SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
Pretty much everything I thought I knew up until now has been proven wrong. Almost every theory I’ve had so far was false. I think the only theory I had, or rather, the only allowance I made for a theory I had, was right. And that was that J.D. wasn’t a member of the Beverwyck Club but connected to someone who was. Just who that someone turned out to be and how they played into the events of the night of the 4th of July, five years ago, was quite the revelation. But let’s not go there just yet.
Firstly, this episode was one big flashback that detailed that fateful night that just so happened to be Phoebe’s birthday. And as a special birthday treat, she more or less blackmailed Cora into taking her to the bar with her. It was also the night that Cora planned to run away and move in with J.D.
I did like that Phoebe, for once, got to experience life outside of their home and the hospital. It was even kind of cute and charming to see her and J.D. getting on so well…until he offered her drugs. We know that Cora told him about Phoebe, so its not unreasonable to think that he knew she was sick. So for him to offer her drugs is questionable at best. And of course, Phoebe being starved for real life experiences and elated to be doing such, eagerly consumed them despite Cora’s protests. When Cora said that it could kill her, we knew where this episode was going.
I’m not so sure how I feel about the writers of the show framing all of the information we got from Cora thus far as 100% false because she remembered it wrong. Sure, before she started her sessions with Dr. Chang, Chang did say that people create false memories and it does make sense that Cora would have jumbled everything up, but it feels like a bit of a cheat.
Everything that we’d seen her flashback to Maddie saying to her was actually Phoebe. From Maddie saying that Cora wanted her to die, to them being “hunted” and Maddie asking her if she was coming. All of it was really Phoebe. And Cora’s story about getting pregnant by Frankie and throwing herself in front of a car when he rejected her and their unborn child? That was Maddie with J.D. That everything we thought Maddie had said and done was actually said and done by Phoebe changed everything.
As did the revelation that Frankie had been there on the night of the 4th of July. He was the friend of J.D.’s who got them into the Beverwyck that night and met and fell in love with Phoebe. I personally found it very strange that he just fell for her the instant he saw her. This show is a mystery thriller, not a romantic comedy, so that was kind of jarring. But I guess it was because he was higher than high. Her falling for him instantly, though, was understandable.
Phoebe letting go of Cora, freeing her from her obligation to her, felt pretty selfish. Which really isn’t out of the norm for Phoebe. Still, it didn’t much feel like now that she’d found and felt “love” she understood that she needed to let Cora go. It felt like she threw her aside because she found a man. Which was kind of what Cora was going to do to her, to be honest. So it was an interesting reversal. Even so, Phoebe had Cora under her thumb as much as their mother did.
Whereas before I thought that Phoebe had been a bad influence in a good way before, she was a bad influence in a bad way once everyone congregated in the room. Urging Cora to take drugs, kissing her…again, having her kiss Frankie and then J.D…it looked like she was about to lead them in an orgy. And she more or less did.
I didn’t expect Phoebe to die in the way that she did. I actually expected Cora to walk into the building Phoebe and Frankie were in and find her dead, the drugs having made her heart fail. It’s pretty tragic that she died as soon as she found love and right in the middle of having sex for the first time. Then again, her entire existence has been tragic. The very bright side of it all was that she did get to experience life a little and find love and that she got to share that love with the object of her affections.
This episode completely explained the look that Frankie gave Cora as she was stabbing him and why he didn’t fight back. He had been there, he knew what happened and he felt guilty and sorry for his involvement. Perhaps even felt like he deserved it when she stabbed him.
Because of how much he leered at Cora and was very touchy with her. My theory now is that Todd was her captor. I’m also now positive that the body they found was Phoebe.
Random thoughts:
- For a second it looked like Phoebe resented her mother for keeping her alive.
- It looks like J.D. did come between Cora and Phoebe a little.
