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“The Family” recap (1.7): Willa Fixes Everything

This show has been quiet on whether Willa ever went off to college. There are reasons to think she didn’t, and this episode is a case in point. It’s not just that she would have met some strangely intriguing women. It’s that, at some point, she would have made a few friends who would have taken her out and tried to benevolently shake some perspective into her. “Willa,” they would have said, “GIRL. You need to relax your grip on this and do you for a while. Also, Cindy is totally checking you out.” But I don’t think she did, because they definitely didn’t.

We pick right back up where we left off last week, with the rainy night and Claire confronting Willa about Ben. Willa goes Full Lunatic, saying she hoped she could make everything OK again if she only brought Adam back. Claire grabs her keys to leave, and Willa urges her not to, because what if someone sees Claire so upset? Claire whirls and accuses Willa of doing it all for name recognition to win the election, which, let’s be honest, is not a terribly farfetched thought. Willa swears that she just wanted to put their family all back together.

Claire doesn’t believe that Willa just wanted to make things the way they were again. Willa sobs “I love you, Mom,” and Claire screams that she doesn’t believe that either. Here we go.

Willa chases after Claire says Ben was with Adam for 10 years and knew him and helped him. Claire brings up the trenchant point that Ben is not her son. Willa says that Adam is dead, which is a tad harsh, since Claire has essentially had her youngest child resurrected and then re-murdered again today. Willa says Ben isn’t Adam, but he’s the closest thing they’ll ever have. Claire leaves.

Ten years ago, in the bunker, Young Ben chatters at Young Adam, talking about an imaginary brunch as he splits a donut for them. Adam wants to know what happens in the bunker. Ben says eating, playing, school, and then he can’t quite bring himself to say what Craggy Doug, who Ben refers to as “Our Friend,” does when he comes down there. We have a montage of the boys eating cereal, reading the same old comics and newspapers over and over, and singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” as they work to chisel away the mortar between the bunker bricks with their spoons.

We get a montage of the family moving forward without Adam. Claire swears in as mayor under the Colossal American Flag of Red Pines. I would like to know what budget items were nixed in favor of the basketball-court-sized flag. John has his book published; Claire announces Red Pines’ zero tolerance policy for sex offenders.

The boys get bigger, and so does their tunnel behind the bricks… 3xcept for the steel wall they find that’s blocking any way out. (This is where you wonder if they can’t just overpower Doug at this point, but the show will take care of that.) Adam is not as good at playing happy and pretending everything is fine as Ben is. He flips out and yells that Doug is not their friend.

One week before the return, Adam sweats out an illness (Do people on this show only get sweaty diseases?) while Ben sings “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” This show is Kimmy Schmidt’s dark twin.

Three days before Not-Adam’s non-return, Doug, at the top of the bunker, makes Ben, alone, put a shackle on his wrist and throw the key across the room before he lets the rope ladder down. Ben wants to know where Adam is. Doug says Adam was in a bad way, and he did everything he could.

(Side note: Doug certainly implied that Adam died here, but we certainly haven’t seen that happen. I can’t imagine that the show would let that potential for mischief slide.)

Doug drops groceries and frets that Ben hasn’t been eating. I feel like this show ignores some key points about pedophilia, and a big one is that offenders tend to discard their victims once they grow out of a preferred age range. On the other hand, there’s the whole bunker situation. Doug says he’ll get Ben a new friend and starts to climb back up the ladder. Wait a minute: I don’t think he puts the key back in Ben’s reach before he does that. WTF?

Hank, in prison, talks to his mom. He tells her it’s not her fault that he is the way he is. She insists that he’s always been a good boy. She jokes with a guard about the absurdity of smuggling anything in with the crossword book she brings Hank.

Back at the Warren place, Drunk Danny says he got a job, but Dude changed his mind and gave it to his nephew. Danny is sober enough to take a quick nepotism jab at Willa. Danny does have an idea for an app! Claire can’t even deal with his nonsense and just gives him a check for $1,000 for his “startup” while Willa demands to know what the app is for.

Doug comes into the bunker and makes Ben show him the shackle. Whoa, he did leave him shackled up. How much play is in that chain? Doug worriedly scolds Ben for still not eating. Behind his back, we see that Ben is finally thin enough that he can just barely scrape the shackle over his hand and off. Doug sees the loose bricks, which distracts him enough for Ben to absolutely clobber Doug with a lamp. Ben makes a break for it. There’s a great sequence as Doug tears up the rope ladder after him and screams more than Ben does. Ben kicks Doug and unhooks the ladder and drops it down in the bunker. (So how did Doug get back out?)

We get a juxtaposition of Willa jogging (in the morning) and Ben walking along the highway (at night) in a daze. He sees Claire Warren on a billboard, you know, those big welcome billboards that all mayors have and all we had to do was cut chlorine for the community pool out of the budget. Ben knows it’s Adam’s mom from his campaign T-shirt. Ben shows up at the Warren house, which is pretty damned resourceful for a kid who has spent his life in a bunker. Seriously, the wraith-thin, pale, bleeding teenager asks for Claire Warren’s house, and people just point? Was her address on the billboard? Willa jogs up and is about to send Ben away like anyone he would have asked for directions would have done, but Ben shows her the unbottled ship that Adam made, and she doesn’t call the police. Good thing he had that ship on him and it didn’t get in any way damaged during the fight and struggle up the ladder.

Two days before Not-Adam’s non-return, Willa feeds Ben fried chicken as she tries to get information out of him. She’s a hard-ass about proof, and good for her. She won’t accept anything that Ben could have seen on the news. Ben hits her with Adam facts, including that Adam wished he could tell Willa it wasn’t her fault; that he was the one who walked away.

John returns from a book trip early and says he wants a divorce. Claire barely bats an eye and tells him to pull his shit together for a fundraiser and blah blah they’ll try harder. Frosty. John sticks to his guns, and Claire floats the idea of counseling. Yeah, they’ve done that. Claire goes on the attack and gets mad at John for pulling this on the night of her big speech, then walks herself back down to “Can we please do this tomorrow?” John says she’ll be great at her speech.

Ben showers and Willa brings toiletries. They’re at the Red Pines Shady Dealings Motel, for all your Shady Red Pines needs. Ben feels the softness of the bed. Willa says they’ll go to the police… tomorrow. Because why would the police need fresh leads? Willa doesn’t want to drop the bomb that Adam was alive a week ago when Claire has her big speech and fundraiser tonight. Ben understands waiting.

At the fundraiser, the Republican Political Lady tells Willa that Claire is a star and is someone they’ll be thinking about for the next cycle. Willa gets all baller and says “Why wait?” She tells the party operative that Claire can win the Republicans the governor’s mansion now, or they can wait four years. Willa walks away with swagger.

…And finds Claire in the bathroom, finally crying over the fact that John wants to divorce her. Willa puts Claire back together, as she always does. Willa watches the Big Speech proudly as Claire, with the troubled alcoholic son she’s in denial about and the husband who wants to divorce her, talks about the importance of family. Claire says that even though you can’t choose your family, she would never choose any other.

Adult Willa, watching the speech, flashes back to her family screaming at each other on the night Adam vanished. She fantasizes what their life would be like if Meyer had brought Adam back that night, if he hadn’t disappeared. She sees her perfectly happy nothing ever wrong happy happy happy family and imagines merry Christmases and Adam’s prom night. Willa is a little tightly wound, y’all. She leaves the fundraiser as Claire is still closing out her triumphant speech.

Willa comes back to the motel room and snaps off the TV Ben is watching without saying hello or asking. She’s back to being a big sister already! Willa asks Ben what he knows about Adam. Everything.

One day before Not-Adam’s non-return, Willa quizzes Ben with an electronic photo album. Family, food, movies, pets, sports, teams, everything. Ben keeps fiddling with the plate on the light switch. Whoops, Ben is left-handed, and Adam was right-handed. So good luck doing things ever! Ben worries they won’t believe him. Willa yanks out a hunk of Ben’s hair—big sister!—and puts it in a plastic baggie that she happens to have in her elegant clutch purse and says they’ll believe him. Willa already has a line on throwing a DNA test?

In the morning, they’re still in the motel. Ben says he’s never seen morning before. Do her parents not question it when Willa stays out all night? Well, she is 23. Willa tells Ben that it wasn’t really Adam’s fault that he walked away—and suddenly Willa turns into Young Willa sitting there next to him—but now she can fix everything.

OK, I know that I have made it clear that I think Bad Reporter is a Bad Idea for Willa, but if it’s a choice between Bad Reporter and staying this knotted up inside, hell, maybe Willa should go for it. (Which does not change the fact that Bad Reporter is getting killed off, and Willa is getting her heart broken.)

Willa tries to get John not to go on his next trip. He starts to tell her about the divorce, and she says to stick it out just a few more days because she can fix this thing. It’s always so hard to keep a straight face when you have a surprise for someone. John says he and Claire would have broken up whether Adam had disappeared or not. They’re wallowing now, and Adam would have hated that. It’s time to move on. Willa goes to church.

Hank smuggles a plastic bag from his trash rounds in his pants. (They let the convicted child murderer do a trusty job unsupervised? Don’t child killers tend to get murdered real fast in prison?) Back in his cell, he takes it out of the crossword book where he’s been hiding it and puts it over his head and tries to suffocate himself. He tears the bag off at the last second.

Instead of taking Ben to the police, Willa takes him to the bus station. She says it won’t work. Uh, Willa? How about redirecting your efforts into catching the fucker who took Adam, then? Or maybe taking Ben to the hospital? Willa tells Ben to leave and not come back. She hands him some clothes and an envelope with $10,000 in it. WHAT?

And then Willa tells the boy who has no ID and no idea how the world works to pick a strange city and go there. And she drives off. Holy shit, Willa.

The day of Not-Adam’s non-return, Willa looks at the naked bottle-less ship and then tells Claire her days is going to be totes normal and even boring, as indeed she hopes it will be. Claire cheerfully says that the press is going to pound her on firing the deputy mayor for what sounds like a completely justifiable reason, but then you know how hot deputy mayor news can get. Willa just tells Clair to spin it all—YOU DON’T NEED TO SPIN IT IF YOU FIRED HIM FOR OBVIOUS FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT—on family values. Willa feeds Claire the line, “I don’t tolerate lying. Just ask my kids.” Anyway, Willa mistakenly thinks Claire is now all prepped for the press conference that is definitely not going to go completely crazeballs. Because as we know, Ben-Adam decided not to take any damn bus, and Willa is about to learn an important lesson about leaving loose ends around. The majestic roaming herds of reporters in Red Pines are so excited about the non-return that they forget all about the deputy mayor.

Hank hears the news of the non-return in prison.

At the hospital, Willa starts to roll with the non-return, asking Claire “What if it’s real?” We also see Detective Meyer say “We ran a DNA test. It’s him,” with timing that suggests that this is independent of what Willa was planning with the hair she took from Ben. So who faked those results? Are there no honest DNA labs in Red Pines? Willa sees the way Claire reacts to Ben and says “Welcome home,” and decides that maybe a giant stack of lies wouldn’t be so bad.

Meyer leads them all home. Ben tries to hold Willa’s hand and she’s all WTF. Willa leads Ben-Adam to his room to yell at him and he’s not having it. He’s playing the part as hard as he can. Willa calls him Ben and he insists his name is Adam.

Back at the present-day rainy night, post-fight with Willa, Claire drives away and gets snacks and vodka. And immediately has to deny that she is Mayor Claire Warren to a curious constituent. Score one for Willa.

Claire clears off Adam’s memorial bench and falls asleep on it. Jesus, Warrens, why do you all like drunken interludes in park settings? Is that what brought Claire and John together? Claire wakes up and she’s the Hangover Mayor who fell asleep on a bench in front of a school. Classy.

At the hospital, Ben wakes up and Willa is there, sunshining so hard that he’s freaked out.

Ben comes home with John and Willa. Claire comes downstairs and wants to know where Ben is. Everyone is in the kitchen, her whole family together and making breakfast, just like Willa wanted. Claire looks at Ben and Ben says “Hi, Mom!” Claire hugs Ben all cold and creepy and looks dead at Willa while she does it.

Ben walks into his old room at the Red Pines Shady Dealings Motel and pulls the roll of money—presumably Willa’s mysterious $10,000—out from behind the plate for the light switch.

Hey! No lady makeouts, but that was a pretty well done and Willarific episode. Everything is tidy again, just like Willa likes it. Let’s see what gets blown to hell next week.

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