S01.E06: Least You Had A Spare

[Cranberry]

Original airdate: 10/28/21

[Cranberry]

Quoting myself from the episode four thread:

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I have no idea what's going on with Clara and all this cult stuff and how the dad is involved, but if the twins' mother is actually still alive I'm going to rage.

Welp. Glad we got some answers, at least.

Is Dylan in on it? He's been a suspicious piece of shit for a while and he was driving a black truck after Riley got attacked, but the ending was ambiguous. He looked confused when he followed that rat to the back of the cave, like he hadn't been in there before. He's so damn wooden though that I can't tell whether he was expecting Clara or whether he was in shock. All I know is I still want him to die. I am 100% not here for any kind of love triangle between him, Alison, and Margot, either (but if he is in on it, Margot is setting herself up for an extra violent death by being so possessive of Alison).

I've seen a bit of speculation that Margot is the killer, though. Like, she knows Alison isn't Lennon and her motive is the exact one she suggested for Dylan this episode -- killing everyone around Alison first and saving her for last to punish her for killing the girl she loved. She's been conveniently throwing suspicion onto everyone else all along, from Alison herself to Bruce to Clara to Dylan. I've also seen speculation that Dylan is involved with the cult somehow -- which would make his insistence on carving names into the wall alongside the cult members' names make more sense, as well as his unsurprised reaction to Clara -- but that they're only collecting the bodies for ritualistic purposes and someone else is the murderer... and Margot's the only (living) major character who hasn't been a red herring yet. Would the show make a troubled queer girl who's attending therapy the killer? Bleh, I hope not. Can we alibi her out?

I guess Riley's actually dead now, huh? I spent half the episode angry that they killed her before we really got to know her, then a bit of time happy that she might make it after all, and now I'm angry again. I won't miss her mom, though. Also, we got to see both attacks, for the people who wanted that! Kind of irritating that the first more graphic violence they actually showed was against women, though.

Oh, and I guess now we know why Lennon's body looked so good after a year -- honey is a natural preservative. 

[Cranberry]

I think a poster from anon forum The L Chat may have blown this whole thing wide open. I'd credit her, but... anon forum. Here's her post:

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New theory.

All of this misdirection regarding both Dylan and Margot isn't really misdirection, at least not in the way everyone would think. I think there are two different main "plots" and two different killers, one for each plot: Dylan killing for the cult, and Margot the secrets surrounding Lennon.

Dylan keeps talking about not being a good person, about morality, karma, redemption, how "there is no redemption in this life." This lines up with what Clara tells Bruce about Lennon's body: He should be happy about what she did to it, because it means Lennon is prepared to leave the sins of this life behind and seek redemption in the next life.

Dylan is just spouting cult stuff at this point. He's also the one to leave Johnny's severed head on the police's front doorstep, AND he's seen at the cave several times. He knows all about the cult so I believe that at some point, he's been indoctrinated, and is killing his friends - Johnny and Riley so far - to ensure that they earn redemption in the next life for what they did. Eric and Courtney were collateral damage - Eric as bait, and Courtney because she was looking for Riley, who was alive at this point, and on the run, and Dylan and Clara had to stop Courtney from finding her or alerting anyone else. Eric, Courtney, and Johnny also all died in elaborate traps. Dylan went to MIT, so he would have an understanding of physics and mechanics to build these traps.

And as an anon pointed out, when he was playing Mortal Kombat, he was playing as a character that kills their opponent by vomiting (summoning?) bugs to eat them from the inside out.

This is what happened to Johnny and what will likely happen to Riley, as part of the cult's sacrifice.

There's also the moment when Dylan runs to and hugs Bruce. I believe Bruce was in Dylan's position 25 years ago and was supplying bodies for the cult (there were no suicides). He got out but still wanted to protect Clara, married Helen (who then leaves him for Fred), Bruce carves her name in the cave to make it look like she's dead (Dylan is the new cave carver).

However - these two murders have this specific MO, and the others do not, which hints at a different killer.

This leads us to the other plot line, away from the cult: the secrets surrounding Lennon/Allison. Dale, Officer Cruise, and Harold, so far, are the victims in this plotline, and I believe Margot is the killer. She knew Lennon best, and could possibly have known many of Lennon's secrets that even Allison didn't know, like the fact that their mother was alive, the Fred Phillips thing, and clearly she knew about the Only Fans.

She killed Dale to tie up the loose ends about the OnlyFans account, and to protect Lennon/Allison because she's afraid of him. He could possibly expose all of the secrets; see her reaction when Allison reveals in the cave that Dale attacked her. After this scene in the cave with all of them together, Allison is going to confront Dale, and Margot, Dylan, and Riley join her. Dylan and Riley are still wearing the same clothes as the cave scene, but Margot is in a totally different outfit.

Officer Cruise ties all of the OF/Dale information together and is asking questions so she kills him. She's headed towards the bathrooms right before the murder, and we later see her in the restaurant alone - stress eating a cake. This is her stress response. Before she's headed to the bathrooms, she seems quite relaxed. After the bathroom - binge eating. She's also shown to know how to use a gun, and killed Harold because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I also think she's behind the text messages to Allison with Fred Phillips and the OF info (these texts were only sent to Allison, not the group text) because she knows Allison is pretending to be Lennon and is trying to provide her with the info Lennon would actually know/help her uncover the truth behind what happened to Lennon prior to the accident. Allison was really slipping in this episode, not having any idea that Dale and Lennon were hooking up or playing creepy stalking games, which even Riley knew, so Margot is letting Allison in on key things about Lennon that Allison will need to keep the facade up, while also giving her the information that Lennon had about their family.

As to why she's doing all of this? Either A) Lennon is alive and Margot is working with Lennon as Lennon's public face or B) Lennon had told all of these secrets to Margot before she died, and now Margot is taking revenge on Lennon's behalf, mostly against the Dad. Lennon did yell at the dad that she was going to make everyone see how weak and pathetic and manipulative he was...

TLDR - Margo and Dylan are both responsible for the killings, for different reasons.

 

[Keywestclubkid]

I hope i can survive a knife wound to the chest and getting a hand cut off someday LOl god this show is just getting stupid

[Mabinogia]

6 hours ago, Keywestclubkid said:

I hope i can survive a knife wound to the chest and getting a hand cut off someday LOl god this show is just getting stupid

I've been watching way too much Cinema Sins because every time Riley showed up after being stabbed and having her hand lobbed off I kept say "and she survives this". That girl has some serious survival instinct. While I felt bad for Courtney that no one would help her find her missing daughter, I also hate her for totally ignoring that same daughter when she literally called her for help. 

I am not sure what to make of that last moment. Dylan is clearly involved with the cult in some way. Either he wants to be in the cult or his mums are in the cult and he was born into it, or when Allennon died he snapped and has gone all culty. I do like the idea that he is killing them all cult like as some sort of "saving them from their sins" bs, because that totally jives with the "I know what you did last summer" thing. Like, I know you killed a girl and so I'm going to kill you all to cleanse you of your sins because I'm an asshole who is easily led. 

Margot being the killer also makes a kind of sense but I don't like it as much. Mostly because she has been portrayed in a way that makes her seem mentally and emotionally fragile, so it rings too much like the "crazy lesbian" driven mad because her lover screws around a lot. 

The mum's alive reveal was a bit of a let down but I guess if Lennon was Daddy's Girl Allison was Mommy's Girl so she would take it harder than her sister. Honestly, though, his story about trying to protect their feelings is a load of bull. I don't know that my mother wanting to kill herself rather than be my mom is any better than her just leaving. Either way you're saying she chose to leave her daughters. Not sure why he couldn't just say there was an accident and she died. Oh, right, he's an ass, and a terrible actor. Yikes! That scene, where he tells Allison the truth, Madison Iseman was acting the hell out of that scene and he was just standing there. 

[gesundheit]

On 10/28/2021 at 9:58 PM, Cranberry said:

I've seen a bit of speculation that Margot is the killer, though. Like, she knows Alison isn't Lennon and her motive is the exact one she suggested for Dylan this episode -- killing everyone around Alison first and saving her for last to punish her for killing the girl she loved. She's been conveniently throwing suspicion onto everyone else all along, from Alison herself to Bruce to Clara to Dylan. I've also seen speculation that Dylan is involved with the cult somehow -- which would make his insistence on carving names into the wall alongside the cult members' names make more sense, as well as his unsurprised reaction to Clara -- but that they're only collecting the bodies for ritualistic purposes and someone else is the murderer... and Margot's the only (living) major character who hasn't been a red herring yet. Would the show make a troubled queer girl who's attending therapy the killer? Bleh, I hope not. Can we alibi her out?

There do seem to be some occasions when she's very much accounted for, but of course with the "two separate killers" theory, that doesn't necessarily exclude her. I really hope it's not her. I would say we could find some clues in behavior and that she's been particularly unemotional about life-and-death situations several times during the series, but so has literally every character in this bizarre-ass show!

16 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

The mum's alive reveal was a bit of a let down but I guess if Lennon was Daddy's Girl Allison was Mommy's Girl so she would take it harder than her sister. Honestly, though, his story about trying to protect their feelings is a load of bull. I don't know that my mother wanting to kill herself rather than be my mom is any better than her just leaving. 

Completely insane. Being left at least allows room either for hope or to direct some healthy anger at the missing parent, but a parent's suicide? A lifelong trauma. "I thought the easiest thing for you to hear is that your mother killed herself" is one of the more absurd attempts at logic I've ever heard of.

I was glad Courtney went to search for Riley after the earlier scenes of her being wildly overwritten as a garbage mom, but instead of making her a more dimensional character it really just seemed like it came out of nowhere. Completely ridiculous that everyone was just shrugging it off with "eh, she's probably fine" when they've just buried half the town.

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, gesundheit said:

I was glad Courtney went to search for Riley after the earlier scenes of her being wildly overwritten as a garbage mom, but instead of making her a more dimensional character it really just seemed like it came out of nowhere.

My guess is it came from Courtney actually having to make her own coffee that morning. It wasn't until Riley wasn't there to wait on her that she seemed to care. Of all the people killed so far Courtney is the one I am most glad about. The only reason I was even remotely sad she died was if Riley had actually survived she would be an orphan. Other than that, good riddance. 

[TeeVee329]

I was surprised how much I bought into Courtney's turnaround here, her panic when she realized Riley was missing and her gut maternal instinct that something was wrong.  Good performance by Cassie Beck (I also laughed at her delivery of "Did you steal her phone, you goat dick!").  And then a solidly slasher-y (and actually on-screen) demise.

The killer trying to run down Riley (which reminded of the Fisherman trying to do the same to Ryan Phillippe in the movie) and then attacking her was another decent slasher set piece.  But her managing to stumble from Clara's (which was established to be on the outskirts of the town) to her home, after being stabbed through the chest and having her forearm chopped off, without anyone seeing her, was ridiculous.  And to what end?  It's not like the rest of the gang stumbled upon the body, or the killer was making her suffer or taunting the others.  And also, why did the killer then lure the gang to the bluffs if she wasn't in the water?

I am also getting suspicious of Margot, but it was more the random flashback clip of her summoning Riley away from dancing with Lennon and meanly saying she was acting slutty or whatever.  It was such a quick, otherwise unnecessary moment that it felt like it wasn't there for no reason and we certainly have seen that she has a pathological need to have Lennon to herself.

The dad's revelation that the mom is alive made me wonder if we're in for some stunt casting, like imagine it's Sarah Michelle Gellar or something, but it's also hard to imagine they'd have been able to pull off something like that given production during COVID.

Finally, again, Dylan, Lennon might have given you drugs, but she didn't force them up your nose.  You.  took.  them.  Nobody's to blame for that, and then you nailing Lennon, but you.

[peachmangosteen]

10 hours ago, TeeVee329 said:

And also, why did the killer then lure the gang to the bluffs if she wasn't in the water?

I didn't get that either. What was the point?

[Cranberry]

Maybe the killer was just making sure the gang and Courtney weren't anywhere near Riley's actual location, so they couldn't help her in time? No idea.

[peachmangosteen]

Ah, so the killer knew Riley was still alive and crawling around town then. I didn't realize that lol.

[ZeeEnnui]

I guess Hot Surf Dad won't be getting a "Best Dad" mug at Christmas. JFC.

The least believable thing about this show is not that there is a mysterious killer stalking these teens. No it's that not one but two people on this show were totes in love with Dylan! Unless self-righteous is the new sexy then no, I'm not buying it.