Hunters season 1 premiere recap: In the Belly of the Whale

When Jonah Heidelbaum’s grandmother is murdered under mysterious circumstances, the search for her killer leads him to an underground vigilante group that hunts Nazis on Hunters.

Biff Simpson (Dylan Baker) entertains guests at a cookout at his home in Maryland, 1977. He’s the Under Secretary of State and it looks like he’s doing pretty well for himself, with a beautiful home he shares with a wife and three kids on the premiere of Hunters.

Unfortunately, Biff is a Nazi, as is revealed rather rashly by Helen (Isabella Miko), the wife of his new associate. She recognizes him as the man who killed her family. Once it becomes clear he can’t simply dismiss the accusations, he shoots and kills everyone at the party, including his family. He’s worked for thirty years to construct this cover for himself, “marrying that American pig. Siring three tainted swine.”

He kills Helen last, but not before he hints at a larger purpose. “We’re here now,” he says. “Everywhere.” There’s a secret organization of Nazis infiltrating the United States and they’re on the brink of some kind of breakthrough. He can’t afford to be exposed. He calls in a specialist to cover it up, a dedicated young officer named Travis Leich (Greg Austin). He shoots Biff in the arm to make it look like he survived a deadly assassination attempt.

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In Brooklyn, Hunters introduces us to Jonah (Logan Lerman) and his two friends Cheeks (Henry Hunter Hall) and Bootyhole (Caleb Henry). Coming from the first screening of Star Wars, they have a very philosophical conversation about the origin of Darth Vader and the fine line between heroes and villains.

On his way home, Jonah makes a stop to sell some weed to a racist bully and gets beat up and ripped off for his trouble. At home, his grandmother Ruth (Jeannie Berlin) takes care of him and scolds him for selling drugs. Jonah is a very smart young man, but they don’t have a lot of money. He says it’s how they survive, he doesn’t have a choice. But there’s always a choice, one to be made between light and darkness.

Later that night, Jonah is awoken by a commotion and voices downstairs. When he investigates he sees a man dressed in black shoot his grandmother. The man escapes as Jonah tries in vain to save Ruth’s life. He is devastated and the police are of no help at all finding out who killed her. It’s the classic comic book origin story.

At the funeral, Jonah is approached by a man named Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) who offers him some comfort and wisdom. He and Ruth were in the camps together. Offerman gives Jonah his card and tells him to call if he needs anything. It’s not charity, he clarifies. He owes Ruth a debt.

Jonah goes through some of Ruth’s belongings and finds a box containing a mysterious note pinned to a red balloon smiley face sticker. The note says, “I saw his scar…I believe without a doubt it is him.” Along with it is a lengthy letter describing the atrocities she witnessed in the ghetto and how Meyer saved her life. Hidden in a secret compartment inside the box is a golden dagger.

Later, Jonah is arrested when he’s caught trying to trade drugs for information from the local street gang. He thinks they must have seen something that night that could lead him to Ruth’s killer, but he never gets that far. Offerman bails Jonah out and has him driven to his very fancy house. Offerman is a pretty rich guy. They play a game of chess while Offerman tells Jonah a story.

There was a famous German Chessmaster named Markus Roth who was a prisoner at Auschwitz. One of the Nazi guards, a man named Heinz Richter, was also a great chess player but had never been able to beat Roth. He began playing against Roth using human pieces, making the prisoners kill each other as each piece was taken in the game. One day, Ruth’s sister was taken and killed in the match. One day, Roth tried to kill Richter, but only left him with an X shaped scar across his throat before being killed himself.

Jonah beats Offerman in two moves. Hunters reveals he’s very smart and very good at recognizing patterns and solving puzzles. While Offerman is out of the room, Jonah discovers a secret office with an investigation board related to Ruth’s murder. Offerman catches him snooping and tells him to get out, but not before Jonah snatches a photo taken of the killer and runs away with it.

On closer inspection, the killer’s car in the photo has the same red balloon sticker on the back. It leads back to a local toy store that turns out to be owned by Heinz Richter in disguise. Jonah recognizes the distinctive scar on his neck but is captured and tortured before he can do anything about it. Offerman is able to track Jonah down and save him, killing Richter in the process. This is Jonah’s first introduction to what Offerman calls “the Hunt.”

Ruth was a member of Offerman’s ragtag group of vigilantes. They’ve discovered that Nazis are living among them in America and their job is to track them down and kill them. Revenge is the best revenge, says Offerman. Jonah wants in, and even though Ruth wanted to protect him from all this, Offerman agrees and introduces him to the rest of the group. Roxy Jones (Tiffany Boone), Sister Harriet (Kate Mulvany), Joe Mizushima (Louis Ozawa), Lonny Flash (Josh Radnor), Murray Markowitz (Saul Rubinek) and Mindy Markowitz (Carol Kane). They’ve all been keeping an eye on Jonah since Ruth was killed.

In Cape Canaveral, Florida an immediately detestable old woman sits in front of the TV and eats sweets. A plumber is there, apparently fixing some heating problems. She offers him candy, which he rejects with disdain. When she takes a shower later, she is trapped inside and gassed to death.

In New York City, an African American woman rides the subway and is approached by a lewd man. He backs off when she shows him her gun. Hunters now has us meet FBI Agent Millie Morris (Jerrika Hinton), who gets a lot of flack from her white male co-workers for being black and female in 1977. She wants her own case, so her boss sends her to investigate the woman’s death in Cape Canaveral, mostly just to get her off his back.

Morris is quick to figure out that the Florida woman, a NASA scientist named Gretal Fischer (Veronika Nowag-Jones), was gassed to death in a very purposeful murder plot. When she interviews her employers at NASA, they are vague and secretive about her work and refuse to cooperate. As she is about to leave, one of the NASA Suits takes her aside and tells her that she’s not the first to ask questions about Gretal. If she can find them, she’ll find what she’s looking for.

Meanwhile, Travis is sent for by an important Nazi Colonel (Lena Olin). Travis was tasked with threatening a congressman into passing an important bill and everything went according to plan. The Colonel tells him that “the solution” will be arriving from South America shortly and that the Fourth Reich is at hand. Travis has done well, so she tasks him with investigating the murder of some of their people. Nothing can be allowed to threaten their plans.

What did you think of the premiere of Hunters? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!