204 - Slums Of Bayou Hills *Spoilers*

[Orbert]

Wayne is trying to protect his family, for sure; I guess I just question his judgement. I know -- easy for me to say.

But why couldn't he have told Dahlia and everyone else that Dale came back and killed Pete? It's not like Wayne did it himself. Oh that's right, at the time, he hadn't told Dahlia that Dale was even in the house. She didn't like hearing that, I remember. What I don't remember is whether that was before or after Dale showed up while she was in the tub. (How'd he get in, anyway?)

Also, is there some reason why he didn't tell Dale that he didn't kill the real Riches? I've never forgotten that the Malloys did not kill the Riches; that was an accident caused by the other family's RV. Yes, this led to Wayne impulsive idea to just take over their lives, to "steal the American dream", but he didn't kill the Riches, so why let Dale think he did? If it's to maybe inspire a little fear in Dale, make him think that Wayne's capable of killing two people in cold blood, it didn't work.

Back to Wayne and the growing problems and deceit. In the past, Wayne has always just dealt with it himself. That time in the RV, when the kids were all worried, Dahlia just said "Don't worry, your father has a plan" and you could see a nearly reflexive response in the kids. They were suddenly fine, secure in the knowledge that Dad would handle it. They did ask "So what's the plan?" but it was really more curiosity than real paranoia.

But everything in Eden Falls is bigger, more complex, than what they've dealt with before, and they need to stick together. Wayne did say to Dahlia "I need you here, now. I can't do this without you." Of course, this was while Dahlia was trying to tell him about the parole officer stuff.

[unholyghost2003]

[Dahling]

[CaelLuver]

Interesting discussion going on here! I think you guys have it covered though, so I'm just going to point out something I noticed and found a little odd. Someone earlier mentioned that Grandma was missing, and it seems Nina was too! I suppose they just weren't crucial to the goings-on in this particular episode, but I miss them! (You'd think Grandma at least would have made an appearance, since she DOES live in their house...)

[Emilie]

Funny, you should say this. I was fully expecting to see grandma on the sofa along with Sam at the end of the episode and wondered where she was.
As for Nina, I guess she really wasn't essential to the story this time, as I hadn't thought about her until you mentioned it.

[Dian55]

Hi y'all, just a thought here since the subject of the real Riches has come up, what ever happened to their bodies? I don't ever remember anyone finding them or anything,or have I just forgotten

[unholyghost2003]

Nope! no one has found their bodies ... yet ... that we know of. But they (The Malloys) DID push the car into a swamp. W/o a reason to go looking no one is likely to go looking and there is prob. very little left of the Riches by now.

[Orbert]

I don't know if we specifically saw it or not, but I figured the real Riches were still in the car when they pushed it into the pond and let it sink. Not exactly the cleanest solution. Should someone notice the marks on the road, and the evidence of a car running off the road and into the woods, any decent detective would be able to eventually find the car, with the Riches' remains maybe still inside. The ensuing investigation could easily lead them to Eden Falls and The Malloys.

However, at the time, The Malloys were still very much Travellers, small-timers at best. Their mentality at the time would have been that they'd gotten rid of the evidence and were fine. In all their previous experience, it only needs to stay gone for a couple of days, tops, long enough to get out of town. I've never thought of that before, though. It's still out there, and could eventually be their undoing.

[CaelFan05]

Dahlia is trying to let Wayne know, and I think he is more protecting her at this point than lying. The less she knows the better, he takes the fall this time, not her.

[unholyghost2003]

[Steve]

I think Dahlia was bedazzled by the drunken person’s story and somehow romanticized into wanting to “clean up her act”. I think overall it was very stupid to see the parole officer and expecting him to simply forgive her. She got extremely lucky that he did not turn her in right away. She took a huge risk and put the entire family at risk. As soon as she started to realize her mistake, she agreed to all of his terms, just so he would not take her in. Now she has to live two lives, work a really crappy job and show up in a even worse apartment.
I am not sure what to think about Wayne. I could see how agreeing to stiff the poor victims of New Orleans hurt him very much and how he agreed to it unwillingly. I am not sure that he has done the right thing. I thought it was a little unbelievable how he played Doug’s old friend, but his encounter with the Russian mafia boy explained it somewhat.
I can see the point some of you raised here about Wayne lying to his family. I think the show is very successful in holding a mirror to our society. Greed eats away at people’s integrity and values. Relationships fall apart because of money. Financial success is all that counts these days while a stable relationship and family values is not considered important.

[Steve]

[Orbert]

Good point. I'd forgotten about that conversation in the RV, when they were all ready to head to Mexico, then somehow ended up back in Eden Falls anyway.

And you're right; once they were back, it would be a little hard to say "Oh, and by the way, Dale was here, and he killed Pete, but we hid the body. Sorry I didn't mention that before."