The narrative of Black Bird has reached a point where Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) has successfully managed to befriend the serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Houser) inside the high security prison.
His next move is to trick the seemingly gullible Larry into revealing the locations of the bodies of his victims. Jimmy uses his charm and sweet talking abilities to help Larry open up, but doesn’t get concrete evidence.
However, there are instances when Larry blatantly hints at committing the crimes he has been accused of. Let’s take a look at what those are.
Magazine art
The authorities on the outside hit a roadblock when they discover that Larry once planted false evidence against himself in order to be recognized for a crime he did not commit. This development puts his entire accusation in question.
Meanwhile on the inside, Jimmy sees Larry’s cell empty one day and decides to investigate. He goes through his collection of books and pictures, finding nothing.
He then stumbles onto a collection of adult magazines and the real horror awaits within. As Jimmy flips through the pages, he sees Larry has drawn over images of women.
These drawings are full of depictions of gore, murder, decapitation and other ghastly stuff. Jimmy is visibly shook and places the magazines back before he is caught sniffing.
Sexual curiosity
Larry and Jimmy are assigned to look after the boiler where the former reveals that he used to be a janitor. Their conversation gradually moves on to the worst mess Larry has ever had to clean and he starts discussing bodily fluids.
The serial killer then goes on to question Jimmy about female genitalia and if the vagina lubricates itself during sexual intercourse. Jimmy agrees that it does but Larry responds by saying that he doesn’t believe it.
On further enquiry he adds that all the women he’s been with have been dry and rough (hinting that they might not have been alive or conscience when he tried to have sex with them).
Jimmy realises what Larry might be talking about but before he can probe further, a guard asks them to move for showers.
Peculiar mindset
After a riot breaks out in the prison, Larry, Jimmy and a few other convicts are tasked with cleaning up the mess. Larry being experienced in the job, leads everyone.
During this excursion, Jimmy gets more time to converse with Larry and he displays his twisted mindset to his new friend without hesitation.
Known for talking a lot, Larry expresses that he doesn’t believe eating a pet is wrong as every animal is just meat. In addition, he references his former task of digging graves with his father and states that defacing coffins to loot corpses of their belongings is also not unethical.
Larry goes on to talk about a famous girl in his school who died in college after falling between two buildings. He says that death evens everything out and a flashback shows a younger Larry curiously standing over the girl’s dug up coffin.
He ends the conversation by mentioning that the dead are pleasant as they stay silent and don’t look down upon him.
Shocking revelation
During meal time Larry asks Jimmy to tell him something true about his life. He obliges by talking about his parents’ separation and his mom dating an abusive man.
Jimmy expresses his rage at his mother for not standing up for him when the boyfriend beat him to a pulp. Larry asks him if he ever thought about killing his mother for it and he agrees he did.
On their way back to the cells, the serial killer further questions Jimmy about how he would have killed his mother. A little perplexed, Jimmy answers that he would have pushed her down the stairs.
Larry asks Jimmy if his mom was dying on the floor, could he do things to her. Knowing what Larry means he tries to get more information out of him by playing dumb.
This is the moment when Larry almost lets his secret out. He explains that sometimes after breaking their neck, humans can remain alive. As Jimmy looks on horrified, Larry reveals that he used to keep a rag soaked in starter fluid in his van. He adds that it puts “them” to sleep so they cannot hit him.
When Jimmy questions who’s “they”? Larry confirms that he’s talking about the girls he used to meet. Jimmy is shaken to the core but the bell rings for bedtime and he can’t push further.
Even though Larry hasn’t blatantly confessed about killing and raping women, these developments cement the fact that he is hiding something sinister which will be revealed in the final two episodes of the show.