Recap: There’s A Lot Going On In ‘Lady in the Lake’ Episode 1

There is a lot going on in Episode 1 of Lady in the Lake. It’s an hour-long premiere that introduces several sets of characters and multiple interlocking mysteries across two wildly distinct but equally vivid cultures. It’s a period piece and a character drama and a crime thriller. And it’s a little odd.

Dancing mailboxes, a missing girl, seahorses, and Santa; numbers rackets, a leg of lamb, and narration from beyond the grave. How do these things all cohere? Well, I’m not sure yet, but we can at least do our best to try and navigate the available information and see if we can put things together.

The Duality Of (Wo)Man

Lady in the Lake is a tale of two women, and at least one of them is dead. We know that Cleo Johnson will not survive the season since her embittered narration tells us so, and we know that her story intersects with that of Maddie Schwartz, a well-to-do Jewish housewife, since Cleo’s narration is somewhat accusatorily directed at her.

It stands to reason, then, that Episode 1 is about introducing these two very different women, who come from very different worlds. Their differences (and similarities) are expressed in the usual, obvious ways, such as their circumstances and dialogue, but also more daring formal quirks, with the editing sometimes cutting their parallel scenes so tightly together that it seems like they’re in the same room even when they’re on separate sides of 1966 Baltimore, where the show is set.

Maddie is the wife of a prominent Jewish lawyer named Milton whose thinly-veiled misogyny has ground her down to a husk. She mostly presses the flesh at events and slaves after him while dreaming of a stark change in circumstances, living in a constant state of performance as she keeps up appearances among Milton’s influential friends and associates. They have a son, Seth, who is growing up into a mini-Milton, as though the world would ever need more than one.

Cleo, meanwhile, has no choice but to work two jobs to keep a roof over the heads of her children. Their father, Slappy, seems well-intentioned but is irresponsible and self-involved. When she can, Cleo volunteers for Myrtle Summers, the first Black woman state senator, in the hopes of earning a full-time position, despite the fact that she currently moonlights as the bartender and bookkeeper of Myrtle’s political opponent, Shell Gordon, who runs a numbers racket and apparently now a dope business.

Tessie’s Disappearance Is A Catalyzing Event

It’s Thanksgiving in the premiere, so we’re meeting both women under unusual circumstances. The Orioles and Santa are parading through the streets in celebration, and it’s in this jubilation we also briefly meet Tessie Durst, a seahorse-obsessed young Jewish girl. Her disappearance underscores the episode as we see its knock-on effects in both the Black and Jewish communities, even before the show becomes about Tessie’s disappearance more directly.

Interestingly enough, Maddie has some connection to the Durst family – namely the patriarch, Allan, whom Maddie knew in high school. There is some traumatic event in Maddie’s past that relates to prom night and involves Allan, and it also involves blood. Maddie gets blood from a lamb brisket on her dress and later cuts her finger when smashing a plate in rage. The sight of the blood takes her back to that night, with a man scrubbing blood from a bed that a young Maddie is sobbing on.

Lady in the Lake | Image via Apple TV+

Maddie Wants A Change

The scene in which Maddie cuts her finger is the explosion of years of frustration with Milton, who at that moment is berating her for putting the lamb brisket on dairy dishes. Maddie rightly leaves him, packing her things and storming out without telling him where she’s going.

Maddie rents a very ropey apartment from a pawnbroker named Weinstein, whose daughter Judith accompanies her to show her around the place. Judith rather bizarrely wants to move in with Maddie, but she’s content to be her friend, though there’s something a bit leery and – dare I say it? – sexually provocative about the way she offers herself up.

Nonetheless, Judith accompanies Maddie on the search for Tessie, whose disappearance Maddie has become quietly obsessed with, ostensibly out of motherly concern but more likely because of her connection to Allan. Since women aren’t allowed to join the main search party, they set out on their own and find Tessie virtually instantly, dead and frozen. Maddie freaks out and rushes to try and “hold her” – which is a little weird? – but Judith wisely stops her from interfering with the scene. She leaves to get help while Maddie sits there sobbing.

And Another Thing…

Here are a smattering of additional observations from Lady in the Lake Episode 1 that’ll likely be important later:

• One of Mr. Gordon’s employees is a guy named Reggie, who is sporting a fetching black eye. Earlier, he briefly crossed paths with Tessie in an aquarium, and when her name is brought up again, he flushes a fish from his tank that they were both looking at earlier down the toilet.
• Cleo’s best friend Dora is badly addicted to drugs, and it seems like it’s Gordon who keeps her strung out.
• Gordon finds out Cleo has been volunteering for Myrtle after she stood up and gave a speech at a function in front of his goons. This will likely put her at risk down the line.
• Officer Platt drinks in Gordon’s bar and has a thing for Cleo.

Read More: Lady in the Lake Episode 2 Recap