City on Fire either has a plot that has now become commonplace, or I am worn out of such crime dramas, each of which just offers a different perspective on a murder and involves some so-called grand scheme. As for the show itself, things are starting to reveal themselves. We know that Ex Nihilo is led by Nicky. We know that Amory and Keith aren’t on good terms. And we also know that Charlie is wanted for no good reason. Episode 4 moves very slowly, which makes sense as a lot of stuff is revealed, and a lot of events occur. And we can tell that things will pick up speed in City on Fire Episode 5.
Spoilers Ahead
Motives
While distributing flyers, Sewer tells William that what she is doing beats county jail. So basically, Sewer is doing all this because she doesn’t want to go to jail. She has no idea what Nicky’s words mean, much less about a new world. For her, it’s just freedom and fun. Nicky takes care of them, and in return, they do what he tells them to do. This is the worst thing for Charlie, who joined the group unwillingly and now finds out that one of the members had no idea what the group is meant for. And it seems unlikely that the other members do either. But what’s more unusual for Charlie is the fact that an anonymous guy pays them for their “services” every month. Is Keith paying them to do all this? But why? Charlie is in the dark about almost everything happening in his life, and he freaks out after hearing that he is wanted by the cops. He and Sewer manage to escape back to their lair without getting caught, but William isn’t that lucky. He is arrested for solicitation and finds himself face-to-face with Detective Parsa. After finding out that William can help solve the case, Parsa agrees to overlook his crime. William had seen Charlie at the club on the night of July 4th, and he knows Charlie left to meet someone named Sam, a name that can be short for Samantha, who was a writer covering their band Ex Post Facto, presently Ex Nihilo. It is very unusual and weird for a girl who drools over the band that William was a part of, to be shot near William’s father’s house. William is really untying the knots here, and he will definitely come in handy in the future as well. Parsa sends William home with Mercer, who has absolutely no idea what’s going on with him. However, William knows that explaining everything to Mercer. Mercer will surely tell him to stop doing whatever he is doing because it is dangerous. For the first time, we see William using his brain, and it gets clear that when he is not high, his brain remembers stuff better and works faster. So we do not want him to stop or anyone to stop him. He heads out again to find more clues.
Deals
Solomon is about to beat up Charlie, now with short hair, to a pulp because he can lead the cops to their location. But Nicky assures them that they are safe. He is planning on avenging the people who attacked them. There is no telling what is on Nicky’s mind—the fanatic that he is or pretends to be. Later on, Sewer reveals her real name to Charlie, i.e., Lorraine. She seems to have realized just how much Charlie likes Samantha and is worried about her, and that she can share what she feels with him because he is perhaps the only one among the group who understands what it means to care. Charlie decides to find Samantha’s camera. He knows that the camera is Samantha’s most prized possession, almost like a part of her soul. It must have some clues or answers on it. Lorraine [we’ll call her by this name from now on] offers to help him find the camera. Meanwhile, Charlie heads out for a “solo mission.” We then see him meet Amory, who is very upset with what Nicky and his teammates have done by using an IED to blow up a building. [Homeland Security thinks that it is the work of terrorists.] So it seems that it is Amory who is pulling the strings. This, in turn, proves that Amory and Keith are in it together because Keith is the one who drops off the envelope of cash at the Ex Nihilo hideout. But what is the motive behind this? We do not know, but Amory isn’t happy and tells Nicky that their deal is off. Nicky knows that if he doesn’t get paid, his teammates will leave, so he threatens to tell the cops about Samantha. Nicky knows that Keith was in bed with Samantha and believes that it was Amory who shot her, not directly. This is quite similar to what we speculated had happened in the City on Fire Episode 3 article, although we spoke about a different motive. Unbeknownst to both of them, William has been watching them from a distance. He followed Nicky from his hideout. But what will William’s next step be? He must be thinking about informing Detective Parsa.
Truths
Keith has just come out of the hospital where Samantha was admitted after multiple failed attempts at seeing her. He still has feelings for her deep down but has no way to express them to her other than by handing Samantha’s father a bouquet of daisies. He is on his way back to Regan, and we see one of Nicky’s guys is tracking him. But why? Regan has found out that it is their son Will who wrote her the note about Keith cheating on her. There can be nothing worse than this for Will, Keith, and Regan. Samantha had indeed come to their apartment, and Will had spotted his father kissing another woman on a couch. Later on, we see that Keith has brought his son Will to a movie theater, but he ends up getting beaten up by Solomon. He tells Keith that they have been fired. So Nicky must have informed them about Amory’s decision. Solomon steals Keith’s money and his watch, breaks his nose, and leaves. It is unlikely that Amory would let go of Nicky and his group, and Amory’s decision seems to be a warning for them not to do anything stupid again that could compromise their mission, whatever that is. Will finds his father bleeding in the washroom, and they return home.
Do The Detectives Figure Out Who Visited Samantha’s NYU Room?
Detective Parsa and Detective McFadden join the dots and figure out that the guy who went to Samantha’s room at NYU is none other than Keith Lamplighter. Finally, they have a new lead. They arrive at Regan’s office to talk to her regarding the death of the girl near the Hamilton-Sweeney penthouse. When they ask her about her husband, Keith, and his affair, Regan realizes that the girl shot was the very girl with whom Keith had been sleeping. Before the detectives can ask her much, Amory intervenes and takes them to the lawyer. Amory clearly doesn’t want Regan to speak to them, as she may end up revealing things that Amory doesn’t want the detectives to know or ponder on. Regan, however, must have begun harboring doubts over the memo from the Mayor to Amory regarding the blight decree. But for now, she calls Keith and informs him about the detectives. However, that’s not what Keith is worried about. What worries him is Regan’s mention of a gun. Regan doesn’t expect him to have one, although we know that he carried one every time he went to pay the Ex Nihilo. He goes to the closet and checks the hidden bag where he keeps the gun but finds it empty.
The wheel of time turns backward, and we see Will hiding in the closet to avoid being seen by her father, who is with Samantha. He finds the bag and the gun. Coming back to the present, a ring of the doorbell reveals Detective Parsa and Detective McFadden, who have come to speak to Keith. It might be that Amory has directed the detectives toward Keith because he isn’t happy with him. So Nicky was right to say that Amory didn’t like Keith for being involved in a physical relationship with Samantha. But the question is: did Amory get Samantha shot? We must not forget that on the 4th of July, Will sneaked out of the house and returned sometime later. Did he, by any chance, shoot Samantha with his father’s gun? If we go further back, we find that Samantha met more than one person at the park before she was found lying on the ground by Mercer. So if Will did shoot her, there was someone with him. Or if he didn’t, someone else did. But who? Also, where is Keith’s gun?
Back at the Ex Nihilo hideout, Nicky, Solomon, Lorraine, and Delirium decide to blow up the very ‘hand that fed them but which has now become a fist.’ Is he planning to blow up the Hamilton-Sweeney penthouse? Meanwhile, Charlie has managed to find the film on Samantha’s camera, and escapes without anyone noticing. The film has all the pictures and might just provide him with some clues as to who shot her.
City on Fire Episode 4 shifts the story into the next gear. More than events, we get a better view of the nature of the characters. Two questions that require immediate answers are: what is in Samantha’s film? And who has Keith’s gun? Then we have to see what Keith tells the detectives. Finally, we will see what Nicky has planned for Amory and perhaps the Hamilton-Sweeney family. The stakes are high. And four more episodes remain. Will Samantha come out of her coma?
