S01.E08: The Son

[buckbuck]

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.

While that's true, I'm wondering if there may have been more to it. IIRC we learned that Christy got pregnant with Natalie when she was right around Natalie's age, so presumably early on in college? Christy also told Natalie at the time that she (Christy) was ready for it. I wonder if she was using Ben as a way to get away from her mother? I think we may learn about some type of mental pathology in Christy's family (which Abby may have inherited).

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.

Me too, about being bugged by Jess's behaviour towards Ben.

 

I don't think that Matt is the killer, but I do think he might yet have a part to play. Did anyone pay close attention to the drawings on his bedroom wall in Episode 5?

[Sandman]

But would Abby have been able to disguise a jealousy of Tom that was potent enough for her to want to harm him? To me, that's not the kind of motive that can be revealed or retroactively woven into the plot in episode nine-tenths of the way into the story. Everything we've seen of their relationship up to now suggests they were fond of each other.

[buckbuck]

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. 

I think Christy's involvement with Sam started earlier than she told Ben. Maybe they didn't actually sleep together until after Tom's paternity became known but I think they were already emotionally involved. 

 

Ben said that Christy hadn't reached for him in months, which seems like it would predate Thanksgiving. But watching Ben & Jess at Thanksgiving might have cemented things in Christy's mind about their relationship. It's possible she even accused Ben then of favouring Tom, something that Abby would have found very threatening if she overheard them.

 

I wondered about Natalie earlier on but the last nail in that coffin for me was her going over to apologize to Jess after Ben said that people should own their mistakes. She showed maturity and the ability to be honest enough with herself to realize she was (partly) in the wrong. Contrast that with Abby who was so concerned about having Christmas even though Tom had just died, and being so reluctant to apologize to that boy that you could hardly hear her say, "Sorry", and how she skipped over her not being at the girls' party as a consequence of her actions and instead asked for ice cream as a consequence of her cookies being unavailable. That's just strange behaviour.

[basiltherat]

Wow, I didn't realize that Jess was the same actress as was in Under the Dome (the lady deputy, right?).

 

Ben transferred his devastation over his "son"'s abortion to Tom, who may not have realized he made Tom as a replacement.  So he treated Tom like that son.  Tom didn't seem like he had much interaction with Soldier Scott, who must have known he wasn't the dad.

 

I think the actors were told to play ambiguous because we don't know who is guilty and innocent.  So there is angel and creep in all of them, until All is Revealed.  Except Christie was always a stone-cold bitch.

[buckbuck]

But would Abby have been able to disguise a jealousy of Tom that was potent enough for her to want to harm him? To me, that's not the kind of motive that can be revealed or retroactively woven into the plot in episode nine-tenths of the way into the story. Everything we've seen of their relationship up to now suggests they were fond of each other.

It might have been more that she had an(other) episode of explosive rage after hearing her parents' argument. We've seen how impulsively she acts.

 

I don't think she has a real understanding of consequences, but more than that, she can be coldly distant. I really think there's something mentally wrong with her.

 

She was scared when Cornell came to the house the first time; she was constantly asking throughout the episodes if they knew who'd killed Tom; she was very upset the times that the police searched the house (once for evidence, once for the hidden cameras); she was very quick to go see the photos of flashlights that Cornell brought to show Ben. I think they've been laying the groundwork subtly all the way through.

[GracieK]

But why would Abby plant the flashlight back in her dad's truck?

[BonnieD]

 

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.

I've thought that since the beginning. He's  clearly the comic relief so viewers aren't supposed to suspect him. But I do. However I can't come up with one logical motive for him--not unless the child saw him do something and he had to eliminate him. It'd be one thing if the murder happened in daytime, where anyone might have encountered the kid outdoors and dragged him off to the woods. But for the boy to be taken from inside a locked house....?  It becomes much more problematic. I certainly can't imagine little Abby rousing herself in the middle of the night to go over and forcibly remove the boy from his house. Actually I can't see anyone with much of an ability to do that. And to have that flashlight along to throttle him with? Too weird.

 

Are the police absolutely sure the flashlight did it? Could the boy have got caught up accidentally in dispute, got knocked over and hit his head after falling, and had to be disposed of? That makes no sense at all under the circumstances. Especially with the murder happening in the dead of night. I'm perplexed. But I still want to stick with my original accusation of Dave for no particular reason.

[GracieK]

And has anyone mentioned how Dave suspiciously had money to pay for their drinks?  His response to how he got it seemed quickly made up.  Was he paid off by Christy for some reason whom we now know has all this money?

[Ms Blue Jay]

Another reason that Jess is suspicious is that she claimed to not know that Ben was the father of Tom.  Nobody can be that stupid, except for Ben, which I will accept.  (Or did she admit that she always suspected it?)

Edited April 21, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[buckbuck]

@GracieK, I think Abby put the flashlight back because she knew her dad was in trouble with it missing, but didn't realize that it put him in an even worse position. Another instance of her not fulling understanding about consequences, I think.

 

But good question about Dave's money.

[GracieK]

Do you remember when Jess said "there is one thing.. it's one of the reasons I thought Scott killed Tom"... and then she blew it off and left.  I wonder if that has something to do with Tom's paternity.  Or possibly that the door was open/no forced entry?

 

Also... Dave says he fetched the flashlight because Christy may have noticed him ditch it in the woods.  I wonder if she actually paid Dave to go find it.  That leaves the question of who called in the tip about it to begin with.

Edited April 21, 2015 by GracieK

[GracieK]

Oh nevermind... I just rewatched and Jess was referring to the money being under Tom's pillow instead of the tooth.. making her think it was Scott.

 

Perhaps Abby did do it.  She could have gotten in the house with a key that the Crawfords kept?  When he tried the front door initially it was locked so he went to the back, turned around and immediately locked the back door.  When he comes downstairs he leaves by the front door which is now unlocked (and he locks upon leaving)  Meaning someone had to have entered the house with a key while he was with Tom.  Maybe Christy knows this and paid Dave to go fetch the flashlight as it could have Abby's prints on it.  But who called in the tip?  Her brother?

 

I think I'm thinking about this too much lol.. time to move on and wait for next week's episode.

Edited April 21, 2015 by GracieK

[freshpint]

Back to my theory about Abby, not only do I think she did it to drive Jess away from her family but I also tend to think that maybe she told her mom or Christy found out some way..., therefore Christy knew and wanted to protect her daughter from getting caught so she has felt guilty knowing that Abby is the killer... wants to protect her daughter... but also knows Ben didn't do it, thus paying for his lawyer.

 

I need to stop drinking.

[sjohnson]

Abby's comment about Jess moving away since Tom was dead was supposed to suggest a motive, but I think the logic is a little weak, even for a child. Particularly since Scott is still in the picture so far as Abby knows. The Jess problem gets solved if Scott comes back. I think her only strong motive for both wanting Tom gone and being angry enough at Dad to display his guilt on his running trail would be discovering Tom was her brother and apparently Dad's favorite. Also, where did she hide the flashlight from the police search. If she returned it because Dad's being gone was getting him into trouble why didn't she clean it? 

 

By the way, I've always thought the reason for taking the flashlight was because it was needed to see the trail at dark in the rain. I've taken up thinking it was always meant to be returned but Ben came home and camped out on the sofa, and whoever was afraid of waking him moving through the house. 

 

Killing Tom to sever Scott's last connection to Jess could have been a motive for Natalie if she was that crazy about Scott in that way. (Which wouldn't rule out messing with Drunk'n'disorderly as camouflage or simpl egoboo I think.) 

[joshmaeks]

Did we ever find out about the blue jacket that Melissa Gilbert's son had in the woods but disappeared when Ben chased after him? I know the other son was home and hiding in the woods, but did he take the blue jacket?

[RedheadZombie]

I have two things that don't make sense, but are probably just sloppy writing.  1.  When Christie makes the 911 call, why in the hell does the dispatcher accept a man stating she's fine?  First of all, he's not even the registered phone owner.  Second, how many men try to tell a dispatcher that his wife is fine when he's beating the crap out of her?  Very sloppy, IMO.  2.  I thought it was pretty lame that Timothy Busfield just knew that Christie had to have some super secret stash of huge amounts of money.  The most obvious explanation was she got the money from her rich brother.  Again, just sloppy, IMO.

 

Regarding the ultrasound:  plenty of states have laws in place that work to guilt and torment a pregnant woman out of aborting.  Since this show is set in the south, it's not farfetched that an ultrasound prior to abortion would be required by law.  Even if these laws weren't in place six years ago (I'm not sure about that), I'll still buy that explanation.  Knowing the gender, on the other hand, is just ridiculous. 

 

I'm having a hard time believing Melissa Gilbert is not somehow involved in Tom's death.  Her part is so small it's trivial, and her character is pretty frumpy and unattractive.  She'd have to be pretty desperate to take such a meaningless role.

 

I think there's little chance that Abby killed Tom, but a great chance that she saw something.  I vaguely remember Abby running out to Cornell early on, and Christie shutting her up and hustling her away.

 

I don't recall for sure, but I'm assuming Tom wasn't molested.  Maybe that's why Cornell focused so quickly on Ben, versus the typical molester/murderer. I would imagine that most children murdered but not molested, are killed by their parents.  I think the cleanest way to tie up lose ends is to just have Jess be the killer.

 

The huge amount of money Christie has hidden is just stupid.  She can't be paying the mortgage or car payments with rolls of bills tied in rubber bands, so what exactly is she doing with it?  Surely she's not suddenly going to be a hooker who aborted the baby because she knew it wasn't Ben's.  I'm guessing the money is from something she got pulled into by the guy she's sleeping with.

[luvly]

I'm confused by the assumption that Christy immediately decided on the abortion or that the ultrasound or blood test was something she didn't want to do. It was my understanding that Christy found out she was pregnant, didn't tell Ben but had an ultrasound done. While she was weighing her options (tell Ben and keep it vs. abort and never let Ben know), Ben found the ultrasound and she came clean, though maybe not about her intentions to possibly abort without telling him. Some time after that, she had blood tests done and they found out it was a boy. Around the 4th of July, Christy went ahead and had the abortion, as shown in Ep. 6 and the rest is history.

[mostlylurking]

Any sliver of sympathy I had for Christy completely vanished in this episode.  I don't like to use this term but she is a bitch through and through.  She was just looking and waiting for an out and now she has one.  It was rich her saying that she had been supporting Ben and on his side this whole time.  She could barely tolerate him and was doing so through clenched teeth.

 

Jess made me crazy in the beginning of the ep when she was like "I think I know something important....but I gotta go now.  Merry Christmas!"  HATE.

 

Even though I can't stand pretty much everyone except Ben a lot of things fell into place this episode.  I am curious to see how it will all end.  Does anyone know if this show was picked up for a second season??

[nara]

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.

I thought she meant supporting him financially before this all started. also, because Ben didn't share anything, she probably thought cooperating with the police would make him look innocent. Clearly she doesn't watch Law & Order either.

But why on earth did they dispose of the flashlight without wearing gloves? If they ever do find it, his prints will be all over it.

[Sandman]

His prints are probably on it already from when he tried to "clean" it in his garage. And it's his anyway, so -- lots of prints.