The Hunt Episodes 2-3 Recap: What Happened To Xavier?

Franck and his friends find themselves ensnared in the trap set up by unknown adversaries, as the second and third episodes of Apple TV+’s mystery thriller, “Hunt,” intensify the central mystery without giving away the identity of their pursuers. Previously, after getting shot at during their hunting expedition, Franck and his friends opened fire on another hunting party, causing the death of one of their members. Anxious about possible retaliation, Franck decided to check up on the background of the recently deceased Michael, whom he suspects to be the hunter in question, only to realize he is being followed by the unknown assailants. Aside from adding on to the intrigue by tightening the noose around Franck and his friends, the recent episodes also focus on Franck’s family crisis.

Spoilers Ahead

Franck’s Fears Come True

The second episode picks right up from the ending of the first one, as alarmed by the rifle bullets sent to him by the mystery assailant as a message, Franck checks his car in suspicion of there being a tracking device and ends up finding one. Franck handles himself around Krystel so she doesn’t get a whiff of the situation, and shares the incident with his friends during their meeting. It doesn’t take long for the others to receive warnings from the unknown adversaries, as Xavier finds out his daughter, Celia, was approached by an unknown man at school, who gifted her a stuffed toy. Simon has an anonymous letter left on the windshield of his car, whereas Franck gets one in his departmental store office. While he tries to play it cool in front of his employee Fabienne by claiming the disgruntled former employee Bardin is trying to provoke him, he himself knows the terrifying truth. He and his friends are being watched and are getting constant reminders that their misdeed will not go unpunished. Things escalate when Franck finds a bloody, severed boar head attached to the front of his door gate. It’s a miracle that he is able to clean the head off the gate without anyone from his family noticing the incident. 

Franck’s paranoia starts doing a number on his mind as he scolds his teenage daughter, Estella, for sneaking out in the middle of the night with her boyfriend, Rudy. A secret part of Franck’s personal life surfaces as it is revealed he is having an affair with someone named Sonia, who is living in anxiety in fear of her abusive ex-husband returning to her life. Xavier, on the other hand, appears to be secretly supplying drugs for a shady character named Cowboy. 

Krystel Saves a Runaway Girl

The scene shifts to a tense situation as a runaway teenage girl tries to escape her pursuers, a gang of thugs, and, injuring one of them, she manages to find shelter in Krystel’s office, and she agrees to keep her hidden when the thugs start banging at her door. As Krystel agrees to patch up the injured thug, Alois, Michael’s friend who crossed paths with Franck in the previous episode, is shown to be a part of the gang. As the thugs leave, Krystel finds out the girl is long gone. There are hints that the runaway girl is from the girl shelter where Krystel offers her services as a doctor. 

What Happened to Sonia?

Having had enough of the intimidation game, Franck decides to convince the group to literally go on a hunt by venturing into the wilderness, as he is certain that the rival group of hunters will await their response. However, Gilles, wrecked by paranoia, considers this a fool’s errand, and refuses to be a part of Franck’s risky plan. The rest of the hunters, including Dr. Leo, decide to follow Franck’s lead and enter the wilderness; after a point, they find out Gilles has reconsidered his decision and joined the hunt as well. Even though it turns out that someone had broken into their forest cabin, after returning to the spot of the shootout, they are relieved to find no one to be around. However, a phone rings nearby, prompting Franck to locate it and receive the call, and on the other side, someone taunts him about Sonia’s fate as she appears to have been taken captive by them. 

As the third episode begins, Franck desperately tries to search for Sonia, but to no avail, and informs police about her sudden disappearance and history with her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Krystel gets invited by the town mayor to attend a meeting in the town hall concerning his political campaign, and an absent-minded Franck agrees to accompany her. In the meeting, elderly townsfolk share their annoyance with the local hunters, and Franck later decides to ask one of the elders some questions in hopes of finding the ones pursuing them, in vain. Krystel visits Palace, the supervisor/director of the girls’ shelter, and learns about the challenges she faces. Later on, one of the girls from the shelter, Moda, whom Krystel had treated in the first episode, approaches her and reveals one of her friends to be missing. The missing girl in question turns out to be Aya, the runaway girl, who has found a new shelter in a vacant luxurious villa. 

In a house party at Franck and Krystel’s place, all of Franck’s friends visit, and a drunk Gilles makes a mess by almost failing to hold his nerve, much to Franck’s dismay. At a teenage frat party, Rudy beats up one of Estella’s friends who was trying to coerce her into taking cocaine, and later apologizes to Estella for his actions. Belonging to an underprivileged background and having a rough upbringing, Rudy knows Estella is lucky to have caring parents and a comfortable life, and hopes she will not waste her life like the rest of the rich delinquents abundant in the town. Estella decides to take Rudy to meet her parents. Even though, during the meeting, Franck notices Rudy’s bruised knuckles, overall Rudy’s introduction to the family goes pretty well. However, he gets apprehended by the cops on one occasion, and they arrest him for violently beating up the boy from the party. Krystel learns about Franck’s affair after receiving a call from the hospital where Sonia has been admitted recently, after the authorities found her in a beaten-up, bloody condition. As Franck approaches her, Sonia mentions that a group of unknown men tormented her for reasons she was unaware of. Shaken by her harrowing experience, she wants to forget this part of her life and leave Franck for good. Back at his home, Franck gets chastised by Krystel for his licentious activities, and his son, Lucas, has learned about the fight between his parents. It should be mentioned that it appears Lucas has also listened to Gilles’ nervous ramblings, and it remains to be seen how this factors into Franck’s already troublesome situation. 

What Happened to Xavier?

On the other hand, Xavier finds out Cowboy, the drug supplier he worked for, has escaped, and his camper van has been burned to ashes. Fearing the possible involvement of rival drug lords, Xavier approaches Franck for help, and he decides to take him to Michael’s friend Eddy’s garage in hopes that he can identify someone from their friend group picture. Xavier identifies one of the friends as someone who was having an argument with Cowboy, although his identity isn’t revealed in the episode. 

From the photographs, Xavier identifies a hunting lodge, and in the hope of finding clues about the assailants, Franck visits the place. As he finds evidence that indicates someone was held captive and tortured in the lodge, he becomes certain that his investigation is headed in the right direction after all. As the episode draws to a close, Xavier is revealed to have been stranded while driving a faulty rental car on a road going through wilderness. He spends hours fixing the engine, to no avail, and as his phone battery has died as well, being rescued by a passerby is the only help he can hope for. A van, which was previously seen driving around Franck’s house, arrives at the spot, and Xavier breathes a sigh of relief. However, the passengers of the van appear hostile, as one of them holds him at gunpoint, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger. The passengers of the van don’t seem to be rival drug lords, and finally it appears the rival hunters have decided to make their presence known by approaching their targets. Xavier’s fate remains in question, and the next episode is bound to be an exciting one. 

...