Executive Producer Laurie Zaks promised last week that this episode of The Family, I Win would be a game changer and she did not lie. Hank Asher is hospitalized with his injuries and Detective Meyer sides with the sex offender initially. Adam gets a postcard from his captor and the FBI attempt to catch the kidnapper but are thwarted by a local cop.
The biggest reveal in this episode is that the paternity test proves that Adam is not who he claims to be. Danny has always had his suspicions and now it seems the older brother was not too far off base with his doubts.
Flashbacks show the childhood of Asher, who was the targets of bullies when he was little, and more backstory on the relationship between young Willa and her father. The girl finds dad drunk at the baseball field and when she attempts to take him home discovers that he has soiled himself. She rings Meyer to come collect her dad.
Looking back at earlier episodes, Willa appears to have suspected John or even possibly believes he killed her brother. Her line to the man was “You did not do this, right?” It was a question phrased in such as way to make it seem more as guidance than a reaffirmation. The two did frame Asher together after all.
In the present John Warren is arrest for assaulting Hank Asher. Willa is unhappy with her parent once again. As the political and media storm arise, Bridey offers to spin things for the Warren family in order to win over Willa as ally. The journalist starts the hashtag #PapaBear and it catches on.
After Warren is arrested and Asher leaves the hospital, the “victim” heads to a bakery and orders the biggest cake they have. The inscription on the things says “I Win.” Hank eats the cake there.
Before the Twitter campaign takes off, Willa argues that her father should “take a plea.” Claire states emphatically that he will not plea bargain. Willa argues that it could cost her the race and her mother responds “Then it’s the race.”
Danny knows that it was Adam who left the house alarm off when he went out. The teen reveals that he got another post card. The pockmarked man is stopped by for not having plates on his new SUV. This causes him to cut short his planned trip leaving the FBI stakeout at NY frustrated.
The kidnapper learns that there is a APB out on him after seeing a a photofit image of his face on the wanted board at the state police office wall. Danny lets Adam drive his car the the teen acts bizarrely speeding and steering with his eyes closed, like he is in a daze.
Claire Warren sets out the rules of engagement for Det. Meyer after lying her husband an alibi. Meyer is told by the mayor that she is on their side, “part of the family” and should do what is right.
#PapaBear is a success. Warren returns home to find the yard covered with baseball bats; each marked with the hashtag.
Bridey zeroes on on Willa, the journalist is nothing if not resourceful. Somewhat tellingly, earlier in the episode, during the “hashtag” scene, she asks a male co-worker to do something for her. “I’m not taking you to another lesbian club again,” he replies. Clearly Cruz did research on how best to approach Willa later in the episode before making her move and kissing the mayor’s campaign manager.
The love affair between Meyer and John is looked at as is the reconciliation of Claire and her husband in the present. The detective pays Hank Asher a visit. She knows that the man staged the assault and after she purposefully breaks a treasured keepsake (that Hank moved before trashing his house) it is revealed what really happened the night Asher was “attacked.”
The pock-marked man seems to be building a new cell for Adam under his garage, or judging by the stuffed dolphin he places in the center of the room, a replacement for the boy. It does seem that he misses Adam and wants him back, if this is not the case then why the postcards?
Detective Meyer wants to use “Adam” as bait to catch the kidnapper.
Bridey reveals to her editor that the tests prove the boy living in the Warren home is not Adam. The scene changes to a bird’s eye view of the teenager laying in “his” bed. The camera zooms in to reveal the imposter gazing into space looking very odd.
This is a brilliant spiderweb of intrigue, personal secrets and murder. Thus far The Family has managed to deliver each week in terms of more questions and lies being uncovered. Andrew McCarthy, Joan Allen and Alison Pill are knocking it out of the park as the characters who seem to have not just hidden agendas but disturbing depths as well.
Kudos to Madeleine Arthur as the young Willa Warren and Margot Bingham as Detective Meyer.
There are still so many questions. Why was Hank Asher bullied as a child? Was he “different” even then? What does Willa really know? Sure she learned about her father having sex with Meyer, but she definitely is privy to some information that makes her uncomfortable around her father. Then there is her incessant accusations that Danny is drinking.
Now it seems that in The Family, I Win “Adam” is playing a game of sorts with the pock-marked man and vice versa. There is also the added mystery of who this boy really is, what lock does that key fit and is the real Adam dead and if so, how does this lad know about the dead boy.
The series is intriguing and offers enough developed characters as well as twists and turns that it is able to bring out the armchair detective in its viewers.
The Family airs Sundays on ABC. Tune in, put on your deerstalker cap and start putting together the clues.
