Never Flinch

Driving to Davenport, Holly watches for anyone following Kate, who goes for a swim when they arrive at the hotel. Kate is irritated with Holly, but Holly does not engage.

Holly calls Jerome after hearing about Ellis’s death. Jerome runs with Tom and Izzy and plans to ask them about Ellis. Jerome tells Holly he cannot figure out the optical illusion of Briggs’s name in Mike’s address book.

Holly and Corrie watch Kate go on stage, and Holly worries that Kate does not understand the threat to her life. Holly looks at Jerome’s message and immediately sees what Jerome noticed. Kate ends her set with a call-and-response about believing women.

Leaving the venue, a crowd of people beg Kate for autographs. A large man claims his wife left him because of Kate and charges forward, knocking an usher to the ground. Holly trips him with a chair and pepper sprays him, sending Kate and Corrie to the car.

Holly meets Kate and Corrie at the hotel, and they thank Holly, promising to follow her lead.

Holly calls Jerome and is saddened to learn about Ellis and Jabari. Holly tells Jerome what she noticed in the address book and plans to call Izzy.

Holly calls Izzy and explains that the letters in “Briggs” are too close together in the address book: The “B” used to be a “T.” They conclude that the killer’s name is Trig, which Holly suspects is a nickname for Russell Grinsted, Duffrey’s defense attorney. Izzy plans to question Russell, and Holly will call John.

Chrissy watches Kate and Corrie go to bed while Holly paces in her room. Chrissy befriended some autograph-seekers who knew where Kate would be staying across the tour. Fallowes calls Chrissy, addressing her as “dear one,” reminding her of the importance of killing Kate and emphasizing that Chrissy and Chris are acting alone. Chrissy hurts herself in an act of expiation, or atonement.

Holly has nightmares about the man who attacked Kate. She emails Jerome asking him to research churches involved in criminal acts against women’s and LGBTQIA+ groups, then she emails John to ask about Trig.

Izzy and Tom go to Russell’s home, where they are greeted by his wife, Erin. Russell is offended that he is a suspect in the Surrogate Juror Murders, but his alibis are shaky until Erin reveals that she knows Russell is having an affair with Jane, his secretary. Tom and Izzy explain how the fingerprints in Duffrey’s trial were misrepresented, which Russell blames on the police forensics team, adding that ADA Allen should be disbarred. Russell denies having the nickname “Trig,” and Erin confirms this denial, meaning Holly’s hunch was wrong.

Trig compares his feelings about murder to drinking, noting how his addiction to killing has grown. Driving in the country, he pulls over by a farmer on a tractor and kills him, putting Brad Lowry, Ellis Finkel, and Jabari Wentworth’s names in the farmer’s hat. Cars pass, which make Trig think of when he would drink and drive. He was pulled over once, but the officer only gave him a verbal warning. Trig regrets changing Trig to Briggs in Mike’s book, believing that his father would disapprove. A police car approaches, and Trig thinks about killing the officer and himself. The police car passes him.

Izzy tells Holly about Russell and confirms that Briggs is Trig. Corrie and Kate leave for the next city—Madison, Wisconsin—and Holly plans to follow them. Jerome confirms that he can research church criminal activity.

Chris wakes up and reminisces about taking down “Brenda’s Bitches.”

In Rawcliffe, Pennsylvania, Real Christ Holy was protesting a women’s center where doctors allegedly performed abortions. Real Christ Holy, funded by Chris’s father’s business, Hot Flash Electronics, would pick locations to protest for extended periods. Local women, led by Brenda Blevins, counter-protested by driving motor scooters through the protest. Chris and Jamie, Fallowes’s son, spread cooking oil on the pavement, causing Brenda’s Bitches to crash. No legal consequences came from the encounter, nor was anyone seriously injured.

Six months after the protest, Gwen Stewart, Chris’s mother, died of leukemia.

Izzy reports the farmer’s death to Holly, and Corrie asks Holly to have lunch with her and Kate.

Kate and Corrie laugh about a newspaper report from the attack, in which the reporter thinks Corrie took down the assailant, not Holly. Holly prefers to stay out of the news. Kate and Corrie are excited about the Mingo performance on Friday.

Barbara struggles to write, and Betty invites her to go out.

Betty and Barbara go to an amusement park. Barbara says she does not want to sing because it interferes with her poetic inspiration. They have fun, and Betty says that Faces Change scared her. Barbara agrees, remembering the mysterious and frightening Chet Ondowsky from a previous case, but Betty does not pry.

In Madison, Kate, Corrie, and Holly have to wait for their rooms, and Kate yells at Corrie for forgetting to check in early. Holly comforts Corrie, telling her that Kate’s arrogance and rudeness are unacceptable. Corrie explains that Kate has been under a lot of pressure in the media and online.

At work, Trig hears his father’s voice criticizing him for taking unnecessary risks. Men on the radio call Kate a “feminazi” and joke about killing her, adding that “real” Americans will be at the Guns and Hoses game, not Kate’s lecture. Trig thinks about killing Kate, Corrie, and their assistants in the ice rink.