S01.E08: The Son

[formerlyfreedom]

Ben reexamines his actions the night of Tom’s murder and an alternative theory emerges along with a stunning discovery.

[Madding crowd]

I really want to find out who killed Tom and I like Ben, but a lot of things felt off in this episode. I don't get Dave or how he can act so jokey when his friend might be arrested for murder. Then Ben is deeply depressed about his daughters being gone etc, but can still make jokes about Dave's santa hat. Then wrapping up the flashlight as a gift?

 

I also found it over the top that Dave slipped random pills into Ben's drink, and that the exact same woman happened to be in the bar when Ben and Dave returned. Not to mention that it is unlikely that Christie would have had an ultrasound and they would not know the baby's sex nor would her blood work reveal the sex of the baby.

 

Despite all this silliness, I want to know how someone got into the locked house (and Jess is one sound sleeper) and I feel sad because Tom seemed like such a sweet kid. 

[sjohnson]

Big confirmations of widely bruited theories that Dave got the flashlight and that Ben was drugged and that the fight was about Jess. And it was Christy who brought up the subject which means she could have known or suspected for an indeterminate period of time. 

 

The only things truly new are an explanation for Cornell's early fixation on Ben, and the money. The money however is a powerful indicator I think Christy didn't do it. Which I think means left field suspect Dave, Natalie and Abby are coming into focus. 

 

For what it's worth, Cornell was giving the fish eye to Abby when asking about what Ben did with Tom in the Cornell Confidential website.

[TheRabbi]

I actually found this episode captivating.  From a story perspective, it was something him and his buddy should have hashed out about 5 episodes ago, but I guess they wouldn't be able to drag it out for a full season if they did that (I was reminded of The Killing, where they didn't even search the damn car the girl was found in until the first season finale).  There was reasonable enough explanations for the events that were occurring, though I don't know why (or don't remember why) Christie has done a complete 180 and is now just a grade A bitch.

[sjohnson]

Not to mention that it is unlikely that Christie would have had an ultrasound and they would not know the baby's sex nor would her blood work reveal the sex of the baby.

 

 

This was originally an Australian TV series and the show hasn't always adapted very well to the US (as in the seasonal weather.) But blood tests to determine the sex of a child have apparently been drug store items for some years abroad, which I guess includes Australia. 

 

Dave's jokiness and gift wrapping I thought were clearly related to his nerves. And it was only the huge save with the flashlight that even gave him the nerve to confess. Ben forgiving him so easily I thought showed Christy was jealous of the wrong person. Ben likes Dave much more than her.

[Sandman]

Since the money appears to be Christy's big secret, she's probably not the murderer; still, she's hateful, and I totally want her to be guilty of the whole damn thing.

 

Wow, Ben, your life truly and thoroughly sucks: your wife finds out you cheated on her (and she already looks down on you), your marriage is probably over, and you get roofied by your own best friend. Merry effin' Christmas, buddy!

[Madding crowd]

I'm not aware of any blood tests which would tell the sex of a baby in the first few weeks or any abortion clinics which would require a woman of Christie's age to find out the sex of her baby prior to having an abortion. And I have volunteered for Planned Parenthood for over 20 years. However, if this is something that people use in other countries to immediately find out the sex, then I still wonder why Christie would choose to find out the sex and even have an ultrasound if she already knew she was going to have an abortion. 

 

I am interested in the money that Christie has hidden away and why she is so damn hateful even go so far as hurting her daughters at Christmas time. I don't think she is the killer but I can't imagine who else it is either.

[sjohnson]

Then this might be of work-related interest? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/health/10birth.html?_r=0

[Madding crowd]

Yes, but there are no abortion clinics that require a woman to determine the sex of her child before performing the abortion. There have been recent laws in some states that are requiring woman to have an ultrasound, but they were not in effect 6 years or so ago when this took place. The article you mentioned also said "as early as 7 weeks" but then said the accuracy even at 7 weeks would be suspect. It also didn't say anything about hospitals or doctors using this test or requiring this test on woman.

 

Ben mentioned the blood tests being mailed to there home. We don't know how many weeks pregnant she was (the ultrasound actually looked more like a four month pregnancy to me), but there would be no reason for her to get blood test results on the sex through the mail from any hospital. I'm guessing they are going with Christie being further along and getting a later than usual abortion, but there are limits on how many weeks along she could have been. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I actually really liked this episode.  A lot more satisfying than the episodes we're used to.  I don't really like that I watched the preview for next episode.  My fault.  And I logged into Twitter and Ryan Phillippe was live-tweeting everything while I was a half hour behind.  Again, my fault.  But I really enjoyed this past episode, as it was.  So much better than torture porn or episodes of Ben being the world's greatest idiot.

 

I don't really get the whole parenting thing, I've never been a parent.

- If the children don't want to go with Christy, then why would they, or why would they have to?  Why couldn't they have just stayed put last episode?

- Why would the older child feel the need to lie to Christy about what a great time she was having?  What does that accomplish?

 

And here's my very stupid question, since everyone seems to be so sure.  How does Christy hiding money show she's not the murderer?

 

This show has proven to me just exactly how hot Ryan Phillippe has become.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Sandman]

I think Natalie must have been afraid that if her mother heard her complaining to her dad, it would wreck whatever slender chance still existed that Christy would consent to his seeing the girls. The fact that Christy's hiding the money doesn't prove anything about the murder logically -- it just seems to be the pattern of the show so far that the secrets are never what they seem. If there are two more episodes to go, revealing Christy as the murdering murderer who murdered the kid might be a tad premature for episode 8. 

[freshpint]

I believe this episode reveals that Abby the youngest daughter is the killer. She asks Cornell if Jess is going to leave, meaning she hopes she does so that her family can possibly stay together without Jess always being around and causing a distraction. She killed Tom hoping to get rid of Jess because her parents were fighting about the affair.

[damalanop]

I believe this episode reveals that Abby the youngest daughter is the killer. She asks Cornell if Jess is going to leave, meaning she hopes she does so that her family can possibly stay together without Jess always being around and causing a distraction. She killed Tom hoping to get rid of Jess because her parents were fighting about the affair.

This sounds so plausible, but damn, I hope it's not the case. Abby as the killer would be way too heartbreaking.

I liked this episode much more than the last few. Especially since so much of the story was moved along. It was nice to have missing pieces of the night Tom was killed filled in.

Christie is SO hateable! Her indignation about Ben's affair does not garner any empathy from me given her actions regarding terminating her pregnancy and not letting Ben be part of the decision. Not saying either of them is more right than the other, but at least Ben has owned up to his mistakes. Christie, on the other hand...

Dave on one hand saves Ben's hide with the flashlight retrieval, while on the other endangers his freedom by ruffeing him? Talk about a frenemy!

[B3cky50]

Nevermind. You all answered it already.

Edited April 20, 2015 by B3cky50

[Chairperson Meow]

I kinda want an entire episode where Ryan Phillipe gets to play drunk. Truth telling Ben was rather awesome.

[sjohnson]

Odd, i thought Ben's rants at the bar were basically the most truly idiotic the character's been so far. 

 

Madding Crowd, I missed where the blood test was required and just assumed it was something Ben or both wanted to know.

 

I think the thing about the money is not that Christy has it but that she spent some on the lawyer's retainer and thereby gave away that she had money at all.

If she murdered Tom, she is basically framing him and getting a lawyer is counterproductive. I can't see any halfway sensible murderer doing that. 

 

Christy is not alone in valuing money and success and ambition, and by that standard Ben doesn't measure up. Taking out her resentments in ways that poison the marriage instead of dumping Ben has the drawback of being altogether too much like a successful husband dumping the first wife and shopping for a trophy, except that by the double standard it's even worse. Also, on some level, she has to know that the girls prefer him, which makes divorce trickier, since moms are supposed to prefer the children to a career, even licit ones. But there's one scenario by which her resort to open expression makes perfect sense I thought: Ben hiding the flashlight made her think he was guilty (or at least gave an excuse for pretending to.)  

Edited April 20, 2015 by sjohnson

[sleekandchic]

Everything about Dave's actions and shifty-eyed demeanor screamed Guilty to me; so if he isn't The One, I will be disillusioned. Better explain his motive though!

Dave is unbelievable to me with his ever-present wide-eyed wonder at each turn of events. The flashlight! The video at the teens party! Tonight's video! Christy is a bitch! Jess is a bitch! Dave is always, "oh no! How can that be?!" Meanwhile, he's always in the middle of it all.

Dear show, do not make Abby the killer. For godsake what would happen to her? Juvenile detention for 10 years? What's the lesson? The sins of the father are often visited on the child?

Tim Busfield with a young wife and two small kids on Christmas Day was laughable to me. Jmo.

[mertensia]

I must say Juliette Lewis has a very nice voice.

Yeah this episode cements for me that it was Abby.

Oh Christy. Why did you ever marry Ben? Clearly you detest him and his painting business. Like being a real estate agent is so much classier while we're at it. Plus you resent the kids and who thinks "my two teenage daughters will never hear me shrieking like a fishwife on the front lawn?" when they know dad will show up to see them on Christmas.

[Mama No Life]

I don't think the killer got into a locked house.  When Tom came downstairs, Ben locked the door before he took him up. They made a point of showing that.  Then, when Ben was leaving, he unlocked it, thinking he was locking it because he was still lit.  Or at least that was my take since they made such a point of showing it.

 

I liked this episode.  It was interesting to me to see why Cornell has been fixated on Ben, esp that her image as "crazy life ruiner" was dispelled last episode. Tonight I also got the distinct impression that Dave was off the hook.  He acted guilty about something but not killing Tom....I thought his actions to help Ben were sincere. Maybe I just like him.

 

I wish it was Christy because I hate her but I think her secret is the money, whatever that turns out to be.  It had to be one of the girls, and for me that means Abby. 

 

The woman being at the bar both times didn't bug me....she's clearly a barfly, with a drinking problem.  She was willing to forgive Ben everything when he offered to buy her a drink.

 

This show could have been better, as last night showed.  They didn't have enough story for 10 eps and drug it out too far.  A 6 or 8 episode arc would have been much tighter.

[Sandman]

Dave is unbelievable to me with his ever-present wide-eyed wonder at each turn of events. The flashlight! The video at the teens party! Tonight's video! Christy is a bitch! Jess is a bitch! Dave is always, "oh no! How can that be?!" Meanwhile, he's always in the middle of it all.

 

I figure Dave is high a lot. Like, A LOT a lot.

But he does seem to get Ben to feed him a lot of information; Backyard Dave always gets Ben to tell him the status of the investigation and what he's done about it.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Sandman

[buckbuck]

Everything about Dave's actions and shifty-eyed demeanor screamed Guilty to me; so if he isn't The One, I will be disillusioned. Better explain his motive though!

Dave is unbelievable to me with his ever-present wide-eyed wonder at each turn of events. The flashlight! The video at the teens party! Tonight's video! Christy is a bitch! Jess is a bitch! Dave is always, "oh no! How can that be?!" Meanwhile, he's always in the middle of it all.

Dear show, do not make Abby the killer. For godsake what would happen to her? Juvenile detention for 10 years? What's the lesson? The sins of the father are often visited on the child?

Tim Busfield with a young wife and two small kids on Christmas Day was laughable to me. Jmo.

 

Maybe it's not the sins of the father but the crazy gene she's inherited from her mother.

 

Is there anyone who can describe what was in the Cornell Confidential where she intereviewed Cristy's brother? I'm in Canada and haven't found a source to view those vids.  Natalie had a line an episode or so back where she said maybe Christy was trying hard not to be like Nana. I'm assuming that means Christy's mother as opposed to Ben's mother. I'm wondering what the deal is with her. Multi-generational crazies?

[Sandman]

Christy lost me altogether when she told Ben she'd stood by him through the whole mess. I understood her frustration and doubt, and I thought her speech at the corporate event where she told him she loved him and she hated him was much more understandable. Christy was hollering about how she'd stood by Ben, and all I could think was, Er, when was this? When you let the police worry at him like a crazy junkyard dog with a dirty bone? When you or your snot of a brother paid for a lawyer but didn't actually tell Ben anything about it? When you drilled questions at him? When you froze him out and basically stopped communicating? Ben's an idiot, but is "Christy" short for "Christ complex"? Because you're no martyr, sugarplum.

[sjohnson]

Re door being locked: Babysitting key. The deal about locking the door is that it points at the Crawford house.

[Madding crowd]

I never liked Christie but she seemed to really turn nasty even for her. Why subject your daughters to not being able to see their dad on Christmas? I just don't believe she really thinks Ben is the killer. Based on this episode, I would have to think the killer is either someone in Ben's house or Dave. They just haven't shown the neighbors enough for me to see any connection to the child. 

 

I do like the fact Cornell was at least listening to Ben about what happened that night, although if I was his lawyer I would tell him to stop talking period. Nice to see Elliot again (Timothy Busfield).

[CaughtOnTape]

Maybe Jess killed Tom.  Maybe the significance of showing that he locked the door was to highlight that no one could've gotten in other than who was already in the house.  Jess seems a little unhinged.  I could see it.

 

I think it's fairly obvious why Christie married Ben.....he's H-O-T-T hot.  Women often excuse earning potential with the fact that a man is beautiful until they are older and suddenly responsible for floating the family.  Then he becomes a drain with no drive and he's not so beautiful anymore.

[dustoffmom]

It's too damn obvious.  They are setting us up by pointing everything at Ben's wife or daughters or his best friend Dave.  Nope.  Who have we not seen since the first episode or so, who has simply vanished from the program without explanation?  And if not connected with this then why even waste show time giving them a story??  da-da-dum.....Mellisa Gilbert or one of her sons!!!  One of them did it and the other family members are hiding it.

[Sandman]

My fear is that the killer's motive will be based on something completely unknown to us; that ALL of the information we have so far is nothing but an extensive collection of red herrings: that Jess's sister was crazy jealous, say, and wanted Tom out of the way so that she and Scott could dump Jess and leave town. Or that "gay = child predator" and Michael freed his sister from her marriage in Loserville, and at the same time used Tom for some creepytimes otherwise unrelated to the plot. Or that Natalie hated her mother so much that she was trying to frame Christy but her plot misfired. Or that Christy has an alternate personality -- even more self-centred than the original? This show has pulled stuff out of its ass before.

Part of the reason I don't think it's Abby is that Tom is an obstacle to her family's unity and harmony only if Abby knows that Tom is the result of the affair. (I think.) Or, you know, maybe Abby's just full-on crazymurderpants. (See "ass-pull," above.)

Edited April 21, 2015 by Sandman

[Laurie4H]

Let's just hope they don't pull something like the first season of The Killing and make us wait for a second season to find out who the killer is.

I thought maybe it was Jess also. In my opinion, nobody should be that sound of a sleeper when they have a child. Maybe she was more detached than we think.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I am an incredibly sound sleeper, and so is my mom.   We are coma sleepers.  It's one of the major things that makes me worried about having kids!

 

Jess acted the most guilty to me this past episode.  When Ben told her the story about being the tooth fairy, and Jess was relieved, she said "I am so glad he woke up."  Meaning Tom.

 

I rewound it three times, because I heard "I am so glad YOU woke up".  And I was like ???? And Ben's face was like ????  As if Jess had known Ben was there the entire time.  

 

But Closed Captioning insists it was the first one, so Jess is not supposed to look guilty, I guess.  Though I thought it was weird, her whole speech about being relieved that Tom was with Ben near the end.

 

Side note, does anyone else find Jess incredibly sexy, like distractingly so.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Andromeda]

Best episode of this show by far. First time I was sorry it ended and anxious to see what happens next! A lot of information came out this time, a lot less dancing around wasting time.

[dustoffmom]

 

I am an incredibly sound sleeper, and so is my mom.   We are coma sleepers.  It's one of the major things that makes me worried about having kids

Me too Ms BlueJay!  I always say someone could come in and empty the entire house and I'd never know it!  That's why I always have dogs, someone needs to keep an ear out!  Not sure if the phone has ever woken me successfully without many calls in a row.  My dogs growling or barking will wake me though and so did my kids when they were little ones.  Your mind just knows, otherwise, coma land here too!  

[Ms Blue Jay]

Thanks for the assurance and words....  You're a deeper sleeper than I am, I do wake up from a phone call.  My father is the complete opposite of us, one shadow walks by his bedroom door and he springs awake.  And I know what you mean by "your mind just knows", I do get that alert sometimes.  However, every once in awhile, when I really need to catch up on some Zs, I'll be dead to the world for a 3 hour nap.  Thank goodness for triple and quadruple alarms.  

Edited April 20, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Madding crowd]

You guys are so lucky. I have always been the world' lightest sleeper and my son can be in another room and quietly say mom and I wake up. At least killers can't skulk around my house unlike Jess. Her comments to Ben were a little strange, but I can understand being a little crazy after your child is killed.

[dustoffmom]

Actually, when I was quite young, there was a large church in the block just behind us.  It burned to the ground one night, a 4 alarm fire....my Dad, Mom, Sister and I all slept through it!!!  Next morning at breakfast my Mom looked out the window and said 'my God' and the church was just gone!  First any of us knew it!  Yep....total coma sleepers, my entire family.  :)  However, my children could wimper in the night and I would be right there, wide awake.  Your body/mind just knows.  :)

Sorry mods...I veered off topic a bit.  Point is, Jess sleeping through Ben coming in is not at all unbelievable to me...but her son being in the room is!

[Andromeda]

I think it's fairly obvious why Christie married Ben.....he's H-O-T-T hot.  Women often excuse earning potential with the fact that a man is beautiful until they are older and suddenly responsible for floating the family.  Then he becomes a drain with no drive and he's not so beautiful anymore.

True for some women, but Ben was earning fine for his family until the murder. House painters can make good money (my sister's husband does, he has his own crew, though.) Ben and Christie have a nice middle-class home, 2.5 kids, two cars, a white picket fence, a dog, etc. Christie seems to me to be having a mid-life crisis, realizing it won't ever be anything more, and somehow getting more for herself. Because it's not like she's that special herself -- she's just a real estate agent!

 

I, too, am a coma sleeper. When our son was a baby, my husband got up twice as often as I did, because half the time I was barely aware anything was even going on. (The other half I wasn't at all aware.) He wakes up if I turn over in bed. We now have two dogs, too -- nothing would get past them.

 

The second I saw that tooth, I knew it would be from the boy naturally losing a tooth, not some nefarious murdering activity. Kids Tommy's age drop them fast. When I saw it in the police station, the broken end, it was obvious. I wonder if a member of the cast or crew provided it from their own little kid's teeth falling out. Seems it'd be easy to get, and easier than making a fake one. (I think I have one of my son's in my jewelry box. ) But $10?! Wow, I remember getting a Kennedy silver dollar under my pillow, LOL.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Andromeda

[Mikita]

Reviewing the episode. Ben gets out of the cab and goes to Jess' house. Tries the front door but it is locked so he goes around to find the back door unlocked. After turning off the tv and covering Jess with the throw he goes to exit via the back door. He turns around and sees Tom. He then locks the back door before escorting Tom back to his room. When Ben leaves he exits via the front door. He turns the handle to open the door and then locks it as he leaves. The same door that was locked earlier when he first came to the house causing him to try the back door. Someone unlocked and entered the house while he was upstairs with Tom. They were probably still in the house when he locked the door and left. Now we know from previous episode that his daughter Natalie had a key as Jess's babysitter. Who else had a key? Her husband Scott and maybe her bitchy sister? 

[Sandman]

I thought Ben left by the back door, but I'm intrigued by your theory. (The front and rear doors of all these houses look pretty much the same to me.)

[Blue Plastic]

Best episode of this show by far. First time I was sorry it ended and anxious to see what happens next! A lot of information came out this time, a lot less dancing around wasting time.

It was nice to get some progress instead of just filler.  This show, like a lot of network shows, has really suffered from bad pacing.  I guess this is your reward if you can manage to stick with it through all the crap.

 

Side note, does anyone else find Jess incredibly sexy, like distractingly so.

I don't know if you mean you like it or don't like it, but I have found her to act kind of almost creepily sexy and clingy toward Ben.  She's supposed to be grieving her son and I guess maybe since her husband can't be there and she knows the son she lost is really Ben's biologically she's turning to him for comfort, but to me they have made it come off in an inappropriate way.  Like to the point that maybe something is wrong with her, more than just the shock of losing a child.  I don't know if that's what they're going for or not.  This actress did not act this way on the Dome, which of course is a totally different show and she was almost always dressed in a sheriff uniform and playing a much different character, but still.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Right... I do see what you're saying.

 

In a superficial way I do "like" it, but for this type of show it seems like the actress is incredibly sexy and luscious, which is distracting from the plot.  (Although I personally have a thing for that sleepy look and croaky voice and messy hair thing, so this is probably not universal).  If it's NOT the writers' intent, I find it strange and distracting for this type of show.  (Although Ryan is gorgeous, obviously, he just doesn't act so sexy.  He acts subtly and muted and I think that's Ryan's intent.)

 

If this IS the writers' intent, then I'm confused as to what it's all about.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Fable]

I wasn't crazy about this one.  I found a lot of to be really reaching.  I just don't buy that a person who was drinking heavily and drugged on benzodiazepines would be able to retrace their steps and magically remember everything.  Plus Ben going to Cornell about his new and improved memory seemed incredibly dumb and damning.  His story placed him as the last known person to have seen Tom alive.  He may think it helped his case, but honestly, in a real world scenario, he probably would have tanked it.  Only on TV would a detective buy into that story…only on TV!

[Texasmom1970]

The actress who plays Christy is really good at playing bitchy. I am so hoping she is the killer and gets convicted. Where do they live, does that state have the death penalty?

Her husband cheated, fathered a child with another woman, and is the main suspect in the murder of his child and I feel sorry for him! Don't give any fucks about her or her situation. Now that's quite a feat!

[Blue Plastic]

Her husband cheated, fathered a child with another woman, and is the main suspect in the murder of his child and I feel sorry for him! Don't give any fucks about her or her situation. Now that's quite a feat!

I know!  I feel the same way.  I have strongly disliked Christy ever since she just gave permission to the police to search the house early on, and in this episode that dislike just moved over to full-on hate.  Then I kind of felt bad because Ben isn't exactly a choir boy himself, but I just can't muster up any sympathy for Christy or see her as anything but a real witch!

 

Right... I do see what you're saying.

 

In a superficial way I do "like" it, but for this type of show it seems like the actress is incredibly sexy and luscious, which is distracting from the plot.  (Although I personally have a thing for that sleepy look and croaky voice and messy hair thing, so this is probably not universal).  If it's NOT the writers' intent, I find it strange and distracting for this type of show.  (Although Ryan is gorgeous, obviously, he just doesn't act so sexy.  He acts subtly and muted and I think that's Ryan's intent.)

 

If this IS the writers' intent, then I'm confused as to what it's all about.

I agree.  I just wasn't sure if you were trying to compliment the actress or if you were as confused about where they are trying to go with the character of Jess as I am.

[chlban]

Maybe Jess killed Tom. Maybe the significance of showing that he locked the door was to highlight that no one could've gotten in other than who was already in the house. Jess seems a little unhinged. I could see it.

I think it's fairly obvious why Christie married Ben.....he's H-O-T-T hot. Women often excuse earning potential with the fact that a man is beautiful until they are older and suddenly responsible for floating the family. Then he becomes a drain with no drive and he's not so beautiful anymore.

I think you just summed up Ryan's marriage to Reece..... I'll show myself out now.

[leisawoo]

Side note, does anyone else find Jess incredibly sexy, like distractingly so.

Ben and Dave sure do, lolol!!

[sleekandchic]

It's too damn obvious.  They are setting us up by pointing everything at Ben's wife or daughters or his best friend Dave.  Nope.  Who have we not seen since the first episode or so, who has simply vanished from the program without explanation?  And if not connected with this then why even waste show time giving them a story??  da-da-dum.....Mellisa Gilbert or one of her sons!!!  One of them did it and the other family members are hiding it.

Melissa Gilbert is married to Timothy Busfield, and I'm sure she welcomes any work she can get, so maybe it's as simple as that. But, I thought from the very first episode, because of one throwaway scene, that the show was attempting to telegraph that Melissa's autistic son was the killer. In the scene, Melissa tries to steer the kid onto his school bus, but he makes things tough for her. He's uncooperative and resistant. He's a big kid, and I wondered if Tom's death was as a result of the other boy's not realizing his own strength or the consequences of his actions? Melissa's face looked drawn and beleaguered in that scene, like the weight of the world, you know? Probably a red herring though.

I'm thinking though that I'm gonna be unhappy with ANY killer reveal. Unless, I've been not understanding Cornell at all (very possible!) Tom's death was a powerful bash to the head with that flashlight. That sounds like an angry, personal, purposeful murder, right? So who's capable of that and why? I mean, if Tom's death could be construed as an accident caused by a push or a shove, or by a hard slap that caused his head to hit a piece of furniture with a pointy edge, for example, ok. But we're supposed to believe that the flashlight was wielded as a weapon of fury and outrage, I think.

So Abby, I guess, might feel homicidal toward the kid for "ruining" her family, but only if she overheard her parents' fight and understood that Ben fathered the boy. That means we'll have to accept that there's something deeply, fundamentally wrong with a little girl who seems to be sensitive and intelligent. In the end, she's a monster? Her mother is unstable and her dad is dense and bordering brain-dead, so sure, Abby never had a chance.

Or if Dave is revealed as a true psycho who has always hated Ben (rather than supposedly loving him) I guess we're gonna hear.. you have everything, man! A beautiful wife and girls! This great house! A successful business! Women collapsing at your feet cause you're a stud! You never noticed that I live in your garage, man?! Alone and high 24/7? Sobbetysobsob! You think you're doing me a favor by letting me turn into a lump of human waste out there? I wanted you to suffer just like I've been suffering my whole effed up life. I wanted you to feel MY pain just once in your perfect life!. So Dave acts out his envy of Ben by bashing innocent Tom in the head?

I will absolutely despise an ending like that. But who else have we met that could kill a child with such anger and intent? I guess waterboarding psycho could have hallucinated that Tom had morphed into Ben? They both have three-letter names, so sure, why not!

The Jess character annoys me. She seems always to have her flirt on with Ben. Always. No respect or social nicety toward Christy whatsoever. Even after Tom's murder, Jess wanted Ben to come over, stay with her. In the flashback to the night they hooked up, she was acting like she was in a club rather than at a block party. HTH did Christy not lock on to that over the years? Why was the abnormal closeness and incestuous nature of the babysitting/key to house/Ben's unusual affinity for a child of neighbors allowed and encouraged to continue for years?

My only prediction is I'm gonna hate the ending.

[Sandman]

Abby can't have heard her parents arguing about Tom's paternity, as neither of them knew about it until after the boy's death. They were arguing about Ben's affair. If Abby guessed from that, however accurately, that Tom was (or was about to become) a problem, that would make her highly intuitive, as well as homicidal -- too much of a reach, for me.

[sleekandchic]

I hope you're right about that, Sandman. I don't want either of the daughters involved, but especially not Abby.

It looks like from the blurb of the next episode that Mod Stacey has posted, Det Cornell is about to discover some overlooked evidence left at the crime scene? That kind of plot device has a lot of potential to enrage an audience.

Let's hope it's not a pair of Rx sunglasses imprinted with the name of the optician and easily traced to the perp. Or, better yet, a confession note handwritten by the killer in a drunken rage of regret, signed, thumbprint visible, containing his tears and a drop of blood for easy DNA ratatattat. Ha!

Edited April 21, 2015 by sleekandchic

[sjohnson]

It's still withheld how Cornell ruled out Jess, or how the blue jacket came up in her investigation. 

 

It is not certain when Christy's affair with Sam really began, assuming she wasn't just claiming it to be hurtful. She says after, but that seems doubtful. 

But Abby might know more about that, giving her proclivity for spying. Christy may have known before she initiated the fight with Ben, which may have well been about getting a confession, instead of the beginning of a search for an answer. Dave's explanation about Thanksgiving rang true for me. If Christy knew, Abby might have known. Further, if Christy did some math, she might have known about Tom., or at least suspected, long before Ben. Ben's middle name is "Denial," after all. Again, anything Christy knew before the fight, Abby might have found out.

 

But Natalie has a motive out of a blue sky too. She was attracted to Scott. I don't think she's very empathetic so it wasn't pity for a poor beleaguered dad trying to see his son that led her to help him out. 

Edited April 21, 2015 by sjohnson

[Jillybean]

Hmmm, for some reason I thought Ben unlocked the front door to leave.  I was saying "why did he leave the house unlocked?"  Maybe I was too tired when watching this.

 

I, too, wondered why an ultrasound was done on a baby that was aborted.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Jillybean

[Ms Blue Jay]

Everyone is assuming Abby had to have known about the paternity of Tom to kill Tom , but I thought the original theory was always this:

 

Abby knows her parents are fighting over Jess.

Abby notices that Ben has a close relationship with both Jess and Tom and out of jealousy, hurts Tom.

 

I know it's a reach, but it's a theory.  Forget the whole paternity thing and it still works.  One of the original theories was that Abby wanted to drive a wedge between Jess and Ben or at least drive Jess away from her family.

 

Scrolling upward, I got this from freshpint's post.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay