How did Harry end up in the Rockford Lodge Motel? On this week’s episode of “The Sinner” Vera lets the cat out of the bag about Julian, and we learn more about the man behind Mosswood.
Part V
Lionel Jeffries represents everything that should be feared, and avoided at all costs, whenever you have a silly notion to join a cult. The control he has over his people is frightening, and brings home to roost the evilness of the cult leaders that have been in the news over the last century. How can one person obtain such control, but more importantly, what does this reveal about the people who allow another human to control their ever thought. I ask this because of Carrie Coon’s character Vera. She seems in such control of Mosswood, but she wasn’t always, and I doubt that she is now.
I want to go back to Harry’s awakening in the same room where the murders happened. He doesn’t remember how he got there, and after checking the motel’s security video, he learns that he asked to stay in that particular room. Was he drugged? Harry has to wait until he sees Vera at Julian’s trial to get the answer, but Vera she denies drugging him. Her attention in on Julian who under the advice of his lawyer, pleads not guilty. The boy who grew up in a cult is lost in the real world. He doesn’t understand the other boys or the prison rules. If this boy is a killer, then it’s because he has been victimized at the commune. Harry is bonded to Julian in some way, and I think it’s because they share a childhood trauma. What happened in that house fire? Will we every learn?
Later after meeting in the park, Vera admits that Marin is Julian’s mother. According to Vera, Marin became pregnant after joining Mosswood…the father is Lionel Jeffries. Vera took over the care of raising the boy after Marin disappeared. Why would Marin leave her baby behind? We don’t know if she willing left, or as Heather believes, was killed. The only thing we do know for sure is that Vera loves Julian as if he is her own child.
Harry and Heather (Natalie Paul) are at opposite sides of the fence by now. Both are hiding secrets. Heather doesn’t tell Harry that she would visit Marin often while Marin (Hannah Gross) was at Mosswood, albeit, only at the front gate. Poor Heather. Marin doesn’t want their friendship to continue. The relationship between Heather and Harry goes downhill after Harry is asked to testify in Julian’s behalf. Heather and Harry do visit Glenn Fisher, the man seen in the video attacking another Mosswood member, but he gets defensive with the questions.
Julian
I am really feeling compassion for this boy, played excellently by the young Elisha Henig. After being thrown into solitary confinement for fighting with the other boys, he refuses to allow Vera to visit or talk to him on the phone. He will only speak with Harry. Julian confides to Harry that he doesn’t trust Vera anymore because she lies about the nightmares. Julian is convinced that the person in his nightmares is real. Who is trying to get him? Is it Marin, or maybe Lionel?
Conclusion
Is the entire town in on the conspiracy of Mosswood? Harry breaks into Glen Fisher’s home to discover that the Fisher family originally owned Mosswood until selling it to Jeffries…but the most startling revelation comes from Vera’s flashbacks of her life under Lionel.
Dr. Poole did many abortions for Mosswood. Lionel made sure that he slept with all the women in the compound, but children are not welcomed at the compound. Marin refuses to abort her child. In Vera’s flashbacks, we realize that she is not a monster, but a victim herself. Brennan Brown successfully plays his Lionel Jeffries (Brennan Brown) as a sick mind who convinces his followers to play out their trauma on others. We don’t understand how wicked this man is until he brings a baby deer (I’m not sure if it was a deer, goat, or calf) for his followers to love and raise. He tells Vera to name the animal. The look on Vera’s face when Lionel tells her the animal is to be sacrificed is haunting.
Later, we see the same haunting look on Vera’s face when Lionel tells her that Marin can keep her baby in order for his followers to love and raise the child. He asks Vera if Marin had a name picked out. Di Lionel plan on sacrificing the boy? I hope Harry finds out quick because he has made an enemy of Heather and Jack, and is not only kicked off the case, but out of Jack’s home.
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