Summary
The comic relief episode I didn’t know I needed is a hilarious deep dive into the life of Vanessa.
We recap the Peacock series One of Us Is Lying season 2, episode 6, “Simon Says You Better Pray,” which contains spoilers.
One of Us Is Lying is a very tense piece of entertainment. The sixth episode is the Vanessa-centered comic relief I didn’t know I needed. It also does a great job of showing how the events on the show can easily be misconstrued by an outsider like Vanessa to make the Murder Club members look more guilty than they are.
Recap – what happened in One of Us Is Lying season 2, episode 6?
The episode titled Simon Says Your Better Pray starts exactly where it should: In a church, where Vanessa’s in the middle of her annual confession. Last season she told Addy that her very religious parents would be beyond mad if they knew about her abortion. As it turns out, her parents also force her to see a priest every year for the benefit of her soul. Vanessa tends to spend these sessions in the confessional telling the poor priest how little she thinks of him. She does, however, reveal that she had to “cancel” herself and stop publicly talking about Jake after Giselle turned out to be a fraud, which damaged her reputation.
When Vanessa hears that her ex, TJ, is in prison for murder, she reluctantly agrees to visit him. TJ asks for her help to clear his name. It turns out that S.S. blackmailed T.J. into stealing the Twisto Pretzel sign, which led to his arrest. What did Simon Says have on him? Apparently, TJ was engaged in some on-webcam nudity for cash. Simon Says managed to find this out when Janae inadvertently inserted a virus in the school’s network. There was more than just porn on that flash drive.
While at school, Vanessa’s suspicion of the Murder Club only increases when Addy gets up during a school gathering to say Giselle was a “slut” who deserved her fate. She was forced to do it by Simon Says, but Vanessa has no way of knowing that.
At first, this episode’s heroine hesitates to get more involved in Murder Club drama. She’s scared for her life, and having promoted Giselle on her socials blew up in her face. It doesn’t help that when she runs into a famous TV personality Tom Preston, he treats her theories about Jake and the Murder Club as a joke. Yet, after discussing it with Evan during one of their secret hook-ups, he gives her the idea to do research and gather some facts before posting another video accusing the members of the Murder Club of anything.
Our heroine’s investigation leads to her drawing the wrong conclusions at first. She finds Janae’s murder board and assumes it’s a hit list. She breaks into the yacht, where Nate has now moved in, where she misinterprets a conversation between Nate and Bronwyn. It all leads to her becoming more convinced that her classmates killed an innocent Jake.
To make matters worse, when she goes to the restaurant to investigate, a Simon Says text pops up trying to dissuade her from continuing in her search for the truth. Vanessa even tries to convince Detective Wheeler that it was Nate who stole the money from Victor, not TJ, and gets laughed out of the station.
When she visits Cole, her belief in Jake’s innocence is challenged. Cole lets her listen to the X Box recordings between Jake and Simon that prove he’s a murderer. We also learn that Cole was the boy who got Vanessa pregnant in the first place. And even more shocking: We find out that Jake was never in Greece. Instead, his family sent him to rehab.
Shocked about what she learned, Vanessa continues investigating and the next day gathers Keely and Even to her house. Having analyzed every photo from the Halloween party, Vanessa figured out that Bronwyn, Nate and Janae crashed the party. She also assumes that the person wearing a bear costume was Maeve. When Keely realizes Cooper lied to her about looking after a drunk Vanessa that night, she decides to talk to her abusive ex, Zach, about it.
While confronting Zach, we get to see how truly horrible and abusive he was to Keely. It’s a chilling scene. Luckily Vanessa films him saying awful things to Keely and threatens to post the video unless he gives them the information they need about Halloween night. Zack tells the girls that he saw Cooper’s vehicle following Jake’s car during the party. This led the investigative trio to the discovery of Jake’s license plates.
The ending
Armed with proof that the Murder Club are involved in Jake’s disappearance, Vanessa is invited to Tom Preston’s show to discuss her findings. Simon Says doesn’t like this, so they text warning her against going on television. When she accuses her Murder Club classmates of sending the text, they show visible concern for her safety, which she dismisses as empty threats.
On the day of the interview, Evan and Vanessa share a sweet moment as she’s getting ready for her big TV appearance. But, as the time to walk on stage comes and goes, Evan discovers that Vanessa disappeared without a trace. Where is she? Did Simon Says try to stop her from going on television?
What did you think of One of Us Is Lying season 2, episode 6? Comment below.
