Who is Gary Pearlman in Ballard? Character explored in depth

Ballard has found a dedicated fan base and continues to trend on Prime Video weeks after its premiere. The show is a spin-off of Bosch and Bosch: Legacy and revolves around Detective Renée Ballard, played by Maggie Q.

As the one in charge of LAPD’s cold case unit, Renée has to solve a new intriguing case in every episode. Meanwhile, a serialized story goes on in the show where the team has to solve the mystery of a serial killer.

Around the final episodes, Gary Pearlman becomes a prominent name in Ballard. It is revealed that Gary, who seemed like a normal old guy, had murdered his daughter, Sarah, and is the serial killer that the team was tracking all along.

Gary Pearlman is the main antagonist in Ballard

Gary Pearlman, played by Kevin Dunn, is the primary antagonist in Ballard. Renée’s Robbery-Homicide Division spends the whole season finding out who the serial killer is, and their search ends with Gary. He is the supposed father of Sarah Pearlman, the 16-year-old girl whose murder in 1994 led to the creation of the cold case team.

Sarah’s brother, Jake Pearlman, is a city councilman who helped set up the team because he wanted his sister’s case solved. No one ever thought that the person who killed Sarah was actually her own stepfather, Gary Pearlman.

As Detective Renée Ballard and her team dig deeper into Sarah’s case, they find connections between her murder and a group of other women who were also killed years ago. The team soon realize that all these women had something in common: they were starting to become successful.

One had just gotten a job in a commercial, and another had gotten her dream job at a salon. These clues suggest the killer was targeting women who were working hard and doing well in life. The big break in the case comes when a woman named Naomi Bennett, who survived an attack years ago, remembers what her attacker looked like. With the help of the team, Naomi points to Gary Pearlman as the man who attacked her.

This leaves the team shocked, as Gary had visited the cold case office before with his son and seemed to support the work they were doing. He even helped fund the unit. Gary’s reason for killing is disturbing. He hated women who stood up for themselves or tried to become successful. He believed women like that were ‘not marrying material’ and felt they were leaving their families behind.

However, Sarah did not fit his usual pattern, and she became his target when she found his box of trophies from his past murders. She thought he was cheating on her mom. Instead of talking to her, Gary killed her to keep his secret hidden.

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Gary’s identity is revealed at a terrible time when cold case volunteer Ted Rawls is at the Pearlman house. Gary finds out he has been busted and shoots Rawls. Sadly, Rawls dies, and Ballard is now even more determined to stop Gary. The final face-off happens in the cold case basement in the last episode of the season, where the officer is able to catch him and end his killing spree.

Ballard is now streaming on Prime Video.

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