The Con Man
Episode 5 of The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window starts with Rex bringing Anna inside her house and holding her captive. Anna pretends that Douglas will return home soon, prompting Rex to force Anna to message Douglas to prove as much. He watches their text messages as Anna asks him to get her some bread. After a bit of back and forth, he eventually agrees to do just that. The thing is, Rex believes that Anna is working with Lisa, who he knows as Chastity. As things begin escalating, the police arrive at her door. Not wanting to be seen with Rex, she encourages him to hide in the pantry after he tells her he just wants answers. And of course, that’s what Anna wants too. Detective Lane shows and issues Anna with a restraining order. Following her breaking into Neil’s house, Lane is quick to admit she’s got off lightly. When they finally leave, Rex reveals more about what’s happening. He believes Chastity has faked her own death. The reasoning? Well, it seems like it’s a way of dissuading Rex from coming after her so she can keep all of Neil’s money. The two of them are con artists, working together and playing the long game. Back then, Rex worked as a stripper at a strip club while Chastity worked the bar. She convinced him to get involved in a long con, ripping off different men by convincing them that Rex is her brother and suffering from a rare blood condition, needing money for an experimental procedure. Her targets were all seized upon from the obituary section. And that’s when she met Neil and Emma. Rex started to get cold feet about the whole ordeal but because Rex’s name is on all the bank accounts, getting out isn’t so easy. Lisa knew this and was using him all this time. And just like that, Anna and Rex hook up. While they do, Carol winds up seeing them by the front door and gasps. As the episode comes to a close, we cut to the woods where it turns out Lisa is actually dead. Her face is uncovered and a dog begins howling.
The Episode Review
This episode continues the trend the previous few chapters have too, lightening up on the satire and leaning into the mystery instead. Don’t get me wrong, the show is still good but some long jokes (like the casserole dish smashing) across all the episodes would have been a nice touch just to give this a bit of pizzazz. The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is still enjoyable though and it’s actually written better than some of the recent murder mysteries that have dropped on Netflix (hello Stay Close) For now, the suspense is just starting to tighten up, leaving lots of intriguing possibilities for the rest of the season. Who is the killer? What happened to Lisa? And will Anna drop any more casserole dishes? We’ll have to wait and see!
