S01.E07: All the Livelong Day

[Major Bigtime]

Seeing Ben as this kid who didn't do what Willa told him, and the looks he was giving her, I think he's up to no good. He came to town to claim this family, did it in such a way that everyone was convinced (well, almost)

Mom, however, now has a Mommie Dearest look about her.

[ari333]

Pretty good episode. I did wonder a little at the boys' comparatively good health, though. They literally haven't seen sunlight in a decade. Their vitamin D levels and immune systems would be shot. Their muscles would have atrophied, their growth stunted, and they'd be nearly skeletal. Not to mention psychologically they'd be more or less shattered, after a decade of captivity and daily rape, especially during their formative years. It's grim either way.

Yes. \

I also wondered about their eyesight in that dark place.

[RedInk]

If Ben IS doing something nefarious, I wouldn't be able to accept it as anything other than a tragically abused child's desperation. If they did somehow throw some Ben-is-evil twist, I don't think it would sit well with viewers. Well, at least not with me. The moral ambiguity is already a little much IMO.

ETA: Willa is the one who convinced him to become Adam. If he's now clinging to the family providing safe harbor...I mean, who wouldn't?

Edited April 12, 2016 by RedInk

[lucindabelle]

If Ben IS doing something nefarious, I wouldn't be able to accept it as anything other than a tragically abused child's desperation. If they did somehow throw some Ben-is-evil twist, I don't think it would sit well with viewers. Well, at least not with me. The moral ambiguity is already a little much IMO.

ETA: Willa is the one who convinced him to become Adam. If he's now clinging to the family providing safe harbor...I mean, who wouldn't?

 ITA. Not into any blame the victim bullshit. that he called pocky "our friend" sounds like a coping strategy, no more.

[Guest]

 Again, it's why I said I really thought it interesting how different people watch the same thing and have such vastly different interpretations. The scenario just threw me a little is all.

Well, it's not really an interpretation of mine.  I'm just throwing out crazy ideas of how a kid could grow up in a dungeon and not be reported missing by family or some authorities. 

 

If Ben IS doing something nefarious, I wouldn't be able to accept it as anything other than a tragically abused child's desperation. If they did somehow throw some Ben-is-evil twist, I don't think it would sit well with viewers.

 

Good point. 

 

Come to think of it the only person who claimed there was sexual abuse was Ben.  Adam made a comment about "you know what he comes for and it's not to bring ice cream" but the writers could have some crazy answer for that that doesn't involve sexual abuse.  I guess for the audience to at all not be sympathetic to Ben given we do know he was held there against his will, they'd have to make him a really, really bad guy.  As in, killing puppies, somehow forcing Doug to abduct Adam, etc.  (Just thinking aloud...)

 

This is not "blame the victim bullshit", it's just guessing ways the show could turn our assumptions on their heads.  Audiences are fickle.  Given what little we've seen, it's virtually unspeakable to even consider if Ben is a bad guy.  Show us him being a really bad guy, and people will want him punished, not protected. 

Edited April 12, 2016 by Guest

[lucindabelle]

Ben talked about the man lying on top of him. Seems pretty clear he's talking about sexual abuse. I will not find it a neat twist if poor prisoner Ben is made to be a villain but despicable storytelling that does, yes, blame the victim.

[BonnieD]

Others have listed all the issues above. I had a hard time getting past the logistics of holding two boys captive for 10 YEARS! No sanitation or flushing toilet. Who carried the waste in and out? What kept their bunker warm in the winter? They showed a small lantern, but they would have had to have more light then that not to be ghostly pale. I just watched the movie, Room, which was so very realistic that it brought out the flaws in this show all the more.

 

Also this occurred to me too.

 

Wouldn't both boys soon be too old to be of interest to Pockmark? He would likely have killed them soon anyway.

They were 18. Hardly attractive to a pedophile any longer. I just don't see anyone keeping prisoners for an entire decade. Esp out in the woods rather than in a backyard shed. Too inconvenient by far.

 

I also wonder if the Ben flashback story we saw is perhaps not the truth and he might still be in touch with his captor. Just because they showed a flashback doesn't make it true.

[truthaboutluv]

I just don't see anyone keeping prisoners for an entire decade.

 

Isn't that what that what Ariel Castro did to Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Georgina DeJesus? It was about 10 years they were held in his house, in his basement, while he went about his life and day with no one the wiser. That's crazier to imagine than this guy holding two boys in a deserted place in the woods that people likely rarely walked by. And what about Jaycee Dugard. She was held for almost 20 years. As I've said, I watch a lot of true crime shows (hello Investigation Discovery) and you would be amazed the crimes and the stuff that happen and people get away with. Honestly, whatever flaws this show has, this man kidnapping these boys for ten years is not something I find hard to believe. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by truthaboutluv

[Guest]

Ben talked about the man lying on top of him. Seems pretty clear he's talking about sexual abuse.

I said "the only person who talked about sexual abuse was Ben."  We know Ben is hiding some things.  He could be adding details for some reason.  

 

But the fact that Adam most likely did die or get killed and Ben did escape without being re-caught makes me think it was a pedophile who was done with them, anyway.  Adam's own comment would be hard to explain as being about something else, too.  What else could Doug be using them for.  

[Bama]

I think the whole DNA thing doesn't involve Willa sneaking into a police evidence room but ties back to the lab/company.

 

Remember in one of the first episodes, Claire's big campaign idea is to microchip all sex offenders and then it was revealed that the lab/company that would do the microchipping is also the lab/company that tested Adam's DNA?

 

The family probably had the real Adam's DNA on file or whatever with that lab/company just in case remains were ever found so they could test them.

 

I'm betting Willa took those hairs from Ben, went to the DNA lab/company and said "We're going to be making a big proposal to use your microchips on a huge scale and make you tons of money.  All we want in return is for you to use the DNA from this hair sample and replace it with the Adam DNA sample you have on file. You will be asked  for a DNA comparison with a sample the hospital will send you in about 48 hours.  Sounds good?  KTHXBYE!"

 

Then Willa decided to abandon Ben and the plan and didn't think about those hairs she planted with the DNA lab/company and then "Adam" comes back and the police know Adam's DNA is on file with the local lab/company.  Hospital sends the new sample over for comparison and boom - there's the DNA match.

[LisaM]

I'm not a big fan of Joan Allen in this role but I thought she was great this episode. 

 

Really interested to see how Hank fits into the kidnapping scheme. Does he find the boys for Pocky? Did he bring them food when Pocky and his wife went out of town for days? If he did, Ben didn't seem afraid of him when he went to the house plus Hank didn't recognize him as Ben, not Adam. 

[freebie]

Even if the show hasn't outright confirmed the sexual abuse Ben-as-Adam described (i.e., a doctor talking about evidence of sexual abuse), I have a really hard time getting past the horrific scars on Ben's back. He was flat-out tortured! And there was no indication that those scars were recent, so the beatings likely happened when he was a child. That kind of treatment alone would turn any non-cooperative kidnap victim into the compliant little Ben we saw, talking to Adam about how to get along with their "friend." Also, if he and Adam are about the same age, by the time Ben was 8, he was younger than Adam when his life in the bunker began, and he'd already endured captivity for a period of time. All of that is more than enough to account for Ben being "strange." I think that's why Willa's about-face was the most troubling thing for me. Here is this obviously damaged young man who is ill-equipped to navigate the world *and* is in need of years of therapy to cope with what he's been through, and Willa decides to send him off with $10K and a bag of clothes?!? There is a lot about this show that doesn't make sense, but WIlla's thought processes make the least sense to me.

[Guest]

Good points.  I had forgotten the doctor confirmed sexual abuse and that he had scars, too.  I guess Ben isn't going Ed Norton on us!  

[ByTor]

Really interested to see how Hank fits into the kidnapping scheme. Does he find the boys for Pocky? Did he bring them food when Pocky and his wife went out of town for days? If he did, Ben didn't seem afraid of him when he went to the house plus Hank didn't recognize him as Ben, not Adam.

For some reason I only pay half attention when I watch this show, but is this wife the pregnant woman? Maybe there will be a disgusting twist where she is the molester and the baby is Adam's.

[Guest]

Ooh, ick.  Yes, the wife is the pregnant woman.  She's so annoying I'll almost be disappointed if she's innocent.  

[Major Bigtime]

Could that be why the pregnant wife was so interested in the workshed? She's wondering if he brought home a new boy? OMG, that would be a very sick twist to this show's storyline.

[Guest]

Maybe the margarita party was to celebrate their catch.  lol.  And barf.  That scene was one of the most disturbing to me to begin with.  Hopefully fictional Adam was unconscious.

 

If she's pregnant with Claire's grandchild, that would at least help smooth over some of their loss, if they got that kid in the end.  

 

Kind of bleak, macabre stuff for a former Shonda writer, if they go there.   

[truthaboutluv]

I love a good mystery show as much as the next person and I'm always looking for a twist, but I have to say, if the wife turns out to be in on this all along, I'll give the show props for hiding that well because honestly, I don't get any suspicious vibes from her at all, other than just sadly being the clueless spouse of a sick fuck. And there are many women like her who exist - most recently, Jared Fogle's poor wife. 

 

I feel like for the wife to be in on this, it would require the show to ultimately pull the "nothing we're seeing is really the truth" ploy. What I mean is we've seen multiple scenes of this woman and the kidnapper guy alone and we've seen her asking questions and being confused about what's happening, while he distracts her or comes up with excuses. For example the incident at the mall, when she asked him what was going on with all the cops. Then the situation where they were detained with the police officer, etc. My point is that it would make no sense really for her to be playing dumb in private moments with her partner in crime.

 

So the only way the twist makes sense is if she secretly knew all along but pretended she didn't and lived in denial so as to not deal with the reality of who she was married to and the kidnapper guy himself didn't even realize she really knew. I just don't see based on what the show has shown us, how they've been in on it together. 

 

Could that be why the pregnant wife was so interested in the workshed? She's wondering if he brought home a new boy?

 

IMO she was interested because he was spending a lot of time in there and was being incredibly evasive and secretive about what he was doing. Even during what looked like their baby shower, he was consumed with whatever he was doing in the shed and then told her she couldn't go in there at all. So naturally curiosity got the better of her and she went in, which he clearly knew she would do and so he had the cradle ready as a decoy for what he was really doing in there. But I didn't think her curiosity was strange. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by truthaboutluv

[Guest]

Good points.  Plus Doug had a table saw over this shed dungeon door, clearly hiding it from her.  Jane also did act really clueless and innocent when Nina talked to her about the bunkers, too.  

 

His putting the stuffed animal in that dungeon is still a head scratcher.  Are we supposed to be afraid he's planning to abuse/imprison his own child?  That too is pretty nasty for primetime ABC.  

 

I've been watching a lot of cable shows.  I need to remember this is probably tamer.  Though Hannibal on NBC was probably the most disturbing show I've ever seen.  

[BonnieD]

 

Honestly, whatever flaws this show has, this man kidnapping these boys for ten years is not something I find hard to believe.

It's not the ten years I have a problem believing. It's the beyond primitive conditions. Sewage, water, and heat during a cold New England winter.  A basically equipped shed or cabin or even a dugout I would believe, but he accesses it by climbing down a hanging ladder! It simply wouldn't be possible to maintain the space and keep anyone alive for that length of time IMO. Getting the stuff needed up and down that ladder would be a huge task. The sewage alone....But I've got to stop getting hung up on the technicalities and just accept the show for what it is.

[Guest]

What I didn't really understand is when Doug entered the dungeon he made Ben put on a shackle so he was chained to the wall.  Assuming he kept the boys shackled until he left it, how did they remove the shackles after he was gone?  We saw that Ben had to force his hand through to escape.  If they were just shackled 100% of the time, why did they show Doug making Ben put it on before he climbed down?  Did he climb out, pull up the ladder and then toss them a key?  If they had the key until next time he was inside, it seems like they could've overpowered him sooner, like on his descent.  

 

Maybe ABC decided the boys living there shackled for 10 years was just too much so they added that line just so it was less gruesome, though maybe it didn't make much sense logistically.  

[nara]

A

 

What I didn't really understand is when Doug entered the dungeon he made Ben put on a shackle so he was chained to the wall.  Assuming he kept the boys shackled until he left it, how did they remove the shackles after he was gone?  We saw that Ben had to force his hand through to escape.  If they were just shackled 100% of the time, why did they show Doug making Ben put it on before he climbed down?  Did he climb out, pull up the ladder and then toss them a key?  If they had the key until next time he was inside, it seems like they could've overpowered him sooner, like on his descent.  

 

Maybe ABC decided the boys living there shackled for 10 years was just too much so they added that line just so it was less gruesome, though maybe it didn't make much sense logistically.  

Here's how I understood it.  The boys were only shackled when Pockmark was in the dungeon.  He would not descend/get close until the boys wore their bracelets and threw their keys beyond their reach.  When he was ready to leave, he would take the keys, ascend the ladder, and throw them down to the boys so they could unlock themselves.  I suspect this approach started when the boys were big enough to attack him.

 

They probably could have done the fake-out earlier, attacked him and escaped, but they were conditioned to accept their circumstances.  It wasn't until Pockmark promised Ben a new friend that Ben had the incentive to starve himself so he could slip through the bracelet and leave.

[truthaboutluv]

In terms of the boys being down there all the time and wondering how they used the bathroom, etc. I may be mistaken, but I do think in the earlier episode when Ben was talking about where he was held and who held him, he said that the man would let him out once in awhile.  Again I may be wrong but I swear he said this. My guess he brought them up one at a time chained and stayed close while they went in the bushes or whatever. And as this was a mostly deserted area, it was unlikely for anyone to walk up on them. Not to mention it probably happened at night. 

[Guest]

There was a mention of their 'bathroom' being a bucket in a corner of the cell.  I don't recall any mention of them being brought outside but I don't watch that closely.  

 

I rewatched the 'red dragon' scene to see if he said it there and he didn't.  He said sometimes the man would leave the door open behind him and he could see out the window while the man molested him.  

 

He also said the man came there every night.  That seems odd given that Nina said it was 10 miles off the highway and 3 miles into the woods.  And Jane doesn't seem to have a night job.  Probably nothing, though.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Guest

[Mikita]

I'm unclear how a kid can have no family and be untracked.  An orphan would be in the system and tracked by child services or the foster system, wouldn't he?  I'm guessing pocky must be Ben's family, of some form.  Or I guess Ben could've been a very young runaway who landed in an awful spot.

 

Well, it's not really an interpretation of mine.  I'm just throwing out crazy ideas of how a kid could grow up in a dungeon and not be reported missing by family or some authorities.

 

How many times have any of us watched the news and heard the story about a missing child that was recently discovered dead after having not been seen in several years? They go "missing" from home and foster homes. Social services is severely understaffed and overworked and some people quite simply are not doing a good job. It has gotten to be too easy for families to state that their child is now being home schooled and the neighbors don't see the child for years. Only to discover that the child was killed years ago and no one missed them. The latest one that I recall is the crazy woman in Detroit. One child was killed in 2012 and the other in 2013. Not discovered until 2015 when she was being evicted, the bodies were discovered in a freezer. She had family. She pulled her children out of school to home school them. There is no law in Michigan saying that you have to notify the state or school district of intent to home school your children. That leaves the family. No one reported not seeing them. She stated they were with others when asked where they were. It's amazing how long people can get away with this.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Mikita

[truthaboutluv]

How many times have any of us watched the news and heard the story about a missing child that was recently discovered dead after having not been seen in several years? They go "missing" from home and foster homes. Social services is severely understaffed and overworked and some people quite simply are not doing a good job. It has gotten to be too easy for families to state that their child is now being home schooled and the neighbors don't see the child for years. Only to discover that the child was killed years ago and no one missed them. The latest one that I recall is the crazy woman in Detroit. One child was killed in 2012 and the other in 2013. Not discovered until 2015 when she was being evicted, the bodies were discovered in a freezer. She had family. She pulled her children out of school to home school them. There is no law in Michigan saying that you have to notify the state or school district of intent to home school your children. That leaves the family. No one reported not seeing them. She stated they were with others when asked where they were. It's amazing how long people can get away with this.

 

All of this exactly. As I've said, I watch a lot of true crime shows and people would be amazed the crimes that happen, crimes that people get away with for years. There was that eerie story of the British woman who died wrapping gifts and somehow, despite having family and a job, no one realized she was dead on her couch for TWO years. So while I will admit this show has its issues, the one thing I do not question is this man kidnapping these two boys for more than a decade and getting away with it. 

[Guest]

But those are cases where the family is the captor or killer.  Are you saying you think Doug is Ben's family?  I can see that being the case, and not a lot of other scenarios.

 

How often do you read stories of a child found dead after an abduction who was NOT reported missing and NOT killed by his custodians?  

 

I suppose if Ben is a reported missing child in another state, Willa is to blame for letting them fake his DNA test, which could be how he could lie about having no family and it not be detected.  No one but Willa (and now Claire) suspect anyone reported him missing, and they don't seem to care.  Though it sounds like next episode

we found out the truth about who he is.  

Edited April 14, 2016 by Guest

[truthaboutluv]

But those are cases where the family is the captor or killer.  Are you saying you think Doug is Ben's family?  I can see that being the case, and not a lot of other scenarios.

 

 

I don't want to speak for the poster but I think the point is that a lot of strange things can happen all the time. Also, Ben said he didn't have a family, assuming that's true, then he could have been in a very poorly ran foster home. As the poster noted, many of these places can sometimes be understaffed, poorly run and a lot of the kids do sometimes run away. So Ben goes missing and is just written off as a runaway or his missing is reported by the foster home but the police, also overran with other cases, do a half-assed attempt at searching for him and then he's forgotten.

 

These things happen all the time. How many Jane Doe/John Doe homicide cases do police stations sometimes have? And some of those cases, the victim did have a family member or two somewhere but they just lost in the system and met a bad fate. Again, ymmv but I never questioned for a second pock mark guy getting away with kidnapping Ben and him not being searched for, especially if he is telling the truth about not having any family. It would also explain his ability to be stockholmed into seeing pock mark guy as his "friend" for years. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by truthaboutluv

[Guest]

I don't have a problem with a search not finding him or Doug keeping him 10 years.  I have a problem with the assumption (first by Willa, now by Claire) that he is not in a national missing child database.  

[truthaboutluv]

I'm not sure I understand - is that because they are willing to go along with this plan? Well in Willa's case, putting aside her being insane, when she first concocted the idea I assume she was going by Ben's own words that he had no family. Because after listening to him tell her what happened to Adam, she does ask him about his family and if he had anyone looking for him. So going off his words that he had no one, she figured her plan would work but then of course she changed her mind.

 

However, he still pursued it on his own which probably only further convinced her he really has no one because why else would he be so obsessed with being part of her family? As for Claire, she unwittingly became part of a huge lie/conspiracy and is now just trying to go along with it to save her campaign. Plus, it's more than reasonable for them to believe that if someone was looking for Ben, wouldn't they have seen him by now and seen the story and realized that was him? Mayor's son turns out to be alive after 10 years and one man being imprisoned for supposedly killing would make national news, much less be all over the state news. 

[Guest]

I think when a child is orphaned the state finds him a new guardian, either in the family, and if no one is left, then in foster care.  If he's in foster care, the state checks on him periodically.  

 

So in my mind either his guardian didn't report him missing, or he's on a missing child list and no one is connecting the dots because they assume he's Adam (except those who know he isn't).  

 

In a show where parents don't recognize this boy is not their own, I assume they'll write that he went missing in some far off state and no one saw him on the news or recognized him.  I don't watch news but would a California station run a story about a missing boy in Maine?  

But Mayor Claire is breaking the law by not letting the cops know he's not Adam, I think.  Maybe she'll address that in the next episode, though.  She hasn't known long.   

 

In their shoes, I would not trust Ben's story that no one is looking for him because someone, even if it's a state agency, would be looking for him (unless of course Doug is his family).   The Warrens should be extra sensitive to anyone taking in a boy that's not their own, under any circumstances, given they lost theirs.  

Edited April 14, 2016 by Guest

[Amy Beth]

If you read a lot of true crime, one thing you know is that kidnappers deceive their victims. They tell them no one is looking for them, that their family has abandoned them and that they (the kidnapper) are their only true friend.

If a child was kidnapped at a young age, his memories would fade and he would be susceptible to believing that he had no one out there.

[Guest]

Right.  Which is exactly why they need to quit treating the situation as if he really does have no one out there.  

 

It occurred to me that if Ben had taken Willa's money and just left town, the police would not be on Doug's trail.  Willa was trusting him 100% that Adam was dead, and she didn't care about finding Adam's killer or preventing future abductions (in addition to not worrying if Ben has a family out there).  It's like they twisted the story in a weird way to get $10k into Ben's hands or something.  

 

Why didn't Willa ask for that money back, too?  I know the family isn't hurting but surely someone would miss $10k?  Then again Claire tossed Danny $1000 like it was $10.  

Edited April 14, 2016 by Guest

[rue721]

They probably could have done the fake-out earlier, attacked him and escaped, but they were conditioned to accept their circumstances.  It wasn't until Pockmark promised Ben a new friend that Ben had the incentive to starve himself so he could slip through the bracelet and leave.

 

That reminds me of the story of elephants conditioned to be bound by a rope they could easily break:

 

As a guy was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures where being held by only a single rope tied to their leg. It was obvious the elephants could break the rope and walk away, but for some reason they did not.

 

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these magnificently strong animals just stood there and made no attempt to break way.

 

“Well”, the trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use a similar size rope to tie them. At that age it is enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to think they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

 

Anyway, Ben is clearly a fantasist. That he described the smokestack as a "dragon" makes sense and seems in-character now. It fits with him describing his and Adam's food like it was delicacies and calling Pockmark "our friend." I think that that tendency/coping mechanism is how he can do things like pretend to be Adam and even mutter "I am Adam" in his sleep or say "mom?" even as he's coming out of anesthesia.

 

It actually makes me feel worse for him. It's like he's constructed this whole other world in his mind, because the world he was living in was too bad. He must be even more messed up than he seems. 

 

I also don't think that Ben was necessarily being literal when he said that he had "no family." He might just mean that he has no family that he believes (still) cares about him or no family that he remembers or no family that he wants to see again.

 

It doesn't stretch my imagination to think that nobody reported Ben missing or made much of an effort to look for him. For all we know, he might have been purposefully sold or given to Pockmark by his guardians/parents. Tbh, there are a lot of really awful but realistic/plausible possibilities for how a child might slip through the cracks.

[Guest]

In psychology they use the term learned helplessness.  

 

Such a good point about his fantasizing. 

 

I'm glad someone else's mind went to the possibility of him being sold to or otherwise voluntarily given to Doug.

 

It occurred to me too that Doug could have obtained Ben somehow in Mexico or another poor country.  He could've conditioned him to never use a native language and name.  And if a child was told his parents were in a faraway land and they gave him to Doug voluntarily to take him away forever, he probably wouldn't want to try to find them as an adult.  

[rue721]

I wonder what Ben wants to do with that $10,000 that he took out of the motel light switch. Maybe he wants to use it to find Adam?

 

Maybe he thinks that, if he's exposed, if he can still bring the real Adam (or his body) home that might make up somewhat for the deception, and the family might go easier on him? Jeez, I feel bad for that kid. He seemed pretty worried when he woke up at the hospital and Claire wasn't there. And then once he saw her and really realized that she was on to him, he went right for that stash of money like he was trying to put some kind of Plan B into place.

 

I don't know what he thinks will happen if/when he's found out. I guess he thinks he'll get kicked to the curb -- where he'll be vulnerable to Pockmark again, unless he gets Pockmark killed in the meantime. (I figure that Ben doesn't think that Pockmark getting caught would be enough, because he knows from personal experience and from Hank that people who are caught and trapped can still get out one day).

 

I wonder if Pockmark was the only or even the primary "friend" who visited Ben and Adam, though. He just seems too young to have been the only person involved in building that dungeon and keeping those boys there for a decade. Ten years ago, he would only have been around Willa's age now. And he imprisoned the boys in a very sophisticated way, with the dungeon's steel-reinforced walls and his complicated routine with the shackles and the ladder. It just seems like he had to have had a "mentor" -- someone who taught him to do all this and really thought all of it out. I also keep wondering if Pockmark was ever a prisoner, too, because he seems empathetic to Ben in a really strange way. It just seems "off" to me that he would like Ben to wear a special plaid shirt and worry about finding someone to keep him company and nag him about eating, while keeping him in such hellish conditions. I would expect someone who kept child sex slaves in a dungeon for years to be more self-absorbed, and for it not to even occur to him that Ben might be lonely or grieving too much to eat.

[Guest]

I think the refinery Jane works at originally built the bunker they were in.  So Doug didn't have to do that part himself, just gain access to it.  

Edited April 17, 2016 by Guest

[atomationage]

I thought Willa didn't want to tell the truth to her family because the truth according to Ben was that Adam has just died the week before he escaped after all those years of captivity with no one searching.   Then came the attempt to train Ben to impersonate Adam, but she gave up because she thought Ben wouldn't be able to do a good job. 

 

Another odd thing was Ben in the motel bed with Willa.  He didn't have to touch the walls. 

 

I hope they don't make Ben in to a bad guy.  They hired another actor to play grown up Adam, and I doubt we've seen the last of him.  I didn't like this episode much at first, and skipped the scene in the prison with Hank and his mom.

 

The UK Soap Hollyoaks did a similar story last fall.  The abductee was told that her parents had died.   Then she met a friend at the beach and told her everything she knew.

[truthaboutluv]

I thought Willa didn't want to tell the truth to her family because the truth according to Ben was that Adam has just died the week before he escaped after all those years of captivity with no one searching.   Then came the attempt to train Ben to impersonate Adam, but she gave up because she thought Ben wouldn't be able to do a good job.

 

 

Actually the way things played out, she changed her mind because she realized it wouldn't fix things contrary to her fantasy. Willa was going to bring Ben to the police initially where he likely was going to reveal that Adam had died. Willa's request was that they give it a day because Claire had a big fundraiser that night and she knew finding out that all this time Adam was alive would destroy her. So she wanted Claire to get through the fundraiser and then she would bring Ben to the police station.

 

However while at the fundraiser, she started having this fantasy about how much better things would have been and their lives would have been had Adam not disappeared. And that's when she got the idea to make Ben impersonate Adam. But when her dad tells her that he and her mom were really a mess a long time ago, she decides a fake Adam wouldn't fix things and so she decided to just leave things as they were, including making the family believe Adam was murdered years ago. 

Edited April 18, 2016 by truthaboutluv