Critic’s Rating: 4.4 / 5.0
4.4
It’s terrifying to get inside a serial killer’s mind.
While Bex Henderson has profiled several on The Hunting Party, the series took it to the next level with “Tom Beecher”.
The sadistic serial killer on The Hunting Party Season 1 Episode 9 relished in emotionally torturing female victims before murdering them in front of a second victim.
(David Astorga/NBC)
This case affected almost every team member as more secrets were revealed about Tom’s treatment in the Pit and the newest victims.
The Hunting Party Season 1 Episode 9 Featured The Scariest Serial Killer Yet
Serial killers who torture their victims violently are awful, but those who torture their victims psychologically, too, deserve a special place in hell.
I’m unsure which was more disturbing: watching someone die like that or those messages he would leave.
Tom Beecher relished making his victims feel helpless, but he made it worse by choosing young women who were close to their families.
(James Dittiger/NBC)
All these women wanted was to see their parents and reassure them of their love. That had to be the worst nightmare of Lily’s parents’ life.
I understood why Bex wanted them to accept Tom’s call, but hearing how he wanted to play games with her was creepy.
I don’t know how any of the team didn’t lose it. Bex and Hassani have daughters, and Oliver has a short fuse.
It was evident that Tom had a past with Bex, and I wish they had dug into that more. Was she the one that arrested him? Had Oliver been involved in that case?
Tom seemed obsessed with making women feel helpless, and that included Bex.
Tom Beecher Triggered Jennifer Morales Enough To Go Undercover and Get Justice For These Women
(David Astorga/NBC)
The Hunting Party has been one of those series whose short seasons have hurt it. We barely knew anything about Jennifer Morales and why chasing serial killers, especially this one, mattered to her.
She identified with Lily, the young woman trying to leave Casper, Wyoming, for college. She wanted her to succeed, so she motivated herself to find her.
It’s heartbreaking enough that Tom Beecher relished torturing his victims, but Dr. Dulles’s experimental brain surgery worsened it.
Tom couldn’t remember where he had stashed Lily, and he enjoyed how helpless Bex felt, so he didn’t want to help them.
I loved how Bex and Morales showed how fierce they were. Morales didn’t hesitate when she volunteered to be the second female Tom tortured so the team could reach Lily.
(David Astorga/NBC)
You could tell that Morales had become a younger sister to the team by how protective they were. That knife Hassani attached to her sneaker saved her life since.
Tom Beecher only cared about himself. He would rather kill himself and make Bex and Morales suffer, knowing Lily died on their watch.
Only Morales refused to let that happen. With Shane’s help, she cracked his code. Sometimes, being a nerd is the best thing when those skills pay off and reunite a family.
While I wish we could have seen more of Morales in the field, “Tom Beecher” was the ideal episode to drop her into.
Bonus: March was National Women’s Month, and we saw her in action on the last day of March.
Dr. Dulles Appeared More Evil, and That Plan Could Have Affected Shane
(James Dittiger/NBC)
Shane became more traumatized the more he learned about Dr. Dulles. Even Sarah felt sorry for him and probably re-thought everything she knew about her father.
It’s difficult to sympathize with Dr. Dulles even though we thought we would as we watched his memory deteriorate with Alzheimer’s disease.
However, it’s challenging to discern if he practiced brain surgery on Tom Beecher to see learn new coping mechanisms with memory, or if he was an evil scientist who enjoyed torturing these Pit prisoners.
Shane didn’t want to believe anything negative about Dr. Dulles. He had known him his entire life, and he kept struggling with learning his identity and that pesky nature-versus-nurture battle.
This only intensified it since he didn’t know who to trust.
This case also triggered Shane. He saw how these parents reacted, and while his parents were good people, he didn’t seem close to them. He longed for that.
(James Dittiger/NBC)
Why was he keeping Shane’s birth mother from him? If it were because of closed adoption laws, I’d understand it, but I suspect he had a more sinister reason.
Dr. Dulles almost seemed to be like Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. He could appear sweet and caring but was a diabolical evil doctor.
He seemed to enjoy torturing some of those prisoners, and maybe he wanted to torture Shane’s mom by keeping her from her son.
It’s also possible that Shane’s parents were serial killers, and he prevented exposure to that, so Shane would evolve into the upstanding man he is today.
Is The Team Ready To Learn the Truth About the Blast?
Someone wants the truth to disappear. It’s disturbing that the head of Research at Whitmore Industries mysteriously died.
Oliver’s contact hinted that he should back off, but by now, his loyalty was with Bex and Hassani, so he demanded answers.
(David Astorga/NBC)
His contact appeared to be one of the people in charge since she resisted when threatened.
I wonder if Oliver has something on her since he ultimately got her to reveal something important about the Pit and meet him and Bex.
We won’t know until The Hunting Party’s Season 1 finale if she reveals anything helpful or if these secrets will remain hidden until a potential second season.
That secret likely deals with the Pit’s purpose and what really went on behind closed doors.
Over to you, The Hunting Party Fanatics. What did you think of “Tom Beecher”?
What do you think Dr. Dulles knows about Shane?
We would love to hear your thoughts, so drop your theories in the comments.
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