If I thought the previous episode had left off with a bang, then this episode is a doozy. So many characters and story points shoved into this one. Let’s get to unpacking it all and seeing where we are at before we reach the final conclusion.
In the aftermath of finding the girls, Katie Bailey (Caitlin Houlahan) has returned home and her mother is overjoyed. Settle in for a rough road back to normalcy though. After what’s she’s been through, she’ll need plenty of love, support, and therapy. Dawn (Enid Graham) is thrilled and seeks out Mare to make apologies and thank her. Mare’s head is all kinds of wrapped up though, especially losing Zabel (Evan Peters). She seeks out his mother and I’m not sure what I expected. On the one hand, I completely get it. She’s grieving and angry. On the other token, being a cop comes with its own job hazard. Part of that is that criminals might shoot you or at you or pull guns on you. I think Zabel himself would tell his mom he chose this job and he chose to work the case to solve it. He may have 
followed Mare, but he would have gone there by himself or with someone else because he would have followed the lead as a good detective should. But she’s been doing the grief counseling work enough that with Zabel gone, she can come back and lead the case.
Since it was two cases and the missing girls part has been addressed, it’s full steam ahead finding out who killed Erin McMenamin (Cailee Spaeny). Brianna (Mackenzie Lansing) gets back in touch with the detectives to say Dylan (Jack Mulhern) wasn’t in the house all night. Jess (Ruby Cruz) also comes clean with detectives about the diaries and the walls are starting to close in on Dylan. There’s clearly something connecting him with Jess and Erin, especially the night she died. And I’m starting to get an idea of what I think happened….maybe? I don’t know, I’m working on it. So is Stephen King and I’m insanely curious who he thinks did it. Mostly, I am dying to know what that photograph is from Erin’s diary!!
More importantly, we finally get the flashback I’ve been waiting for all season, which is a morbid but also essential storyline. We get to see the day Kevin (Cody Kostro) died. Mare was running errands. Frank (David Denman) was with Drew at swimming. Siobhan (Angourie Rice) was at a neighbor’s when someone saw Kevin enter the house. Presuming theft for drug money as previously happened, Mare sent Shiv to check. And that was the first mistake. No matter if he was there to steal and take drug money, you should not have under any circumstances sent Siobhan to deal with it. What if he had gotten violent with her as he had with you, Mare? I’m not surprised Shiv went on a bit of self-discovery, shave your hair off phase. That’s some sad, dark stuff she’s dealing with.
Speaking of dealing with dark stuff, someone saw Bill Ross (Robbie Tann) acting odd the night Erin died. And people are starting to ask questions about the family reunion…how old is the baby? Welp, everyone is full of confessions. Billy tells his brother John (Joe Tippitt) what he did. John tells his currently estranged wife Lori (Julianne Nicholson) and I was hedging bets on whether she was going to come clean with Mare or not. She does, about everything and I was so happy I screamed. She loves her husband and her family and I was terrified she would bury it for the sake of her marriage. But also, f*ck you, John. Your brother admits to that and you’re like, “Let’s go fishing one last time.” No, sorry. If anyone related to me admitted anything even remotely close to what he said he did, I’d be throwing them in my car myself to go tell the cops; which leads me to believe John might have something to do with Erin…or possibly Erin’s baby… But Mare’s on the hunt and we’ll have to tune in next week, Sunday, May 30th for the final answer. I just want to know who did it! Also if my theory is right, and if Stephen King and I are on the same page, then wow. Who do you think killed Erin?
