Tell Me a Story recap: 5 shocking twists from Season 1, Episode 6
By Mads Lennon
Guilt, an episode revolving around the regrets and remorse each character struggles with, brings some of the biggest shocks on Tell Me A Story yet.
When speaking of guilt, it’s impossible not to think of Tell Me A Story’s resident bartender, and the youngest of the “three little pigs”, Eddie. He has struggled to come to terms with what happened during the bank heist since the pilot episode. He’s a bit like the scrappy runt of a puppy litter. Now, more than ever, Eddie is trying to find peace after being an accomplice to Beth Miller’s death. Which is hard to do when her grief-stricken fiancé goes off the deep end and begins stalking him.
Kayla too, has made her fair share of mistakes since her recent move to New York City. This week, she finally begins to show some growth and take into account the consequences of her actions when she accidentally fails to do something Colleen asked of her, again. The difference is, this time, Kayla actually feels genuine, and believable, regret for her mistake.
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Though perhaps there is no guilt so powerful as a mother’s. Something Madeline, the mom of Gabe and Hannah, knows better than most. She is so intent on making up for all her past mistakes, she’s willing to do most anything to win back Hannah’s trust. At least, that’s what she claims. Yet, when push comes to shove, does Madeline really have her children’s best interests at heart?
5. Mitch drains his bank accounts.
Shelley is rightfully angry when she discovers Mitch has emptied their entire savings account. While his intentions were good (he wanted to ensure Eddie had enough funds to leave town and escape from Jordan’s rage) it still wound up leaving them without so much as a few pennies to rub together. Not only does she feel betrayed by this massive decision he made without consulting her, but she’s afraid of what their future will hold without a financial nest egg to fall back on.
Whereas Mitch, has pinned all of his hopes on Sam. Not the smartest move since he has proven to be the most volatile member of their bank heist crew. Sam supposedly is “working on a few things” in regard to the money they stole. It should raise a red flag for Mitch.
4. Nick confesses his love to Kayla.
There is so much wrong with the twisted nature of Nick and Kayla’s relationship. For starters, he’s a murderer. Given his lack of compassion or impulse control when he murdered Ethan last week, I suspect Ethan wasn’t even his first kill Every week, Nick unravels more and more.
For a moment in this episode, it looks like Nick and Kayla may be headed towards a solid relationship, at least as “solid” as an illicit affair between a student and teacher can ever hope to be. Then, Nick let’s slip the those three deadly little words, “I love you”, and sends Kayla running for the hills. It was only an episode ago she confessed to feeling as if everyone who loves her dies, so it’s no wonder Nick’s admission spooked her.
When he turns up to see her later that night, she ends things with him for good. Given Nick’s Hereditary-style reaction, banging his face into his mirror, I would say he doesn’t take the news well and that can only mean a storm is brewing on the horizon for Kayla.
3. Jordan kills Carla.
Shocking in its brutality, but not at all shocking in that I predicted Jordan would pull this move early on. I’m not exactly happy with this particular storyline. I think fridging female characters is an overdone and lazy trope. Jordan’s entire plot revolves around Beth’s death and Carla was as disposable a character as they come. She was never given any characterization and existed solely to give Eddie an exploitable, human weakness. Carla may as well have donned a red shirt from the very beginning.
Still, I wasn’t expecting it all to happen quite so fast, and Carla’s death did lead to a genuine shock and perhaps the biggest one of the episode.
2. Madeline betrays her children.
It turns out, Madeline is as unreliable and sketchy as Hannah always claimed she was. It doesn’t take much for her to let two supposed “detectives” convince her to turn on her own children. Despite all of Madeline’s claims she wants to be a better mother for Hannah and Gabe, or a sanctuary for them to turn to in times of need, she practically slaps the cuffs on their wrists herself at the first sign of real trouble. Maybe she truly believes her own kids are murderers.
I wonder how she’s going to feel when, or if, she discovers those detectives weren’t exactly law-abiding citizens themselves. They were goons of the man Hannah stole money from and sent to retrieve it, and likely to kill the siblings after they were done. We leave the two of them in a dangerous car scuffle without much conclusion but I can only presume our Hansel and Gretel are going to be on the run for real this time next week.
1. Eddie kills himself.
In a moment I truly did not see coming, Eddie’s guilt over Beth’s death coupled with the fresh guilt over Carla’s death, results in him taking his own life. His crumpled body falls across that of his recently deceased girlfriend. Despite this tragedy being a creation of Jordan’s own machinations, he looks shell-shocked. Standing in the shadows of a normal suburban street with a wolf mask on, what once was an ominous and threatening presence is replaced with a terrified man with a silly costume mask on wondering, “What have I done?”
Will this be enough to put things in perspective for Jordan? Or is he still determined to finish the job and track down the third “little pig”? I wonder if the tables will turn and Mitch will be the one who starts hunting Jordan down for killing his brother.
I wish Tell Me A Story had utilized Paul Wesley more. Eddie didn’t have much to do but be scared and guilt-ridden in 90% of his scenes. Still, I had anticipated him making it out alive by the end of the season so I was truly surprised by the by the final scene.
Odds & Ends
- Is it just me or is this show sorely underusing Kim Cattrall? Her few scenes with Danielle Campbell have some of my favorites. I want to see more of her!
- Nick meeting Kayla’s dad at the bar, a happy coincidence (for him) or does he have a more sinister agenda in mind? I’m leaning towards the latter.
- Why did Madeline even let those detectives into her house? They didn’t have a warrant. I wonder what would have happened if she’d said no. Perhaps they’d all be dead by now.
What did you guys think of this episode? Will Gabe and Hannah escape unscathed? How much farther is Jordan going to go before enough is enough? Is there even any hope left for him at this point? How do you think Mitch is going to handle Eddie’s death? Hit the comments and let me know your thoughts!
New episodes of Tell Me A Story are available to stream Thursdays on the CBS All Access app.