Sharpening Knives
As we pass the halfway point of Why Women Kill, all roads lead to the inevitable fate for our trio of husbands. As the knives sharpen and the plot thickens, CBS’s latest drama starts to kick things into high gear with an episode that hints at things to come. We begin with witness testimonies as solitary figures stand in graveyards, before cutting to our three different timelines. In 1963 Beth Ann unpacks the final box from their move as Rob sincerely thanks her for her help. After speaking to her new neighbour Mary, Beth Ann worries for her well-being and heads over to April to ask for her advice. The abundance of make-up and charm from the husband leads April to one conclusion – he’s hitting her. When she returns home, Rob and Beth Ann decide to throw a house party and it’s here we’re gifted with a lovely one-shot track of Beth Ann walking through her house during the party. As she greets her neighbours, she sees first-hand the bruises on Mary’s arm. Rob invites Mary over to dance with him and everything seems to be fine until her husband takes offense and decides to leave, grabbing his wife by the arm and leaving the party. As her and Rob fight over the incident that transpired with Mary, it turns out Sheila was upstairs the whole time and heard everything. Consumed by guilt, Beth Ann goes on to tell her that they used to have a daughter but her death is all her fault. In 1984 Simone and Karl dance around their affairs before heading out with Amy to meet their new in-laws. With southern drawls and charm to boot, the family discuss Amy enthusiastically while Karl and Simone smile and listen. Midway through dinner however, Karl heads off to the toilet but his extended absence prompts Simone to follow him, where she finds him in the toilets with another man; her old hairdresser Hector no less. Unfortunately all the secrets are revealed at the dinner table, as Amy’s new in-laws learn that Karl is gay and that Simone’s sleeping with Tommy. Unfortunately as Patty returns to the table in the midst of this drama, her Father mentions homosexuality and she believe it’s to do with her, prompting her to profess her love for Amy. With the entire evening ruined and Karl furious at his wife for the flamboyant way she revealed everything, he goes on to tell her that Hector was the only one who knew the real him and that he loves him. Needing to know the truth, Simone heads over and asks Hector outright whether he loves Karl, which he tells her he does. She nods thoughtfully before heading inside with him, telling Hector they have a lot to talk about. In 2019, Eli continues writing after popping more pills. However he’s stopped by Jade who asks whether they should tell Taylor the truth about them sleeping together. Despite his reservations, he agrees to tell her until she arrives home angry and frustrated, leading Eli to dance around the truth and not say anything. The next morning, Eli finishes his script completely and as he celebrates with the girls, he becomes closer to Jade than Taylor, prompting her to immediately ask if they screwed around – which Jade admits they did. With Taylor presumably on-board for now, they’re all called out for dinner with Eli’s agent who tells him he has offers from producers in the six-figure range. Eli goes on to tell the others how Jade saved him and most of that stems from her reading his script. Unfortunately Taylor takes offense to this given Eli never let her read his scripts early. It offends her so much she goes on to tell Jade she doesn’t think their current living arrangement is working out for her anymore. It’s here Jade also learns about Eli’s addiction to pills, but given he needs them in order to write it puts her in a difficult position, leading her to eventually hand over the pills. As the episode closes out, we cut away from from our male characters to see the future funerals that spell their inevitable demise where we leave things for now. Why Women Kill delivers one of its best episodes of the season. There’s plenty of drama to digest here and with Karl and Simone’s secrets now out in the open, who knows what this means for Amy’s potential marriage going forward. Given how important societal image is to her, this could come back to bite Simone later on down the line. Speaking of social pressure, Beth Ann and Rob’s story finally appears to be moving in a more consistent direction and given the ending we receive, with Mary spitting on the grave, if I’d wager a guess I reckon Rob will break things off with April and wind up sleeping with Mary instead. This could prove to be the catalyst that pushes Beth Ann over the edge. Of course the weak link continues to be the 2019 story but with more drama this time around and an interesting dynamic brewing between Jade and Eli, this story has certainly improved over the weeks and looks set to continue going forward. Quite what will happen next though remains to be seen but one thing’s for sure – the knives are very much beginning to sharpen as we edge ever nearer to the season finale.
