The Shards episode release schedule is pretty weird, but the wait for Episodes 6 and 7 is at least rewarded with a pair of chapters that make the show’s increasingly elaborate ongoing mystery considerably more disturbing. Rhonda (Ivy Wolk) returned at the end of Episode 5, though she is mostly unhelpful as to who abducted her and why he let her go. She does remember what she describes as “girlie smell”. At homecoming, she sniffs Susan Reynolds’ (Kaia Gerber) hand inadvertently and claims it was Susan who kidnapped her. But the girlie smell is actually an expensive Giorgio body spray that pretty much everyone is using in The Shards.
Susan is taken aback and is arrested, her wish of doing something less than perfect for once in her life achieved, though in an unexpected way. Robert Mallory (Homer Gere) has been the number one suspect for Bret Easton Ellis (Igby Rigney) for being the Trawler, who is behind all the disappearances, since the premiere episodes. And it’s Robert who clears Susan’s name, as she was with him at his home the night of the disappearances. He also gives a warning to Bret for siccing the police on him. But after the lights turn off in the hallway, Bret is treated to an image of his friend and lover Matt Kellner’s (Owen Painter) severed head and hands in a trophy cabinet.
What Happened to Rhonda in The Shards?
While Rhonda was sent back by the Trawler or escaped, poor Matt had no such luck. The episode opened with Rhonda being questioned by the police about her disappearance. But she’s too dazed and traumatized to say anything. She does reveal one sensory detail, the aforementioned girlie smell. Rhonda returns to school. But while previously she was vivacious, now she is subdued even though her peers try to cheer her up. She does seem as though he has returned from somewhere considerably farther away than wherever she was physically held.
Bret continues to pin the blame on Robert and approaches the principal, Dr. Croft, Matt’s father, and even the police. But none of it yields anything. From Matt’s father, he does learn that Robert was friends with Matt. Matt was also involved with a cult thanks to a booklet he found with a curious symbol on the cover. His father hopes he is with some freaks, safe and sound, rather than dead in a ditch somewhere.
Meanwhile, the police find a corpse with enormous welts and the same cult symbol carved on his back. The police suspect it’s the Trawler, but they instead say to the media it’s the Night Stalker. Bret poses as a crime reporter and sneaks into the police precinct. The detectives are not convinced by his Robert theory and instead trail him. They do question Robert for six hours later.
Thom (Graham Campbell), meanwhile, is with the same mysterious man who freaked out Debbie Schaffer (Hayes Warner) and Ryan Gifford (Daniel Dale). He is apparently a cult leader and talks to Thom about his “enlightenment journey,” and there is talk of people needing to die (which may or may not be metaphorical) and sacrifices. We do not know for certain whether it is the same cult and whether there is any connection to the Trawler.
Who Wins Homecoming?
Susan and Debbie give Rhonda a makeover. It is then that the Giorgio perfume becomes important. Debbie’s mother, Liz (Evan Rachel Wood), is wearing it, and she took it from her husband Terry (Wes Bentley). The memory is often less Proustian madeleine and more “wait, I know that smell.”
While Bret manipulates the ballots, it is again Susan who wins. She is the Homecoming Queen and Debbie is defeated again. Robert is the Homecoming King. Susan crowns Rhonda, though; the latter Rhonda gets a whiff of the “girlie smell” from her hand and accuses Susan of abducting her. Rhonda’s memory from The Shards Episodes 3 and 4 may be genuine, but her interpretation is likely not correct.
I still have doubts about Bret himself, who is the definition of an unreliable narrator. We are witnessing the story through his eyes, and The Shards has repeatedly given us reasons to question how much of what he sees can be taken at face value. The Shards is 55% on Tomatometer, as of August 27.
What do you make of that The Shards Episode 7 ending? Is Robert Mallory really the Trawler, or are we being manipulated through Bret’s unreliable perspective? Share your theories in the comments!
The Shards‘ Episodes 6 and 7 are now streaming on FX on Hulu.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
from FandomWire https://ift.tt/LDZBTEI
No comments: