Does anyone else remember the line “I see dead people,” from The Sixth Sense, or am I revealing my age?
The Hunting Party has stepped into some odd stuff, but sensing messages from the dead reminded me of a sci-fi film.
Using auditory psychosis combined with family trauma created a sympathetic serial killer, which I love. These are the ones we crave hearing their story, and we want them rehabbed because they’re not evil, just complex.
In The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 9, Piper Perabo portrayed a killer, Collete Atkins, haunted by her mortician father.
This was one of my favorite episodes because it explored Colette’s family trauma and how alone she felt, and how her Pit therapy actually helped until the blast occurred.
Perabo shines at playing complex characters, and this was no exception.
We also saw the trio in many different locations, hunting her, including a karaoke bar. We need more of this comic relief, but then it all fell.
Family Trauma Created a Sympathetic Killer
We don’t see much about sibling abuse, and it always makes me sick. These are supposed to be your first friends, not your tormentors.
Instead of supporting her younger sister, Liza Atkins used to scare Colette by taunting her that all the dead bodies in the morgue were coming for her.
That sounds laughable, but it would terrify a young child.
You would think the sisters could come together years later to grieve their father, but Liza kept ridiculing Colette for applying too much makeup.
Again, we know preparing the dead is a challenging job because you want them to look respectful, but Liza hated that their father preferred Colette and enjoyed goading her.That was a new one, watching their dead father encourage Colette to stand up for herself, and he sounded proud after she slit Liza’s throat.
I don’t advocate violence, but I hate bullying, and it’s a main trigger known to set off sensitive people.
Part of me didn’t totally blame Colette because she just wanted her sister’s ridicule to end.
Piper Perabo Made Us Feel For Colette Atkins
Piper Perabo made me feel for Colette Atkins.
The only other serial killer I sympathized with was Amanda Weiss, played by Elizabeth Gillies.
Both actresses made their characters seem sympathetic, even if they killed over 10 people. You wanted them to get actual help because circumstances led to these murders.
In a twist of fate, the Pit actually tried to reunite the grieving families with their dead loved ones. They wanted to control her, so they removed the part of her brain controlling her auditory hallucinations of her father forbidding her to disclose that info.
Colette looked so lost without her father’s voice to support her, so the Pit created a new recording of him, but this time controlled it so he asked her to release the bodies’ locations.
It was a neat parlor trick, and she looked calmer with him around again until the explosion occurred.
Even if it seemed dysfunctional, her dad was her safety net.
Colette Atkins Was Still a Disturbed Young Girl Inside
Colette Atkins wasn’t so much a vicious serial killer but a disturbed young girl.
Growing up at a funeral parlor, raised by a single father, isn’t easy. We all remember Vada from My Girl. It sounded like Colette Atkins started as quiet and reserved as Vada, but her sister’s torture changed her.
She didn’t trust anyone but her father, and after being separated from her father’s voice, she craved companionship and nostalgia, so she abducted men who could sing.
Some of the men ridiculed her and didn’t play along, making it easy for her to dispose of them.
Marty seemed kinder. While he was terrified, he quickly guessed that singing that lullaby meant something to her, and keeping her calm was in his best interest.
I think he understood the need for children to feel loved and protected, so he tried to appease her, but it didn’t work.
It seemed amusing that Colette hunted for victims at a karaoke bar, analyzing whether their voices sounded like her father’s.
I’m relieved Shane didn’t sing. Even with his younger age, he could have been next.
Bex Stepped Over the Line to Gain Info
Bex didn’t trust Lazarus and thought that if they turned Colette over to her, Colette would wither, and they would never find Marty.
Bex tried doing things the reasonable and humane way, but Colette distrusted people after her sister and the Pit.
She seemed to revel in Marty’s suffering, eager to beautify the dead again. Working in a funeral parlor will mess someone up.
She didn’t believe that Bex would let her have another recording of her father’s voice. I felt for her. She’d be alone and scared with nothing to soothe her.
Bex was forced to use Colette’s worst fear against her to find Marty. You could tell that she hated locking her in a coffin and disguising her voice as Colette’s abusive sister, Liza, but she needed quick results.
Taunting her was one option. Singing “Rock-a-Bye Baby” was another.
While Bex couldn’t sing like the other men, it cracked Colette’s psyche open, revealing Marty’s location.
The Trio’s Relationships Were Put to the Test
I love The Hunting Party trio. They act like a family, and it made sense that Hassani felt hurt that Shane never revealed the truth about his search for his birth mother.
To him, that’s his annoying younger brother. He wanted to protect Shane from Lazarus because he didn’t trust her, but Shane was enamored of the idea of finding a new family member.