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S01.E04: Chapter Four


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Airs July 12, 2020

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Mason (Matthew Rhys) and Strickland (Shea Whigham) lean on Virgil (Jefferson Mays), again, for extra-legal assistance. Following Sister Alice's (Tatiana Maslany) recovery from a frightening episode, Birdy (Lili Taylor) urges her daughter to renounce her claims about baby Charlie. E.B. (John Lithgow) faces the reality of his financial situation and takes his frustrations out on Della (Juliet Rylance).


Written by Steven Hanna & Sarah Kelly Kaplan; directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven.

 

 

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(edited)

Well that was surprising.  Hope he’ll be back.

Interesting how faith plays a dual role. E.B’s faith, and Sister Alice’s faith.

Edited by kay1864
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That was an outstanding episode!

I hate to see John Lithgow exit, but he really brought it. Bravo 👏

EB was a righteous man with flaws, as are we all. I loved his line to Emily, "The power of the state wants to crush you" because it perfectly describes what a person is up against in the criminal justice system. The only thing standing between a defendant and the power of the state is the defense attorney. It was heartbreaking to watch EB come to the realization that no matter what he did, he would be destroyed by the ruination of his legal reputation if he went to trial or the the loss of his own self-respect if he persuaded Emily to plead guilty. He saw no way out.

Of course, EB's death was necessary for Perry Mason to come into his own, and I look forward to seeing how he triumphs over incredible odds against him. When he sat next to that crooked cop, he all but sealed his death warrant because a man that will kidnap a baby will do anything to save himself.

Poor Virg, he just wanted to have some fun for a change.

Sister Alice was so close to toeing the line and dialing back her crazy, and then that wacko gave her that blanket for the resurrection, and her crazy got triggered! 😮

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(edited)
7 minutes ago, dramachick said:

I hate to see John Lithgow exit, but he really brought it. Bravo 👏

When he sat next to that crooked cop, he all but sealed his death warrant because a man that will kidnap a baby will do anything to save himself.

Yeah, WTF Perry, what’s the point of tipping your hand?

As for E.B, not 100% sure. I just checked Lithgow’s IMDb listing for the series.

Edited by kay1864
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11 minutes ago, LakeGal said:

I really want to like this show more than I do

Yeah, I feel like I'm supposed to love it but no, that's not happening. Even with the terrific performances, it's boring me with the plodding way the story is unfolding. 

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7 minutes ago, kay1864 said:

Yeah, WTF Perry, what’s the point of tipping your hand?

As for E.B, not 100% sure. I just checked Lithgow’s IMDb listing for the series.

That's OK. I take the story as it comes, and that was EB's suicide episode magnificently done by John Lithgow.

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I don’t know about the pace being too slow.  They mean to use the whole season for this one case so it seems to drag on.

But EB’s exit sure will accelerate Perry’s career change.

Here we were speculating about when he would go to law school and now he has to take over a real high-profile case.

Did we ever see him in court?  Never mind knockout closing arguments.  Does he even know court procedures?

If he’s delivering a summation argument in this case, that would be a little hard to take, since he’s not licensed to practice law.

If he breaks the case open outside of court, makes the DA drop his case, get the crooked cops arrested, that would be dramatic but it wouldn’t be on-brand for this character.

Maybe this Perry Mason won’t try cases?

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Well, that was a dark ending!  I guess between all of his financial issues, Maynard having evidence of him illegally misappropriating funds at one point, and feeling like he is failing Emily and her case, E.B. just felt like he didn't have anything worth living for.  John Lithgow was fantastic in this episode.  I'll wait and see if this is it for him since it didn't look like he died yet and I wonder if something will happen (speculation time: since it looked like it was the morning, I wonder if Della will come back before its too late), but I do think eventually something is going to happen that will cause E.B. to at the very least step down and begin Perry's journey into law.

On the flip side, I continue to love how the show finds way to incorporate humor amongst all the seriousness here.  The scenes with Perry, Pete, and Virgil were hilarious, and I so wish we get more of that in the future.  Obviously, Matthew Rhys and Shea Whigham were perfect as always, but Jefferson Mays is really proving himself to be a great addition as well (of course, every actor here has been on point to say the least.)

Another moment that made me laugh out loud: Maynard kicking out the one guy from the bathroom, but making sure the guy washed his hands first.  Hey, just because the D.A. wants to have clandestine meeting with two shady, dirty cops, doesn't mean we need to skimp out on basic sanitary actions!  Maynard might be a dick and a half, but if he was around during modern times, he would totally take the COV-19 prevention methods seriously!

Interesting seeing a glimpse of Della's personal life.  Seems that she is living at some kind of boarding place, and has a girlfriend/lover.  Couldn't place the actress at first, but I see that it was Molly Ephraim, who is probably best known as Mandy from Last Man Standing.  Never could get into that show (outside of Galaxy Quest and the Toy Story series, Tim Allen's schick grows old after ten minutes for me), but I remember thinking she was great whenever I did catch it, so I hope she continues to get more diverse roles like this.

It certainly looks like the church is in the middle of a civil war, with the "Elders" (who all seem to be older, white men) coming down hard on Mother and Sister Alice.  Even some of the followers/churchgoers are turning on Alice for the whole "resurrect Charlie" thing.  And now it looks like she is doubling down on it, so that should certainly make things fun!

I wonder if the mention of Perry's missing brother is going to lead somewhere.

Enjoyed seeing Perry and Pete work the case, and actually be effective despite, well, being how both Perry and Pete normally are!  At least it has led to the connection between Detective Ennis and the shootout, but I worry that Perry jumped the gun by taunting him like that.  Granted, Perry doesn't seem to be someone who is about playing it safe...

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18 minutes ago, scrb said:

Did we ever see him in court?  Never mind knockout closing arguments.  Does he even know court procedures?

He knows enough to realize his own lawyer was incompetent [ Ep 1]

40 minutes ago, kay1864 said:

Yeah, WTF Perry, what’s the point of tipping your hand?

HBO [among others] was upset at the slow pace of plot development and demanded redress!

Perry should give the Carmichael wingtip to Virgil for doing the autopsy...

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23 minutes ago, scrb said:

But EB’s exit sure will accelerate Perry’s career change.

Here we were speculating about when he would go to law school and now he has to take over a real high-profile case.

Did we ever see him in court?  Never mind knockout closing arguments.  Does he even know court procedures?

 

He testified in court earlier and it wasn't his first time. He even poked one of the lawyers when he wasn't objecting when he should have been. So yeah, I'm sure he has plenty of knowledge of court proceedings and for all we know he might already be ready or almost ready to go to court. Plus there's Della who will presumably be shown to be basically a lawyer herself but unable to practice because she's a woman. I liked her girlfriend.

Perry's story about his farm made sense for how illogical Perry is in general outside his work. When he said if he sold the farm nobody would know the Masons existed I expected Lupe to ask how anybody knew the existed now. The dairy farm isn't exactly advertising them. He's hanging onto nothing there. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't finally sell the farm in order to help Emily like EB couldn't.

Loved the little man in the lady's purse porn idea.

I don't mind the pacing at all. I love just sitting in a room with these people.

I hope they keep Lupe as a friend with benefits rather than trying to make a big romance about it. I feel like the way she never spends the night might be leading up to some big happy ending where she actually does, and that just seems unnecessary.

Already knew Perry's son was no longer into trucks. They haven't done anything about exactly what happened with his marriage. I can see why his wife wouldn't want to be living there but in 1932 I might have expected her to have to stick it out. She has to show up since she's Gretchen Moll.

I hope Perry and Della have some good scenes bonding over EB, dead or just permanently retired.

 

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John Lithgow is just a supreme gift. Even when EB is thoroughly exasperating and vain and stupid, Lithgow just pushes that humanity through so beautifully.  I wanted EB to go out at a peak, clearing Emily, getting his books out of the red, redeeming himself to Della. It seems pretty clear that's not going to happen.

Perry was a fool to show his hand to Ennis like that.  Also, it was painful to watch him try to talk to his son on the phone and then get his ass beat while his son heard. No Drake, which is too bad, but I loved the Pete/Perry show.

Della didn't just do secretarial work for EB, she obviously did just about everything except present in court for him, but it's interesting she didn't know about the legal firm being in financial trouble, one would assume she did the books and paid the bills. She made sure his glasses were on straight and he seemed completely helpless much of the time, I don't know that I buy EB would be capable enough to hide that type of information from her.  But the yelling match was on fire, Della knows how to push back, I love it. 

I like the small glimpse into Della's personal life, but I hope the writers don't feel that making Della queer is sufficient 'characterization', I certainly hope there's richer material being brewed for her.

I like how the Alice/Birdy vs the Elders is building. The unmarried woman being the moneymaker and having power but men firmly in control of the purse and trying to control that power for themselves.

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6 minutes ago, Vella said:

I like the small glimpse into Della's personal life, but I hope the writers don't feel that making Della queer is sufficient 'characterization', I certainly hope there's richer material being brewed for her.

I hope so. I would guess that Della probably became more and more responsible at work as EB got older and with him dead or almost dead I feel like it's got to be a personal story for Della as well as professional. Perry talked about his motivations for keeping the farm and we've seen his war story, I feel like Della has to say something about her own past and how she got where she is now. Maybe they made sure to introduce the girlfriend now so that she'll be there for Della to talk to about this. Plus I'll bet the girlfriend will be there to cheer her on as she and Perry take on the case, with Della having to once again be the power behind the throne. But hopefully Perry would have a more equal relationship with her.

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2 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

Plus I'll bet the girlfriend will be there to cheer her on

More like become an undercover operative...entrap some of those Elders or dirty cops

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WOW!! Great episode! John Lithgow was on fire tonight! You could feel his desperation growing throughout the episode. Stephen Root was scary! I never hated anyone so much as I did his character tonight. 
 
I was really worried about Paul Drake, because I thought those crooked cops would figure out the new lead came from him. They may still retaliate against him. 

I loved this episode. Couldn't take my eyes off of the screen for a second. Beautiful!
 

 

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12 minutes ago, Vella said:

Della didn't just do secretarial work for EB, she obviously did just about everything except present in court for him, but it's interesting she didn't know about the legal firm being in financial trouble, one would assume she did the books and paid the bills.

EB says something to Barnes along the lines of "We all had rough times before the war," and later he's looking for client files from the 1910s, so I assume the money troubles and accompanying embezzlement were from before Della's time.

To me this episode felt like a significant step up for the series. It's still not knocking my socks off, but intrigue is getting a little punchier -- I loved the various shenanigans with poor Gannon's body -- the various interpersonal dynamics are getting a little richer, and some of them are even starting to be about something, like the differing ways Della, Sister Alice, and her mother try to find footholds of power in a man's world. Still some clunky plotting, though, like the idea that the fourth man must belong to the Elk's lodge, because how else could he escape through the building Perry and Pete wandered into with no problem whatsoever?

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2 hours ago, Jextella said:

Isn't EB a character in the original Perry Mason?

No. His name may have come from the books but wasn’t a regular character there or on the tv show. 

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6 hours ago, Vella said:

I like how the Alice/Birdy vs the Elders is building. The unmarried woman being the moneymaker and having power but men firmly in control of the purse and trying to control that power for themselves.

Since Lupe's offer for Perry's property is only $7K and Emily needs $25K to get out on bail, I wonder if Perry will go to Alice for bail money.

 

Della's last argument scene with E.B. is going to impact her finding him (dead or alive) if she does, or even if Perry does. 
Either way (dead or alive) what about E.B.'s nose bleed last episode?
Maybe an autopsy will reveal tumors, and there will be drama over the reasons for his suicide (or attempted). 

 

I will be a little annoyed if social media reveals they made Della gay just to prevent speculation of an attraction between her and Perry. 

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Maynard Barnes is at least an accessory after the fact [wilful wrongful prosecution] or possibly initiated the conspiracy...

How many days has George been dead? Looks like no decomposition and the body should have been stinking...

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1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I will be a little annoyed if social media reveals they made Della gay just to prevent speculation of an attraction between her and Perry. 

If it eliminates inane Moneypenny / Bond style banter, then...worth it!

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9 hours ago, Enigma X said:

Once I realized what EB was doing, I became teary-eyed. The first episode had me on the fence, but now I am in love.

For me the way the scene was a series of fakeouts was interesting.  He's going to poison himself!  Oh no it's the bird feeder.  Is that a razor blade?  No, it's a pin for his collar.  All the way to the end when I thought the chair was for a hanging.  I had just about convinced myself I was wrong until he turned the gas on.

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22 minutes ago, TexasGal said:

For me the way the scene was a series of fakeouts was interesting.  He's going to poison himself!  Oh no it's the bird feeder.  Is that a razor blade?  No, it's a pin for his collar.  All the way to the end when I thought the chair was for a hanging.  I had just about convinced myself I was wrong until he turned the gas on.

I didn't notice all of that --at least not to the degree that you did-- but I was not watching under optimal conditions. 
But from your description, it sounds like the point was to convey EB considering all of those options. Does that seem to make sense?

 

 

 

45 minutes ago, paigow said:

How many days has George been dead? Looks like no decomposition and the body should have been stinking...

I wondered if the writers thought it would be cold in the basement.

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9 hours ago, scrb said:

If he’s delivering a summation argument in this case, that would be a little hard to take, since he’s not licensed to practice law.

If he breaks the case open outside of court, makes the DA drop his case, get the crooked cops arrested, that would be dramatic but it wouldn’t be on-brand for this character.

Maybe this Perry Mason won’t try cases?

I don't know if we know for a fact that Perry isn't licensed to practice, or that he could not get licensed in a timely enough fashion to handle Emily's case. California presumably then and definitely now lets people take the bar without having gone to law school. If the exam is offered twice a year, that is potentially enough time for Perry to take the exam, get the results and sign on as Emily's lawyer. 

Raymond Burr Perry did occasionally win by getting the culprit to confess outside of court, sometimes with the police on standby.

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2 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't know if we know for a fact that Perry isn't licensed to practice, or that he could not get licensed in a timely enough fashion to handle Emily's case. California presumably then and definitely now lets people take the bar without having gone to law school. If the exam is offered twice a year, that is potentially enough time for Perry to take the exam, get the results and sign on as Emily's lawyer

I would be happy with a reveal that Perry already took and passed the bar to deal with his property issues. 

 

3 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Raymond Burr Perry did occasionally win by getting the culprit to confess outside of court, sometimes with the police on standby.

But these police are not Raymond Burr Perry Mason's police. It seems the only way anything legal gets done in this show is through bribery, threats, and debts.

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My sense was that EB's motivation for suicide was, at least partly, to buy some time and a way out for his client.  He made her promise to fight (and really, she was telling him she wouldn't plead guilty in every way during that conversation) -- and if he's dead, he can't be coerced into taking a plea for her.  This way, there will be a delay while she's assigned new counsel and this gives Perry time to find the 4th man.

I like a lot of things about this show, but I'm really frustrated with the writing for Perry.  Matthew Rhys has not been given a clear line through this case for his character or motivations.  Finally tonight we got some backstory on his relationship to EB.  Yay!  OTOH, we got that sentimental connection to the farm which came out of nowhere from what we've seen of his character.  And what did the WWI flashback tell us that is evident in how they've written Perry?  I am a huge Matthew Rhys fan, but I think he's being pulled this way and that so far by the writers.  I hope they get it together.

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1 hour ago, mrsdalgliesh said:

My sense was that EB's motivation for suicide was, at least partly, to buy some time and a way out for his client.  He made her promise to fight (and really, she was telling him she wouldn't plead guilty in every way during that conversation) -- and if he's dead, he can't be coerced into taking a plea for her.  This way, there will be a delay while she's assigned new counsel and this gives Perry time to find the 4th man.

I like a lot of things about this show, but I'm really frustrated with the writing for Perry.  Matthew Rhys has not been given a clear line through this case for his character or motivations.  Finally tonight we got some backstory on his relationship to EB.  Yay!  OTOH, we got that sentimental connection to the farm which came out of nowhere from what we've seen of his character.  And what did the WWI flashback tell us that is evident in how they've written Perry?  I am a huge Matthew Rhys fan, but I think he's being pulled this way and that so far by the writers.  I hope they get it together.

How would it help Emily's defense when he wasn't taking any money from her, in fact tried to get a loan to continue to pay the bills and his employees working on the case?

He can't be sure another lawyer would take it up, without billing her or that Perry and Della would be able to continue the defense.

Emily would be eligible for court-appointed defense but maybe not Perry and Della?  Which would be bad for Emily since they've been working on a case and a new lawyer and his or her team would be starting from scratch.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't know if we know for a fact that Perry isn't licensed to practice, or that he could not get licensed in a timely enough fashion to handle Emily's case. California presumably then and definitely now lets people take the bar without having gone to law school. If the exam is offered twice a year, that is potentially enough time for Perry to take the exam, get the results and sign on as Emily's lawyer. 

Now I want a Legally Blonde-style study montage with Perry and Della et al.

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Raymond Burr Perry did occasionally win by getting the culprit to confess outside of court, sometimes with the police on standby.

That wouldn't end well in this universe!

1 hour ago, mrsdalgliesh said:

I like a lot of things about this show, but I'm really frustrated with the writing for Perry.  Matthew Rhys has not been given a clear line through this case for his character or motivations.  Finally tonight we got some backstory on his relationship to EB.  Yay!  OTOH, we got that sentimental connection to the farm which came out of nowhere from what we've seen of his character.  And what did the WWI flashback tell us that is evident in how they've written Perry?  I am a huge Matthew Rhys fan, but I think he's being pulled this way and that so far by the writers.  I hope they get it together.

I think the sentimentality about the farm has been there from the beginning--it's always been obvious he's killing himself holding onto the place just because his father built it etc. I think the throughline is meant to be his compassion and wanting justice for others--he killed his soldiers to keep them from being tortured even if it brought guilt on himself, his brother ran away/disappeared so he thinks it's his duty to be there for his parents/wait for him to come home.

That said, it doesn't hang together since if he's that responsible why is he letting his son grow up without him? He's running around feeling for all these other people while ignoring the person who actually needs him. Obviously that's on purpose but it's not gelling for me intellectually, even if I believe every minute thanks to Matthew Rhys. Maybe something's still missing that we'll get.

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14 hours ago, Vella said:

Perry was a fool to show his hand to Ennis like that.  Also, it was painful to watch him try to talk to his son on the phone and then get his ass beat while his son heard. No Drake, which is too bad, but I loved the Pete/Perry show.

 

I think it was a calculated risk on Perry's part.  Perry and Pete are basically the only ones who know that there is a fourth person out there. But they didn't have any idea who that fourth person was until Perry saw Ennis at the Elks club.  Thus, in order to flush him out and to get him to make some kind of mistake, Perry kind of had to reveal that he knew something was up.  Otherwise, Ennis is just going to keep going along his merry way, being a corrupt cop and all, but not do anything that would bring them closer to the truth.

There is some risk to it, because obviously the guy is dangerous but I could see why Perry would want Ennis to know that Perry suspected something. It's the sort of maneuver that Columbo used. 

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1 hour ago, scrb said:

Emily would be eligible for court-appointed defense but maybe not Perry and Della?  Which would be bad for Emily since they've been working on a case and a new lawyer and his or her team would be starting from scratch.

Not in 1932, she wouldn't (necessarily). It looks like some form of public defense was beginning to develop in California in the early part of the 20th century but the first Supreme Court case addressing it was itself decided in 1932 and Gideon v. Wainwright wasn't until the 1960s. 

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I started to suspect that this was where we were going to end with EB about halfway through the episode, as the DA started threatening him with digging up stuff from the past and having him disbarred if he didn't throw the case, then as he was talking about his failing health and how many of his friends are dead and not feeling like he was failing Emily, but I really kept hoping that I was wrong. John Lithgow is just so good, he really imbues EB with so much humanity, you can really tell how much he cares about doing the right thing, I am still hoping that maybe someone got to him before it was too late and he can just retire, but I kind of doubt it. That whole suicide prep sequence was just so heartbreaking, my heart hurts thinking about it.

Thank God we got some comic relief antics with Perry and Pete at least. "The fidelity one, it a deal breaker?" 

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3 hours ago, meep.meep said:

They said he had three mortgages on the house.  The banks will get their money before everyone else.

Life insurance payout to a beneficiary is protected from the creditors of an estate.

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1 hour ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

It's the sort of maneuver that Columbo used. 

The classic move when the killer has hidden the ONLY piece of incriminating evidence. Columbo bluffs that he found it, killer panics and leads Columbo to the burial site / secret vault etc...

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2 hours ago, paigow said:

Life insurance payout to a beneficiary is protected from the creditors of an estate.

If he had life insurance, he would have tried to borrow against it.  And, that may have not been the case back then.

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(edited)

Della Street just became so much more interesting. I just love everything about her. She has so much charisma. Juliet Rylance is doing an amazing job. 

I cannot understand why they are throwing in this unusual "resurrection" plot line. Sister is not going to resurrect that baby unless the show does a 360 and it gets all sci fi. Are they going to bring in another baby and claim a fake Charlie was killed? I have to say the baby they showed with those eyes sewn open did not even look real. 

But I keep thinking that resurrection stuff was shoe horned in for a reason. I think it has to do with the crime. 

Edited by DakotaLavender
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6 minutes ago, DakotaLavender said:

But I keep thinking that resurrection stuff was shoe horned in for a reason. I think it has to do with the crime. 

Sister may be setting up a Mentalist seance con to trap Baggerly 

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2 hours ago, DakotaLavender said:

I cannot understand why they are throwing in this unusual "resurrection" plot line. Sister is not going to resurrect that baby unless the show does a 360 and it gets all sci fi. Are they going to bring in another baby and claim a fake Charlie was killed? I have to say the baby they showed with those eyes sewn open did not even look real. 

But I keep thinking that resurrection stuff was shoe horned in for a reason. I think it has to do with the crime. 

Edited 2 hours ago by DakotaLavender

I speculated after the previous episode that the “resurrected” Charlie would be Emily having another baby. 
In this episode we saw Emily in prison, in profile,  clutching a pillow to her abdomen, effectively rendering her silhouette identical to the silhouette of a woman who is pregnant.  

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7 hours ago, edhopper said:

Life insurance won't pay out for suicide.

Wow Sherlock...I never thought of that...oh wait...maybe I did...

 

19 hours ago, paigow said:

Hopefully, the house will explode, accidental death declared and any insurance settlement will be paid to Della so the case can be funded.

 

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