Episode 1 of City on Fire ended with Mercer being arrested and Samantha being taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, Charlie has been able to flee the scene before anyone see him. There is no telling who could have shot Samantha, but we know that there was more than one person. Additionally, Regan is informed about her father’s arrest. City on Fire Episode 2 shows Charlie, Mercer, and Regan figuring out ways to face the situation they are in. And as surreal as it may seem, all three situations are connected.
Spoilers Ahead
A New Eve
It was New Year’s Eve in 2002. Samantha brings Charlie to a party where Nicky, Solomon, Sewer, and the others are present. It’s where Ex Nihilo and its so-called followers have gathered to celebrate. Charlie takes Samantha, who is high on mushrooms, downstairs so that she can get a shower. Upstairs, Nicky is planning to burn the city to the ground and take back what’s theirs. What is that? We’ll tell you what is is: nonsense. They are pseudo-rebels who don’t want to be told what they should do, but the fact is that they have no idea what they want to do and to see others living their lives in peace kills them. And their only way to cope with it is to see it burn. Downstairs, Charlie kisses Samantha and tells her that he loves her. Tears roll down Samantha’s face.
The Night Of Independence
Samantha Yeung is admitted to a hospital, and a scan of her skull reveals the bullet inside. Charlie is at a church praying for Samantha. Regan’s son Will, who had gone out (City on Fire Episode 1), returns home without her knowing. She is meanwhile sending a voicemail to Alan, who is a member of the Hamilton-Sweeney legal team, asking for help. It must be related to her father’s arraignment, and Alan is someone she trusts. Meanwhile, Detective McFadden meets Samantha’s father, who is with Samantha at the hospital [Samantha is in a coma]. Detective Parsa is with Mercer in the interrogation room. Mercer tells him how he ended up at the scene, i.e., he was at a party hosted by his roommate’s family, the Hamilton-Sweeney family, and he wore his roommate’s suit. He met Samantha before entering the building, and when he left the building, she wasn’t there. Then he followed the sound he heard coming from the park, found her, and called the cops. Parsa takes Mercer’s phone number and address and tells him not to leave the city.
Confusion
Charlie wakes up in church the next day and tells the Father how he hopes for Samantha to be okay, but he doesn’t want to know if she is because if she isn’t, he doesn’t know what he will end up doing. He thus leaves the church. Regan calls her father’s assistant with the intention of informing him of what’s going to happen as soon as he lands in New York, but the assistant hangs up on her, saying that her father needs to avoid any kind of stress. She can talk to him once he arrives. She then calls Keith and tells him about her father’s arrest for wire fraud. She doesn’t think her father even knows about what’s going on. He might well have been kept in the dark about the whole thing. So she asks Keith to take care of the kids while she goes to meet her father. Keith agrees. Detective McFadden finds out from Samantha’s father that she was 11 when her mother left and never again contacted them.
Parsa and McFadden then go to Samantha’s university and meet her roommate, who tells them about the band she used to hang out with. She is unable to recall the band’s name, only that it is Latin. Mercer returns home and tells William about the incident. William just doesn’t seem concerned with what Mercer has just gone through, part of which was due to the cocaine in his jacket, thanks to William’s wasted attitude. He just doesn’t want to listen to Mercer, and he even shoves him away to walk out of the house. Although he does return the very next minute, it is clear that he is indifferent to concern. Regan hands over Will and Cate to Keith at the park and tells him that she hasn’t yet told her father about their divorce. She then leaves to meet her father. Felicia and Amory are also leaving the penthouse for the same reason when Amory asks Felicia to go ahead and then asks the lobby guy about Keith and if he came to the party last night. The guy checks the register, and Keith’s name isn’t there. Amory leaves. Regan’s father lands and is immediately arrested by FBI agents in front of Regan, Amory, and Felicia.
What Does Charlie Find At The Ex Nihilo Hideout?
Parsa and McFadden then arrive at Central Park, where a search operation is being carried out for evidence. One of the guys there finds a gun, but the bullet recovered from Samantha’s skull was fired from a different gun. Parsa decides to go for a walk. Meanwhile, Charlie sneaks out of his house and arrives in front of the Ex Nihilo hideout with a bible on him and a matchbook carrying the address of the location he is presently at. The matchbox belonged to Samantha. He enters the building through a cellar door and notices Nicky, Sewer, and another guy, who seems to be working on some kind of explosive. They spot him looking at them, and it distracts them from the dynamite that they have just lit to test. They drop it and take cover just in time before the dynamite explodes. Their formula has worked. Nicky is overjoyed. Solomon puts out the fire and knocks Charlie unconscious with a punch. He shouldn’t have come there. City on Fire Episode 2 ends with Parsa coming across a pair of stinking jeans, inside which he finds a poster for a band named Ex Nihilo. It is definitely Latin.
There is more to Amory than meets the eye, it seems, from the way he inquired about Keith to the lobby guy. Parsa has just found the name of the band that Samantha was with. Not to forget, the jeans belong to Charlie, who discarded them after pissing his pants while running the scene (Episode 1). On the other hand, we find out that Nicky and the others are making explosives, and now that Charlie has spotted them, they will not let Charlie go easy. City on Fire Episode 3 will surely reveal more about Ex Nihilo and its real intentions. We will also find out more about Regan’s father’s arrest as well as what Mercer has in mind about William. And a very crucial question is where did Will go on the night Samantha was shot?
City on Fire Episode 2 carries forward the plot at the same pace as Episode 1. It takes us deeper into the story, and we can tell that a lot is going to happen, and none of it is thankfully in the past. Because as much as we want to know who shot Samantha, it is nice, for a change, to move ahead with an investigation rather than time travel to the past.
