Clifford relents, and Yancy is able to return to his boss, Sonny, with his head held partially high — he is still fired, remember? With all the controversy surrounding Yancy, Sonny is reluctant to reinstate his detective role, and instead offers him a food inspector position while promising advancement as long as he keeps his head down. But, of course, the alluring severed arm had already dashed those chances, now he just had to keep his covert investigation away from his boss’ awareness.

Towards the end of Episode 2, Yancy is visited by a detective from the State Bureau of Investigations who reveals that Bonnie has been evading the law for about a decade. Her real name is Plover Chase, calling back to when she mysteriously and bizarrely joked about telling Yancy her real name. Bonnie/Plover is wanted in Oklahoma for sexual assault — specifically, having sexual relations with a minor, one of her students, in exchange for good grades. The agent was only able to track Bonnie/Plover down now because of Yancy’s viral video with her husband. She leaves Yancy to process this information, as a stunned expression wafts across his face.

Yancy Is Roped Into Another Mysterious Case

Mystery doesn’t quite stop there for Yancy, as his inquisitions about the arm lead him to another murder. Yancy visits Fitzpatrick, the captain of the boat where the arm was first caught. While having a drink with him at the bar, Fitzpatrick directs him to Charles Phinney (Brett Cormier) and his girlfriend Madeleine (Nina Grollman). Charles was Fitzpatrick’s assistant on the boat who helped take the arm out of the water, except he suddenly found immense wealth and quit his job. When questioned by Yancy, Charles leaves the bar, only to be viciously and mercilessly shot by a passing motorcyclist, though it is clear he was targeted.

In Episode 2, when Yancy takes on his first job as a health inspector, he happens across Madeleine while she is eating at the restaurant he is evaluating. The second Madeleine’s eyes meet Yancy’s, she mysteriously races off, leaving Yancy wondering why. During this episode, Yancy is also followed by a large brown truck that nearly runs him over on the pavement, causing Yancy to jump through and shatter a storefront window. It is unclear if this stalking vehicle is related to the Stripling case, the Charles case, the Bonnie case, or an entirely new one.

Neville Gets Help From the Dragon Queen

Nowicki also introduces us to a seemingly separate storyline revolving around the beachside shack-residing Neville (Ronald Peet), though he assures us that the stories are connected. Neville’s primary companion is a monkey called Driggs (Crystal), who probably owns Neville more than Neville owns him. Neville’s home is being threatened by a developer who is planning to build his mall on the waterfront. He carries out his petty revenge by urinating in the fuel tanks of their construction machines, but this is only a temporary solution. After speaking to his friends, he decides to visit the mystical Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith), who may be able to hex the developer if Neville brings her money, booze, and an item that has touched his skin. Though Neville is a firm disbeliever, he reasons he should cover his bases. With Driggs’ help, he gathers his supplies and successfully completes the ritual with her — one that may cause death.

However, Episode 1 ends with the developer’s plane safely reaching the beach, dashing Neville’s secret hopes of a plane crash. Subsequently, while he was at the bar with his friends, his house was successfully demolished by the developer’s lackey, “Egg” (David St. Louis). Returning to the Dragon Queen with accusations in hand, she responds with — sometimes the curses are slow-acting and implies more money was required for more immediate results. Neville reaches out to his sister Samara (Aba Arthur) and begins working at her bar.

Stories Collide in ‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 2’s Closing Scene

So far, it seems like the only parallels between Yancy and Neville is their love for the coastal fauna and flora, with Neville trying to save the ecological system of the beach from the big-shot developers, and Yancy proudly mentioning the importance of red lights to baby turtles while also saving a baby deer. However, there is one more shocking parallel. Eve’s newly revealed boyfriend and Neville’s nemesis developer are the same person: Christopher (Rob Delaney). The Dragon Queen’s monologue in episode 2’s closing scenes suggests that Christopher is more evil than we know, perhaps implicating him as a suspect in the murders too. But it is when Yancy and Rosa walk into the bar that Neville now works at that all three fates are finally intertwined, preparing us for the gripping ride ahead.

The first two episodes of Bad Monkey are available to stream on Apple TV+, with subsequent episodes dropping every Wednesday.

Watch on Apple TV+