[unsettling music plays]

[eerie sting] Every minute Reagan's in our lives, she's a threat to us. Joe and Kate, in this episode, are reaching a breaking point.

[Charlotte] By allowing Joe to kill Bob, I think Kate's aware that she may have unlocked something in him that she would like to lock back down. I will handle her. You mean "we." I mean "I." She deeply regrets having conscripted Joe to murder, and Joe simply takes that as a denunciation of his very being. You're trying to get rid of me. I'm trying to protect you from doing something you might regret. I think she can see that he's a lot more dangerous than maybe she gave him credit for. Because he's got his eyes on her sisters, she draws the line there. Breno had a thing for me. Yeah, I wasn't just some rich girl.

[Anna] In this episode, we find out that Maddie was kidnapped when she was 16 years old, and that she somehow got out of it, though. She charmed her kidnapper into actually releasing her. The FBI had never seen anything like it. So she feels like she can beat Joe at his own game here. And she's not gonna be easy in the cage. She's gonna be very tough to crack.

The worst is over now.

No, no, the worst is not over. It is still coming. And you also find out that Maddie carried Reagan's baby as a surrogate because Reagan basically forces her to. I think Maddie's bullied very badly by Reagan, and it's quite painful to see.

[Reagan] I'm sorry. Are you still angling for Teddy's stupid board seat…

No. No. I didn't know.

…at a time like this? Reagan has been gunning for Kate's CEO position, and Teddy digs up some news. Tell me it's embezzlement.

It's embezzlement. Mmhmm.

[gasps] Anybody that is trying to climb the ladder, certainly inside of this family, they're willing to draw blood to do it, and I think Teddy is willing to do that. He starts to hatch a plan to take out Reagan.

[man] Action!

[Joe] This is what passes for a literary salon in Bronte's world? Not exactly the Algonquin Round Table. The dirtbag literary salon was very much Bronte's scene. And Joe gets to see her in her element. Like "fauxhemian," shout into the void, but … it's passionate. Joe is longing for, I think, more vigor, passion, "authenticity" as he perceives it. At this point, he feels like a stilted dud, and he wants to think of himself as a writer. I mean, books to him are the world. You know, it's amazing the lengths some people need to go to in order to be relevant. Hey, moneybags. Did you know her real name is Louise? While they're there, Clayton exposes Bronte's real name, which is Louise Flannery, and this shows Joe that she's not exactly who she says she is. For Joe, it fills in some of her background, definitely validates her story of sleeping in Mooney's, and he sees what she was running away from.

Let's cut.

[man] Cut!

[knock on door]

[Joe] Bronte?

[Madeline] When Joe sees a vulnerable part of a woman, he does seem to try to swoop in and help them.

[Joe] You can trust me. With all of you. I think he really begins to understand, like, "Okay, this girl's a survivor, she's doing what she needs to do to stay in New York and continue writing." And I think he admires that and gains some respect for her. I know when you read my writing, I know all you saw was murder, and an antihero with no backstory. But now you know that it doesn't come from nowhere. A lot of people deserve a little … poetic justice.

[Michael] While Joe is at home being castigated by Kate for his darker, murderous instincts, here he is with Bronte, finding out that she actually embraces the idea of the antihero.

[gentle music playing] We made this very distinct moment. Our lens choice, our lighting, our sound effects, our music. We very much egged the pudding in terms of, like, this is the moment that she's becoming the "you." But what's interesting is that Joe isn't ready to accept her to become the "you." I should go.

[Michael] He's so deluded that he takes her embrace of his dark instincts as validation or reason to think that Kate might come around.

[Kate] There was a time when I could read your mind, and I don't know when that changed.

[Michael] They're reaching a point where they're realizing that Kate is looking to be married to someone that Joe simply is not willing to be. I married a queen, fierce and powerful, not to be fucked with. I know that person is still inside of you. Let me be your knight. He wants to be of service. I actually think that's true of all people. We have in us this built-in desire to serve others, but that's been so manipulated and abused in him, that in his traumatized state, the way the rest of the math works out is awful, and he comes to really, really terrible conclusions.

[Joe] Let me help you make the world better. Please. It was really fun to do these scenes with Penn where you see that side of Joe, and it's really terrifying. And he's brilliant at it. You can help me.

[tense music playing] Just any way but that.

[music fades]

[dramatic sting]