Dope Thief episode 2 recap: a series of murders and some bloody fights

One of the best Apple TV Plus shows of 2025 so far begins with a two-episode premiere: Dope Thief episode 2 is the second of the two that kicked off this new Apple TV Plus series.

Entitled 'Bat out of Hell' after the Meat Loaf song, a ring-tone that one of our characters struggles to place, this sophomore episode of Dope Thief sees our two protagonists begin to deal with the fall-out of their actions in the first episode.

We've already seen them pull off a heist against the wrong target, putting them at odds with a powerful enemy, and now they'll need to find their way out of this predicament.

So here's our Dope Thief episode 2 recap, so you know what happened in the hour-long video. Beware, spoilers ensue.

Understanding their predicament

We begin the morning after Dope Thief episode 1 ended: Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura) burn their van, and toss identifying elements into a river. They decide they can't run from their nemesis, so decide to stay in Philadelphia while they work out who's on their tail.

Ray returns to Theresa (Kate Mulgrew) and pretends to her that he's won a holiday to Atlantic City on a radio call-in competition, which he's gifting to her, in an urgent plea to get her to leave Philadelphia. She's dubious but eventually agrees to go, and we also learn that the $10,000 she asked for in the last episode was for the retainer of a lawyer to help Ray's father get out of jail. Ray agrees to meet the lawyer in Theresa's stead, despite insisting on his father's guilt.

Next, Ray goes to meet his contact Son (Dustin Nguyen) to hand over the loot from the job. We learn that the liquid in the aloe bottles is liquid meth, and that the lab they hit was a conversion lab that turns it into crystal meth. Son points out that Rick is the weak link which could point to Ray and Manny's involvement. Ray asks for advice on escaping his situation, but Son suggests that hiding isn't a solution.

Ray and Manny go to the former's storage shed, which they're using to hide out in. Ray thinks Rick set them up, intentionally sending them to a conversion lab, and Manny realizes that Rick was in prison with Ray's father. So Ray goes to see his father, Bart (Ving Rhames).

The gunfight

Visiting Bart, Ray wants to know what the man has told inmates about him, and also why Theresa is organizing a lawyer for him, but Bart isn't giving out details. Ray recounts an childhood tale of Bart abusing his mother, which Bart doesn't recall. However it prompts Bart into giving some info: at an AA meeting, he met someone called Danny who worked for a group called Eden's Gardeners which Rick may have been a part of.

With Manny, Ray goes to an address that Eden's Gardeners may be linked with, and they do their DEA routine... only to find that the four inhabitants of the house have been brutally murdered. Manny calls his girlfriend Sherry to tell her to leave town straight away. As they're about to leave, someone open fires on them with a gun; Manny and Ray get into a gunfight with two combatants but eventually beat them. They're two bikers, and one survives with a wound, and Ray tries to confront him. However when he's shot at, Manny executes him. Ray takes the man's phone and Manny wants to bury them, but Ray refuses.

At a car wash the duo argue about how Ray wants to control them all the time. Then the phone starts to ring, and Ray pretends to be the biker to the caller, who is the creepy-voiced man from the last episode. The voice gives him a target and an address: and it's Ray's address. He freaks out, and rushes to his house to collect his possessions.

Now over to the police storyline: the house of the gunfight is investigated, and we learn that the four murder victims were Amish kids on a Rumspringa, but the detective Mark (Amir Arison) points out that the bullet casings suggest it was a firefight, not a slaughter. The he learns that Mina is out of surgery, so goes to visit her in hospital.

Mina (Marin Ireland) is upset at the death of Jack, another of the men in the house from episode 1 who, we learn, was another undercover agent. She again warns of a war that's about to break out. Mark wants to take Mina off the case which annoys her, and she convinces him to keep her cover intact.

The chase through Philadelphia

Ray goes home, and his house is a mess... but it's because of Theresa's dog whom he's looking after, not infiltrators. He collects his belongings and flees to the storage lock-up. Later, the phone rings again, and this time the voice knows that he's Ray. The man threatens his father in jail, and then Manny, and when Ray offers to return the drugs and money he reveals that it's too late: he wants blood. Ray phones Manny but there's no response, so he rushes over to his house.

En route, Theresa calls Ray, as he's missed the appointment with the lawyer. Ray can't find anyone at Manny's house but as he leaves, he notices two bikers with guns, and one exits their vehicle to chase Ray. Ray flees, through back yards and down back alleys, and eventually he shakes his pursuer by getting him crushed by a lorry in a narrow alley. The other biker decides not to pursue him, and stays in the car.

That evening Ray goes to the lawyer's office and meets her, a woman called Michelle. In her office he has a small cry because of his worry about Manny, but she tells him why a lawyer is being brought in for Bart's case. He's up for compassionate leave due to an illness which he has.