Bad Monkey episode 1 and 2 recap: Florida has gone bananas!

The first two episodes of Bad Monkey are now streaming on Apple TV+ and give audiences much to unpack. Let’s recap by highlighting the key events. Spoilers ahead!

Bad Monkey’s premiere episode gets right down to business. The severed arm is found by an immature fisher and the authorities at Key West, Florida, want to keep this as underwraps to avoid media attention and panic from tourists. The arm is handed over to Detective Ro (John Ortiz), who takes it to Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), a suspended detective down on his luck. You see, Yancy had an affair with Bonnie (Michelle Monaghan) and things didn’t go well when Bonnie’s husband caught them together. 

An angry Yancy decided the best thing to do is push Bonnie’s husband, who was minding his own business sitting in his golf cart, into the ocean…in front of dozens of witnesses. Yeah, that did not sit well with Yancy's boss, Sheriff Sonny. This is why Yancy eventually agrees to find out who the hand belongs to and keep it quiet because it might be his ticket to getting his job back. 

Yancy takes the arm to Miami’s PD medical examiner, Rosa (Natalie Martinez), hoping it belongs to someone in that district. Unfortunately, no missing arms have been reported and Rosa has not had anyone in her lab who matches the description. Yancy is then told by Ro to dump the arm and get rid of it, but his conscience takes over and decides to keep it. It’s good that he did, too, because a woman named Eve Stripling turns up and identifies it as her husband’s, Nick’s, arm. But even after giving the arm back and seemingly closing this mystery, Yancy can’t seem to let this case go. 

Things get even more strange when Yancy learns that Eve has a boyfriend, and it doesn’t appear to be a new relationship. At the funeral, Eve’s stepdaughter (Nick’s daughter) shows up and talks to Yancy, expressing concerns about Eve because she believes Eve killed her father. 

The plot thickens once we dive into the story of Neville (Ronald Peet) and his monkey Griggs. Neville gets his home demolished by Christopher (Rob Delaney), Eve’s new boyfriend, a developer who is building a resort. Out of options, Neville turns to the Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) a woman he believes can cast spells and curses, hoping she can get rid of Christopher and his crew. And this is how Yancy and Nevill’s story connects. 

Rosa also gets involved after not being able to shake off this very sketchy mystery from her mind. Will she and Yancy get to the bottom of things? Who killed Nick Stripling? The first two episodes of Bad Monkey give us plenty to think about and enough to draw us in. I’m hooked, are you?

Bad Monkey episode 3 premieres next Wednesday, Aug. 21, only on Apple TV+.