S02.E05: Scream Therapy

[EllaWycliffe]

I'm new to Dirty John although I am well versed on the Betty Broderick story - I read the Strumbo book years ago, and some others and saw the Meredith Baxter Birney movies - but my question is more technical.

This show just popped up on my Netflix saying "New Season!" which is why I am watching it but it sure seems like this aired last year... any idea why my Netflix says its new? 

[Persnickety1]

On 6/10/2021 at 3:36 PM, EllaWycliffe said:

I'm new to Dirty John although I am well versed on the Betty Broderick story - I read the Strumbo book years ago, and some others and saw the Meredith Baxter Birney movies - but my question is more technical.

This show just popped up on my Netflix saying "New Season!" which is why I am watching it but it sure seems like this aired last year... any idea why my Netflix says its new? 

It originally aired last year on the USA network, but it's a new season for Netflix.  I watched it on USA but prefer it on Netflix because there are no commercials to try to skip through (plus it can be marathoned as opposed to waiting for the network weekly installments).  

[Bobcatkitten]

Look, Dan was clearly a crappy husband. But once he left he did offer more than enough support money for her and she is the one who couldn't be an adult about it and just move on. She broke in, harassed them, vandalized their home - repeatedly. Surprised so many people feel that his actions were equal to hers. And we aren't even to the murder. 

[Paloma]

On 6/24/2020 at 10:26 PM, lovesnark said:

Yes! In the book we're told Betty had been threatening divorce for years and would routinely tell the kids they had to choose who they wanted to live with on the spot. Sadly, it almost became a joke with the kids.

The fit she pitched over the ring really did help push Dan out the door. She'd found a very expensive emerald ring and told him about it. When he bought her something different, she had an epic fit and ruined Christmas for the everyone. I bet those kids probably still feel anxious every year when Christmas rolls around. 

I watched this episode again this afternoon and gleaned a couple of things. When she was served the final divorce papers and went on and on about how underhanded it was because she wasn't even there, she was full of shit. She had been notified over and over and over again of every hearing and ignored it. She did not attempt to contact anyone to try to move any of the hearings to a later date so she could try to have a lawyer represent her. She'd been married to one for 16 years. There is no way in hell she didn't know that court cases don't just get postponed forever if one party ignores them. She did the same thing with the Coral Reef house. She refused an offer of the asking price and said she would only accept an offer of $1 million. For a $325k house. After she'd held up two potential sales by refusing to sign the papers, her attorney told her Dan could sell it without her agreeing to it and she would be wise to take the offer. She chose to ignore what he said, then went ballistic and smashed into Dan's house with her Suburban when it happened.

The Easter chase wasn't simply a case of Dan changing his mind. The kids spending the weekend with her was contingent upon her not leaving filthy messages on the answering machine and not having the boys sneak out of the house to meet her on the street like she'd been doing all along. She did both of those things. One of the boys got caught sneaking back into the house a couple days before the weekend. That's why she lost her Easter visit. 

Wow, this information really changes my view of this story! I had been sympathetic to Betty (except for the murders) and put most of the blame on Dan for gaslighting her and being cruel. I thought that she was basically a good, loving wife and mother until his behavior started driving her crazy (not actually insane, but just in the sense of her not being able to trust reality or her own perceptions). I still think he was cruel and a gaslighter (in addition to being a selfish cheater), but if all the details in your post are true, then it's harder to sympathize with her as a symbol of wronged wives.