Wakefield Alive on CBS Thriller Harper's Island
Is He Solely Responsible for the Latest Batch of Killings?
Jun 26, 2009
With only the two-hour finale remaining of CBS’ horror/mystery series, Harper’s Island, the stakes have definitely been raised as more and more people have been killed each episode and fewer suspects remain.
Although the series’ ratings have generally continued to drop, the number of views increased last week to 3.79 million (from 3.20 million the previous week). Perhaps this small gain is because the last four episodes to air have been the most dramatic and suspenseful ones yet, complete with shootouts, stalkings, and more murders than ever before. In fact, at the end of last week’s episode “Snap,” it was revealed that Wakefield has been alive all along (Sheriff Mills buried another body in Wakefield’s grave to make it seem like Wakefield was fatally wounded by his gunshot), and now another murderous rampage well underway.
Is Wakefield the sole killer?
While Wakefield himself definitely killed Maggie, Sheriff Mills, Nikki, Shane, Cal, and indirectly Chloe, CBS promos have revealed that Wakefield is not acting alone and that one of the remaining suspects has been helping him and committing some of the murders. Furthermore, the series’ co-executive producer Karim Zreik insists that the other killer, one of the 25 suspects listed on the CBS Web site, is the “main killer” – not merely an accomplice. That means whoever the other killer is, he/she must have been responsible for most of the deaths in the first nine episodes.
Who’s still alive on Harper’s Island?
The most recent episode, “Splash,” marked a dramatic shift in “Wakefield’s game,” as the killings occurred out in the open rather than in secret. Nikki and Shane were brutally stabbed by Wakefield right in front of the others at the Cannery restaurant; Cal was even more brutally stabbed right in front of Chloe, who then committed suicide so that Wakefield wouldn’t have the satisfaction of taking her life. This latest killing spree leaves only eight of the original 25 suspects alive. They are Henry, Trish, Abby, Shea, Madison, Jimmy, Sully, and Danny.
Who is Wakefield’s partner?
Let’s take a bottom-up approach to figure out who could logically be doing his/her part in the killings. From least likely to most likely, here’s a review of the remaining suspects and the reasons they can or can’t be the other killer:
It is realistically impossible for Abby to have committed the murders. Not to mention the fact that she is the heroine, Abby was rescuing Cal during Lucy’s murder and was with a number of other survivors during Katherine’s murder. She was also told that the killings were all about her and genuinely suspected that her father was the killer, meaning she couldn’t have been involved.
Aside from the fact that Madison is physically incapable of committing any of the killings, she was also shown in her room when Richard was killed and was kidnapped during several of the other murders.
Danny has been mostly irrelevant to the story, and the chances of Wakefield having an African-American son with Abby’s mother are extremely slim. He does not seem to have the motive or the opportunity to be the other killer.
Sully had plenty of opportunity to kill Cal when the two of them were alone and searching for the sailboat, and he didn’t. Additionally, the killer fired shots at both of them when they escaped from the Cannery. Would Wakefield risk killing his partner?
Trish was grieving over her father’s death during the middle set of murders, and someone attempted to drown her in the Candlewick pool early on in the series. Furthermore, she was looking for Madison with Shea at the time of Katherine’s murder.
While Shea could potentially have a motive in wanting the Wellington fortune to herself and she has been unaccounted for during some of the killings, she was looking for Madison with Trish at the time of Katherine’s murder.
In the most recent episode, Shea and Abby found a file in the Sheriff’s attic containing a mug shot of Jimmy from a Seattle prison, obviously intended to make Jimmy appear guilty. Most likely, Jimmy is the last red herring – the person the audience is supposed to suspect – before the actual killer is revealed. However, Jimmy doesn’t have alibis for many of the early murders committed on the island, and the murders that he does have an alibi for could have easily been committed by Wakefield.
Henry has had by far the most opportunities to commit the early murders. He was off by himself numerous times, and in the latest episode, he blatantly held Abby back from shooting Wakefield not once but twice. Moreover, Henry being the killer would be somewhat of a surprise to the average viewer.
What about Booth?
Though he is not among the living suspects, one of the most popular and outlandish theories among fans is that Joel Booth, who ostensibly died in the series’ fourth episode after accidentally shooting himself in the leg, actually faked his own death and has been working with Wakefield. Co-executive producer Zreik recently set the record straight on this theory once and for all in an update on Twitter: “Booth is dead. Done. Kaput. Gone. Bye-Bye.” Can’t get much clearer than that.
Now that that’s cleared up, Henry seems to be the most likely killer with Jimmy coming in a close second.
When does the series conclude?
CBS will re-air the premiere episode next week in place of a new episode. For Canadian viewers, the mystery will be resolved Thursday, July 9 on GlobalTV. American viewers will have to wait an additional two days for CBS to air the two-hour series finale on Saturday, July 11. For episode recaps and character profiles, see the series’ official Web site at CBS.com.
Who do you think is the other killer? Who will survive the bloodbath in the end?
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