Michelle is in a psych ward to treat her eating disorders, feeling utterly alone. She’s been there for months, and the only thing that seems to make her feel better is the thought of being able to leave. But she can’t seem to shake the feeling that she’s not really going anywhere.
Conrad graduates from high school, and announces that he has obtained his captain’s license. This shocks his parents, who were not expecting this.
Conrad brings up the idea of leaving his business to Mattapoisett, but Mattapoisett scoffs. He doesn’t want to live in Co’s town his whole life, which becomes a point of tension between them.
At the trial, Lynn testifies about her son Conrad’s demeanor when he was at Boston Children’s after his first suicide attempt. She promises she will never try anything like that again, and had prospects for her future. She also speaks of his attitude on the day of his death. “I know my son. And he didn’t want to die. Not that day.”
Michelle finishes her last day at the hospital. She gets her phone back and sees a lot of messages from Conrad. When she finally responds to tell him about her hospital stay and recovery, he’s not receptive. ..
He accuses her of not caring about him. He berates himself for being miserable, shy, dumb, etc. When Michelle suggests he could talk to someone, he says there’s no point. He’ll always be a failure.
Scott Gordon takes the stand and tells the jury about how Michelle encouraged Conrad to commit suicide dozens of times. He also talks about Conrad’s video diary on his social anxiety and depression. The teenager believed he wasn’t normal, and he didn’t want to live anymore.
When Rayburn shows a picture of Conrad in the car as evidence, Lynn walks out of the room.
After the trial, Lynn’s mom mentions Conrad’s video series to her. She muses that you just can’t know when a person is doing ok. They tell everyone they’re doing better; they act like they’re doing better. But you can’t know. This unsettles Lynn.
Conrad tries to leave work early, and his co-worker yells after him. When Co gets home, he finds Conrad playing video games. They get into a fight, and Co punches Conrad hard to the face. Lynn later picks them both up. Conrad insists it wasn’t his dad’s fault.
Natalie Gibson, the victim’s friend, testifies next. She reads texts where Michelle pours her heart out about having no friends, no plans, and no future. ..
Michelle and Cassie both testified that they read texts where Michelle was being overly grateful to them for hanging out with her. They testified that Michelle told them Conrad was missing days before he actually disappeared. And then Natalie read the most damning message: “I fucking told him to get back in.”
Michelle tells Co that she doesn’t believe in him, and he gets angry. He thinks she’s just like everyone else, just talking without listening.
Conrad believes that he is different from everyone else and that he dreams about killing himself. He says that next time, he’ll be dead and then maybe everyone will listen to him. Before they part, he yells in Michelle’s face. If she tells anyone about this conversation, he’ll never talk to her again.
In the shower, Michelle intentionally cuts her leg with a razor. Conrad later texts an apology to her, saying he can’t take the pain anymore. He tells her goodbye.
She’s immediately concerned when she doesn’t hear from him and starts to call and text him, until he finally texts back hours later to casually say he fell asleep.
Lynn settles down to watch one of Conrad’s videos. She’s never been able to bring herself to watch them before.
She watches Conrad’s video about social anxiety and is moved by its message. Lynn shares how she’s better off than most people and how her parents are the best thing in her life. The video has made her cry, and she grateful for the words it has shared with her.
The Episode Review
This episode is extraordinarily focused on the challenges and complexities of mental health. It shines a light on how different people need different things to function optimally.
Michelle and Conrad are two very different people. Michelle is eloquent with her words, but she can also be quite powerful when she needs to be. Conrad, on the other hand, is sick of the noise in his life. He’s just ready for people to listen to him, but he struggles to express himself even when they do.
The show handles parents’ relationships to their children’s mental health in a nuanced way. The Girl From Plainville is sensitive to the Roys’ difficulties, but also challenges their roles as Conrad’s guardians and what so many parents don’t understand about their children’s anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Even as the show dedicates itself to Michelle and Conrad, it makes room for Lynn’s raw pain- not blaming her, but using her as a representative for a tragically relatable struggle. ..
The Girl from Plainville is an emotionally complex and dynamic novel that does not villainize its characters, but neither does it let anyone off the hook. In particular, Michelle is shown to be both capable and flawed. ..
