EPISODE CONTEXT

Episode 5 arrives immediately after the apparent apprehension of a Lil' Slugger suspect, pivoting from pursuit to interrogation and psychological excavation. Rather than providing answers, it deepens the central mystery by filtering events through Makoto Kozuka's delusional perspective, complicating everything the detectives — and the audience — thought they understood. This episode functions as a critical bridge, reframing the nature of the attacks and setting the stage for the investigation's increasingly strange trajectory through the season's back half.