S01.E03: Episode 3

[Glade]

Quote

The police begin to make breakthroughs in their investigation and Ivy turns to her sister who takes the chance to connect with her. They are interrupted though by the arrival of a mysterious letter addressed to ‘Alison’, White’s name for Ivy.

 

 

[Glade]

This episode made me think back to those cryptic words Ivy spoke to her just-fired aide back in E01, using the word 'we' and implying that she may have been pregnant at some point.  Is the body in the wall Mark's brother, or someone else (possibly a child of Ivy's?)  Either way, I still think Ivy's behavior is totally understandable.  It seems likely that Mark would have treated her as a sex slave who he wouldn't bother filling in on his entire family history.  And if her encounters with his brother were extremely traumatic, it also makes sense that she would block it out, or just be physically unable to talk about it at this point.  It was really sad seeing Ivy shut down at the beginning of the episode.  It looks like she is running out of people she can feel any sense of comfort around.

[atomationage]

As far as I could tell, whatever was in that wall seemed larger than a child but smaller than the brother would be.  They seemed to be showing a rib cage in the preview, indicating that it had been in there for a long time. 

 

This episode showed us Ivy's fear of being alone, which must mean that she did spend 13 years mostly locked in a cellar.  

 

I loved the part where Ivy turned the tables on DI Elliot about being questioned and asked the same things over and over. 

 

Ivy may have been a brat when she was younger, and went back to that behavior when she returned to her family. 

Edited March 24, 2016 by atomationage

[BonnieD]

I wondered if the brother (who they said was developmentally disabled correct?) was kept along with Ivy in the cellar. Maybe she grew attached to or protective of him, not wanting him to be hurt, and that's how Mark controlled her when out at the mall--by threatening the half brother who would be back home in the cellar. Eventually brother died....but, um, maybe not because that dead body looked really old and the masonry blended in to the rest of the cellar pretty darn well, so it couldn't have been put up too recently.

[formerlyfreedom]

This episode is scheduled to air in the US on Thursday, July 7, on BBC America.

[Primetimer]

Craig proves that he just doesn't grasp the 'sister in the basement' concept, especially since it doesn't directly involve him, and proves Thirteen could do without him.

View the full article

[Ms Lark]

Theory: Body in the wall is probably Ivy's predecessor, i.e., a girl he kidnapped and killed before he snatched Ivy. Course, he could have had more than one locked up down there for a spell. Ugh. Only two more eps to go. Better start wrapping this thing up. Glad it's a one-off and no second season.

[meep.meep]

I missed the last 15 minutes, thanks for not covering it in the "story." Craig's reactions seem pretty normal. I wonder about Ivy's mother letting him live with Emma in her home.

Could someone describe what happened in the last 15 minutes?

[editorgrrl]

10 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Could someone describe what happened in the last 15 minutes?

@meep.meep Elliott broke into Ivy's therapist's office and read the file. Ivy expressed regret at leaving "him" because now she's all alone.

[kat165]

How long has Ivy been back home? I'm thinking a wk, maybe 2. So for Craig to be so fed up with it all is really kind of shitty. He's a crappy boyfriend & Emma doesn't seem all that in love with him anyway. Him leaving would be no great loss.

But I can see that there's a point to him being in the story. It goes to further illustrate how much the family has changed since Ivy has been missing, along with the father & his affair and no longer living there. I think it just adds another chit to that. Although there are 2 elements I'm not seeing the point of, especially in a show that's only 5 eps, is the personal relationship between the 2 cops and the flirting that goes on between the female cop and the other male cop at the station who always seem to be doing favors for her. This could just be background to give the story some depth, but I don't see it as necessary.

The 2nd element is that headmaster guy. The sound on my BBCA reception is awful so I miss out a lot on the dialogue with him and that woman who is always calling them. I can't figure out what they're up to but I'm also missing any clues. Why are those 2 in the story at all? They seem, from what I have gleaned (which isn't much!), pointless.

I'm really enjoying this show, the eps are kind of engrossing, in the way that the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was. It's kind of slow and arty and draws you in. I just wish it was longer, even 8 eps would be good.

I thought the body in the wall was the young girl who was kidnapped after Ivy's return.

[Mabinogia]

I agree that the personal lives of the cops is completely pointless to the story. Unless they are trying to make this an ongoing show and these cops will have a new case next year (like Broadchurch) I just don't care.

I actually understand the story of the headmaster in that it goes to show how far out the reach of Ivy's disappearance and return goes. The headmaster, who IMO has no culpability in Ivy's kidnapping, feels this immense guilt because she was taken by someone he presumably hired, someone who worked for him at the school, someone he might have seen every day at work. It also sounds like he's about to loose his job. Something the woman on the phone said, I forgot the exact words, but it sounded like some kind of meeting to discuss if he should be fired (I don't know Brit terms for these things so it could have meant something completely different). But I think the headmaster's purpose in the story is to show someone affected who isn't a member of the family or a close friend of Ivy. Someone who didn't help the kidnapper but feels responsible because he put the kidnapper in Ivy's orbit. I have a bad feeling he might end up hanging himself before all this is over.

I wonder if Craig knows (has always known) that Emma isn't really all that in love with him and is only marrying him because she's got nothing better to do. I think his days at the Moxom house are numbered. I do like that Emma told Ivy she always comes first because she's her sister. Ivy needs at least one person in her life that she can count on or she is going to run back to Mark.

I'm finally interested in the cops' personal lives, well one anyway, Elliot. I'm curious why he doesn't know where his mother is. At first I thought she was dead, but he made is sound more like she just walked out on her family. Maybe she was kidnapped/vanished, and that is why he is so sympathetic towards Ivy.

I can't believe the show is almost over. I'm going to be sad when it's gone, but I'm dying to see how it all ends. I think the body in the basement is going to be a former victim. Maybe then Lisa will start to understand why Ivy went through.

Speaking of, my heart broke when the sisters were talking and Ivy was so surprised that Emma liked having sex. It was such a subtle moment, but really just gut punches you with the true terror Ivy has been through. It's not the first implication that she'd been raped, probably frequently, while being held, but it is so subtlety, beautifully done so as not to feel "sensationalized". It feels real that she wouldn't go around "yeah, he raped me" all the time, but that there would be these subtle hints that it happened. Hints that she doesn't realize she's making when her guard is done. It makes me feel for her so much and understand why she is lying and not wanting to talk about what happened in that house.

[meep.meep]

On 7/8/2016 at 8:12 PM, editorgrrl said:

@meep.meep Elliott broke into Ivy's therapist's office and read the file. Ivy expressed regret at leaving "him" because now she's all alone.

Thanks!  Last thing I saw was female cop going into the basement where she presumably found the "body in the basement" which I also missed.

[Margherita Erdman]

19 hours ago, kat165 said:

How long has Ivy been back home? I'm thinking a wk, maybe 2. So for Craig to be so fed up with it all is really kind of shitty. He's a crappy boyfriend & Emma doesn't seem all that in love with him anyway. Him leaving would be no great loss.

But I can see that there's a point to him being in the story. It goes to further illustrate how much the family has changed since Ivy has been missing, along with the father & his affair and no longer living there...

I'm really enjoying this show, the eps are kind of engrossing, in the way that the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was. It's kind of slow and arty and draws you in. I just wish it was longer, even 8 eps would be good.

I thought the body in the wall was the young girl who was kidnapped after Ivy's return.

 

5 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

...I wonder if Craig knows (has always known) that Emma isn't really all that in love with him and is only marrying him because she's got nothing better to do. I think his days at the Moxom house are numbered...

I can't believe the show is almost over. I'm going to be sad when it's gone, but I'm dying to see how it all ends. I think the body in the basement is going to be a former victim...

I also am finding myself totally caught up in the world of the show and invested in the characters. I wasn't sure I would be after the first episode, but I am glad I decided to continue. I will miss it too and wish they would find a way to continue à la Broadchurch.

RE: Craig. I agree that Emma doesn't seem starry-eyed, head over heels for him, and I thought it was a telling bit of dialogue when she explained to Ivy that their mum liked Craig, and "that made a difference, it just did." Seems like they were longing for a man in the house to replace their father/husband and Craig fit the bill well enough. Now that Dad and Ivy are home, Craig isn't quite so wanted, because he was never that special, just filling a void well enough.

My personal guess for the body in the basement is the missing half brother Dylan, and that Ivy either feels responsible for or in some way actually played a part in his death.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Margherita Erdman
punctuation! affects meaning; see: eats, shoots and leaves

[editorgrrl]

Quote

The headmaster, who IMO has no culpability in Ivy's kidnapping, feels this immense guilt because she was taken by someone he presumably hired, someone who worked for him at the school, someone he might have seen every day at work. It also sounds like he's about to lose his job. Something the woman on the phone said, I forgot the exact words, but it sounded like some kind of meeting to discuss if he should be fired. (I don't know Brit terms for these things so it could have meant something completely different.)

But I think the headmaster's purpose in the story is to show someone affected who isn't a member of the family or a close friend of Ivy. Someone who didn't help the kidnapper but feels responsible because he put the kidnapper in Ivy's orbit. I have a bad feeling he might end up hanging himself before all this is over.

I thought Henry Stone (played by one of my faves, Nicholas Farrell) had been dating Ivy's mum, Christina? She's been dodging his calls.

According to closed captioning, his colleague Angela said, "The Board of Governors have called a meeting tomorrow. I'm worried they'll go for a no-confidence vote in you." Just before that, the newsreader was saying, "The continued silence has led to a growing clamour from concerned parents."

Edited July 10, 2016 by editorgrrl
I always watch this show with captions on.

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Speaking of, my heart broke when the sisters were talking and Ivy was so surprised that Emma liked having sex. It was such a subtle moment, but really just gut punches you with the true terror Ivy has been through. It's not the first implication that she'd been raped, probably frequently, while being held, but it is so subtlety, beautifully done so as not to feel "sensationalized". It feels real that she wouldn't go around "yeah, he raped me" all the time, but that there would be these subtle hints that it happened. Hints that she doesn't realize she's making when her guard is done. It makes me feel for her so much and understand why she is lying and not wanting to talk about what happened in that house.

I also felt for Ivy when she asked Emma about whether Craig is the one who likes having pictures of them together, and not just pictures of her. Which suggests Leonard would force her to poise in various pictures for him, and while that's not as bad as rape, it just shows how screwed up her thinking is because of what happened. She seems to think that being held like she was is a normal relationship.

[Margherita Erdman]

5 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I also felt for Ivy when she asked Emma about whether Craig is the one who likes having pictures of them together, and not just pictures of her. Which suggests Leonard would force her to poise in various pictures for him, and while that's not as bad as rape, it just shows how screwed up her thinking is because of what happened. She seems to think that being held like she was is a normal relationship.

These sister-to-sister moments are so subtle and yet so affecting, and so effective, to show not only glimpses of Ivy's trauma but to make it tragically clear how completely her life and development as a girl and then woman were interrupted at the age of 13, that time truly stopped for her while everyone else continued on.

The acting in this show is aMAZing. Jamie Comer has me absolutely persuaded she is a damaged young teen in a young adult's body. And the sister has been great in the past two episodes also.

i kind of wish I'd waited for the whole series to air before watching because this would be a great series to binge.

[Mabinogia]

8 hours ago, Margherita Erdman said:

Jamie Comer has me absolutely persuaded she is a damaged young teen in a young adult's body

So much this. There are times I have to remind myself that Ivy is 26, that she is older than her sister. She seems so very young and fragile. It's heartbreaking when you think of the vital part of her life that she missed out on. She never went to high school, to college, her developmental years, especially social development, were spent locked in a basement with one man (possibly two depending on what was going on with the brother). It is a real tragedy.

It is fascinating to see how everyone deals with this. I don't know what I would do. I would have so many questions but I think I'd be afraid of what the answers would be, which I think is where the family is at. They want to know but then again, they know that they don't want to know what she really went through because it's just too hard. Everyone is doing a brilliant job on the show. Even the cops are acting their parts well, even if they are playing idiots. lol

[editorgrrl]

38 minutes ago, tvaddict44 said:

My DVR is showing nothing for the 14th (no Ep. 4 in other words) and then the following week it's on at 5:00 in the evening and it's Ep. 5. What's going on?

@tvaddict44 The BBC America website says Thirteen airs Thursdays at 6 p.m. (5 Central): http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/thirteen My DVR (Comcast) says episode 4 is airing this week, and it's 75 minutes long.