The death of a beloved-especially one whom you only recently shared an emotional connection with-is never easy. Thus ‘Requiem’ shows Dr. Kreizler’s crushing grief over Mary’s death and how the team is left to salvage the investigation.

For a gentleman as verbose as Kreizler, the fact that he spoke no words at Mary’s funeral and retreated immediately to his home, is alarming. His refusal to answer any callers or partake in any activity beside the bare minimum of sustenance gives a glimpse into how enthralled he was with Mary. A relationship that was very one-sided and would’ve raised many an upper crust brow (Mary was not only Native but also a gentleman’s servant), Kreizler’s descent into the grief process leads me to believe he would have moved mountains to make her happy.

And what’s left for Sara, John and the the twins to do except pick up the pieces of the investigation and keep it pushing. And push they do. What they lack in Kreizler’s diagnostic and educational background, they make up for in pure grit. Sara: tenacious, determined, stubborn; John: gentle, a true friend when you need him, adaptable; Lucious and Marcus: pragmatic, hardworking, innovative. These four tighten their bond and work together toward the common goal of catching the serial killer. Moving their base of operations to an abandoned bar, they pinpoint the next potential death day: the Feast of St. Boniface.

Although they have his name (John Beecham) and his predilection for murdering young boys on high holy days, catching the murderous psychopath proves to be much easier said than done. Racking their brains and canvassing the streets to figure out what Beecham’s access to the children of the slums is, they eliminate him as a charity worker. Going back to basics, they take in census records for New York City, on the off chance Beecham’s name leaps out. And leap out it does: John Beecham is the renumerator for one of the bureaus of the 1890 New York census. His name is legitimately everywhere. Obtaining his address, the team finds a literal house of horrors: a human heart in a jewelry box and a large glass container filled with his victims’ eyeballs. Gross.

The final scenes of the penultimate episode involved some of the most psychologically and terrifying themes this limited series has given us. Young Joseph (John’s street friend) and his cronies leave a bathhouse; when he discovers money John had given him missing, he knows who pickpocketed him. Heading back to the bathhouse, he sees a naked man, desecrating his very dead pickpocket acquaintance’s body. The last we see of Joseph is him hiding in a locker, quaking with abject fear, while the murderer drags his quarry away…and stops. In front of the very locker Joseph is hiding in.

The season finale will be intense!

You can catch The Alienist Mondays at 9PM on TNT and on-demand.

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