The Bowden family can’t ignore Max Cady anymore. Tension around him ramps up in episode 3. Anna is determined to uncover the truth about her son’s secret relationship, but new problems emerge that could tear the family apart from the inside.
Unwelcome Visitors and Rising Suspicion
The episode starts with Tom finding a couple having a good time in the family pool. The strangers say they were invited by someone called “Tommy”, but it soon becomes clear that Max is to blame for the intrusion. Tom eventually gets rid of them, but the incident leaves him feeling unsettled and serves as another reminder that Max is becoming ever more inventive about inserting himself into their lives.
Meanwhile, Anna doesn’t give up her investigation of Zach’s girlfriend. She works with Ray from the police precinct, and is able to get into Zach’s phone through a mirroring system. Ray thinks going with patience is the better way to go. If you can get Zach’s trust, more information might come out organically, he says. But Anna is set on her own course.
Anna Goes Too Far
Anna’s obsession grows when Max asks her to personally attend discussions regarding his legal settlement. Before she goes, she hands the mirrored phone back to Zach, saying the family trusts him.
That trust doesn’t last very long.
When Zach falls asleep, Anna sneaks off and uses the device to call his girlfriend. The exchange leads her to a nearby diner where she finds a young woman named Nevaeh.
Their meeting soon turns confrontational. Anna blames Nevaeh for Zach’s troubles and confronts her about the pills she has. The meeting turns threatening and Anna warns her she could be charged with a criminal offence if she does not stop her relationship with her son.
Nevaeh agrees to break up with Zach when she is cornered. She seems to have no idea who Max Cady is, which is interesting. Because she might be involved in the bigger plot of Max Cady.
Tom knows what happened and is very afraid about Anna’s behavior. He reminds her that her hard childhood has made her always expect danger, but insists that not every situation requires the extreme measures she continues to take.
Max is Part of the Family
Meanwhile, at the Bowden home, Max has an even scarier experience. Zach waves him inside.
Max attempts to improve their strained relationship, talking to them as they prepare food. He’s suggesting a trip to Atlanta and that trust is the way forward. Tabitha, a documentary interviewer, and her camera crew join them.
Tom is immediately uneasy with the idea, but Anna views the trip as an opportunity to get a better sense of what Max is really up to.
New Revelations Out of Atlanta
The trip is successful for Max, who receives a $1.1 million settlement. But Anna isn’t satisfied with just financial compensation. She uses the media attention and the documentary crew to make the officials give Max a public apology as well.
Her plan works.
But a storm is coming and everyone is stuck in Atlanta for the night. Anna and Max have a surprisingly calm chat over coffee as they wait. Max admires her determination but the discomfort between them never fades. Both appear to know that they are fighting a psychological war that is far from over.
Natalie Gets Vulnerable
While the adults are distracted, Natalie has a party at home with several classmates.
Things go from bad to worse when an embarrassing video of Natalie goes viral online. Just in time, Nevaeh, posing as Amber, easily wins Natalie’s trust.
The friendship develops quickly. Nevaeh is the one who offers Natalie the drugs, who offers the emotional validation she desperately needs. Natalie, already plagued by feelings of loneliness, becomes increasingly dependent on her new friend.
This situation underscores a major problem in the Bowden household. So obsessed are Anna and Tom with Zach’s problems and Max’s threats that they don’t see that Natalie is vulnerable to manipulation.
Tom’s Temptation
Meanwhile, Tom’s got his own troubles.
He works late on a case and has time with his colleague Lexi. The atmosphere between them becomes more and more intimate until it ends in a kiss.
Tom is lucky that the moment is interrupted when Anna calls to say she is coming home after the storm passes. The halt in the action prevents the matter from escalating further, but the occurrence foreshadows the beginnings of fissures in Tom and Anna’s marriage.
Later that night Anna returns, and the couple reconnect, seemingly oblivious to the dangerous situation developing around their daughter.
The Episode’s Creepy Conclusion
The best part is the last five minutes.
Max comes home to find a strange package waiting for him. Inside is a video tape.
So he plays it and a masked woman comes on screen. Viewers saw a glimpse of the same woman earlier in the season, but this time around she looks Max right in the eye as she sings a song that visibly shakes him.
The response is quick and violent.
There is no context given in the episode as to who the woman is or what her relationship is with Max but it is clear she is a part of his past he would rather forget. The scene ends on a big mystery and hints that someone else is after Max just as doggedly as Max is after the Bowden family.
Review:
Episode 3 is another solid chapter that keeps increasing the psychological pressure on every major character. The story is at its best not when it relies on shocking confrontations but when it shows how Max’s influence seeps slowly into the lives of everyone around him.
Natalie is still the biggest worry. Anna and Tom are almost all focused on Zach, while their daughter is quietly becoming the easiest target in the family. Her loneliness and need for connection make her especially vulnerable, and Nevaeh seems well aware of that fact.
There is another level of tension, too, from Tom’s near-infidelity, which foreshadows complications in the marriage to come. But the highlight of the episode is definitely the final scene with Max and the mysterious videotape.
With questions left unanswered about the woman on the recording, and Natalie diving deeper into the danger, Episode 3 gives viewers plenty of reason to come back for the next chapter.