2024 1:00 PM EDTWarning: This post contains spoilers for Apple TV+'s Lady in the Lake In Lady in the Lake, nothing is quite as it appears for Madeline “Maddie” Morgenstern (Natalie Portman), a Jewish housewife turned aspiring investigative journalist in 1960s Baltimore. For much of the Apple TV+ show, which is based on Laura Lippman’s 2019 novel of the same name Maddie is obsessed with uncovering the truth behind the unsolved murder of Eunetta “Cleo” Johnson (Moses Ingram) a Black woman whose body was mysteriously found in the fountain of a park lake But Maddie questions everything she thought she knew when she comes face to face with a very much alive and breathing Cleo in the final moments of the penultimate episode Maddie is in the hospital after being stabbed by Mrs the mentally unwell mother and accomplice of Stephen Zawadzkie a young Jewish girl whose murder helps jumpstart Maddie’s journalism career she has feverish hallucinations about her life and the murders of Tessie and Cleo which cloud her perception of reality when she wakes up and meets Cleo a person who has consumed her thoughts for months While there’s little explanation offered for how or why Cleo appears alive before the episode ends there’s no denying that she’s very much alive—and that Maddie will have to once again re-examine what she thought she knew about the disappearance of Cleo Johnson all the answers to why Cleo faked her own death—and why she returned—are revealed Here’s what you need to know about the shocking twist at the end of Lady in the Lake As she explains to Maddie in the hospital in Episode 7 to avoid being killed by Shell Gordon as a cover-up for the attempted murder of Myrtle Summer Though the body in the lake was identified as Cleo it was actually the body of her best friend Dora who had died of an overdose the night that Cleo was supposed to be killed Reggie and Cleo dressed Dora’s body in Cleo’s clothing and placed her in the park fountain where they hoped her body wouldn’t be found It was eventually discovered after someone sent a complaint about the fountain lights not working into the newspaper where Maddie worked Because Dora’s body had been in the fountain for months making it plausible that it was Cleo who had been murdered and left for dead In the seventh and final episode of Lady in the Lake Cleo returns to her former life for a moment to secure proof that Shell Gordon has been running an illegal numbers game so that Maddie can publish it in an exposé Cleo offers Maddie this scoop in exchange for Maddie’s silence on Cleo faking her own death Cleo dresses in a disguise as a new male bookkeeper for Gordon which allows her access to the hotel office where his racketeering records are kept she sets fire to the hotel before leaving to meet Maddie for the final time Cleo then leaves Baltimore for good with her two sons on a ship headed to Paris while Maddie publishes her exposé of Gordon Moses Ingram in 'Lady in the Lake'Courtesy of Apple TV+What happens to Cleo?Following her departure from Baltimore Cleo relocates to Paris with her two sons and fully assumes the identity of her late friend Dora She fulfills Dora’s dream of performing as a nightclub singer in Paris—and in doing so also fulfills her own dreams of singing that she had abandoned as a young girl Maddie’s investigative journalism about both Tessie and Cleo’s murders and her exposé of Shell Gordon help to launch her career as a storied journalist Maddie has published a book about the cases she helped to uncover as a journalist happy with her decision to pursue a career as a writer Although Maddie has already ended her marriage to her husband Milton Schwartz she chooses to also break off her new dalliance with police officer Ferdie Platt Watch Lady in the Lake on Apple TV+ Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com Apple TV’s Lady in the Lake series begins with the disappearance of a 9-year-old Jewish girl named Tessie Durst who was visiting the famous Baltimore Thanksgiving parade with her parents and siblings Tessie found an aquarium store on the streets and left her parents behind to buy a seahorse for herself the attendant at the store was a mentally disturbed individual with malicious intentions he locked her in the basement and hurt her in the most unimaginable ways Tessie’s dead body was found near the lake Though this fictional incident is quite shocking in itself one might be horrified to know that it is inspired by a real-life incident the Baltimore police found the dead body of an 11-year-old girl named Esther Lebowitz Esther had been missing for the past two days the authorities finally located her lifeless and bruised body near Rogers Avenue a carpool dropped Esther off near Park Heights the curious girl came across a popular local aquarium store Wayne lured Esther into the shop’s basement He raped the poor girl and ultimately killed her He later disposed of her body in the nearby area The entire Jewish community was in shock as the news of Esther’s death and the nature of her murder made its way to them Those very streets where the children once walked freely without their parents’ supervision were not safe anymore One death had completely changed the friendly neighborhood Soon after Esther’s lifeless body was discovered he confessed to the crime during a polygraph test His attorney sought a temporary insanity plea which has also been discussed in Laura Lippman’s book and the AppleTV show The unanimous decision found him guilty of the gruesome murder and gave him a life sentence Wayne and his family tried to challenge the judgment but the requests were denied each and every time The Jewish community didn’t want such a monster to be released from prison in any capacity Wayne died of natural causes in a Maryland jail The first two episodes of the Apple TV show have already introduced Tessie’s demented murderer the police found aquarium dust on Tessie’s dead body and that’s how they ended up at Stephan’s aquarium store acknowledging him to be the prime suspect in the case took inspiration from Esther Lebowitz’s murder case a lot of fictional elements have been added for dramatic purposes Maddie also got into an illicit affair with Allan’s father Allan’s father managed to seduce Maddie when she was 17 years old though their relationship didn’t last long Maddie later married Milton (Brett Gelman) and moved on with her life only to find herself suffocated in her marriage Tessie’s Durst acts as a catalyst in Maddie’s life that prompts her to leave her husband behind to build a life of her own And finding Tessie’s body was just the beginning of it we also never found the true motive behind the murder there’s been no deep dive into the killer’s psyche and his mental condition the first two episodes of the Lady in the Lake show implied that his psychopathic behavior might be a result of a traumatic and abusive childhood Stephan is shown to have some fetishes around the fish She wouldn’t think twice before beating the living daylights out of her son and it could be theorized that she had always been violent with him unable to express himself because of his mother’s strict parenting bottled up the emotions that most likely affected his mental health it could be speculated that it wasn’t the first time Stephan had committed such a crime and maybe his mother had been an accomplice in the cover-ups Those who have read the book already know whether it’s true or not I’ll take my leave and let you enjoy the show “Lady in the Lake” has returned to Apple TV+ with its episode 6 the show followed the aftermath of Cleo’s death in the lake She realized that Shell Gordon and Reggie were somehow connected to Cleo’s disappearance Maddie went to meet Stephan’s mother at her house to confirm a detail episode 6 follows Maddie in a fever dream as she tries to recover from Ms While looking back at her past and present she realizes something new about Cleo’s case “Lady in the Lake” episode 6 follows the aftermath of Maddie’s (Natalie Portman) troubling encounter with Stephan Zawadzkie’s mother (Masha Mashkova) She hopes to confirm the identity of the man she saw when Tessie (Bianca Belle) went missing Maddie is caught up in a string of fever dreams It fuses things from her real life to her imagination to reflect her innermost fears it shows her at a party from the time after her marriage Allan Durst (David Corenswet) approaches her while wearing a sailor’s costume He believes he can have her since she used to like him back in the day But he doesn’t listen and keeps following her he apologises for not being there for her and blaming her for what happened to his family Allan reveals Maddie wasn’t the only girl his father abused Seth (Noah Jupe) stays in the room by her side Allan says her next child will know the truth about her we realize this is but a part of Maddie’s dream or a mix of truth and projection of anxieties The nurse who helps her with the childbirth takes off her mask and reveals herself to be Cleo (Moses Ingram) She finds herself in a flooded corridor filled with leaves and bushes as if she is walking through a shallow lake she notices Cleo wearing a dress she wore in the past she sees Reggie (Josiah Cross) shadowboxing and walking toward the light She follows him to a library and loses him she reaches the basement to find herself getting pushed around by a bunch of black women Maddie approaches her and realizes that it is her Maddie wakes up from her dream and finds herself in a hospital room with Seth beside her The news talks about the horrifying incident at Ms The news also reveals that the police are looking for other suspects for Cleo’s death He runs back home to find Slappy getting arrested Reggie drives by and offers some food and money But he doesn’t reveal any details about Cleo he confronts Shell & Reggie for letting him rot in prison Shell only indicates the threat they pose if Ferdie crosses them Shell calls another officer to protect himself from any charges Bob Bauer (Pruitt Taylor Vince) from The Star arrives at the hospital to meet Maddie He reveals Stephan confessed to attempting to rape Tessie Maddie remains concerned about Cleo’s case She realizes he is there to steal her story she doesn’t reveal any details about what happened in the Zawadazkie residence she returns to her dream state and defends her journalistic ambitions to young Tessie When Officer Platt comes to visit her at the hospital she keeps imagining herself in some strange scenarios Maddie finds herself sitting next to her mother who keeps talking about what happened in her past Maddie is tired of living in the shadow of their past and constantly reiterates the same events She is annoyed with living by her mother’s standards and being happy with just what she has Maddie has better ambitions and doesn’t want her mother’s boundaries to limit her growth the far-right Nazi folks fight for their bigoted mindset Officer Platt has to drive through their childlike chaos to the station Officer Platt’s superiors reveal their knowledge of Reggie sneaking into Maddie’s apartment through her window They know it is likely because Shell told them about it who believed Ferdie would cause problems in his future the superiors consider a biracial relationship wrong as per their prejudices He confesses his deeper connection with Maddie than he did in past relationships knowing he wouldn’t need to commit since they wouldn’t want to be seen with him outside Maddie finds herself in another hazy dream her mother doesn’t accept her privilege in the United States Maddie walks away to a group of black folks standing around a lake She notices Cleo hanging in the air to a ring Reggie appears out of nowhere and beats her Maddie wakes up to see Cleo as her room’s cleaner The woman says that she is indeed Cleo and Maddie is not dreaming The next week’s final episode will reveal why Cleo staged her own death An applied arts graduate who loves to share his obsession with cinema and television Loves listening to music and exploring new artists Still not over the second season of The Bear and the last scene of Another Round Designed by Two Words In the fourth episode of Lady in the Lake Maddie started to achieve some form of stability as a journalist at The Baltimore Star She linked Tessie’s murder to some kind of government experiment and that got her a post at the newspaper’s helpline desk But that revelation caused Tessie’s father and Maddie’s former lover Maddie ended up unleashing her anger on Seth thereby putting the mother and the son at odds with each other And when Maddie thought that she could go home and take a breather she found herself face-to-face with the alleged child killer Cleo had started to make a living by exploiting Shell Gordon’s rigged betting racket But when Gordon learned that the police were rounding up the goons who tried to kill Myrtle on his orders he feared that Cleo would testify against him he told Reggie to kill her off before the police got to her and it seemed like Reggie was unable to defy Gordon With Cleo out of the picture for the time being the fifth episode of Lady in the Lake puts all its focus on Maddie Lady in the Lake episode 5 opens with the revelation that we were already suspecting: Maddie was having an affair with Hal Durst It’s not clear if the child was aborted or if she did end up giving birth (In which case but one thing is apparent: Allan’s animosity against Maddie doesn’t stem from her journalism or the fact that they are ex-lovers but he agrees to pay for the proceedings because that’s the least he can do for her Maddie learns that her complaint about the lights not working at Druid Park has led to the discovery of a woman named Cleo Johnson When Maddie realizes that she knows Cleo and she should pursue the case to climb up the professional ladder instead of just delivering letters and getting sexually harassed at work she calls Stephan and asks him whether he is the one who has killed Cleo Just to make sure that the dead body is actually that of Cleo the woman’s face is too disfigured to be identified properly and even though Cleo’s mother has confirmed that that’s in fact her daughter’s dead body Maddie seems to have her doubts about this whole situation Maddie goes to the newspaper called The Afro which has been covering Cleo’s story for the last three months but she is shown the exit door pretty quickly Murphy (who seems to be the EIC of The Afro) gives Maddie copies of all the coverage they’ve done on Cleo so that she can do her own research Maddie lands at Cleo’s funeral to see if she can get any juicy details from there And she does get to witness a very public spat between Slappy Upon being questioned about any hidden details about Cleo’s death that haven’t been revealed yet he tells Maddie about the deal between Cleo and Lucille and how they were working together to get the better of Shell Gordon’s rigged betting system When Maddie tries to get some answers from Lucille Bob warns Maddie to not look into this case anymore she goes to Shell Gordon’s bar to talk to him She recognizes Reggie as the guy who was there when Tessie was kidnapped but she doesn’t make a big deal out of it for the time being because her focus is currently on Cleo Shell isn’t really interested in giving Maddie anything to work with He talks like a politician and goes on a rant about doing everything he can to uplift the Black community even if it involves running a betting racket She does learn that Dora is in Paris (which basically means that she is probably dead because she knew way too much about Shell’s business) When Maddie shows her findings on the Cleo disappearance case to Officer Platt he basically says that everyone works for Shell Gordon and nobody is going to go against Shell and say that the kingpin is responsible for Cleo’s death or disappearance and the secret couple go their separate ways Zawadzkie a visit in the hopes of getting some information about Stephan’s involvement in Cleo’s death But when Maddie asks her if Stephan told her anything about seeing Reggie in their store Maddie goes on to reveal that when Stephan escaped from jail Maddie somehow manages to lock herself up in a room Zawadzkie realizes that attacking Maddie is going to lead to her imprisonment Maddie reaches for the telephone to call the police but she passes out due to all the blood loss I’m sure that Maddie’s antics are going to help in her professional field because her superiors are going to realize that she is ready to put her physical well-being on the line for a story it remains to be seen how Maddie will use her newfound powers following the lives of two women in 1960s Baltimore Based on the book of the same name by Laura Lippman the series stars Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram as Maddie Schwartz and Cleo Johnson is titled "Innocence leaves when you discover cruelty then in yourself" and answers a major question we've had since the premiere We're over halfway done with Apple TV+'s thriller-drama Lady in the Lake WARNING: Major spoilers for Lady in the Lake episode 4 are below TRIGGER WARNING: This episode of Lady in the Lake features a depiction of sexual assault and we will mention it briefly in our recap as well Picking up on the same scene we left off on last week Lady in the Lake episode 4 begins with Maddie meeting Stephen Zawadzkie at the mental institution He's eager to speak with her after she proposes the connection they have but he's discouraged when he realizes she wants to interview him such as who was at the store with him the day of Tessie's murder He doesn't believe she's being truthful when she says it was just chance that led her to Tessie's body Maddie comes clean about the spot; she used to go there when she was younger to meet boys We see a quick flashback scene of Maddie with Allan Durst Stephen tells Maddie that he didn't kill Tessie He then mentions military experiments he had to participate in and Maddie wants to know more Maddie heads to the Baltimore Star office and tells Bauer about the military experiments Reggie calls Cleo and gives her the winning number telling her that he wants her gone by Christmas Day Cleo and her son rush off to visit a hairdresser working out of her apartment one that might allow the woman to open up her own hair salon All she has to do is put money on the number 366 on Christmas Eve Officer Platt and his colleague Officer Davis go after one of the men involved in Myrtle's assassination attempt and sadly We see Shell watching the story on the news seeming very alarmed when they mention a woman who was present during the attempt They don't have Cleo's identity yet Maddie gets her story about the military experiments published in the paper and when she shows up at the office she can tell her article is making a lot of noise Bauer gives her the great news that she's got a job at The Baltimore Star though she's not leading any investigations just yet but she seems happy to just get her foot in the door Bauer also offers her tickets for the football game on Christmas Day Shell confronts Reggie after watching the news and he gives Reggie the impossible task of killing Cleo eat at Reggie as he prepares to carry out the murder Cleo goes to see Dora while Officer Platt pays a visit to see Maddie She asks him about what happened to Officer Davis but he's not very forthcoming with the details of his job He doesn't want to give her a scoop for the paper Maddie wants to take their relationship to the next level and invites Platt to the football game He reminds her that they could go to jail if they're seen on a date together During a conversation about how many men she's had sex with Reggie calls Cleo and tells her that he wants to meet at midnight in the early hours of Christmas so he can collect his share of the money before she leaves we see how the numbers are rigged at the horse races who's coincidentally doing Maddie's hair is ecstatic to get a phone call and learn that she's won a lot of money While celebrating Christmas Eve with her family Cleo confronts her mother for not giving her the support she's needed all these years Maddie celebrates Hanukkah with her family and members of her community Allan is at the event and angrily confronts Maddie about her article accusing her of using his dead daughter to get her name in the newspaper Stephen sets one of the worker's Santa suit on fire in the cafeteria Reggie watches Cleo and Slappy walking on the street from his car Cleo eventually goes to meet Reggie alone at their meeting spot Maddie arrives home and realizes someone's in her apartment doubting her claim that she thinks they are connected She tries to run away but he catches her and tells her that he forgives her He lets her free and she gives him one of her sweaters But he doesn't do anything; he just leaves The final scene of Lady in the Lake episode 4 is a big one seemingly confirming that Reggie is the person who kills Cleo Stephen runs from the police out to the lake while Reggie is moving Cleo's body to the same lake This results in Reggie throwing Cleo's dead body into a water tank and hiding as the police catch Stephen Though Reggie is the one to dispose of Cleo's body does that automatically mean he killed her The fact that we don't see her murder has me suspicious The remainder of the show will likely put a focus on the fallout of Cleo's death and how the mainstream media might choose to ignore it Lady in the Lake episode 5 premieres on Friday, Aug. 9 on Apple TV+ © 2025 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER Picking up on the same scene we left off on last week Lady in the Lake episode 5 premieres on Friday, Aug. 9 on Apple TV+ Apple TV+ will feature new and returning favorites this August The Apple TV+ drama continues with the pivotal days leading up to Christmas “Lady in the Lake” on Apple TV+ is back with episode 4 it followed Maddie trying to solve the case of Tessie Durst’s murder Stephan Zawadzkie was charged with this crime and was taken to a psychiatric hospital Maddie convinced Bob Bauer from the Baltimore Journal to let her work for them Cleo Johnson is worried about her association with the murder attempt on Myrtle Summers Officer Platt made her reveal details of the car used for this crime episode 4 shows Maddie interviewing Stephan for the Baltimore Star Cleo begins a plan to protect herself from any criminal charges Shell learns something shocking about his associates “Lady in the Lake” showed Maddie (Natalie Portman) showing up at the hospital to question Stephan Zawadzkie (Dylan Arnold) to confirm the identity of a colored man who was seen taking Tessie Durst (Bianca Belle) Stephan recognizes Madeline and shares details about his father He died when Stephan was barely 7 years old Stephan reveals his staunch faith-based views He refuses to let Maddie record their conversation on tape he feels cheated since he thought he believed they would have just a conversation Stephan believes he and Maddie have a peculiar ‘connection.’ So Maddie uses his pseudo vocabulary to extract more information from him Stephan asks her how she knew about the lake It reminds her of an incident from her youth when a man forced her to have sex with him near the same lake Stephan speaks about his desire to seek salvation but admits he didn’t kill Tessie he reveals shocking details about some psychological experiments he had undergone It led to his trauma and the subsequent mental chaos Cleo (Moses Ingram) showed up at Dora’s (Jennifer Mogbock) room and invited Reggie (Josiah Cross) Cleo wants Reggie to rescue Dora from Shell Gordon’s (Wood Harris) employment She also expects him to share details about a bet that has a winning chance she agrees not to tell Shell that Reggie sent her to the assassins’ house Reggie calls Cleo and tells her the details Then he tells her to be gone by Christmas morning Cleo shows up at the house of Lucille Tatum (Lunda Suarez) to put her bet Lucile reveals how her business is to put food on the table for her family Cleo offers Lucille a place to open her own parlor in partnership with her She gives Lucille $50 and asks her to put in a specific bet on Christmas Eve Cleo plans to keep the 80% for herself and offer 20% for Cleo Lucille must not reveal this to anyone else After interviewing Stephan in the psychiatric hospital Maddie shows up at the Baltimore Star office She tells Bob (Pruitt Yaulor Vince) about ‘Operation Whitecoat’ – an ongoing secret military program in Fort Detrick an article based on Maddie’s correspondence is published She returns to the newspaper office to speak with Bob He reveals she is now employed as their helpline assistant She accepts the job even though it is not what she expected she bends down to tie the knot of Bob’s shoes Officer Platt (Y’lan Noel) and Officer Davis (David Johnson III) keep a watch on a couple of suspects in the assassination attempt and potentially arrest them Davis suspects Platt is sleeping with a white woman (Maddie) and questions his ethics They get into a shootout where the suspect ends up shooting Davis to death The authorities hope to catch other suspected accomplices Shell orders Reggie to ensure Cleo is at their Christmas giveaway event so that he can get rid of her and the evidence that incriminates his organization Dora gets tired of Reggie and Shell’s abuse she urges Cleo to take her away somewhere safe They both get emotional thinking of Cleo’s guilt-ridden past Slappy (Byron Bowers) shows up with the kids and a meal Reggie watches Cleo & Slappy from a distance as they return home Maddie is left with the responsibilities of leftover work at the Baltimore Star she continues her sexual relationship with Officer Platt she helps him get over the guilt of Officer Davis’ death she learns details about the investigation Stephan secretly sets fire to a guard dressed up as the Santa Claus Maggie changes her hairdo and returns to their family celebration who is furious at her for her recent news piece about his child’s alleged murderer He wants her to stop digging into this case further and believes she is trying to rejuvenate her hopes of a journalistic career Maddie is still determined to find the truth she returns to her apartment and finds Stephan inside He escaped the hospital and showed up there he realizes that she is dating a black man and gets furious Maddie tries to pacify Stephan as he assaults her Stephan considers her to be his other self that God made likely because of the experimental indoctrination She manages to calm him down and make him leave her apartment The final cryptic scenes show Stephan running toward the lake and getting caught by the police we see Reggie show up at the lake trying to take a body out of a boat The previous episode of Lady in the Lake revealed that Hal Durst and Maddie had an affair in the past and since Hal didn’t want people to know about it he asked her to either get an abortion or put up the child for adoption This established that the animosity between Allan and Maddie was not just because of a bad breakup and her search for Tessie wasn’t random; it was actually quite personal it was weird when she divided her attention between the investigation into Tessie’s murder and the disappearance of Cleo Johnson And since it was too much to handle for one person she kept hitting dead ends and got frustrated Zawadzkie to talk to her about Tessie’s murder and whether or not Reggie (Shell Gordon’s right-hand man) was there in Stephan’s store on the day of the crime Why did she want to find out about Reggie’s involvement in Tessie’s death Maddie assumed that Reggie and Shell Gordon were responsible for Cleo’s alleged murder and if she could get the police to look into Reggie because of his presence at the store from where Tessie was abducted maybe it’ll help them arrest Cleo’s alleged murderer Zawadzkie ended up getting agitated due to Maddie’s pointed questions and she stabbed Maddie and then killed herself The sixth episode mostly takes place in Maddie’s mind as she recovers from her injuries The opening scene of episode 6 of Lady in the Lake takes place during Maddie and Allan’s high school days Allan is drunk out of his mind and starts speaking ill about his father And he also blurts out that he is aware of Hal’s relationship with Maddie and the fact that she got pregnant at some point during their affair This recontextualizes the awkward moment near the lake where Allan forced himself on Maddie even though she kept saying that she didn’t want to have sex with him Based on the painting in Hal’s room and the whispered conversations shared between Maddie and Hal and since he didn’t know how to vent his frustration it seemed like Maddie was pushing Allan away because she didn’t feel like their relationship was at that stage where they could get physically intimate But the truth of the matter was that she was in love with Hal and she was dating Allan to maintain this image at her school that she was in an age-appropriate relationship when Allan tries to get intimate with Maddie again I think that Maddie has seen the true face of Hal after she got pregnant and maybe that’s why she decides to give him a chance Almost everything that Maddie sees in this episode of Lady in the Lake is a figment of her imagination Maddie sees Seth and Allan visiting her at the hospital while she is recovering from her injuries She then randomly gives birth to a grotesque-looking baby When she gets out of her bed to go after Cleo she finds herself in ankle-deep water in the corridors of the hospital She sees an injured Reggie shadowboxing and walking through those very corridors She tries to go after him and ends up in a large hall filled with Black women wearing the coat that Cleo had on the night she allegedly died Maddie herself gets a coat that looks like the ones that were given to prisoners at concentration camps Then she witnesses Cleo jumping to her death Maddie sees herself lying motionless on the floor When Tessie asks Maddie whether or not she is going to tell the world her story Maddie blurts out that the little girl is old news and several other characters dancing to “Me and My Shadow,” the version by Peggy Lee and the dancing hall changes to Maddie’s funeral Since no one wants to give a speech in Maddie’s memory she does the job herself after having a tiff with the version of her mother that lives inside her head This is followed by yet another musical vision set to “The Impossible Dream,” where she sees a lot of people celebrating Cleo before Reggie appears out of nowhere and hits Maddie Reggie frames Slappy for the alleged murder of Cleo he pays Teddy a visit and gives him money to help him stay afloat because the Johnsons don’t have any breadearners anymore Teddy knows that his father has been framed But Reggie says nothing and drives away with tears in his eyes he finds himself face-to-face with Officer Platt who gets busy questioning them about their involvement in Cleo’s alleged murder Reggie almost gives it away that he is reading off of Gordon’s “script” in order to avoid getting himself investigated by Platt he quickly deflects the conversation to the topic of fishes and uses it as a metaphor to differentiate between Black people who are working with him and Black people who are working against him Gordon gives Reggie an earful for not disposing of Cleo’s body properly I think Gordon wanted Reggie to make sure that Cleo’s body disappeared off the face of the earth so that it couldn’t be traced back to him in any way given how Reggie dumped the dead body in such a public place And if this starts to hamper Gordon’s business I have a feeling that he is going to get Reggie killed as well Captain Stassley asks Platt to come down to the precinct for a chat Stassley tells Bosko to have a talk with Platt Bosko goes off on a rant about how Italians and the Jews have faced all kinds of oppression but they’ve managed to rise through the ranks and make a place for themselves in society Bosko alleges that the Black community always plays the victim card because they can’t achieve success Platt rightfully points out that the only reason Black people find themselves cornered is because every person who is some shade of White is united in their racism against African-Americans he brings up Platt’s relationship with Maddie He says that if this piece of information becomes public That says everything that needs to be said about the times the characters are living in Platt realizes that he is being threatened and he has no option but to go on the backfoot regarding this whole situation It’s possible that Platt is going to break up with Maddie maybe their relationship has run its course it’s best to walk away before someone gets hurt Maddie has approximately 3-4 moments of lucidity One happens during the midpoint of the episode where Bob Bauer pays her a visit and reveals that Stephan Zawadzkie did Zawadzkie had found Tessie in that situation she killed her and then dumped her body near the lake and Bauer says that Slappy has been arrested for allegedly killing her And when Bauer tries to get some information about Maddie’s findings regarding Tessie’s death Maddie shuts down because she knows that he is trying to steal her story and publish it with his name in the byline there’s a moment where she has a conversation with Platt about the nature of their relationship She also sees her mother paying her a visit And that means two things could’ve happened on Christmas Eve he met her that day because he was right outside her house he took her to a safe place where she could hide until things cooled down Reggie probably did try to kill Cleo and dumped her body in that reservoir but he didn’t check if she was actually dead Is Cleo going to use Maddie to unearth the truth about Shell Gordon we’ll have to wait till next week to find out.