The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 4 recap: A killing-spree haunted by sisterhood

The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 4 locks onto one woman and lets her story rot from the inside out. The episode revolves around Amanda Weiss, a female spree killer whose violence isn’t driven by killing just for killing's sake but by control, grief, and an extremely twisted need for wanting connection.

Episode 4 of The Hunting Party Season 2 uses Amanda Weiss to expose how the Pit’s so-called treatment does not heal anyone, but only rewires them. While the case feels like it's on edege of its own, the episode also pushes the Lazarus story forward, putting Bex in the most dangerous position she’s been in all season.

The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 4 recap: A killing spree haunted by sisterhood

Amanda Weiss and the anatomy of a controlled collapse:

Episode 4 of The Hunting Party Season 2 opens by reframing Amanda Weiss as not someone who is a mystery, but as a known quantity with unfinished damage. Dubbed “The Masseuse” by all of the media, Amanda’s crimes are rooted in closeness and sudden violence.

Her victims were all massage clients, killed in moments where trust and vulnerability were already put in place. Episode 4 makes it very clear that Amanda’s history of abuse at the hands of her mother is what eventually shaped her brain wiring early on in her life. She learned control before she could even learn the word "empathy" (let alone the meaning behind the word) and fear before affection.

Someone who truly did their best in keeping Amanda grounded for all of these years was her bond with her sister Lucy. That relationship worked like an anchor, not really strong enough to heal her, but strong enough to push her breaking point for sure.

When Lucy overdosed on fentanyl, that anchor sank, and Amanda? Well, Amanda flipped. Her killings followed fast, and they were now completely driven by rage and ritual rather than just impulse.

Episode 4 of The Hunting Party Season 2 also avoids sensationalizing the gender of the killed. Amanda isn’t framed as someone to get shocked over just because she's a woman who's a spree-serial killer, but because she is smart, methodical, and hollow in a way that feels practiced. Amanda isn’t interesting because she kills differently or because she is a woman. She’s interesting because she was already fractured long before the Pit touched her.

By the time she reappears post-Pit, she isn’t just dangerous, and the show positions her as proof that the Pit does not neutralize threats, but rather it amplifies them. Amanda’s violence now comes with fixation, and that fixation becomes the very core of Episode 4.

The Pit’s therapy experiment and a rotten lie:

The core of Amanda's case in Episode 4 of The Hunting Party Season 2 lies in the reveal of Amanda’s treatment. At first, all roads pointed towards Celia Erikson, a specialist brought in to reach Amanda on an emotional level.

Celia’s initial approach was direct and personal, attempting to make up a bond that Amanda simply could not reciprocate. When Celia realized Amanda couldn’t emotionally attach in the way that was expected, she walked out mid-session, feeling frustrated.

When Bex tracks Celia down, the truth comes out piece by piece, little by little. Celia decided Amanda needed a connection, and to do that, she created one. An inmate named Alice was put in a nearby cell, someone Amanda could talk to through a coded knocking system. Alice is someone who also mirrors Lucy. The same dependency and the very same sense of being fragile.

Except Alice wasn’t real.

Celia was Alice. She fed Amanda stories pulled from her own life and career, piling on enough detail to make the connection feel like it was something real, and over time, Amanda bonded with this unseen "Alice".

When the Pit fell apart, and Amanda was released, that lie fell apart with it. Amanda wasn’t just abandoned, but she was also betrayed. The sister she rebuilt in her head vanished overnight.

However, Episode 4 of The Hunting Party Season 2 doesn’t frame Celia as evil, but it doesn’t free her from wrongdoings either. Her choice did not fall apart because Amanda escaped, but it failed because it replaced one obsession with another. Amanda didn’t lose Lucy twice; she lost Lucy, then lost Alice, which again rewired what she thought was real.

The cabin, Tiffany, Bex, and the lie:

With Alice now gone, Amanda goes looking for another replacement. Episode 4 of The Hunting Party Season 2 follows her as she zeroes in on Tiffany, a woman she encounters through Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Tiffany fits the shape that Amanda needs. Vulnerable, someone who is lonely, and someone who is open to connection. Amanda (planning to abduct her) doesn’t do it immediately, but she studies her and listens.

Amanda takes Tiffany to a remote cabin in the mountains, a place she once described to “Alice” as safe. There, Amanda flips the dynamic. She pretends to be another victim, another woman who is in need of saving, manipulating Amanda into wanting to rebuild the sister bond with her at the center.

This is where Bex enters the story in the most risky way possible. To reach Amanda, Bex pretends to be Alice. She steps directly into the lie Celia created, using the same language and history to gain Amanda’s trust. But there's a catch: one wrong word could end Tiffany’s life.

While Shane and Hasani track the location, Bex is inside the emotional minefield. The Hunting Party Season 2 shows how Bex constantly places herself closest to the danger. It also highlights the imbalance in the team’s field dynamic.

Bex manages to extract Tiffany and convince Amanda to return peacefully, promising that Alice is waiting back in custody. It’s a lie, but it’s a necessary one. Amanda is contained, but not healed. The episode makes no effort to pretend otherwise.

Lazarus moves closer, and Shane runs out of space to hide:

While the Amanda case drives most of the episode, The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 4 uses its final few minutes of the episode to escalate the Lazarus storyline as well. Bex fills Morales in on what she found out earlier, including Lazarus’ past as a Pit prisoner. Morales, in turn, talks about Shane’s request for help identifying a voice connected to Lazarus.

When Bex brings this up to Shane, he dodges. He plays it safe as he does not realize how much Bex already knows. But all of this catches up to him by the end of the episode. Shane decides to come clean, not aware about the fact that Bex has already put all of the pieces together.

And it is finally revealed that Lazarus is Shane’s mother.

The episode ends with this confirmation. Lazarus smothers Dr. Dulles with a pillow, whispering a promise to look after the boy. It’s an intimate act of violence that mirrors the manipulation seen all throughout Episode 4.

By the time Episode 4 ends, The Hunting Party Season 2 makes one thing painfully clear: there are no clean resolutions in this world. Amanda Weiss is caught, but nothing about her is resolved. Her trauma wasn’t treated. It was weaponized and then abandoned. The episode does not frame her as a monster or a victim and instead leaves her somewhere uncomfortable in between.

At the same time, the Lazarus storyline tightens decisively. Shane’s secret is no longer safe, and Bex is no longer just suspicious. She knows enough to be dangerous. The final act of Lazarus and the violence under the language of care ties the entire episode together thematically i.e., control disguised as love.

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