City on Fire Episode 6: The previous episode of ‘City on Fire’ explored the connection between the fires in the city and the lives and status of its characters. After William learns about Amory and Nicky’s connection, he decides to confront Amory to find out the truth about the Central Park shooting. Meanwhile, Charlie gets new insights into Ex Nihilo’s corrupt work through Sam’s film reel. Regan and Keith confront their son about the missing gun and realize that he did not shoot Sam.
The new episode sheds some light on Regan and William’s complicated relationship with Amory. While Charlie gets the taste of the band’s venom, Amory is shocked to learn what happened to William.
*Spoilers Ahead*
City on Fire Episode 6 Recap:
Episode 6: Annus Horribilis
Is William alive or dead?
The previous episode ended with Nicky (Max Milner) following William (Nico Tortorella) to the ferry and, eventually, throwing him into the water. Luckily, William survives and swims to the nearest shore. He then takes a boat and rides to another place. On the other hand, Mercer (Xavier Clyde) and Jenny (Levana Wang) realize that Bruno could not have survived the fire in William’s studio.
Charlie (Wyatt Oleff) returns to the band’s crib and confronts Nicky about his relationship with Sam (Chase Sui Wonders). He explains that he had feelings for Sam, and she did too, but only until the fire, where a person was left behind to die. That’s when she lost faith in their mission.
In the present, Nicky pleads to Charlie to absolve him of his sins. Charlie sees them as crocodile tears and leaves the place. He goes to a library to find details about the night Sam clicked the eventful picture of Nick. He learns about the place that was burnt down.
Amory (John Cameron Mitchell) suddenly shows up at Regan’s (Jemima Kirke) house. Mercer is also at her house at the time. While he assumes William died in the studio fire, she reveals that William wasn’t even present there. Regan also says that some people followed William to a ferry, and his whereabouts following this are unknown. Amory tries to snoop out information about whether the police found any details about the thugs.
Since Amory’s pestering troubles Mercer, Regan makes him leave her house. Right outside, in his car, Amory has a full-blown emotional breakdown as Nicky could not finish the task of getting rid of William. By then, William shows up at a mansion. The lights turn on the moment he turns up on the premises. Right after, he faints on the ground.
In the hospital, the doctor informs Joe Yeung (Michael Tow) that Sam’s situation is not improving in the manner they had earlier expected. Unfortunately, it might lead him to make a decision about her life soon after.
Detective Patricia (Kathleen Munroe) informs Captain Woodruff (Mark Lotito) of her suspicion based on her recent investigation. She believes Amory has something to do with the shooting. Woodruff thinks of the further complications it will bring to the table. However, Detective Ali (Omid Abtahi) supports Patricia’s stance considering the recent arson-related death and William’s sudden disappearance after his meeting with Amory. The forensics soon reveal that several fireworks were used to ignite a fire at William’s studio.
The next morning, Regan believes she has figured out where William is and decides to take Mercer with her. Before leaving, she introduces Mercer to her family as William’s boyfriend. Keith (Ashley Zukerman) worries for his wife since Mercer’s presence is pulling her back into her addict brother’s life.
What happened in Regan and William’s past?
We get a look into William and Regan’s past as siblings. They were pretty close back then. During a family event, Amory suddenly decided to introduce Regan to L – an Ivy League graduate who was supposedly going to be Bill Sr.’s (Geoff Pierson) business partner. Amory wanted them to get together for the growth of their family’s wealth.
Then out of nowhere, Felicia (Beth Malone) announced her wedding to Bill Sr. The siblings were not on board with it. While the two were discussing their dissatisfaction, L interrupted them and took Regan to a cottage.
How did Amory make his way into Hamilton-Sweeney’s business?
A still from City on Fire Episode 6William shows up at this very house with a boat. He meets his family’s household help, Jacob (Brian Keane), in the morning. They both feel bad for the way things ended up turning out for their family. William then walks around with Jacob, discussing Amory’s extortion techniques – how Amory made money by digging up dirt on the people that he now calls his friends. But besides money, he got a more valuable asset – access to influential people and events.
What made Regan and William become distant before 15 years?
William now walks to the nearby cottage to find dirt on Amory and prove his relation to the shooting incident. Jacob thinks Amory is the kind of man who would do such a thing. Back in the past, we see Regan running away from the same cottage after L uses her as his lady for the night. Turns out, Amory made it happen. Jacob saw them interact.
Later, William found her by the lake and thought she was unhappy because of their father’s marriage plan. Regan revealed the actual reason for her sadness. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to be part of the business if that jerk got a seat on the board. William suggests that she inform their father about it. She does that and gets a seat on the board instead of that creep.
However, William gets angry that Amory is not facing any repercussions for allowing that jerk to get closer to his sister. He argues with Bill Sr. about it, who thinks his accusations are baseless. Since Regan also did not support him in fighting Amory, William leaves the house. That was the time he decided to leave the family. He stayed without meeting Regan for over 15 years.
What do William and Jacob find in Amory’s documents?
In the present, William and Jacob go through the documents from Amory’s cottage. They find detailed information about the lives of everyone in their family. That’s when William realizes that Regan probably had a baby with the man who raped her on the night of his father’s engagement party. He then discovers documents related to Nicky, who was considered a candidate for the ‘LH project. What is this ‘LH project’? We’ll have to wait for the next episode to find that out.
City on Fire Episode 6 Ending, Explained:
Who does Detective Patricia consider responsible for Sam’s shooting?
Regan arrives at her family house with Mercer to meet William. Mercer gets emotional, seeing his partner alive and well. He then reveals that their gallerist friend, Bruno, died in the arson incident. While they get emotional and hug each other, Regan joins them.
Detective Patricia reaches a hotel to check their security tapes. She finds out that Amory had left the party right around that time and suspects him to be behind it. Detective Ali calls Mr. Yeung to learn about the missing chemicals. Joe knows that what’s missing is enough to take down an entire city block.
What were Ex Nihilo band members planning to do?
Meanwhile, Charlie returns to the band’s crib to notice Nicky working on a certain ‘project.’ Charlie worries they will all get killed, and Sol (Alexander Pineiro), as always, ridicules the kid’s naivety. (By now, I’m convinced that Sol’s entire arc is being anti-Charlie and pro-mission!)
While laughing at Charlie, Nicky agrees to it. He then states that he knows the man responsible for Sam’s shooting. He says he is planning to bomb that same influential person.
Charlie calls out Nicky’s hypocrisy – how he pretends to do things for the sake of the underprivileged and artists but in reality, is driven by a mere personal vendetta. He then runs out, and Sol goes after him to stop him. Charlie manages to dissuade the punk from reaching a pay phone. He calls 911 to alert the feds about the bomb.
Let’s hope the kid manages to stop the bombing. However, the not-so-surprising reveal of a culprit seems much closer now.
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City on Fire Episode 6 Links: IMDb
City on Fire Episode 6 Cast: Chase Sui Wonders, Wyatt Oleff, Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, Ashley Zukerman, Xavier Clyde, Omid Abtahi, John Cameron Mitchell
Where to watch City On Fire
