Perhaps it's to be seen as a cautionary tale to remind people to treat the people with whom they have relationships with a little respect.

To remember that you invited someone into your life for a reason and to try to hang on to the good you shared instead of getting so caught up in the negative that it seems like it was all a big waste of time.

Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 8 revealed the tragic outcome of Betty's actions.

By the time she went to trial, Betty was only a shadow of her former self. She had lost all of her long-lasting friends and her family relationships were strained to the point of breaking.

At the same time, Betty's mind seemed to have broken, too. She had been beaten down so badly in life that she took to prison life with ease.

Even when she spoke with her attorney about the possibility of bail, it wasn't because she wanted to get away from her situation, but because she wanted to be on an even playing field with other spectactular criminals of the day, such as Jeffrey Dahmer.

Betty: Maybe I should have eaten them. Maybe then my bail would have been set, too.

_{🔗 permalink: Maybe I should have eaten them. Maybe then my bail would have been set, too.}

It's hard to believe that Dahmer scored bail, even if it was unattainable, when Betty wasn't given the same consideration. She wanted the equity that she felt robbed of in her marriage and her divorce.

Maybe it's best that she was enjoying her new celebrity status. It gave her time to acclimate to life without — without family, money, or the comforts of home.

What's interesting about that is the way her friends and the media portrayed her contradicted reality. She was called a money grubber over and over again, with even her best friend taking the stand against her.

But when rubber met the road, it was very easy for Betty to live simply in prison. If she were as concerned with monetary pursuits as everyone claimed, then her new lot in life would have been unbearable.

Janet: She worshiped. It was her main goal in life. She loved it more than her children. She was a very materialistic person, always. An alcoholic spender.

Jack: So, pretty much a fairly disgusting person whose main concern was money. Very few redeeming qualities, and yet, for whatever reason, this was your friend.

_{🔗 permalink: So, pretty much a fairly disgusting person whose main concern was money. Very few redeeming…}

Instead, Betty found more joy in reading fan letters and making crank phone calls to her friends than she'd had in a decade.

It was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Betty no longer had to fight for what she deserved because she deserved nothing. She didn't have to worry about the roof over her head or decide what to wear to fit in with her friends and stand tall beside Linda in Dan's eyes. It was already decided.

If Amanda Peet was good throughout the season, she was excellent in the finale.

She brought full circle the insanity of Betty's life from crying jags while on the stand to her giddiness over receiving a gift from a fan, "Free Betty Broderick So She Can Kill Another Lawyer," done in needlepoint.

Especially moving was Peet singing The Twelfth of Never as Betty recalled the many ways that things could have turned out differently with only a slight change in her life's script.

As the prosecutor pointed out, Betty had written hundreds of letters and participated in many interviews, in none of which she expressed remorse for her actions.

Instead, she was always skirting her rationale for the murders with a snide remark, a click of the tongue, or a wink of the eye. Believing herself fully aware of the judging eye of those to whom she spoke, she failed to realize that it was again her actions that spoke volumes more than her words.

Betty spent so much time talking shit about Dan and Linda and putting on a poor me act when the entire time she was giving as well as she got.

I wonder if the prosecutor's closing statement was as eloquently put in the real trial. Pointing out all of the things that Dan did wrong or should have done differently didn't excuse Betty's actions in the slightest.

Each of us is only as good as we want to be. Betty never knew when to let go, not only for others, but to ensure her own happiness and sanity. There were no winners in the Broderick vs. Broderick case.

If Dan had admitted to his affair, or if Betty had had an attorney for her divorce and showed up for the motions, or if she'd introduced herself to Linda rather than slinking around in the bushes, or if she'd never have dropped off the kid's at Dan's house to prove a point.

So many things could have changed the outcome and turned around Betty's destructive path. But by the time she'd shot Dan and Linda, it was too late.

That's something her friend had a hard time imagining, that Betty wouldn't get the help she needed for her mental issues.

Jack: But you know, I don’t know if she can get well. Not now. I think she just needs to get old.

_{🔗 permalink: But you know, I don’t know if she can get well. Not now. I think she just needs to get old.}

What Betty's attorney said seemed harsh, but when people have gone too far, that's the reality of it. All Betty has to do now is to grow old. She's never getting better.

And he must not have been alone in that sentiments. After all, Betty has been denied parole numerous times, and she seems to be serving the "to life" portion of her sentence without renumeration.

What are your thoughts on the finale? Did Betty desere life in prison for her actions? What do you believe?

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Perception is Reality appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Louis Herthum as Jack Earley!

She gets tons of letters from fans who identify with her plight.

The prosecutor is most taken with the fact that Betty talked to people ad nauseum. She suggests that it’s what separated Betty from her friends.

Betty saw herself as totally under seige. None of it mattered because she coulnd’t keep her head above water.

She’s thrilled at the mail. Someone needlepointed her a saying, “Free Betty Broderick So She Can Kill Another Lawyer.”

The night of the murders, she had no idea where she was or how she got there.

She uses words like “forced to endure,” as if she had no choice in the matter.

Legal terrorism and corruption.

The trial ends in a hung jury. Betty’s super excited and believes a second trial will end the same way, but Jack has bad news for her.

She still thinks that if Jack argues, then she’ll get bail. She compares herself to Jeffrey Dahmer. He got bail, even if it was impossible to pay.

Jack seems scared of Betty.

Betty calls all of her friends telling them she’s escaped and she’s at the local 7-11 and needs them to come get her. She does it over and over, laughing the whole time.

Betty has a show airing soon. She also has an interview with People Magazine. Despite Jack’s misgivings, she’s plowing through.

Betty’s motive? Hate, pure, obsessive, jealous hate.

The interview goes poorly. From my perspective. Betty is practically giddy with her newfound power.

The boys visit. They’re dressed up and very uncomfortable.

Betty shredded the phone wires outside Dan and Linda’s bedroom.

None of her friends have anything good to say about Betty.

Her last friend has better things to say, involving depression and someone who is giving up on themselves.

Betty’s laughter doesn’t go over well.

The kids thought they had a great family. Dan wasn’t a great father, but he got better. He dind’t know how to show his emotions and stuff.

The attorney calls out Betty on not killing herself. And she drags out of Betty the immediate thing she did after killing Dand and Linda. She grabbed it and pulled it out of the wall.

She has written hundreds of letters to people, but she never once indicated any remorse. And correcting the Los Angeles Times about what happened in the room, Ok, you got me, I’m dead as being Dan’s last words.

Betty admits that being in Jail has been more peaceful.

Jack calls her a people pleaser. Her only friend worries for Betty. She’s sick. She needs help. Jack doesn’t think she can get better.

Jack does his best to defend Betty, but he can’t do a good enough job.

The prosecution says that although Dan did a lot wrong, none of it would have made a difference.

The jurors were torn. One woman says that Dan killed Betty before she ever had a gun.

She thought Betty would be out in five to six years. If she knew the maximum Betty could have gotten, she woudn’t have given in.

Betty’s one daughter grasps her mother after the verdict.

She seems entirely bonkers.

She imagines how differently things could have gone if she’d had an attorney for the divorce, or if she’d introduced herself to Linda, or if she’d never have dropped the kids off on Dan’s door, or if Dan had just told her the truth when she asked if he was sleeping with Linda.

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 8 Recap: Perception is Reality appeared first on TV Fanatic.

That's the word I used describing the saga to a friend recently, and I can't shake it. It's just gross.

Getting sucked into the Broderick vs. Broderick affair is like sitting under a wet blanket. You can't breathe, and you just want someone to pull it away.

Maybe that's how Betty felt as she suffered years of degradation from Dan both during and after their marriage. Maybe Dan would consider his marriage to Betty stifling.

As Dan so eloquently put at the beginning of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 7, perception is everything.

His classroom discussion was easily my favorite thing from Dan since the premiere. As a whole, "The Shillelagh" finally gave Dan some substance that was worthy of interest.

Dan: California Civil Jury Instruction number 1701. An opinion may be considered a statement of facts if said opinion suggests that facts exist. When deciding this issue, you should decide whether the average listener will conclude from the language of the statement and its contents that the person was making a statement of fact. Here’s a statement of fact. Very few people understand what I just said, including myself.

_{🔗 permalink: California Civil Jury Instruction number 1701. An opinion may be considered a statement of…}

When you take his lesson out of the classroom, you realize how vulnerable Betty was to be up against someone with Dan's mind. He finished medical school and law school, so we know he was intelligent. And you don't climb to the top of the legal field without having an excellent grasp of human nature.

It's a disgusting game, the law, and one that requires a lot of mental manipulation. During his first marriage and later his divorce, Dan proved that he is one hell of a manipulator.

Dan: Two people can perceive a given event differently. If your perception of it doesn’t line up with mine, whose perception of that event is true? Now, we’re not talking about people who are clinically mentally compromised. Those individuals need medical and psychological treatment, not legal counsel.

_{🔗 permalink: Two people can perceive a given event differently. If your perception of it doesn’t line up…}

What's amazing is that he failed to read the damage he'd done to his former wife. With all of his intelligence and his keen awareness of human behavior, Dan was also so conceited that he thought himself infallible.

His second wife tried to get him to understand that Betty was not the easy prey he believed her to be. It was Linda who suffered the most at Betty's hands once she got together with Dan.

Dan: There are those who consider truth universal. Those people are not trial lawyers. Or, scratch that. Those people are not successful trial lawyers. Successful trial lawyers are absolutely seekers of truth. They are seekers of it, but more important than that, they are the ones who define what truth is.

_{🔗 permalink: There are those who consider truth universal. Those people are not trial lawyers. Or, scratch…}

Did Linda deserve the antagonization? Absolutely.

She was running with a married man and tittering about it all over town. If she had fallen in love and kept it to herself, I might have given her a pass. But her behavior at the office was anything but discreet. She flaunted her affair at the expense of the working environment of others and Betty.

Still, Betty owned her inability to let go. She wasn't only manipulated; she was also as egotistical as Dan.

Betty had a particular life planned for herself, but Dan didn't play along as he was expected. Betty must have always sensed that he didn't love her enough for their relationship to last, or else she would not have bent so fully to his whims.

Betty: The humiliations I put up with, the stories I heard about myself. No Christmas, no birthdays with my kids. Everything I suffered, everything I didn’t react to, I didn’t stand up for, I didn’t fight for. You know Alice Through the Looking Glass? You know that dark tunnel she fell down? That’s you.

_{🔗 permalink: The humiliations I put up with, the stories I heard about myself. No Christmas, no birthdays…}

She was trying so hard to hold onto her marriage that Betty lost sight of herself. And when the marriage ended, she had no self left. So she tried hanging onto Dan for dear life, even when his back was entirely turned.

It reminds me of When Harry Met Sally. At one point in the movie, Sally is crying over losing her boyfriend after she hears he's moved on, is engaged, and has a child on the way. "Why didn't he want that with me," she wondered. "What's wrong with Me?"

Because nobody wants to believe they aren't enough for someone they loved, even if the writing was on the wall, especially if the writing was on the wall. Because then you are the loser and your ex the victor, and all you have to show for it is memories and lost time.

But I don't believe that Betty loved money more than anything. That's where Dan really got Betty wrong. Betty used expenses as a weapon against Dan during their marriage in the same way he used it against her during their divorce.

Dan: She’s not going to kill the golden goose, Richard. She just isn’t.

Richard: There’s more to you than money, Danny boy.

Dan: Is there?

Richard: Probably. I mean, I assume. [they laugh]

_{🔗 permalink: Probably. I mean, I assume. [they laugh]}

Betty spent lavishly because she didn't get the love she wanted from her husband. Dan financially tied Betty's hands because she wouldn't let him go without a fight.

Betty wasn't going to recover from any of that even without Dan's additional layers of deception and mental gymnastics, but because he was as unwilling to let go of Betty, for whatever reason, as Betty was of him, he sealed his fate, and unfortunately, Linda's too.

I'd like to think that Dan's behavior was because he wanted Betty to have a good relationship with her kids and recognized his part in the failure of his marriage. Maybe a little bit of him regretted stringing Betty along for so long.

But that's not the case. Any "humanity" that Dan showed on Betty's behalf was calculated. He needed evidence to humiliate her and keep her as far from him and the kids as possible.

Linda: You won’t even look at it?

Dan: What’s in it doesn’t matter. What matters is you went into her house to get it. You broke into and entered her house.

Linda: But the door was unlocked!

Dan: Fine. The door was unlocked, so you trespassed. You trespassed and stole her property.

Linda: Like she has done to us so many times.

Dan: Exactly. That’s what she does, not what we do. We do not do that.

Linda: [reading] I have nowhere to turn. I am desperate. If this is the way domestic disputes are settled in the courts, is there any wonder there are so many murders?

Dan: Just put it back where you found it.

Linda: What? How?

Dan: I don’t care. Just do it.

_{🔗 permalink: I don’t care. Just do it.}

Even his anger at Linda for breaking into Betty's house had nothing to do with them being bigger than Betty or preferring that Linda did not torture his ex more than he already had. Nope. He just wanted to use Betty's behavior against her in the court of law, and any interference from Linda might invalidate that play.

As I said, it's just gross.

By the time Betty snapped or just plain had enough and wanted to end Dan because he was too stupid to realize she'd do it, she had alienated everyone in her life.

Harping on every segment of Dan's life with Linda turned her friends away, and kept her daughters at arm's length. Betty even managed to make random bar patrons bristle with her obsession and anger over her fate.

Ironically, she continued that reasoning of saying everything on her mind at the most inappropriate time just after shooting Dan and Linda.

Surprisingly, her friends and family rallied even in the wake of Dan and Linda's deaths. They saw her madness and how she'd deteriorated in the wake of the divorce and Dan's new marriage.

They probably felt a little guilty for not adequately responding to her myriad cries for help. For what else was her unending discussion about her life than a cry for help?

Betty was sinking for years, and although her hand was reaching upward for a lifeline, she never got it.

I'd like to think that Betty and Janet had that little dance party during Dan and Linda's wedding as much as I wish she'd had more of it through the years. It was the only time Betty seemed free of the mental torture.

Maybe if more people had taken the time to connect with her on such a visceral level, she would have made a safe getaway from her old life and Dan and Linda would still be alive.

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 7 Review: The Shillelagh appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Linda and her friends are giggling about where they should for her bachelorette party. One of them wonders what kind of message Betty would leave.

Linda shares with her friends all of the things Linda has called her. She's put up with it because she's goin' to the chapel.

Betty talks with someone on the phone about what Linda is wearing, and Dan, as well. Dan, who wouldn't wear rented clothes aka a morning suit to her wedding has no trouble doing it with Linda.

It's her daughter. Dan is lining up all that she dreamed but he's marrying Linda instead.

The boys are with Betty playing baseball toys.

One of the kids knocks something on the floor. It's her gun wrapped in a cloth. She wants to show them something that they can never talk about.

When she takes them home, she wants them to look for one of her dresses in Tracey's room. Then she steps over the heart and into the house.

That's where she gets the T-Shirt from the photograph. She tucks one in her back pocket.

Betty stole the invitation list while she was there, and Linda knows it. Betty is calling people telling them they aren't invited.

Dan chats with his kid, who tells him about Betty's gun. He doesn't seem worried, believing Betty wants him to know, which is why she told him.

Betty gets a hangup call at work. Linda called to ensure Betty wasn't home so that she could break into the house.

Linda reads Betty's diary while she's there. The cleaning lady comes home and finds Linda.

When Betty returns later, the lady tells her about the friend who was there.

Linda has taken the notebook. Betty freaks.

Linda shows the book to Dan who wants nothing to do with it. Next thing you know, Betty is in court to account for the missing list.

Betty acts like an idiot in court. She's making faces and acting like she's been put upon.

The judge asks that Dan withhold financial support until Betty either turns over the list or offers a plausible plan of where it might be.

Her attorney wants to know what is going on. She pulls her purse and retrieves the list.

When Betty gets home, the diary is on the stairs waiting for her. She imagines Linda and Dan laughing over her entries.

Betty can't stop worrying over it.

Dan and Linda are speaking with someone about Betty probably disrupting the ceremony.

Betty is talking with a friend about getting herself a gift. A gorgeous watch with the date engraged on it. Dan and Linda's wedding date.

The guy they're talking to is the police maybe. Betty has an anniversary cake.

Betty's friends are talking about going to find Betty. They're getting pagers or something. They plan on connecting to keep Betty away from the wedding.

It's the night of the bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Oh, that was a security guard. Dan's friend wonders if the guards will be armed. He's heard that Betty is telling everyone she was a champion sharpshooter in college. Dan laughs that away. She's not going to kill the golden goose.

Karen tells Betty she has faith in her. They dance around the house to Neil Diamond.

It's too bad she didn't do that more often with her friends while she was suffering.

Betty tells Karen about a baby they lost. She's crying and talking about moving to California and how it saved her. She didn't want to die. It's hard to kill hope in people, especially when they're young.

Karen tells Betty the day is over now, and she'll never have to go through it again.

Just back from their honeymoon, Linda records a new message. She's Dan's wife now, so she can record it.

Betty is talking with a therapist. She says that her life is in crisis, but he urges her to get her kids back home so they can weather it together.

She's talking to the boys about moving somewhere smaller.

The family is going to Indiana soon, and that throws Betty for a loop.

Betty is at a bar watching the Notre Dame game. She meets a woman who met her husband there, too. Betty begins to get maudlin and shares too much, making the woman uncomfortable.

Betty's friends are talking about the baseball movie with Kevin Costner. Nobody has talked to her in months. But there she is.

Dan and Linda are going on vacation out of country, and they want the boys to be taken care of by the housekeeper. Betty lets her thoughts on that tumble out of her mouth.

Then she's making calls to the Dan's. At her attorney's office, she's listening to a letter about custody. Dan and Linda are citing contempt and jail sentences.

Betty stays in bed for a week.

Betty's daughter won't talk about it anymore.

Dan and Linda are planning more travel and a family.

Betty is a mess and dragging her kids into it.

Betty gets into her car with her gun and goes to Dan's house.

The woman who helped her in court is there. Betty calls her and all of her friends to say she killed Dan and Linda. Or something. It's like a phone tree.

There isn't a single person in Betty's life that she doesn't call. She ends up at her daughter's house, and the woman from court is there. The woman urges Betty to turn herself in. Nobody has heard from Dan or Linda yet.

Lawyers won't work on a Sunday, but Betty will need someone to help her with the police.

Matt Carpenter heard on the radio they're both dead.

Betty looks totally out of it.

She goes straight to jail.

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 7 Recap: The Shillelagh appeared first on TV Fanatic.

But much like we feared, Betty was an utter fool for thinking that she could get the better of Dan while he was on the stand.

What she got for efforts was her $700k invoice to Dan wiped clean and a paltry $28k to live.

I have to admit that as the case wound to a close and the monthly support payments were announced, I wasn't even sure if Betty was supposed to pay Dan or if she'd get a payment before he remarried.

Sid: Your case, your divorce, might be the worst one I’ve seen in this county.

_{🔗 permalink: Your case, your divorce, might be the worst one I’ve seen in this county.}

It sure was sweet of the judge to award a settlement that would never go into effect since Dan already announced that he was getting remarried.

The whole display was nauseating.

Before we delve into the details, I have to ask you guys a question.

Why is Betty always shown talking with her mouth full?

What is that supposed to mean? Is it representing stress eating?

Would she really continue to talk with her mouth full when she's lunching with the ladies? There was one particular scene when her gob was full for the entire scene, but I didn't see a morsel of food on their plates.

And by that, I mean they were clean. The food hadn't even been delivered to their table yet. Maybe they were supposed to photoshop some food onto the plates and just forgot.

Anyway, it's a very weird thing that I couldn't shake while watching.

I can tell you that I'm happy as hell I never got married. Epstein credits are such a scam. How can they be legal at all, let alone in a situation when a person doesn't get the opportunity to determine when the person who spent all of the community assets on the other really left the marriage.

Have you ever wanted to read divorce proceedings more than you do after seeing that stuff on screen? Was it real?

Betty: The only thing an attorney ever did for me was lose. I can do that for free.

_{🔗 permalink: The only thing an attorney ever did for me was lose. I can do that for free.}

I wish I had the time to research this case because it seems like fiction. Who knew courts were so unfair during divorce proceedings or that you had no recourse to asks questions to state your case when something as important as custody of your children is concerned?

All of this is to say that it's no wonder Betty was losing her mind.

Attorney: How would you describe Mrs. Broderick’s itemized expenses that she’s using as the basis for her support allocation.

Dan: Outrageous.

Attorney: Would you characterize Mrs. Broderick as driven by greed?

Dan: Yes, and frankly, I’m going to have to tighten my expenses very soon. Not just with a daughter going to college, but I am getting remarried and starting a new family. I anticipate there will be expenses in connection with that.

_{🔗 permalink: Yes, and frankly, I’m going to have to tighten my expenses very soon. Not just with a…}

It seems most likely that the newspaper articles she found around the house with red writing on them, taunting her, were done by her.

Linda wanted an alarm system because she was so worried about Betty's instability. If we're to believe the story, Linda was also refusing to help Betty find her lost china, so it's all open for debate.

If I were Linda and had been harassed by Betty all that time, that would have been something I did, but I wouldn't have been able to watch Dan screw over his ex to that degree.

Linda is far too much of an enigma for the story to make much sense.

The story of Linda and Dan is racing to a close, though, as Betty already has a gun.

And with the way that Betty was lurking around her daughter's graduation snapping photos like a paparazzi, murder is just going to be another day in the life.

Whether her mouth is stuffed with food or she's half crying in a courtroom scene, Amanda Peet is killing it.

No pun intended.

She's almost unrecognizable in this role. She's mastering facial expressions in scenes such as Betty walking into a room hopeful that Dan might give her the time of day and finding him, instead, hand in hand with Linda. From sparking to flat in seconds.

Dan: All of my wealth, really, is in my law practice. I’ve had it evaluted, and if the court agrees, I intend to offer Betts half that value

Attorney: Would you sat that once you achieved success, Mrs. Broderick was happy?

Dan: The more money I made, the more she spent. But, no, she was never satisfied. If it was expensive, she needed it.

Attorney: How would you describe the support that Mrs. Broderick provided you when you began your legal career.

Dan: Non-existent.

_{🔗 permalink: Non-existent.}

Even Christian Slater is giving a little more empathy to Dan than he probably had. There were a few moments when I almost believed that Dan didn't want Betty to suffer too much.

But then I remember that Dan was garbage, and I realize that those stray moments of kindness were the first indication that he's manipulating Linda as much as he manipulated Betty.

What better way to keep Linda close before marriage than if he portrayed himself as compassionate? After all, every other minute of his day was dedicated to crushing Betty's spirit. So what other reason for those momentarily lapses of compassion could there have been?

Betty: What was the moment this divorce really started.

Dan: April 12, 1969.

Judge: And what’s the relevance of that date, for the record?

Dan: That was the date we got married, your honor.

_{🔗 permalink: That was the date we got married, your honor.}

It proves that Dan can't always read a room. The one time Linda needed him treat Betty to her face as he does behind her back was when Linda was asking about installing a security system.

Was Dan as codependent on Betty as she was on him? I'm starting to think that Dan needed crazy Betty in his life. Craziness be damned, Dan liked the effect he had on Betty. Maybe his ego couldn't live without it. His ego certainly was a factor in his death and Linda's.

If he'd been able to let Betty go, he might be alive. If he'd fully committed to his new wife and installed security, Dan might be alive.

What about you? Are you beginning to believe Dan is just as crazy as Betty?

Let me know what you're thinking this far into the show.

I assume we'll follow Betty up to her incarceration. After all, this is her story, and that's where her "life" ended.

Hit the comments!

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 6 Review: The Twelfth of Never appeared first on TV Fanatic.

She spies a pamphlet for HALT – help abolish legal tyrany – and picks up one.

Greeting her at the door is Sid Montgomery, feature reporter for the San Diego Register.

He throws her a lifeline when he commiserates with her over her divorce. He's giving her the opportunity to talk with him on the record. Good lord.

Betty has seen the sordid, degraded side of life, and it wasn't any worse than the one in her head. She was set free going to jail, and she doesn't have anything else to lose.

Betty finds a note in her drawer that she assumes is from Linda.

Her friends disagree.

Betty consumes herself with Linda attending her daughter's graduation.

She's always eating and even offers a nibble to a process server.

She just to the date of her property settlement hearing. She decides she wants her side of the story up before it happens.

Betty is writing in her diary, hoping that Dan will be nice at the graduation. He'll have to be. The first thing she sees is Linda hand in hand with Dan. Then she sees her daughter racing toward Linda. Later, when she finally meets up with her daughter, she pulls the tacky office slut stuff, ruining the moment.

Betty photographs Linda and Dan like a wackadoodle.

Tracy later tells Linda and Dan everything that mother said. They're obsessing over the wedding china and whether it's on the list of asks. Dan figures she could have some peace if they find it and give it to her.

Linda wants to get an alarm system, but Dan thinks it will just give Betty some justification.

Betty arrives at the HALT meeting. She's greeted by the organizer, who is familiar with her case. She puts Elizabeth at the podium.

The ladies laugh at her sardonic comments about things going her way now that he's president of the San Diego bar.

Betty tells the organizer that she's going to represent herself.

Betty falls prey to the judge's suggestion that closing the court will not be in her children's best interests.

That means her new friend cannot be there to support her.

Betty gets railroaded in court.

She's still hoping to find the article in the paper. Her daughter is there and laughs when Betty says she's preparing to examine the witness — dad.

Betty grounds her daughter.

Betty wonders if Dan remembers how they lived early. Dan belittles her and all the work she did. He doesn't think they were particularly helpful.

Dan has a snotty answer to everthing Betty asks. She pulls heavily on what she did to support the family and tries to get him to admit he gaslit her.

Betty does have some good points and gets Dan to admit he valued the firm incorrectly. Of course, it's up to Betty to have the firm valued.

Dan lies on the stand about what he said to her on the day he left.

Dan is allowed to wax poetic on the stand without interruption.

Dan's attorney's closing argument is that offering her money will de-incentivize Betty from earning the living of which she is so capable.

Betty's closing argument was quite moving.

Betty's article is in the shitter because Dan threatened to sue him if he published it.

One of Betty's friends heard from her attorney that the court was sealed because Betty's a child molester.

The judge decided that Betty owed Dan almost $800k.

Someone gets $16k per month spousal support until one of them remarries, so she won't even get one month.

Betty's friend asks Linda about Betty's china. Linda says nope. Betty buys a gun.

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 6 Recap: The Twelfth of Never appeared first on TV Fanatic.

How did anyone survive the Broderick vs. Broderick divorce? After watching Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 5, it's hard to imagine the kids haven't continued to suffer well into their adulthood.

Every member of the family was put through the wringer, and Dan and Betty almost reveled in it.

Dan is still garbage, and the way he manipulated Betty during their marriage is reprehensible.

It's also terrible that he allowed her to do everything while he went through medical school and law school.

But at the point that it became apparent they weren't suited for each other, they should have dealt with it like responsible adults and parents.

When Dan wanted to leave his old life behind to live the high life, he should have been honest with Betty.

But Dan was too petty, to be honest with Betty, and he dragged her on and their separation out for so long he did permanent damage to her psyche.

Who knows? Maybe Betty was always a day away from a total meltdown. If Dan had an inkling in that direction, then it was his responsibility to treat her with kid gloves until he could be away from her. He didn't.

Instead, he poked the bear every opportunity he got until all she could see was vengeance. She's so far gone by the point of "Scream Therapy" that there was no way she could get it together without professional help.

But it turned out to be too late for that, too, because Betty poo-pooed therapy believing it would be used against her in court. As if anything she said in therapy could be worse than what she said on the phone or her actions in their house.

I had to laugh when she went to court-appointed therapy for the divorce settlement and proceeded to treat the woman as if she was a personal therapist when that was the one woman who was being paid to tattle on Betty!

Here's what watching this train wreck does to me as a viewer. Every time Betty opened her mouth, I wanted to jam my fist down her throat. At least she would have stopped talking and digging an even bigger hole for herself.

The historical reference says that Betty was a money-grubber and only out for the financial settlement. I don't believe that.

Betty made it all about money because she seemed to believe that she could turn Dan around or that making his life miserable would somehow benefit her.

All the while, she couldn't pay her bills because the "swear jar" tactics Dan used only set her off to greater degrees. And he knew it. Every time he fired off another letter to her, he knew that she would stick her foot in her mouth again, and that would make him look good.

From what I can tell, Dan wanted to make things so bad that Betty would have no recourse. He wouldn't have to pay her a penny because she wouldn't even have access to the kids.

But the kids, the boys, at least, really wanted to spend time with their mother, so that Dan thought pushing Betty in that manner was good for the family only shows that he was as screwed up as Betty.

I don't feel bad that Dan is dead, but I don't feel bad that Betty is in prison, either. She seemed to have a death wish. She touched the hot stove over and over again, burning her hands every time, but kept touching the stove again as if, this time, there would be no consequence.

Hell, it was as if she thought maybe if she put her whole arm on there, the result would be different. No? Then her torso!

Every time she screwed up didn't result in an equal reaction but a greater reaction. Maybe Betty knew all along that she would kill him and was hoping that the more she lashed out, the more likely it would be that someone would stop her.

It was so sad that she put the children she claimed to love on the line by refusing to change. If any of it would hurt Dan, then the kids were fair play in her head.

At least Dan seemed somewhat moved by seeing his kids in pain. But his magnanimous efforts to make things right, like paying for Christmas, didn't land well because of everything he had done to Betty previously.

The icing on the cake was Betty getting sentenced to jail at her divorce proceedings for all of the terror she'd inflicted on Dan and friends. Her attorney had learned nothing about the woman if she thought that putting Betty on the spot to apologize to the court could help get her out of spending a day in jail.

For the effort, poor that it was, the judge shaved 19 days off of her 25-day sentence, and Dan took those six days to propose to Linda.

Dancing on Betty's torment once again was obviously planned, and it was one more piece of evidence against Dan that keeps us from caring that he was killed.

Was there any particular part of this episode that made you want to claw your eyes out?

Maybe you were angling to start a GoFundMe for the kids even decades after the fact.

Where do you stand on Betty now that her psychoses, many self-inflicted, are more evident?

Stop the Broderick vs. Broderick train! I wanna get off!

Hit the comments with your thoughts on this monstrous couple.

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Scream Therapy appeared first on TV Fanatic.

Betty tells her friend that Dan offered to pay for her to take the kids. But Betty refused. She needed the kids to see what he's done to them.

When betty gets home, there is a bouquet of flowers and a card from Dan.

Betty ruined all of the Christmas presents and put glass inside all of them and then sent them to Dan and the kids. Or something. Dan tells Linda it might have been a bad idea to send flowers, but now he'll take care of it.

Betty gets served with more papers as she and a friend were getting ready to get coffee to walk on the beach.

She's divorced. He got everything. She still thinks the court date was postponed.

Dan includes a letter to Betty that they shouldn't badmouth each other and all that stuff, and when she goes to call Dan, Linda is the voice for the Brodericks on their answering machine.

Dan gets to work and gives Lois a couple of cassettes. He wants her to transcribe all of his recordings from Betty. He then fires off a letter to Betty that he'll fine her $100 per offensive word, and each time she sets foot on the property line, $250, each time she goes into the house, $500, and each time she tries to see the boys without clearing it with him, $1000. He'll withhold those fines from the checks he voluntarily sends her every month.

Other friends suggest Betty stop her behavior or see a therapist. She's sure that Dan would subpeona the records. That answering machine is her therapy. Betty also got the bill for the trip to the looney bin that dan forced on her.

Betty is outside the house staring at it, and Betty goes home to make more crazy calls to Dan.

She goes over and pulls the antenna off his car and then swings it around.

Next a plant goes through the door.

She's so damned stupid that she deserves to be in prison.

Once inside the house, she paints graffiti around it and smashes shit with a hammer.

You're gonna be real sorry, she says one time.

Her deductions for the month exceeded the monthly allowance of $9000. He gives her an invoice for $1300.

Making matters worse, Linda is the notary on the damned thing.

She goes to Dan's and pounds on the door and he threatens to call the cops so she goes to jail.

Her friends writes her a check for $6500.

Betty decides to try the diary approach.

Betty is at the mediator's where Dan doesn't go because they're doing it idividually. Betty wrote a letter she thought she would read out loud. She makes a mistake asking for financial support before she discusses custody because she's too enraged to do anything with the kids.

Lou Clapper's wife, Evelyn, is who wrote the check. The woman talks with Dan at the ball. She thinks it's getting out of hand. Dan thinks she has a warped perception of the details of his life. What he doesn't understand is why she feels the need to insert herself into his.

Evelyn says to her husband, they're terrible.

Richard and the woman get Betty an attorney. It's Hillary Clark.

Betty says why should her lifestyle decline when he wouldn't have his lifestyle if not for Betty.

The attorney asks her to stop calling and going to his house and to stay away from the kids.

When Dan's attorney tries to bring up the phone calls, the judge says no more petty bullshit.

Betty pulls up outside of Dan's to see her son who's doing a historical paper. She has the encyclopedia and a bag of Lays.

Betty gets some good news but then she says to the therapist, I'm not going to be a single parent to four kids. I'll die first. She's asked if she's threatening him. I threaten him all the time, she says.

She can't apply for a nanny job because she doesn't know how to respond if they ask why she doesn't have her own kids.

The school calls because Anthony is sick. He's had a lot of colds, hasn't had a bath, and even had lice.

The teacher says that she's seen Betty with the kids and could never say that she doesn't care.

Betty is awarded the kids for Easter and goes to pick them up only to see Dan driving away with them. Like a lunatic, she takes off after them, eventually cutting him off in traffic.

He changed his mind about Easter, he says. Her lawyer should have told her.

One of her sons calls and wants to know why she won't shut her mouth so they can go over there. It's horrifying. She's a terrible person.

He wants her to stop being mad. They want to live with her, but all she does is hear someone else on the line. She's right, but the poor kid doesn't know that. Dan is right there to hug it out with the kid.

Dan had the thing recording. Another one of his tapes.

Betty talks to the therapist again and seems to think that the woman is her personal therapist.

When she's asked what kind of visitation she'd want Dan to have, she says none.

Betty doesn't care about Linda enough to know her name in the session. Things go from bad to worse.

Her attorney isn't being paid. They assure her all the time that they want to split the assets equally. The girlfriend on the machine is inflammatory, and the judge wants Linda off of it.

Nothing changes for Betty. She has a 25 day jail sentence on top of it.

Her attorney puts her on the spot to get out of it by apologizing to the court. Her apology is crap, and he sustains 19 days but she must spend six in jail. They lead her away in cuffs.

Dan talks with their boy who is crying.

While Betty is in jail, Dan asks Linda to marry him.

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 5 Recap: Scream Therapy appeared first on TV Fanatic.

By the end of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 4, redemption for Dan wasn't even a possibility.

He wasn't just screwing over Betty but making a mockery of other women in the workplace, too. No, thank you.

The thing that I most appreciated about this episode was the inclusion of testimony from a therapist at Betty's trial. But what I least appreciate is that I can find no evidence such a man ever existed or testified on Betty's behalf.

Therapist: Gaslighting. It’s named after a famous motion picture in which a man who wants something from a woman pretends to be her friend, marries her, but in fact, is her enemy. And in the process being very kind to his victim, but in truth in every money, he is undermining her sanity.

_{🔗 permalink: Gaslighting. It’s named after a famous motion picture in which a man who wants something from…}

What he said, whether true or not, surely would have swayed jurors for the defense.

He painted a picture of being emotionally kidnapped by a person and driven to a point that you can't even believe the truth when it hits you square in the face because your viewpoint is so skewed by gaslighting that you're unable to see the truth any longer.

Betty: Are you sleeping with her?

Dan: Why would you even ask me that?

Betty: Are you?

Dan: If this is where your head goes if you don’t get your way, that’s the real problem. You should get some professional help for that.

Betty: A lawyer would say that you still haven’t answered the question.

Dan: I am not sleeping with Linda Kolkena. I haven’t, and I’m not.

_{🔗 permalink: I am not sleeping with Linda Kolkena. I haven’t, and I’m not.}

If what we're witnessing is true, then there's no doubt that Betty was manipulated horribly.

Hopefully, someone somewhere did research with the key players to ensure we're getting the clearest picture available. But since Betty was convicted denied parole twice and not eligible for parole again until — get this — 2032, I feel like we're just part of the gaslighting theme.

There was a therapist who testified at Betty's trial, who said he believed she had two personality disorders, labeling them narcissistic and histrionic, two disorders that she controls instead of the other way around. Is that even possible?

His idea was that Betty was thin-skinned, and when her ego got bruised, she lashed out at Dan.

Certainly, some of what we see here suggests that, but we're also seeing Dan sending her lifelines to keep their love alive when he had no intention of staying with her. Who WOULDN'T be bruised in those circumstances?

Doug: The date of separation has to be ratified through a two-part test. First, physical separation of spouses as in one has moved out of the family home, and second, at least one spouse must have intent to end the marriage. If these two conditions are met, court will order reimbursement of any and all traceable funds expended on the other spouse from that date forward. Such as when someone makes a downpayment on a new house that they never intended to live in.

_{🔗 permalink: The date of separation has to be ratified through a two-part test. First, physical separation…}

It's sickening watching Dan plot a legal takeover of Betty's life with such precision.

He did so many ugly things, such as going along with the early stages of reversing her tubal ligation to try for more kids before he put the breaks on it with a wayward excuse and lovingly looking at new homes together, when he intended to pull that rug out from under her, too.

If we're reading it right, Dan knew very well he was supposed to have told Betty he didn't want to continue the marriage before buying that house, but he didn't care. Dan thought he could do what he wanted, and nothing would ever catch up to him.

Therapist: But unless something is extended to the victim that says you’re not crazy, this has happened. You’re not wrong to have these feelings of absolute unsupport, self-hatred, anger toward everyone, but here they are, let’s go on. As long as there is no resolution for the victim at all, healing does not take place.

_{🔗 permalink: But unless something is extended to the victim that says you’re not crazy, this has happened….}

But inflicting that kind of cruelty onto another human being doesn't get you what you want, like Dan, and unfortunately, Linda, learned the hard way.

Linda was no prize, either. Promoted to a position well beyond her capabilities only because Dan wanted to get into her pants was an affront to the hardworking women in the office.

I'll give her points for teaching herself to type, but she loses points for speaking of turn about an affair in the office. The whole point of an affair is to keep it quiet. She failed.

And Dan's admission that he was doing exactly what he wanted only made the whole thing uglier.

Dan: I appreciate your honesty, but I’ve been miserable for years, and I’m doing this the way I want to do it. And you’re right. It’s not your business.

_{🔗 permalink: I appreciate your honesty, but I’ve been miserable for years, and I’m doing this the way I…}

It doesn't help that Betty's friends are relatively worthless, either. She has nobody to confide in who takes her seriously. Part of that is because the other wives are just as gaslight by their husbands as Betty was by Dan but to different degrees.

The men's club was a lot more powerful than the wive's club because the men held all of the money, and money is power. They can buy lawyers, close accounts, and steal the children out from under their wive's noses before they even have a chance to see what's happening.

Betty had to circle around Dan to trick him into admitting there was another woman, and that woman was Linda, but that admission, while Betty laughed at it gleefully in triumph for her sanity, was short-lived.

Betty: But if I’m wrong about her, that means I’m not wrong. That there IS a her, that I’m not crazy! Why don’t you just admit it? There’s no reason not to, now. Was. I. Imaging. It.

Dan: No. I’m in love with her.

Betty: K. Was I ever imagining it?

Dan: No. You were right the whole time. [Betty laughs out loud]

_{🔗 permalink: No. You were right the whole time. [Betty laughs out loud]}

By then, the damage was done. The situation between them was brimming with tension, and neither one of them was the kind of person to give an inch.

We still have a long way to go in this story, though, as the divorce is known to be one of the most bitter ever fought, and Betty's behavior only made the proceedings increasingly difficult.

And if your first thought is maybe they got it wrong this time, Betty served as her own lawyer for the proceeding.

Sure, they've already offered the groundwork to show that she couldn't find a lawyer, but I'm getting the impression she would stop the search as a way to rub Dan's nose in her misery when the only person suffering is Betty!

Therapist: In fact, that was the problem. They were taken off the market, pressure cookers. Eventually, the tended to explode.

_{🔗 permalink: In fact, that was the problem. They were taken off the market, pressure cookers. Eventually,…}

Who I really feel sorry for in all of this is the kids.

They don't give the impression they mind all that much with the custody situation, and they are, even when the story is slanted toward's Betty's viewpoint, markedly uncomfortable when she comes and goes in the house.

They will ultimately get robbed of their parents because they were so bitter and self-centered. Because if Betty is narcissistic, Dan is right there beside her. Maybe that's why they were destined for disaster.

Working on marriage from a place of self-interest doesn't seem advantageous for any couple.

One thing is for sure; Amanda Peet is giving her all as Betty. It's an incredible performance.

Even Christian Slater has started chewing away at the scenery with his nasty turn as Dan.

They sure are a lot of fun watching in these somewhat diabolical roles!

Where do you stand after the latest developments?

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 4 Review: More To It Than Fun appeared first on TV Fanatic.

At the office, Dan and Linda are making googly eyes at each other.

We see the beginning of their relationship through work.

Betty wasn't the only person who thought Betty moving to a paralegal was crazy, and office woman, Colleen, did, as well. Dan assures Linda that being a paralegal is all about learning on the job. She can't even type!

Dan even talks with Linda about his cases, something we've never seen between him and Betty.

Going to the club with the family is now a lesson in patience as Dan looks at his watch, hoping to get away.

Linda begins getting hangup calls at the office.

All of this leads up to the end of the previous episode when Dan says Bety will be getting out.

Dan makes his move in October of 1983.

Betty's friends don't believe her when she says Dan's banging his assistant. They say that they know Dan, and Dan isn't like that. Betty says nobody is like that until they are.

Her friends so what they can to buffer her confidence, but she knows what she's talking about.

It gives Betty the comfort to ease into the lunch and enjoy the day.

Now we know why Dan asked Linda to help with the case. Betty is in the audience and looks like she's been smacked across the face.

Dan buys a red sportscar with his latest settlement. He's buttering her up so that she expects nothing, even suggesting a weekend up the coast.

Betty is getting into the hotel elevator and spots Dan on the phone. He's talking with Linda, and it's so darn flirty that Betty deserves to be angry.

So now they're fighting over dinner.

She bought an 8,000 dollar dress to make Dan angry and get back at him for talking with Linda.

Her friends tell her to fight for Dan. One gives her bad advice. Get dolled up and go to the office to surprise him.

Betty arrives at the office to find Dan left after lunch. She decides to wait for him in his office, where she spies a lot of party supplies and a half-eaten cake.

The guy on the stand says the behavior of the infidel makes the other person feel crazy and then follows it up by saying nothing's happening, and they must be crazy.

At the office, Linda is gossiping about her romantic life with Dan, and Colleen is highly annoyed.

By the time the gaslighting is over, the victim has no idea who they are or who they can trust.

Meanwhile, Dan's looking for a new house.

Betty chooses a house that they could tear down together. He even makes out with her.

Betty and Dan go to the doctor to talk about reversing her tubal ligation.

It's been 11 months now, and Linda never stops talking in the office.

The therapist says he tells his patients that the object of therapy is a better marriage or a better divorce.

Linda lays down the gauntlet after spending time with her family.

To get a better marriage or divorce, the infidel has to admit that they've been wrong and that they hurt the other person.

Dan lost his interest in Betty's reverse tubal ligation.

Dan's getting advice about California case law in that after separation, anything spent to diminish debt or lawyers fees or whatever, will be reimbursed through the combined assets.

Betty thinks everything is fine now.

The attorney tells Dan to think about how he'd want to be told.

February 28, 1985, Dan just barges into the bedroom at bedtime, grabs a suitcase from the closet and begins packing while whining about time to think.

He makes it seem as though he's going to do some introspection. Just for a while, even when Betty calls him out on going to Linda.

Dan apologizes for springing it on her. Should he leave now or in the morning?

By morning, Betty is a mess. The kids ask where dad is, and then Betty tells them that he's moved out, using them just to think garbage he told her.

Betty's friends cannot believe it. Betty plays it off like she's jealous of his time alone. They quiz her on what words he used, and he didn't use divorce or separation. After all, they're moving into the LaJolla house together.

But Dan shows up at home to the new house and begins seducing her. She willingly accepts his advances, of course.

He isn't moving his things to the new house because he's moving back into their old house, Dan says. They have a fun family trip to take back east, but he's not ready to go. They should go without him.

There are rats a the beach house, all over the place. She's screaming that he's not a college kid who leaves his family in a rat-infested house.

Betty drops the kids off at the house so she can go back east. Betty said he's been having a lot of fun lately, and he needs to remember that she's not a babysitter.

When she returns, he has sent the kids to camp and removed her name from their emergency contacts.

September 1985 finds Betty in her nighty talking to the kids about their first day.

It's been 23 months. There is a knock at the door. She has 30 days to respond. She goes to Doug for help, but he's representing Dan. He condescendingly tells her she needs to be a good soldier, or she might not get to see the kids at all.

Dan is at the house, writing her a check after going through her bills.

The therapist talks about pain building like a pressure cooker.

She arrives at the house to collect the kids and sees a maid dusting the table. There is a Boston Creme pie on the table, Dan's favorite.

Self Control plays as she smears the cake all over the bedroom.

Betty goes day by day without release, and then Dan delivers a court order to stay away from his house. She begs him to reconsider. He finally admits that she was right all along; he's in love with Linda.

The post Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: More To It Than Fun appeared first on TV Fanatic.