High Desert season 1 episode 5 recap & review: Soul Retrieval

Open Go TV / June 1, 2023 / Reviews

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In episode 5 of High Desert, Peggy and Danny join forces to carry out schemes just like in the old days as Peggy learns more about Guru Bob. The episode is streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

Peggy and Denny are back at their old house digging up bags of silver coins that Denny insists will fetch them a pretty penny. Unfortunately, the coins aren’t as authentic as he would have hoped and they only get a fraction of what they envisioned.

Peggy goes to Bruce’s office where he is marvelling over what the kid is doing with his computer system. Peggy offers Bruce her share of what she got from the coins and Bruce is touched.

He tells her that this won’t be close enough and refuses to take it, claiming that he needs to settle his business himself. He also gives her an additional job to snoop on an alleged cheating wife.

Peggy passes off this job to Carol as she worries about how much time Peggy is spending with Denny lately. Peggy sees Carol’s stepdaughter sulking off to the side and she tells the young girl that Carol deserves respect for the efforts she’s making.

Peggy and Denny get ready to visit Guru Bob and run their scam. Denny is pretending to be a man working for Katchel, the art buyer. He insists on bringing the dog along and puts the microphone that Peggy is carrying in the dog’s collar.

They get there and Guru Bob shows them the painting he wants to sell as Peggy and Denny try to get him to talk more about the person who painted it. Peggy is aware that Dona used to paint fake copies and Bob would sell them but they want him to talk about her.

He first asks them to let the dog outside and then sits down with them to tell his story. He says that he was a particularly smug person as a newscaster but one day, a person he was rude to, committed suicide by jumping off the roof and falling down in front of Bob.

This sent Bob into a mental spiral as he felt disillusioned by life and turned to psychedelics to help him. That is what eventually led to his meltdown on television and Dona couldn’t take it anymore so she left.

Before he can continue, he is interrupted by Denny who tries to push his Qigong studio idea to Bob. Peggy goes outside to look for the dog to try and get at least a little bit more recorded. The dog comes back from a little outside the compound and Denny and Peggy leave.

They argue on their way back as the dog whimpers uncomfortably. They believe it is sick but it ends up vomiting on the floor with a severed finger among the contents, convincing Peggy that she’s on the right track about Bob possibly murdering Dona.

Review

High Desert has an interesting concept but it is just a little too niche to win over broad audiences. More than halfway through the season, there are still so many questions raised and it hasn’t quite captured the interest of many.
Carol has been going to P.I. classes in Peggy’s place and now she gets her own case to pursue which is a fun side plot to explore but if all of this doesn’t eventually lead to Carol becoming a licensed investigator herself it will be disappointing.
Patricia Arquette is doing most of the heavy lifting in this series simply because she’s been tasked with more than her co-stars and she’s putting in a valiant effort to keep things intriguing.