Annber03

Yes. This. Very strange choice of words, indeed. Also a good question! Yeah, it kinda seemed like the kids were forgotten amidst all the craziness. I don't think she killed him there, either, and I'm kind of surprised that the investigators didn't think to look at any other possible places where she murdered him. Or if they did, it would've been good to hear about them. I also remember there was someone who seemed a bit incredulous at the thought that she would drive all that way just to dump the suitcases, and that didn't surprise me, sadly, mainly because I saw a story a couple weeks ago on an episode of "Evil Lives Here". A man had murdered his children and went so far as to bury them in another state far away, in the hopes that neither his wife nor anyone else would ever find them.

Haha, great minds :D! I agree with you about people trashing the person who died. Honestly, it's not really a surprise that marriage fell apart as it did, 'cause the way the friends kept talking about them breaking up and getting back together and how there was infidelity (on both ends, apparently) and things of that sort, and how they seemed attracted to the "drama" of it all...I mean, that should've probably given off some red flags right there that this could end badly. Granted, I doubt most people imagined the bad end would involve one of them being murdered and dismembered, but still... But yeah, much of the time Melanie talked about Bill, she kept focusing on the bad aspects of him and their life together, which speaks volumes. It seems that marriage was by and large an unhappy one. On both ends. The idea of the stepfather being involved is interesting. He struck me odd during the episode, too-he seemed very protective of his stepdaughter, in the "She can do no wrong" sort of way. Which, I mean, I get on a parental level you want to defend and support your child, even in awful circumstances like this, and it can be a struggle to accept someone you love could do something like that. But I didn't get the sense that's why he was so defensive of her here. They did mention the possibility of her having an accomplice, and given just HOW much work was involved here, with the long trips and the cutting up of the body and disposing of it and whatnot, yeah, that'd be an awful lot for one person to do all on their own. So it wouldn't surprise me if there were some truth to the "accomplice" theory. And if there was one, I can see her turning to someone like him for help. I'm okay with the idea of revisiting certain cases on a general level, because time and technology and new evidence can do wonders, and sometimes it is good and necessary to take another look at a case. And indeed, there have been cases where all the evidence seems to point at one person, and they look very guilty...and yet it turns out they actually didn't do it. Add in how high profile some cases are, and that makes it al the easier for investigations to be flawed and court cases to be questionable, because everyone's more focused on their fifteen minutes of fame than they are actual justice. Or there's more public pressure to make the "right" ruling. But with this one, yeah, after watching, I did feel like, "...and why did this need to be rehashed again?" I got the feeling this was less about proving her innocence than it was to make her appear more sympathetic than she did initially, given the way they kept talking up the stuff about the abuse and his mismanagement of money and things of that sort. The podcasters may have started off trying to see if she was innocent, but when that angle didn't pan out, the focus seemed to turn more to, "Well, if she did it, she had valid reason to do so! Look at how much of a jerk he was!"

That was another thing that struck me in that episode-at one point Melanie goes, "I can't be an evil genius and incompetent all at the same time." And I was like, "...who's calling you an evil genius here?" People were talking about how methodical the murder was, yes, but for one thing, that doesn't automatically make someone an "evil genius", it just shows they're capable of scheming and knowing how to plot things. You don't necessarily need to be a brilliant mastermind to do that. For another, there are plenty of murderers who are under the belief that they're so smart that they managed to commit the perfect murder and nobody will ever catch them, and who pride themselves on all the lengths they went to to try and cover their tracks...only for them to be tripped up by some small detail that they either didn't notice or didn't think about or didn't plan for or whatever. I think she's frustrated that her seemingly perfect scheme got undone so easily, and by making that "evil genius" comment, she (unknowingly?) tipped her hand a bit there.

Yeah, there wasn't really a whole lot in the way of new information here. They spent, like, an hour and forty-five minutes basically rehashing the story itself, with comments from Melanie along the way, and then the last fifteen minutes or so were spent on the podcasters, and even then, there wasn't really much they offered that pointed to another suspect. And everything Melanie kept trying to use as a defense, or to explain away some of her odd behavior and treatment towards Bill (the abusive fight from that night, the issues with the house and his gambling (which clearly seemed a particular point of contention), the affair, her messing with his car just to spite him, her reason for buying the gun, etc.) all just made her look more guilty and pointed to more of a motive on her end. I mean, I'd be willing to hear more from those who have the theory that Bill got caught up in some scheme while gambling, because it's not uncommon for shady people in that line of work to murder someone in that fashion. But the problem is that nobody's ever been able to make any sort of connection to that theory. There's no mention of interviewing people he may have met or known in Atlantic City, or in the gambling circles he ran in in general. There's no forensic evidence or witnesses or things of that sort tying anyone from any casinos or anything of that sort to him that night. There's nobody that Melanie has pointed to to say, "I've always had a bad feeling about this guy, you should look into him", or things of that sort. Even Bill's friends don't make any mention of him getting caught up with shady people in the gambling world, and given how long they knew him, one would think they'd get on board with that theory, too, if they felt there was something there. Instead, we just have his car being found in Atlantic City...and Melanie openly admitted she messed with his car. And she seems to be the only one who's touched it besides Bill. So... There's really not a list of any other people with a motive to kill him besides her, and even the podcasters who looked into this case further couldn't really come up with any alternative suspects (or at least, they didn't mention any). If anyone does manage to come up with some definitive proof pointing to another suspect, great, share away. But yeah, as of now, this didn't really do much to prove her innocence. On a different note, my god, I feel bad for the poor kid on that boat who tore open those trash bags only to find body parts. I wonder how much that memory haunts him all these years later. I'm amazed none of the adults on board, upon seeing the trash bags, got the kid away from the suitcase. Especially since one of them made a point of saying they got nervous upon seeing the trash bags, 'cause they figured that wasn't a good sign.

I love that song, too :). Always puts me in a good mood. I remember one time, my family was returning home from a trip, and we ran into some thunderstorms along the way. Just as the storms passed us and the sun started coming back out, that song came on :D. I was like, "Well, that's appropriate...", LOL. Neil Finn did a good cover of the song a number of years back, too, for the Antz movie:

Wow. I don't think I've ever heard Stevie Wonder swear before. Short and sweet and to the point-well said, Stevie. And I would totally listen to that version of "I Just Called to Say I Love You" :p. Soooooo much I could say about all this election craziness, but politics, so... On a lighter note, yay for Jon being involved in Farm Aid, that's cool :). "Truly, these are the moments in history where we pause and say, '...all right...?'." LMFAO. What a weird story.

Ah, lucky you, getting to experience the show in full for the first time :D! So glad you liked it! I agree about its overall consistency-it's not often a show can stay that strong for so long, but yeah, I think that speaks to the high caliber of the cast and crew involved that they were able to achieve that. Indeed. Even if it was a minor thing that initially seemed like it wasn't connected to the main storyline, they still found a way to tie it in (I'm thinking specifically of the episode with the politician who claimed he was abducted by aliens. Roz made an offhand comment at one point about Chopper Dave flying by in his helicopter and the lights and noise disrupting the guy she was with. And they managed to connect that little aside to the main story so perfectly in the end). But yeah, this is definitely one of those shows where I can watch an episode countless times and I'm still cracking up at it as though I were watching for the first time. That's the hallmark of a good comedy.

Exactly what I was thinking throughout the episodes. You have that many guns in your house like that, you're frankly just asking for trouble. Agreed. Even if one thinks Mary's guilty, when the police bungle an investigation like that, they have nobody to blame but themselves for the outcome. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle in regards to who was the volatile one in the relationship. They seemed to be the sort of couple that, when you put them together, it's like oil and water, and they brought out the worst in each other. But yeah, Mary had to know that her "accident" claim was going to be scrutinized, given her experience with and ownership of so many guns. She knew exactly what she was doing pointing that gun at him. I'm not a gun owner, have no personal experience with guns, and even I know that any gun owner worth their salt would say that you always treat guns as though they're loaded, even if you know they aren't, and you never point a gun at someone if you aren't intending to use it on them, or threatening to do so. I'm also always skeptical of claims of guns going off "accidentally"-I'm not denying there may well be instances where that happens, but I've watched enough shows like this with demonstrations about how guns work to know that they're made in such a way where it's quite hard for that to happen. And for good reason, obviously.

I agree with that article and your post as well. I've grown up with the weekly episode format, so it's just what I'm used to. Usually if I binge something, it's on my own time, and it's when I want to do a marathon of a particular show. There have been a few shows on streaming sites I've binged, simply because that's how they were released, but yeah, if a show can do the "new episode each week" thing, I prefer that.

I, for one, welcome our new dog overlords :D.

Oh, man, really needed that story about the dogs 😄 (that picture <3!). Very interesting idea.

Oh, really? That's interesting... Further proof of my suspicions there's a LOT more weird issues in this family's past than were revealed here.

The story about the new clarifications regarding subways and buses. Mmkay, then. We clearly needed that, though, 'cause everything else is just...*Rubs temples*. Regarding the whole concept of doomscrolling in general, that's just one reason of many why I shut down sites and such that can contribute to that early in the evening and stay away from them the rest of the night. At least with people like Stephen (or John Oliver, or Seth Meyers), I can laugh at some of the craziness along the way and get a few lighter moments/intereviews/etc. mixed in as well. ETA: Jon's sigh and quiet despair. I hear ya, buddy.

There was also that moment early on in the episode where they talked briefly about how Jake didn't approve of who his sister was with that struck me rather interesting. Obviously, given Dave's involvement in this and the fact people talked about how Jake seemed afraid of him prior to his going missing, he clearly had good reason to feel that way. But I can't help feeling like there was more to that element of the story, too, that they didn't discuss further. Clearly the farm caused a big split within the family dynamics, but I feel like it was the final straw in regards to other family issues that had probably been simmering for years prior to that.

He's an actor. I know him from the "Dallas" reboot from a few years back and "Desperate Housewives".