Cape Fear continues to get weirder, camper, and more ridiculous as it goes, and the latest episode contained a few real doozy developments, including a character death and the news that Natalie may well be Max Cady’s daughter. If my maths is correct, this would also mean that she’s Nevaeh’s half-sister, which raises some awkward questions about their prior liaison that might be better suited to House of the Dragon. Either way, it’s all going nuts, and fans are as much confounded by it as they are totally along for the ride.
As is becoming tradition, I had a mosey on over to Reddit to see how people are responding to the latest episode. As usual, the responses are… decidedly mixed.
A Family Affair
Understandably, a lot of chatter is revolving around the Natalie “revelation”, with the idea of everyone being somehow related to Max Cady functioning as a bit of a recurring gag.
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u/Justp1ayin from discussionin
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Of course, despite the surety with which Max produced a beard hair for paternity test purposes, I don’t think Natalie is really his daughter. I’m not even sure that Nevaeh is. Everything that he does is calculated manipulation of some kind — arguably too calculated, if we’re being honest — and the Bowden family has such a limited sense of self-preservation that they’re making it pretty easy for him.
This comment summarises pretty neatly what I think is going on:
Pretty sure Max is manipulating the kids with drugs and stuff to make them think he’s their father as revenge. That ties into the whole thing about him wanting A family and tom and Ana taking it away or whatever. He drugged the son and the daughter after which they both think Max is their dad.
I strongly suspect that this is the direction we’re heading in. If Max really thought Natalie was his daughter, he probably wouldn’t have decided to frame her for Ray’s murder.
Yes, I Heard It Too
Something that I didn’t mention in the recap, despite it bothering me, was Zack’s therapist using “exasperated” instead of “exacerbated”. Thankfully, this didn’t slip past eagle-eared Redditors.
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u/Justp1ayin from discussionin
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A nitpick? Maybe. But it speaks to the larger issue of how a mistake like that made the final cut. As a later response in the same thread mentions, that error had to be noticed in real-time during the scene, and then multiple times in post. It’s a clear mistake — why would it be left in?
Cape Fear is such a demented show that a part of you is tempted to think that it’s intentional, perhaps a signpost that the therapist isn’t really a therapist, but I really don’t think that’s the case. It has a habit of introducing plot points and ideas and completely dropping them after they’ve served their initial purposes of getting the characters in a position to react. There’s no way it’s thinking far enough ahead for a mistake to be indicative of anything other than a lack of quality control.
We’re Still Watching
The sunk cost fallacy seems to be kicking in at this point, and people are reasoning that if they’ve already given the show seven hours of their life, they might as well see it through until the end. This rather lengthy comment sums up a lot of the core issues, but also points out the obvious: We’re all still here.
Last two episodes were great. This one was back to being really stupid. Poor Ted Levine. Who the hell blackmails their 80 year old father into attempting a B&E to plant drugs in someone’s house? “I’ll let you see your grandkids if you plant these drugs dad.” Ted Levine looking all old and frail “I can still get me a little smack every now and then.” Max Cady drove how many hours to go and have a quick argument with his father (Ron Perlman)? Or was this a two steps ahead of the game type move where he knew what’s his name was going to be up there investigating? This show at least knows what it wants to be. Melodrama suspense that doesn’t have to make a bit of sense. The stuff with the kids and Max is a bit unnerving. Oh and now the son thinks Max is his dad because he’s been taking too much dramamine. Meanwhile the soon to be alcoholic daughter also now thinks Max is her dad…And…And if Naveah is still Max’s daughter too…Then that means…Incest has occurred!!! Good God this shit just got really dumb….But I’m still here.
At what point do we as an audience start to dislike Max Cady? As of right now…I’m rooting for him. I think the Bowdens are equally diabolical , but in a dirtier way. It’s hard to really like any of the characters other than Max himself. Is that by design?
Crimestoppers? Really? I wonder how many false claims they deal with on a daily basis? Either way, it’s a dirty move by the Bs. It’s one thing to report some true shady business going down, but to falsely make a claim after you plant shit in their house? Not cool. I like Ted Levines character Brandon. I feel bad for him, but a part of me hopes Max catches him in his house before it goes down like that.
Naturally, a lot of people are starting to root for Max, too, which I understand. Javier Bardem’s performance remains the best thing about the show by a country mile, and since he’s at least smarter than the Bowden family, it’s easy to be more invested in him, whether that’s intentional on the part of the showrunners or not (I’m going to assume not).
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I’ve got to be honest, this is kind of where I’m at. But if it keeps me watching, then does it matter?
