"You will not be like him!"
Celeste is not handling things well, she even gets in a car accident after taking an Ambien and Madeline is getting increasingly worried about Bonnie’s state of mind, she wants to get Abby out of that house and Bonnie agrees but the first thing Abby does is accidentally reveal Madeline’s infidelity to Ed. He feels like he’s totally done with her, like their relationship is not working anymore if they can’t confide in each other or trust each other in any way. And to be honest I can't really stand Ed so I wouldn’t mind it if Madeline got to meet someone new. Things don't get better when he finds out about Ziggy, he's angry because she didn’t tell him what was going on but I honestly don’t think he’s right here, none of it involves him and Jane and Celeste’s privacy is way more important than his need to know every gossip.
Renata is on a roll but then Gordon gets arrested for fraud which leads to a couple funny scenes. It was especially funny how unaware Renata was about the fact you actually have to do time for financial crimes. And she gets blindsided by the fact they might be broke by the end of the year, which she refuses to believe, now the cherry on top was definitely Gordon trying to paint this as if it was a new chance to start all over without material things, and, of course, Renata is not a fan of this plan.
Nathan pulls a last resort by calling Bonnie’s mother to see if she can get through to her. I love how he manages to make everything about himself, he sees his wife is not doing well and instead of trying to help her because he loves her, he's talking about how his last divorce created trauma, it's just so ridiculous. His face of realization when Bonnie’s mom states the obvious and says it’s all because of Perry’s death was actually kinda hilarious, how oblivious can he be?
Bonnie’s mom can tell something’s wrong but it’s also interesting the read she has of her, how she thinks part of the appeal of her life in Monterey is her isolation, how she chooses to be around people who could never understand her. The fact that her mom sounds like she used to be some kind of alcoholic and now thinks she can control her drinking sounds like something that will be addressed later on, but the most interesting thing was the final scene between them when Bonnie's mom asks her what has she done this time, which definitely opens a whole new world of possibilities around her past.
The scene with Celeste and the therapist was such an intense one, it was a great idea to make her put things in perspective to make her imagine Madeline in her place, to make her realize how she would feel if she saw someone she loves in her place, and not herself who she casn’t avoid blaming for everything. The look on her therapist’s face when she was screaming was heartbreaking too, she realized how much pain this was causing but she knew it was absolutely necessary.
Things don't get better right away, of course, at one point Celeste's kids are fighting and when she intercedes she shoves Max to the floor screaming he’ll not be like his father. After that, of course, she’s horrified by herself, but it’s interesting to see how all of them struggle with the impulse for violence, as she’s trying to get them not to be like Perry but she's also emulating her own abuser.
Mary Louise finds out about Ziggy through the boys and Celeste freaks out, I guess it makes sense they would be acting out because of this bit of news on top of their loss. It turns out Chloe heard it from Madeline and told the boys and Ziggy. They tell Jane, which brings her to one of the hardest conversations of her life, she gets the courage to answer all of her son’s questions but it’s hard because she's not willing to lie to him anymore and these are hard truths, I have to say I don't know what kind of effect this can have on a child but I'm proud of her courage.
Another kind of mother, Mary Louise, tries every single excuse to maintain her memory of her son and make Celeste doubt Jane’s word, she doesn’t even believe Celeste when she tells her about his abuse and starts connecting dots about the night of Perry’s death and his wife’s motives to perhaps kill him. She even threatens to go to the police but I guess we'll see where that goes.
Through flashbacks, we learn that the fact that Celeste had no family seemed like an interesting thing to Perry when they started dating, and it only made me think how abusers tend to want their victims isolated, with this in mind the family she has built for herself now seems all the more valuable, especially because the episode ends with Jane and Celeste finally introducing their kids officially as siblings. The whole thing seems to go pretty well and it’s kinda nice to see them as a very dysfunctional family, which introduces a world of possibilities, as well, good and bad.
"What have you done this time?"
What did you think about this episode? I look forward to your comments.
