Escape at Dannemora season 1, episode 6 recap: Part 6

The season 1 penultimate episode of Escape at Dannemora takes us back in time as we learn all about Tilly, David, and Matt’s past.

Escape at Dannemora got us really good this week. How so? If you watched episode 6 promos then you were prepping yourself for the manhunt that would ensue following Matt and David’s escape. But that is not what happened, at all. Instead, the episode dives deep into the past of the two escapees along with Tilly. And it turned out to be one heck of an episode.

Up until now, everything has been organized and portrayed chronologically, so this episode came as a pleasant and unexpected surprise. But the most intriguing part of the episode is how it begins. It really confuses the crap out of you because you’re assuming that it’s following Matt and David’s escape.

But it follows a deputy who is out doing the night shift. He pulls over a young girl learning how to drive with her father, gets some groceries for home, and stops by his house. We don’t know much at this point but what we do know is that there is an APB out. This whole time we’re assuming its regarding David and Matt, but plot twist, it’s not!

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While out driving, he spots a car out in the darkness and goes to inquire. Little does he know that it’s going to be the final moments of his life. As soon as he gets out of the car, gunshots are fired.

The deputy falls to the ground riddled with bullets, but that’s not the end of it. Whoever shot him then gets in the car and runs him over multiple times.

So who was this mysterious killer? Sweat. Yup, it’s Sweat but a younger version of him and precisely why he goes to jail in the first place. This is confirmed when the episode reveals that the year is 2002. Ugh, how brutal.

Escape at Dannemora then shifts to Matt’s story. It’s 1997 and Matt is eager to get his hands on some money. He breaks into the house of his former boss, kidnaps him, and tries to smuggle money out of him.

But when he realizes there is no man, he suffocates him via duct tape. And if you thought that was bad then what comes next will horrify you. He chops up the guy and throws his body parts into the lake.

While David and Matt’s stories are frightening, scary, and disturbing, Tilly’s past is a very jarring one. We are taken back to the year 1993 and what we learn about Tilly certainly does not paint her in a good light. In 1993, Tilly was married to someone else and the two of them work together (just like she and Lyle do).

It appears Matt and David weren’t Tilly’s first workplace sexcapades. But in 1993, instead of David and Matt, it was Lyle, the man she would go onto marry. Sneaking away in the woods nearby, she and Lyle go at it while their coworkers watch from a distance. When one of her friends at work betrays her, her then-husband, Kenny finds out about Tilly’s affair with Lyle.

His world comes crashing down and we can’t help but be annoyed and disgusted with Tilly’s behavior, especially since she doesn’t change in the future. But she’s clever and stages a fight between Lyle and Kenny so he doesn’t get custody of their kid. But it doesn’t end there. Not only does she get custody of their child, but she somehow convinces him that Lyle is his dad.

Escape at Dannemora gave us a very heartbreaking and tragic episode this week and it was tough to see how things would eventually turn out. Tilly wouldn’t change at all, and neither would David and Matt. They are trapped in their crimes, and if you know how the real-life events turned out–then you know what’s heading our way in the season finale.

Escape at Dannemora season 1 finale airs Sunday on Showtime at 10 PM EST!