The Red Road “Arise My Love, Shake Off This Dream” 

I like a series that asks as many questions as it answers, but right now we’ve got a whole lot of questions and only a few answers. And I like that. I want to find out what makes Jason Momoa‘s Phillip Kopus and Martin Henderson‘s Harold Jensen tick. They’ve got a complicated, but intertwined history. These guys went to high school together. Phillip used to date Martin’s wife Jean, but that was before he got her brother messed up on drugs and watched him drown in the lake (that’s according to Jean – who knows what the real story is). Harold’s promising football career was tragically cut short – he was all set to play at Notre Dame – by an accident. Decades later, these two men’s lives intersect once again when a young NYU student goes missing.

What We Know:

Phillip Kopus is an ex-con, who returns to Walpole NJ after NYU student Dennis Bradley goes missing. Mike Parker killed Dennis – he claims it was an accident – and sunk him in the lake. We don’t know why yet, but it might have something to do with the drug trade Phillip is trying to establish in town.

Harold Jensen has spent the last three weeks in the guest room, ever since his wife Jean started getting sober. Seeing that his daughter Kate is worries, he assures her that he and her mother won’t be getting a divorce. Their daughter Rachel is seeing Junior, a Lenape Indian, against the strong objections of both her parents. Jean steals Harold’s work-issued gun to threaten Junior, but she doesn’t find him at Marie’s. On her way back home, she hits something – she claims it was an animal – with her car.

Phillip arranges a rendezvous with Harold to talk about Jean. Turns out she hit a kid with her car and then fled the scene. Phillip has witnesses, but he knows Jean would never leave someone to die. He’ll make sure the statements the police take from the witnesses don’t lead back to Jean. Whatever his feelings for Jean (past or present), we know one reason he’s doing this is to buy Harold’s good will for later down the line. If things ever go wrong with the drugs, Harold’s got an ally.

My Questions (so far):

• Why aren’t the Lenape Indians federally recognized?
• Why did Mike kill Dennis Bradley?
• Is Jean having auditory and/or visual hallucinations?
• Why does Harold’s captain have his back? Why would they want to hide the fact that they found a piece of Jean’s brother’s clothing?
• When did Harold and Jean meet and why is he so against the idea of divorce?
• How did Phillip end up in jail? Is it drug related?
• What’s up with Phillip’s dad Jack?
• Why does Phillip have such a dysfunctional relationship with both his parents?
• Why does Junior need someplace for him and Rachel to stay?
• Why does Phillip let Junior and Rachel hike to the cave with him and Mike? Is Junior going to be running drugs for him?
• Why does Phillip want to be in business with Mike when he seems like such a liability?
• Why would Harold threaten to kill Junior in front of witnesses? Why would he threaten him at all?
• How will tensions between the Lenape Indians and the rest of the locals play into this story?

I like where this is going and I’m looking forward to getting some answers (now or later).

The Red Road airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Sundance TV.