Bookish Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Such Devoted Sisters, Part 2

We open the episode with a literal bang and end the season with an emotional one on Bookish Season 1 Episode 6, “Such Devoted Sisters, Part 2.”

The gunshot we hear from episode 5 is mostly anticlimactic: Eadie, the maid, is mistakenly grazed when the princesses shoot, expecting another attack. Her bartender boyfriend is also quickly dismissed as a suspect in the poisoning.

The sisters receive another threatening letter, but it becomes still more likely that Victor was the intended target when a little black book exposes the extent of his affairs. Yet when Trottie meets with his wife, she is also ruled out.

Sure enough, Book soon tells the sisters that he knows they were sending threats to themselves to maintain their notoriety. He gathers everyone back in the bar to reveal the true killer and why they wanted Victor dead.

Marco, another waiter, is the brother of a woman who died in a shipwreck. She was exiled by Victor after he got her pregnant. After briefly attempting to poison himself, Marco surrenders, also revealing he’s behind the hotel’s failing electricity.

Jack remains distant for most of the hour but finally allows a wrenching heart-to-heart with Gabriel. His father, Feix, was the love of Gabriel’s life and died shortly after their last meeting. The two men pledge to find out what happened to him.

There’s not much too feel about the death of a man who treats people as Victor does. Given how the man’s own wife is blasé towards both his cheating and his demise, by the time the killer is revealed, we’re almost excited to find out who it is.

The answer is still a sobering one, and when the truth comes to light, characters and audience alike are encouraged to feel more sympathy for Marco than for Victor. Justice must be served, but nobody is happy to see a grieving brother arrested. 

In the end, the sisters mostly serve to force interactions between our main characters. They haven’t been in true danger for years and the more we learn, the more exasperating they and their actions become. I still kind of like them.

Having Jack and Book talk is what we’re really here for, of course, even if it only comes to fruition in the final minutes of the episode. That final conversation is heartbreaking for them both, connecting them in a shared mission for the future.

That neatly sets us up for season 2, for which the series has already been renewed. I’m happy our characters will go into it under a united front, especially given the emotional impact that unpacking Felix’s fate will have on them all.

With such a focus, we might loose some of the quirkily dark comedy that’s been a highlight of the first season. Even so, I imaging this motley crew will manage to find a few more murder to have fun solving along the way.

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Bookish airs Sundays at 10/9c on PBS.

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