[unsettling music plays]

[eerie sting]

"Baby"?

[yelps] What the fuck?

Maddie?

[Maddie pants] What did you just call me? Maddie is head over heels in love with Harrison, and all she wants is to have the family that she's always dreamed of, and be Gretchen's mom, and live openly. She really thinks that if they just forget about Reagan's murder, do what Joe says, it can happen. You're going down for this, you psycho.

Anna: Unfortunately, Harrison is a little harder to convince. He thinks that murder is wrong, which Maddie knows is wrong too, but she just wants to, like, move past it as fast as possible. You're gonna kill me too?

Joe: Probably. Double homicide, accidental OD, murder-sui. Also, um, Joe is threatening to murder them. So I have to basically shake him up and say, "You have to do this." Shut up! [grunts] "Or Joe Goldberg is gonna kill you right here, right now, and I cannot let that happen." You are a piece of shit, and I still love you.

Anna: But I think her vulnerability in that scene is what ultimately convinces Harrison to keep quiet.

[voice breaking] I am asking you to love me for my piece of shitness. 'Cause Maddie loves him, and she just wants their happy ending. So what happened between you and me, was that real? It became real. Episode eight is kind of like this sweet little moment for Joe and Bronte because Bronte becomes deluded in this very specific way that works with his delusion. I have something for you.

[unsettling music playing]

Madeline: Joe reveals to Bronte that he has captured Dane and offers her the opportunity to let him go or never let him go. He's like a cat that's brought a mouse to the doorstep. Like, "Look at what I have for you. Now do with it what you will." "Based on that choice, we can be together or you can go back to your life." And he's so convincing when he says that. If you want to wash your hands of all this, I will understand. But what he means is, "If you don't make the choice I want, I'm gonna kill you." And she even kind of realizes that it's a test as opposed to a choice.

Joe: You let him go? Fine. I got my answer. You're not the one.

Madeline: Bronte lets Dane go because she couldn't just say, "Let's do what you do. Let's kill people." It's just not who she is. And I think it's an important moment for her to show Joe, "I have autonomy in this relationship, and if we're gonna do this, then you need to allow me to make those choices for myself." And they lean in to trusting each other. It's a trust fall. They trust fall into each other's arms and then into the cage. Take three.

[Justin] When Joe has Bronte in the cage, we learn that Bronte doesn't condemn Joe for killing. I believe that sometimes we… have to take matters into our own hands.

[Justin] We see the incredible empathy that she has and how she understands Joe in a way no one else would. Trust begets trust.

[suspenseful music plays] When Bronte questions Joe in the cage, we get a real glimpse into the way Joe sees himself. We also see her break him down and find out about his core wound of abandonment. What are you so afraid to tell me? It's interesting when Bronte sees the trauma that he went through as a child and how a protector developed in him, and that was what became the killer in him.

[Bronte] What if you didn't have to kill people to prove your love?

[Michael] But it was sort of a rule of Sera Gamble's that we were never gonna diagnose Joe. Reason being, you start down that road, and you're starting to make excuses for him and redeeming him, and that's not something we're prepared to do. I know I can't give you the last few years of your life back, but I want to make this right. I think Nadia doubts how much she can trust Kate. At the end of the day, Kate has married Joe, and the two of them have put her in prison. Are you gonna tell me that you didn't know Joe was the Eat the Rich Killer?

[mysterious music playing] But Nadia wants to take Joe down with anyone, and the only option is Kate. We can make Joe pay for what he's done.

[Amy-Leigh] In some ways, I think Nadia is actually a driving force behind a lot of Kate's decisions. They make a very good team. I'm sorry to say this will not be a very swift process. Could be years. Years? At the end of this episode, Kate learns how long and how much it would take for Joe to be put away. She also knows how dangerous Joe is, that she and her son are not safe for as long as Joe is free. You fucking sociopath. She's never gonna outrun him because he's just too good at catching people and killing them. Plus this deranged FaceTime that he makes where he's, like, eerily calm. I'm unburdened. I'm encouraging you to unburden yourself too. And how do I do that? Give me my son back. It pushes her to the decision that she has to kill him. I see it now. It's almost a relief. I think once she realizes that and she's allowing herself to think that, it's actually quite calming. And from that point on, you get the sense that Kate has, like, a real drive and she's very aligned with what she's got to do. We have to fucking kill him.

[dramatic sting]