LadyintheLoop

So Loretta is Dickie's birth mother? Not Ben's?

Short version: you spot it, you got it. The three are past due to talk to the cop who rescued Mabel and Charles, and to read the autopsy report. If we knew whether or not Ben bit his tongue badly before his final fall, we'd know whether or not he faked his collapse on stage. The meth in the meds and the clean tox screen combine to support the "twin" theory. I'd believe that Ben Two killed Ben One so that he could take over their shared life, and that someone else (a grief-stricken Dickie?) killed Ben Two -- but then, what happened to Ben One's body?

Or the building's management took steps to safeguard everyone's privacy. Is the "twin" theory that one Ben died on stage and the other one died in the fall? If that's what happened, where's the first Ben's corpse?

Thanks! I missed that! Seems like an odd choice, though; there's a reason Botox isn't marketed as Poisonous Snake Juice.

Loretta played a pig on a cruise ship? Maybe she's met Charles before. Last week's closing credits showed a bottle marked "venom." Could Dr. C have injected Botox into the wrong spot?

If Original Ben died on the stage, what happened to his corpse?

When Ben spotted the cookies at the table read, Dickie came bustling up with what looked like homemade snacks in Tupperware containers. Apparently Ben's dietary requirements were more complicated than "don't gain weight."

The whole business about how Ben can't have cookies -- not sugar, carbs or calories, just cookies -- seems weirdly specific. Maybe Ben's real issue is a severe nut allergy; gourmet cookie stores post notices that they can't guarantee against cross-contamination. Someone could have baked him a nice batch with nut flour. Is the hanky in Ben's hand necessarily significant? Maybe he just ordered a dozen and had a few left over.

What are the odds that Ethan was done with that teddy bear?

. . . or who spiked the Tim Kono investigation, or why. Poppy left her saliva on the knife, not her fingerprints. She must have sneezed on it. When Poppy was taken away Kreps, clearly under arrest, was calling out to her. He was as much in love as a guy like that can be.

I'm sticking with my theory of Ursula's malfeasance. Who tanked the Tim Kono investigation? There's no evidence that Jan could have had it done, or that some nameless higher-up in the police would have had a motive. Unless Detective Williams was lying all along the only person we've seen who could have done it was Krebs. Why would someone other than the murderer want the investigation shut down? Because someone in the building had something to hide from the police. (If there's another reason I'd love to hear it.) Even if he's also Cinda's willing henchman I think Krebs is working on Ursula's behalf; he either murdered Bunny himself or he's helping her get away with it. If she's arrested she could cut a deal and testify about his betrayal of the public trust.

Bunny was still alive when Mabel found her. And bleeding profusely.

True, but she probably knows how she met Charles and Oliver, and how much they mean to her. Those friendships are a big part of Mabel's identity.

Me too, but could it just be a tribute to the podcast that brought Mabel two true friends?

Well, to someone who'd knocked on her door was hostile, even for Bunny. The rest was for when the person attacked.

OK, Ursula probably isn't Kreps' girlfriend -- though her hair is no blacker than Nina's and I think I've seen her in glasses -- but we know now that he's a dirty cop for hire. He still could have sabotaged the Kono case for her. Ursula could have poisoned poor Winnie and left the note on Jan's door because she didn't want amateurs nosing around, either. All the confusion over the picture and the frame-up attempts and Cinda Canning might be camouflage for a far more prosaic motive. Alternately, Ursula might have done nothing worse than misappropriate funds. However, I think that Bunny's greeting to the murderer, hostile even by her standards, suggests someone she knew well and deeply disliked but didn't fear.

In the first season there were some passing references to an elevator inspection but on Bunny's last day, an elevator stopped and she got it running again. What if she called the company to complain and found out that the work had never been done because Ursula just pocketed the money? And Marv is a mold inspector, not a remediator; suppose he found a mold problem that was never fixed, and that's why there's so much sneezing going on? If there was some connection between Ursula and Kreps she might have persuaded him to tank the Tim Kono investigation, even though she was innocent -- she'd want the police out of the building.

OK, Pam picked up her victim six days after Carol got away. It was still stupid of her.

Well, she couldn't very well kill her in the car. What's amazing is that she stuck to the plan and picked someone else up -- was it really the very same day? And she was lucky that no strangers recognized her from Dateline. Did Askey indicate at the original trial that cell phone records weren't to be trusted? Ironic if that's why Pam didn't just leave her phone at home.

And she'd put it in plastic to keep the blood off. I hope her fellow inmates shun her. Even run-of-the-mill murderers might have some standards.

So Pam made that poor man stand on the square so he wouldn't stain the carpet? Nothing suspicious there, no siree Bob. Despite all the suspicion, could she ever have been charged in Betsy's death if she hadn't tried to drag Russ back on? Looks like the Derby Street house really was her undoing. Good.

And everyone, including Pam, agreed that Pam was a liar.

That principal was a lady who commanded respect -- emphasis on "commanded." Considering that the child was a preemie, you'd think Bow and Dre would have been on the lookout for signs of learning disabilities. Still, the real problem might have been that his primary caretaker was off living with his girlfriend for months. Now it looks like we're being set up for Dre to leave Stevens & Lido at the end of the series. Is it just now occurring to him that having another child reset the empty-nest countdown? He had ample time between Bow's pregnancy scare and her actual pregnancy to figure that one out.

The more you see of her son, the more you have to suspect that being the unfavorite was actually Sara's good fortune. It's not clear how financial issues will play into the denouement, but wouldn't it be great if the Derby Street house were Pam's downfall?

I was afraid for a minute that Pam was going to put her mother's diaper on her head.