Is Murphy unhinged, or is she onto something?
Murphy was still determined to solve the Jennifer Walker case and find Jess on In The Dark Season 3 Episode 11, and she stopped at nothing to do it, including holding Sarah hostage.
And once again, in what seems to be a pattern this season, she’s all alone.
As per usual, Sarah knocking on Darnell’s door spiraled out of control. Trey went into action getting her handcuffed and settled down, but he allowed Murphy to talk him into another fool’s run that affected their relationship again.
The season’s mission has been emphasizing how toxic Murphy is as a person and the effects on those around her. It was another hour that drilled that point home.
And it volleys back and forth between hinting at some growth on Murphy’s part to have her fall into the same patterns.
But it’s been an echo chamber of every character spending every other scene telling her how awful she is, and while much of it isn’t fabricated, it’s gotten redundant and excessive.
It’s easier to take people seriously when it’s coming from those closest to Murphy. We’ve seen how she treats them, and we know they’re coming from a genuine place of hurt and familiarity.
However, when you have Sarah going in on Murphy, it’s a bit ridiculous. Maybe it’s that adage of “no one messes with my sister but me” vibe that comes with this situation.
Sarah went into action driving a wedge between Murphy and Trey, and she didn’t have to do much for that. It’s the same things that Max told Trey or others.
He saw how she treated those closest to her as an observer, and he knows how she treats him as well. Trey is not dumb. But by the end of the hour, Trey concluded that he’s stupid for Murphy.
He’s done a lot of things for her, and it was hitting him at once. He didn’t need Sarah to get in his head for that. He also didn’t need to hear Josh’s account of how he fell for Murphy and she manipulated him, but that didn’t help matters either. That part was annoying.
Once again, it’s a reminder of how close Josh is to this case and why he shouldn’t be on it. It feels gross and disturbing that everyone continues to enable what has boiled down to him hunting down his ex because of the hurt she caused him.
It’s the only place that Josh is coming from, and under any other circumstances, it’s something that someone would address. Hell, a defense attorney would have a ball with this tidbit.
Even when Josh speaks about Murphy, he references how awful he feels to know that he shared a bed with this person who manipulated and hurt him.
It’s not the place he should be speaking from, and Josh talks about her like she’s this siren who causes nothing but destruction and uses people.
And the thing is, he isn’t wrong about Murphy in many ways. But wasn’t he using Murphy to manipulate and dupe the IRS?
Murphy is a supremely flawed person, and we can discuss all the ways of that, but when it bumps up against people who don’t own theirs, it gets a bit grating to hear.
All of this primed Trey for taking Sarah’s deal, and he became another person who used Murphy’s blindness against her to mislead her.
He let Sarah go and deleted the text, and he dropped Murphy off and is trying to move on with his life.
Sadly, I believe that Murphy genuinely cares about him as much as she can, but it probably doesn’t matter.
Josh: She just made me so stupid. She has this …. she’s just such a dick, you know? She hates everyone, so when she chooses you, she makes you feel really special.
Sarah: You think it was all just manipulation.
Josh: Every word.
Trey has to reconcile with the hurt and betrayal he caused Darnell with his part in the kidnapping, and he’s off on his on reevaluating things away from Murphy.
It’s frustrating that Murphy doesn’t learn. She continues to hurt the people around her, manipulate and use them too, and nothing has stopped that.
It’s understandable why everyone is sick of her right now. She hasn’t done herself any favors in the least, and by now, she’s coming across unhinged to boot.
You could tell that everyone is starting to believe she’s crazy with grief and denial. And she had some moments when even the viewer is concerned that she’s unraveling.
But she can’t be wrong about Jess, right? Regardless of how they feel about Murphy, how screwed up she is, and all the things that she does, she has good instincts.
When it comes to these matters, she typically ends up correct in the end. And it’s upsetting that everyone has given up.
It’s okay if they’ve given up on Murphy, but Jess, too? Not a single person has faith that Jess is alive, and they’ve all accepted it in this eerie way that would push a person over the edge.
Murphy picked up all these pieces from investigating Patrick Walker and the footage of his interrogation. It was telling that Sarah stated things about how she didn’t know some facts about this case.
Wasn’t that part of the problem? Murphy isn’t wrong about how she’s done more investigating in the past few days than the cops managed in ten years.
I have gotten closer to solving this case in three days than the cops have in ten years.
Murphy
It’s disconcerting that they never put any energy into finding Jess either. The only concern we’ve seen from the cops was finding Murphy and pinning everything imaginable on her. It’s absurd.
Everyone thought she was crazy about the friendship bracelets, but it may be the key to something.
Murphy stopped at nothing to get to Jennifer’s best friend’s house. She even resorted to sleeping with a stranger and schmoozing him into a ride.
One of these days, I hope Murphy goes to therapy to sort through her sex addiction or whatever is behind her sleeping with inappropriate men for all the wrong reasons.
Murphy: I literally have no one, I’ve lost everyone in my life, so please be nice to me.
Jessica: You really telling a figment of your imagination to be nice to you?
It’s always been her thing, but this season, it’s difficult to watch at this point.
But it worked well enough for her to reach South Bend to ask Jennifer’s friend about the bracelets and Jennifer. And before Murphy could get much out of her mouth, the girl was already apologizing.
Obviously, there’s more to the story, and she knows more than anyone else gave her credit for, so she’s the key to figuring out what happened to Jennifer.
And by doing that, maybe we’ll get the season-long answer of where is Jess?
Because there’s no way in hell that Jess is dead, and I can’t take another conversation Murphy has with the Jess of her imagination. Each one is killing me slowly.
Maybe Murphy can get to the truth, and hopefully, if Max or Felix figure out that Lesley sent Murphy away with $20 and a lie about them leaving her behind, they’ll search for her and get to the bottom of things, too.
Sorry, I still hate Lesley with the burning passion of 1000 Suns. I respect that she was looking out for her brother (maybe), but it was rough all the same.
Over to you, In the Dark Fanatics.
Murphy: Does one of these belong to you?
Friend: I can explain. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
How are we feeling about the latest developments?
Do you believe that Jess is still alive? Is Murphy right about Jennifer’s disappearance?
Hit the comments below.
You can watch In The Dark online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.