The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 6 Review: Lou Kaplan

The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 6, “Lou Kaplan,” is a chaotic delve into the dangers of social media.

The Hunting Party tries its hand at a social media killer with “Lou Kaplan.” It does this while also attempting to address the convoy situation from the previous episode.

The last episode ends with the convoy transporting a newly recaptured killer getting ambushed. The episode briefly addresses the situation and Colonel Lazarus herself, accusing someone on the team of leaking information.

She’s implying that there may be a saboteur among them, specifically, putting Hassani under a microscope. However, the episode quickly shifts its focus back to the killer of the week, Lou Kaplan.

Lou is a software designer who developed an app called SnapMax but became disillusioned with the toxicity of it. In turn, he started to publicly murder influencers he believed perpetuated this.

This is not exactly a new idea, but the depiction of Lou himself is notably so over-the-top. He is one of the few killers from this series who seems to truly buy into his own mission while simultaneously targeting the most harmless of these influencers.

For example, his first victim after escaping the pit is Becky the Baker, a cooking influencer who passes off store-bought baked goods as her own. Lou kills her to make a point and also exposes her as a fraud. This is so deranged it’s almost funny.

It’s understandable that the series wouldn’t want to make you root against the victims of an objectively evil person. However, making the victims so harmless simplifies the situation to an almost cartoonish degree.

It’s not all bad. The episode is absolutely entertaining, but it’s hard to tell when its humor is intentional and when it isn’t. Lou, putting on a caricature mask of himself, is likely meant to be funny, but his bizarre deep fake catfish accounts probably weren’t.

Additionally, the notion that a crowd of protesters would idolize a serial killer whose main targets are live streamers is hard to believe.

It feels like the episode is trying to have some kind of social commentary, but ends up oversimplifying its point.

If the series had gone for a more campy, comedic tone, this could have worked. But unfortunately, it takes itself too seriously for that to be an effective angle.

The tension within this episode could also feel lacking at times. Despite trying to convince us that Lou is some kind of genius, the team is able to track him down very easily.

Lou manages to shut down the team’s servers, but they fix it so fast it feels more like a speed bump than a threat.

The final standoff, when the team catches Lou with the CEO of SnapMax, doesn’t feel as intense as it should. Lou shouting at her to shoot them when he’s subdued doesn’t really make any sense.

It is out of place and does not feel in line with the type of killer he is.

Fortunately, they talk the CEO down and take Lou in.

However, the episode in typical Hunting Party fashion leaves us with far more questions than answers.

We learn that the convoy changed route on Hassani’s orders. He doesn’t remember ever doing this, which means someone managed to pose as him.

Additionally, Colonel Lazarus has now shown up at Shane’s front door. Bex may not have wanted to tell him the truth, so maybe next episode, Lazarus will.

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The Hunting Party airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC.

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