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Between Candace’s arrival, meeting Love’s parents, and trying to maintain this idea he can be better, will Joe snap once again?
| Directed By | Cherie Nowlan | |
| Written By | Amanda Johnson-Zetterstrom | |
| Aired (Netflix) | 12/26/2019 | |
| Introduced This Episode | ||
| Ray | Michael Reilly Burke | |
| Dottie | Saffron Burrows | |
This content contains pertinent spoilers.
Episode Recap
Suicide Or Murder?: Ellie, Delilah, The Cop
Originally, Henderson’s death was seemingly going to be ruled a suicide, and The Cop wanted the pictures back to perhaps explore the idea of a motive. However, after Ellie convinces, or manipulates, Delilah into destroying the pictures, all that is left is murder. Which, considering Ellie was known to be in Henderson’s house at the time, could mean she might be accused of the act.
The Wellkend Begins: Candace, Forty, Ray, Dottie, Love, Joe
It is Ray and Dottie’s 30th anniversary, and naturally, they expect their children Forty and Love to be there. Thus leading to both Forty and Love bringing their partners for while Ray and Dottie seem nice, that is their public persona. In truth, Dottie doesn’t do boundaries and is sometimes violent towards love – especially when she doesn’t control and monitor her brother.
Then, when it comes to Forty’s relationship with Ray? Well, he thinks very little of his son and barely entertains having conversations with him. Now, as for Ray’s relationship with Love or Dottie’s with Forty? Love and Ray, we don’t see interact and while Dottie has a soft spot for Forty, it isn’t clear if that is just a mother/son thing or something more twisted?
But, while that situation is screwy, what is really messed up is the interaction between Candace and Joe. You see, we learn in this episode what Joe did to Candace that led him to assume she was gone or dead. When she tried to break up with him, he knocked her out, put her into a van, and brought her to the woods to talk. That didn’t work so while shaking her, he hit her head and seemed to believe he killed her – leading to him burying her alive.
Fast forward, and now she is dealing with the cops saying she can’t do much beyond a restraining order, or attempting to charge Joe with domestic abuse. So, she is hoping to catch Joe slipping to take him down and bring him to justice. A task that she believes will be easy for Joe is capable of murder and has just gotten lucky so far.
I Wolf You: Joe, Love, Candace, Forty
And as Candace waits for Joe to slip, she is bonding with Forty so that she can keep an eye on her enemy, but by no means is trying to be what Forty needs. This is in comparison to Joe who is trying to be who Love needs to deal with Forty and her parents. People who he admits to her are a bit crazy to him, but it is part of what comes with loving her. It is the pieces that make her imperfect, and with him falling for her more as her vulnerabilities and darkness gets exposed, he comes to realize all before Love were infatuations. Making Candace’s threat to all this, and the reveal Henderson may have been murdered, worrisome.
Plot Synopsis
- At this point, Joe acknowledges he killed Benji, Peach, Beck, Ron, Jasper, and Henderson.
- Ellie learns and claims to believe Delilah when she says that Henderson did something bad to her.
- Joe didn’t attempt to murder Candace as much as he attempted to cover it up. You see, he banged her head, knocking her out, and likely seeing the blood and her being unresponsive led him to believe she was dead. Thus she was buried and because of the lack of evidence, be it car tracks or footprints, the best Candace could do was stay dead or get a restraining order. Which would require her being in front of a judge and due to her rap sheet, it is noted she’d go through a struggle.
- Candace, as Amy, is masquerading as an indie film producer who is just laying in wait for Joe knows she has nothing on him but with her knowing Joe is sloppy and just plain lucky, she knows all she has to do is wait for him to slip up.
- Ray comes from money, Dottie doesn’t, and they met at some hot tubs in Esalen. When it comes to their relationship with each other, it can be unorthodox, but the ones who really suffer are their children. Dottie is the one who put Love in the mindest of being her brother’s keeper, for better or worse, and Ray looks down on his son for not working hard for the money he wants.
- Love attributes Forty’s state of being due to their au pair, Sophia, when she was 19 and them 13, molesting Forty. In Forty’s mind, that was his first love, and with his parents firing her, and her killing herself, and Forty finding her, things have never been the same.
Other Noteworthy Facts, Moments, and Random Thoughts
- Will seems to be in the Philippines with his fiancée.
Comment Down Below
- Was Ellie manipulating Delilah to protect Henderson’s image, or did she truly believe her sister?
Review
Highlights
Did Ellie Manipulate Delilah?
It isn’t necessarily clear how far Ellie might be willing to go to prove her loyalty to Henderson. Granted, he is dead, and she was one of the last people around him. However, he still has a network of loyal friends who could help her and being the girl who killed him could ruin that. So what is her real feelings about the possibility of Delilah being taken advantage of is hard to say. Especially since she outright made it seem she didn’t believe Delilah just a few episodes ago.
Meeting Love’s Parents
To understand Love and Forty, we had to meet their parents. For with the twins so drastically different, the only source there was of understanding what they are who they are would be their parents. After all, their parents are their employers and likely how Love has a home you know would be way out of her budget without being financed.
So, in getting to see past her parents’ façade, it helped illuminate why Love seems to be attracted to Joe despite him openly expressing he isn’t one to be with. Simply put, she is drawn to that kind of darkness for she became acclimated to it growing up. Which isn’t to say she is attracted to toxic people and whatever comes to her is her fault.
However, there is a need to question what was her ex like and what happened to him? Because they are the key to knowing if Love has a pattern or not just as much as Forty seems to be trying to find someone like his former au pair.
How Much You Wish Joe Wasn’t Screwed Up
As we discovered who Dottie and Ray truly were, and saw the extent of their emotional or physical abuse to their children, it made Joe stepping up something that could get you in your feelings. For we’re reminded that as screwed up as he is, the man does want some form of love. It’s just, as she said, he is so used to affection and getting upset when someone isn’t this perfect doll, that we’re reminded he is a man child. One that, as shown by what he did to Candice, and many others, is a psychopath.
Yet, then there is the need to question if people can change and get better, without going into prison? A question which goes beyond “You” since really, what could prison do for Joe or people like him? Especially if there is more to their mental illness that insecurity?
On The Fence
The Investigation Into Henderson’s Death
When Peach was killed it mattered for you at least loved to hate Peach. Henderson, on the other hand, wasn’t funny, wasn’t particularly interesting, and he committed crimes against children so there wasn’t any real path to him becoming forgivable. Granted, it isn’t like most of Joe’s victims haven’t been women, and won’t likely continue to be women, but the mental gymnastics one could do with Joe can’t be done for Henderson. So while you get his death has to be explored, it is hard to get excited for the investigation.
Forty’s Backstory
Forty continues to be the kind of character who is less of a person and more so written words on a page. What I mean by this is, Forty has never evolved into a real person and still seems like a character description. There aren’t so much layers to the performance of Forty as there are things that are written to make viewers feel a certain type of way. Making it so Forty feels like adjectives resembling a human, with stories behind why each word applies than a person who is the sum of all these words and stories.
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