HBO's "The Night Of" better have a stellar second half

We're officially at halftime of HBO's miniseries "The Night Of" and I really have my fingers crossed that this show is a great second half team. Now that's not to say the show isn't well done; the visual aspects are like nothing I've ever seen. But after a season premiere that kept viewers on the edge of their couch cushions, the expectations were set too high. For the sake of myself and all other viewers, let's hope that "The Night Of" doesn't resemble the Bears in Super Bowl XLI:

If the show doesn't start digging deeper into what happened on THE NIGHT OF the murder, continues to focus on the judicial system/character development, and doesn't reveal the fact that Nasir Khan is innocent of all charges....well then it's really going to resemble this in the end:

In episode 4, titled "The Art of War," there were some pretty major developments. We got to see more of John Stone's disgusting feet, that awful lawyer that nobody likes is finally gone, Naz smartens up for once and teams up with Freddy, Stone started to seek some more information on Andrea's past, and Stone brings that damn cat back into the picture. Seriously though, what is the significance of that cat going to be?? There's been a lot of chatter about the cat simply being symbolic; Stone freeing the cat from the dog pound just as he is going to free Naz from the human pound known as Rikers Island. But that's just not enough. The cat has to have something to do with the verdict of this case, so I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.

But as I said, there were plenty of significant aspects that helped move this series along in episode 4. There's no denying that. It certainly wasn't a "slow" episode. But now that the series has hit its halfway mark, I think everyone is ready for this thing to start revealing some evidence. I totally understand that to have a fully effective series, the writers need to build up character identities and storylines. But now that we've had a few episodes of that, hopefully we will get to uncover some of the events that took place during Naz's blacked out "adventure." 

When Naz was retelling the story from his side in court and we visually revisited the crime scene during his encounter with Andrea, I thought we were going to find out a little more about what happened right then and there. The writers did an excellent job of blue balling us with that one. But during that few second shot of inside the apartment, we once again had the pleasure of seeing our good old friend the deer head. Much like the cat, the deer head just has to play an important part in this investigation. It's been focused on numerous times, even showing a bit of blood on it. I've heard some theories that the deer head is just a symbol of the only set of eyes watching them that night, but I think the blood splatter tells me otherwise. I get the feeling that the true killer's DNA is on the deer head, and the cat's lack of presence in the house will play some sort of factor. If I were a betting man, I get the feeling that we haven't met the killer yet. But if we have, it must be the step dad or someone associated with him. Seeing him argue with that unknown dude after the funeral gave me some extremely suspicious vibes. However, if the theories about the stepdad having Andrea killed so he could get the deceased mother's house were true, it would be a bit disappointing.

As we sit and wait for next Sunday's episode, I have higher hopes "The Night Of" will start to steer in the direction that we all want it to. Much higher hopes than I did after last week's episode. I think it's pretty clear by now that the show studies the judicial system a bit more than figuring out the murder, but I do think we will start to find out more about what actually happened on that evening. If not, I'm going to go legitimately insane.

A few more side notes from the episode:

• Watching Naz do bicep curls with like 15 or 20 pound dumbbells while another inmate across the room did about 70 pound dumbbells was both hilarious and horrifying. Hilarious to see the difference, but eye-opening to imagine the difference if there was a scrap between those two.
• It's great to finally see Naz becoming a bit of a bad boy. Kid barely even reacted when he got sliced in the forearm by some random dude walking by. And him telling Freddy who burned him instead of telling the guard was badass. Good for Naz.
• I might be reading too deeply into things, but I remember people trying to theorize why Box gave Naz a Harvard shirt before going to Rikers. At the time it kind of seemed like a way to set Naz up as an easy target. But now that we know Freddy, who seems to be well known and well connected, was craving some sort of intellectual partnership. Did Box maybe know this, give Naz the Harvard shirt, and indirectly set him up with Freddy? Could be a stretch, but just spitballing here.
• There is something creepy about Naz's younger brother, but I can't quite put a finger on it. I don't think he's connected at all with the murder, but they seem to do lingering shots on him anytime he's in the scene (which is not much). I wonder if we'll start to learn more about him and his relationship with Naz, because for now he's just weirding me out.
• Stone and Chandra teaming up is awesome. Mr. and Mrs. Khan really like Chandra (so does Naz based off of his limited experience with her) and Naz really likes Stone. The connection they feel with the family will push them to find the truth about this case. I think Stone saying "Is this what you went to law school for?" in episode 3 really cut deep for Chandra so she is now determined to prove herself as a good lawyer.

Well, until next week we'll just have to keep waiting and making up bizarre theories. In the mean time, follow me on Twitter @CalebBlackmur.