The Sinner – Part IV

By starrymag | August 29, 2017

By: Nicole Dintelman

 

 

This week on “The Sinner” Mason (Christopher Abbott) is being interviewed by Ambrose (Bill Pullman) and Leroy (Dohn Norwood) at the jail. They’re also interviewing J.D.(Jacob Pitts) who is saying that he’s never been in contact with Cora (Jessica Biel). He says that he only knows her from the news. Mason lets it spill that he knows that Cora told the police about J.D.’s car and that he gave her drugs. Harry wants to know how Mason knew that Cora told them that. Officer Sullivan (Abby Miller) is outside the interview room and knows she’s in some hot water since she’s the one that told him. Harry asks J.D. why he would tell Mason that Cora likes to take on three guys at once if he’s never even met her. How would he know that? J.D. tells him that women inspire him. Okay, that makes absolutely no sense. Is this guy high right now?

 

Detective Ambrose tells J.D. that Cora mentioned his name and J.D. tells Harry that Cora isn’t the most reliable source. J.D.’s lawyer arrives and says that J.D. shouldn’t have been held overnight. He has Lyme disease and, apparently, that’s a health hazard. Officer Sullivan tells Harry that she misjudged Mason. She said she wasn’t sure which information should be shared with him. Harry tells her that personal relationships can’t interfere with her work. Cora’s (Augie Murphy) sister Phoebe (Rileigh McDonald) liked to spy on their neighbor Kevin (Granit Lahu). Phoebe told her sister that Kevin’s girlfriend liked to cheat on him so Kevin was fair game. The girls also watched porn on the computer after their parents went to bed.

 

Cora’s dad (C.J. Wilson) was having an affair with the neighbor. He would sneak out of the house after he thought everyone was asleep. Of course, Phoebe knew because she watched everything. A dying girl who couldn’t leave the house pretty much knows everything. Harry asks Cora if J.D. Lambert is part of whatever happened to her. He tells her that she has to trust him if he is going to help her. Cora tells Harry that she lost her virginity to J.D. Harry asks if J.D. ever hurt her and if he’s the one that shot her up. Cora says that they did drugs together, but not heroin. She doesn’t remember him hurting her. Cora says that J.D. is the one that she was with on fourth of July weekend. She says they drove to someone’s house. All she knows is she had sex, but she doesn’t know who with. The next thing she remembers is waking up in the street two months later.

 

Harry visits Dr. Chang (Mia Katigbak) to ask her if she will work with Cora to try to recover her memories. Dr. Chang says she doesn’t work with people who are unstable, they can get retraumatized. Harry is insistent. He tells Dr. Chang that Cora doesn’t have much else going for her, he really needs her to work with Cora on this. Cora calls Mason to make sure he’s okay. She tells him that she and J.D. dated for a few months and that’s all it was. Cora tells Mason that if it was more she can’t remember. She says that Detective Ambrose is trying to help her figure it out. Mason tells Cora not to talk to Detective Ambrose anymore. He doesn’t really want to help her. Mason says that the cops just want to put her away. Mason isn’t very trusting, is he?

 

Harry and Faye (Kathryn Erbe) are having dinner by the water and Faye mentions the baby they lost. She tells Harry that he knew exactly what she needed that day. Dr. Chang tells Cora that she will offer her two sessions a few days apart so that she has time to recover in between. She tells Cora that she doesn’t recommend any of it, but Detective Ambrose is insistent on it. Cora says that she wants to try it. Dr. Chang takes Cora back to July 3, 2012. Cora tells her that she can’t move her feet. She says that she feels like she’s stuck in a swamp. The doctor tells her to try to find a moment of pleasure and asks her where she is. Cora says that she’s at the bar and she’s kissing J.D. Cora says that Maddie is there too, but Maddie hates her. Maddie is J.D.’s ex.

 

J.D. and Maddie (Danielle Burgess) have a plan, but they’re not letting Cora in on it. Cora is waiting for the bus and now she’s a kid. Dr. Chang tells her to try going back to the night of July 3rd. J.D. siphons gas because he’s on empty, but she doesn’t know where they’re going. Cora tells Dr. Chang that she hates Maddie because she won’t let her go. Harry shows Leroy who Maddie is and he’s discovered that Maddie is in J.D.’s vice file. Apparently, J.D. and Maddie stole from Maddie’s landlord. There is no current address for Maddie. Harry has a call into her last landlord to see if they have a beat on her. Harry also tells Leroy that the gas can J.D. would have been getting gas for only holds one gallon of gas. One gallon would have taken them fourteen miles.

 

Cora mentioned seeing a water tower in the woods when she was under hypnosis. There are only two water towers within a fourteen-mile radius of the bar. There is only one in the woods. Leroy is skeptical. He tells Harry he’s not getting Lyme disease from a hunch so he’s on his own investigating. Mason is stalking J.D.’s house and watches him leave. J.D. has a wife and a baby that stays behind. Harry goes off wandering in the woods alone. He sees the water tower, but so far nothing else. Mason goes up to J.D’s door, but before knocking turns his phone on record. He asks the woman that answers if J.D. is home, knowing that he’s not. She asks who he is and Mason tells her that his name is Mike. He says that he was heading out of town and was hoping to pick up some “supplies” and didn’t know if that was something she could help with.

 

Mason sees a blonde laying out back in the yard. Is it Maddie? It’s hard to get a good enough look at her to tell. J.D.’s wife goes to call him and finds out that Mason isn’t who he’s pretending to be and promptly kicks him out. Harry and Leroy find Maddie’s previous landlord and head off to interview her. She tells them that she kicked Maddie out because she was ready to be done with the whole thing. The landlord tells the detectives that she became involved with Maddie. Maddie and J.D. told her that polyamory was their thing. So maybe that was Maddie at J.D.’s house and he has two wives? Or a wife and a girlfriend? The detectives tell the landlord that it’s a murder investigation and she asks them if J.D. killed Maddie. Leroy asks her why she would ask that question. She tells them that J.D. has this control over Maddie.

 

The landlord (Clea Alsip) tells the detectives that when J.D. stole her things she confronted Maddie. Maddie panicked and disappeared. She left all of her things and just disappeared. Mason asks Officer Sullivan to meet him. He tells her that he bought drugs from J.D.’s wife and recorded the entire thing. Sullivan tells him that she should have known better. Mason asks her what she’s talking about. Sullivan tells Mason that he uses people. Mason says they were having fun. Officer Sullivan tells Mason that he screwed her in the photo lab and then he wouldn’t look at her in public. She says, no, that wasn’t fun. Sullivan says that he could get her fired and himself killed so he needs to stop.

 

Cora makes a trip over to see neighbor boy Kevin with little sister Phoebe watching out the window. When she gets home she tells Phoebe that she had two orgasms. Phoebe wanted to know everything. At Cora’s next session with Dr. Chang, Detective Ambrose wants to sit in. Cora tells him what they find is private and she’s afraid he’ll use it against her. Harry tells her that he thinks he’s proved that she can trust him. Cora says that it’s not good enough. He at least needs to tell her why. Harry says that maybe it’s the swamp she described and how she’s going to be stuck there forever. Harry says that he knows that swamp.

 

Dr. Chang takes Cora back to the fourth of July. Maddie and Cora are dancing. Maddie can barely stand up. They leave the bar and Cora says she doesn’t want to go because something horrible is going to happen. Now, Cora and Maddie are in the woods and Maddie is saying that she can’t breathe. Cora sees a search light and hears shots. She says that someone is hunting them. Cora sees the school bus from her childhood race past her again. Harry interrupts and tells her not to worry about the school bus. He asks where she went with Maddie. Cora says that Maddie wants her to come to the basement. They’re at the house they drove to from the bar. Cora hears the song and says she doesn’t want to do this anymore.

 

Cora sees a light at the bottom of the stairs. She tells them that she feels sick and she can’t do this anymore. Harry keeps pressing her and Cora hears a bell ring and sees someone step on Maddie’s chest. Cora is startled out of the hypnosis. Harry asks Cora if he has any idea who the person in her memory is. She tells him she doesn’t. He’s wearing a mask that covers his whole head. Cora asks Harry if he treats everyone like this or if it’s just her. Harry says: “What?” She tells him that she’s spilling her guts and he acts like nothing is good enough. Harry says that she’s being very candid and he thanks her. Cora asks Harry not to give up on her and he tells her that he won’t.

 

Cora is ready to join the general population back in the jail. She remembers when she caught her dad sneaking out of the house and asked him not to go to the neighbors. He knew that she knew what he was doing, but he went anyway. Faye tells Harry that she was thinking that they could keep their separate lives – do things they want to do on their own, then come back together at home. That way they don’t need each other as much. This is step #1 to divorce. Harry sees something and starts to wander down the hill. It’s the school bus from Cora’s memory. Is it possible she’s mixing up memories? That’s what we thought at first until they found a buried body by the bus! Perhaps this is the missing Maddie?