Summary
Furious gives Alice a bit more focus while revealing more details about Catherine, and the parallels between both characters remain very interesting as each of their various relationships reveal themselves to be more complex than they first appeared.
With the second episode of Furious having devoted most of its runtime to Catherine, Episode 3 tips the balance more in favour of Alice. Don’t get me wrong, “Memory Distortion” still pays Catherine plenty of attention, arguably revealing more concrete information than the previous episode or the premiere did, but this is the first time that Alice has really felt like the centre of the show, her own issues the black-hole gravity around which everything else must necessarily orbit.
Interestingly, then, the episode opens with Alice taking in the latest of Catherine’s crimes, consoling Mira into handing over the pair of bloodied scissors that she used to cut off her hair (or that Catherine used to cut off her hair; it’s a little unclear). Her approach to Mira is understanding, but not as sympathetic as some would prefer; it’s a reflection of her own approach to putting a brave face on all of her problems, which now include her abusive ex, Marshall, being assigned the Oliver Charles case in a joint venture between the NYPD and FBI. Marshall’s presence visibly rattles Alice, but Nora gives her a hilariously no-nonsense pep talk that seems to work.
Marshall is just a symptom of a larger disease. You can see his general attitude reflected among all the senior (male) investigators, notably Frank Choi, who’s in charge of the case and basically just contradicts everything Alice says, even though her theory and her unique insight into Catherine’s pathology clearly make the most sense. You could make a case that the overt misogyny is played up to make a point, since it feels odd that everyone Alice meets – except for Danny, obviously – is this way, but I’ve never been in the FBI, or indeed ever been a woman, so maybe this is just how things are.
A lot of Furious Episode 3 is about exploring Alice’s relationship with Marshall, which is complex because it wasn’t just a fling. It was a long-time relationship that lasted years, stretching back into childhood; in fact, Marshall’s ailing mother wants to see Alice, since she basically raised her after her own mother left. However, it quickly transpires that blood is thicker than water. Marshall’s mother has bought into the theory, obviously pushed by Marshall, that reports of his abuse were calculated lies on Alice’s part, and since his career has stalled since her accusations, she blames Alice for ruining her son’s career and has decided that, since she’s dying, now’s the time to make that clear.
There’s no ambiguity around what Marshall is. He acts in that cliched gaslighting way that all on-screen abusers do, playing nice and pretending that he’s changed and then immediately resorting to violence as soon as he doesn’t get his own way. Alice is ready for him this time, though, and the second he gets physical with her, she pulls her gun. This is obviously an extremely complex relationship that, given how the case is being investigated, we’re definitely going to see a lot more of. But there’s no question of where our loyalties are supposed to be.
The deliberate frustration that Furious evokes is that nobody’s listening to Alice even though she’s clearly right. She’s a better investigator than all the men in the room put together, which is how she deduces that Catherine has been checking into domestic violence shelters without IDs. This, in turn, leads the FBI to the body of Becky, whom Catherine killed off camera after fleecing her for even more supplies. But the tone of the kill is very different, which is another thing that Alice picks up on immediately.
But the real breakthrough in the case comes from Mira. Despite the titular “memory distortion” rendering her generally unhelpful, Alice’s refusal to coddle her results in a helpful detail about Catherine – she can’t feel anything in her fingertips following an accident – and a photograph that Catherine asked her to give to the police. It depicts a girl sitting on Jay Easton’s lap, with Caleb and Oliver and someone else, presumably Catherine, in the background. We get a bit more clarity on this in Catherine’s side of the episode, which we’ll get to in a minute, but it’s looking increasingly likely that Catherine is targeting anyone who was responsible for this girl’s death, as well as her own abuse.
This girl’s name was Isabel, the sister of one of Catherine’s friends, Elena. Elena is a sex worker living with a dangerous guy she calls “Big Man”, whom Catherine is forced to hide from after he turns up while she’s delivering supplies to Elena. There’s obviously a degree of closeness between Catherine and Elena, as there was with Isabel, which lends credence to the theory that Catherine is trying to avenge her, especially when flashbacks under duress imply that Catherine has witnessed some pretty terrible violence, possibly Isabel’s murder.
We also learn in “Memory Distortion” that Catherine is living with a heavily disabled man named Alden, somewhat unethically. She may or may not have murdered Alden’s mother, who died shortly after Catherine was taken on as his nurse, and she’s clearly using her feminine wiles to manipulate him into not sounding the alarm that she’s living in his house. But she’s surprisingly warm to Alden, and he seems to genuinely like her. Like most of the relationships in this show, this one isn’t cut-and-dry. Alden represents a kind of emotional safety net for Catherine, perhaps because he’s too physically compromised to do her any harm.
Furious Episode 3 also reveals how Catherine makes her money – through OnlyFans, or some made-up equivalent, where she performs as “Miss Mask”. Masks are a recurring motif for Catherine. She also wears a Covid-style one while she’s out and about, to obscure her visage from any CCTV. It’s a small detail, but it’s of a piece with Catherine’s methods of dissociation from her own trauma, and more to the point reflects an attitude that Nora points out during the episode. Trafficked girls are encouraged to blend in, to not draw attention to themselves. The very things that make Catherine a victim are now making her a surprisingly agile perpetrator.
She also has a new target, a man named Blanchard, whose connection to the previous victims is as-yet unclear but will presumably become so in coming episodes. It’s revenge she’s after; we know that now, and based on what we’ve seen thus far, she may very well get it.
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