When we left Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini) last, they were standing over the body of the latter’s ex-fiancé, Steve (James Marsden). Since then, they’ve moved the body to the freezer in one of the many “spare” rooms Jen seems to have in her house. But that doesn’t mean Steve being out of sight makes him, by any means, out of mind. In fact, it’s all either one can seem to think about, particularly when the first episode, “You Know What You Did,” concludes with “Steve” showing up at Jen’s doorstep with a simple, “Good morning.”
No, it’s not a phantasm projected to life by their guilt, as we quickly find out in episode two, “Where Have You Been,” so much as Ben (giving Marsden a chance to test the boundaries of his acting ability more than he ever has)–Steve’s twin brother. Who has decided to blow into Laguna for the sake of helping his parents look for Steve, the clear favorite. Once again flummoxed by Judy’s head in the clouds approach to things in terms of not warning her about something as major as this, she makes Judy vow not to say anything to Ben… about anything. Naturally, this is not in Judy’s wheelhouse of abilities, opening up to blab some info about how Steve pulled out on a real estate deal with Jen “recently”–leading Ben to believe that maybe she was the last person to see him. When he catches her at her office in a moment of overt back pain, he keeps offering to help her (he’s a chiropractor), which, in her Jen way, she refuses. Though she does agree to give him a list of short-term rentals he might be interested in (he has to get out of his mother’s house before going further insane).
The two clearly share an awkward rapport that is further cemented when she does surrender to letting him work his chiropractor magic, sobbing uncontrollably after he releases the pain, and with it, all the emotions she’s had pent up inside. After all, it’s hard to carry the burden of murdering and lying all the time. Which is precisely why she starts to brainstorm ways to get rid of the evidence (Steve) when Judy starts having her own Lady Macbeth reaction to Steve’s presence in the freezer, insisting he’s trying to communicate his dissatisfaction through the sensor lights. But no, turns out, it’s just a nest of rats that have taken a shine to the corpse. Heeding the unwitting advice of her youngest son Henry’s (Luke Roessler) creepy friend, Shandy (Adora Soleil Bricher), Jen decides they need to bury Steve’s body in Angeles Forest, where, according to Shandy, many other gang members do the same.
Yet ridding the body from their immediate geography still doesn’t efface the guilt, least of all for Jen as she hides the truth about the night in question from Judy, in addition to developing feelings for Ben. Ben, who although sober for a year, decides to drink the night Jen and Judy get roped into organizing a vigil for Steve. Therefore lending him the courage to kiss her, much to Judy’s dismay, who sees it from afar. And no, it’s not that she’s upset about Jen kissing someone who is a replica of Steve, but rather, that Jen told her she should stop seeing Michelle (Natalie Morales), the woman she started to fall for after meeting her in the rest home where she works (she’s the daughter of a resident, not a resident). The catch? Michelle’s ex-girlfriend and current roommate is Perez (Diana-Maria Riva), who has been lusting for Judy’s arrest for quite some time. Now, Jen’s sudden closeness to Ben only serves to further complicate staying “out of the limelight” in the ongoing investigation.
With both women distracted by their love lives and the boulder of remorse on their respective shoulders, it’s easy for Jen’s oldest son, Charlie (Sam McCarthy), to find Steve’s car in her storage unit and take it out for a spin as his own, presumptuously inferring that the Mercedes is a gift for his upcoming sixteenth birthday. Going on said joyride with his daft “influencer” girlfriend, Parker (Sadie Stanley), who soon uploads photos of them to her Instagram, damning evidence that’s sure to come back and haunt regardless of Jen paying her to take the images down. As each episode seems to end with a twist more shocking than the last, “Out, damned spot!” is the perpetual cry of both women who each seek to expunge their compunction in manners that are diametrically opposed. And though one supposes their friendship is forged so strongly on the basis of their oppositeness, in matters of concealing a crime, their vastly different approaches are part of what keeps further exposing them (and yes, that generally means Judy is indiscreet).
Although the last episode of the season, “Where Do We Go From Here,” briefly suggests the series might just end up being wrapped up in a guilt-free bow, writers Cara DiPaolo and Liz Feldman seem to understand that if the show is going to persist for a third season, it needs to carry on with the crux it was founded upon: guilt compounded by concealment of a (driving-related) crime (something that, in fact, very much plays up the “invisible” character on the show: Southern California–for nowhere else does driving seem to showcase so much gravity). On a side note, thank God or whoever that Lady Macbeth did not exist in the time of cars.
