S05.E07: A Woman's Place

[formerlyfreedom]

Ten-year-old Leona O'Loughlin fails to show up at school, while her detective father, Leo, falls violently ill; investigators consider the chilling possibility that someone may be trying to eliminate the entire family.

[Annber03]

Dang. Poor Leo. First his daughter goes missing, then he gets deathly ill, then he finds out his daughter's dead, and then he has to face the possibility that somebody close to him both killed her and poisoned him. Talk about a nightmare scenario. 

I agree on the risks his interviewing Pearl would've brought, with the whole conflict of interest/emotional issues aspect and all, and I'm glad that the rules have changed on that since then, for a whole host of reasons. But still, he's a tough guy, being willing to confront her face to face like that, and not long after he's recovered from a near fatal poisoning, too. Guy doesn't mess around. I admire that.

Amazing that Pearl managed to get released from prison, and went on to live a quiet, uneventful life afterward. Strange how that works, how somebody can just suddenly decide to stop their murderous urges like that. Good thing Leo was able to recover, though (physically speaking, at least), and glad Pearl wasn't able to keep going with her crimes. Very sad story. 

[Fable]

This one seemed too predictable.  The title alone telegraphed it was going to be Pearl.  

[Mabinogia]

What a sad story. I knew a little before the show so I didn't mind it being predictable. I actually enjoy watching knowing who the killer is so I don't get distracted trying to solve it myself. I enjoy seeing how the police get distracted by tangents or their own biases until one small thing pulls all the pieces together. 

So watching them think it was the brother, this makes sense. In that day and age it would be hard for a bunch of macho police men to think a wife and mother could do such things. Women's whole purpose in life, at that time, to those men, was to take care of their husband and children. 

I can't help but think there was more going on here though. I'd like to know more about this family they kept saying she was sending money too. I'm also a bit curious about the brother, Frank. I just read a couple articles, after watching the show. The show didn't do justice to how insistent she was that "Frank had something to do with what happened". She never said he actually did anything, but it seems like he was part of the reason it happened. Admittedly my soap opera raised self first thought, yep, they were having an affair, Leona saw/heard them that night and that's why her death was escalated. But taking the soap angle out, I do think Leona said or did something that night that made Pearl kill her more brutally than she would have otherwise. Maybe Leona mentioned that the rice tasted funny. 

One interesting fact the show didn't mention is that apparently Pearl and her son also got sick that night. Gotta give it to Pearl. She was thorough. I wonder what happened to her son. 

[Annber03]

11 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

What a sad story. I knew a little before the show so I didn't mind it being predictable. I actually enjoy watching knowing who the killer is so I don't get distracted trying to solve it myself. I enjoy seeing how the police get distracted by tangents or their own biases until one small thing pulls all the pieces together. 

Agreed. The promo definitely indicated where the story would go, but I was curious as to the why of it all, and the circumstances that would've led up to her doing that, as well as seeing who all fell ill and how they'd recover (or not), so that had me invested in the episode, too.

The episode seemed to kinda indicate there was a mix of motives for Pearl here-some of her behavior was financially motivated, but the way they talked about the kind of life women like her led back then, and her comments to her friend towards the end of the episode, seemed to hint at a deeply unhappy woman who wanted to rebel against her lot in life, too. I fully agree with you that there was likely more to her story than what was shared here, and your theory about her and Frank having some sort of suspicious interaction sounds plausible. I could see that. 

11 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

So watching them think it was the brother, this makes sense. In that day and age it would be hard for a bunch of macho police men to think a wife and mother could do such things. Women's whole purpose in life, at that time, to those men, was to take care of their husband and children. 

Exactly. I remember hearing stories on "Deadly Women" about women who were suspects in certain crimes in the 1800s/early 1900s who got off scot-free because society just refused to believe that a woman could be a criminal. Either that, or if they did get convicted, it was blamed on "hysteria". 

If this case had happened a few decades later, I could see them having zeroed in on her a lot sooner, because if my time watching the Investigation Discovery channel has taught me anything, it's that poisoning tends to be a very common murder method among women, as women supposedly tend to be more covert and less bloody/messy in how they kill people. And they also tend to be more likely to target loved ones, as opposed to men (who, yes, can and do kill loved ones, but are also more likely to kill people at random as well). 

Obviously that's not a hard and fast rule, of course, and there's always exceptions either way. But still. 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Annber03

[Mabinogia]

2 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Exactly. I remember hearing stories on "Deadly Women" about women who were suspects in certain crimes in the 1800s/early 1900s who got off scot-free because society just refused to believe that a woman could be a criminal. Either that, or if they did get convicted, it was blamed on "hysteria". 

If I, being female myself, ever committed a murder I definitely would have wanted to do it around the turn of the century because, yes, "my period made me do it" was actually a legitimate defense back then. Screw equality. Take me back to the days I could get away with murder simply because it's my time of the month!!!! (seriously kidding there. But it is pretty mind blowing to me how stupid people can be). Of course, that is why they invented the vibrator, so, thank you.

5 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Investigation Discovery channel has taught me anything, it's that poisoning tends to be a very common murder method among women, as women supposedly tend to be more covert and less bloody/messy in how they kill people.

This is what makes me think something happened that night. It seems, they had dinner. Frank, who didn't eat with them comes home and goes to his room to read the paper. The husband went to work the late shift. Pearl sends the kids to bed probably cleans up. At some point she goes upstairs, probably to get ready to go to bed. The hairdresser said it was odd she wanted her hair done so soon after last time, so I don't think she planned on going to Ethel's that night, until she needed an alibi. I don't think she planned on killing Leona that night either, since she seems very methodical and this murder was quite messy. 

So she goes upstairs and something happens. Leona either says something that makes Pearl realize she has to get rid of her now, or witnesses something. 

I just read a book chapter about the case that makes me realize that witness testimony is utterly useless. Someone reported seeing two women, one carrying a "large bundle" to the car that night. Another reported hearing what was probably a child scream in agony or terror. Now, if Leona was bludgeoned in the house, did Pearl go to the car, get the tire iron, bring it in the house, hit the girl, then call a friend to help move the body? Or was the other woman Frank? Because if a neighbor could hear a scream from a house away, surely Frank who was in the house would have heard it? He said he could often hear Leona's coughing, so he doesn't sound like he'd sleep through a scream. 

God, this is such an interesting case because, while I've no doubt they got the right killer, I think there is more to it what happened that night that we don't know. 

Also, the description of Pearl at the trial...chilling. That woman is stone cold. She's on trial and worried about what she's going to wear and thinks that if she looks pretty the all male jury will let her off because they will be distracted. Sadly, she could be right about that, given the era she grew up on. I'm glad they saw through it and convicted her without hesitation.