Why Women Kill Season 2, Episode 9 recap: The Unguarded Moment

Why Women Kill Season 2 officially transforms Alma Fillcot (Allison Tolman) into the formerly evil and powerful Rita Castillo (Lana Parrilla). It’s interesting because as this season has progressed, we’ve seen Alma and Rita exchange lives in every manner. Alma is now at the top of her game, manipulating people to do her bidding and a part of the Elysian Garden Club as she had always wanted, but it’s at the expense of losing the respect and love of Bertram (Nick Frost). Rita, on the other, is now penniless, homeless, and hated by anyone that once loved her.

Tolman’s portrayal of Alma and her journey of becoming someone worse than Rita has been nothing short of amazing. Is it too early to be hopeful she could get some recognition during awards season? But seriously, she plays evil and horrible so well that it makes Parrilla’s former role as the Wicked Witch seem sweet and kind.

Alma takes full advantage of her recent status in this week’s episode, and I believe it has put her in a very vulnerable position. She’s been lying to everyone, stealing Mrs. Yost’s belongings, and just demanded her way into a spot in the club. It wasn’t even like she worked hard for it. She just expected to be given the position.

There is an interesting comparison in this week’s episode of Why Women Kill Season 2 between Alma and Rita, and I believe it really speaks to the incredible writers of the show. They’ve done such a good job starting these characters off in one place and somehow switching them effortlessly. And on that note, let’s talk about that and much more below!

Why Women Kill Season 2, Episode 2 recap: Queen of the Garden Club

After learning that members of the club can run for the position of President, Alma begins to make plans to take over the top spot. That comes with its challenges, especially after Joan (Jessica Phillips) tells her not to run. She can see right through Alma’s antics and isn’t fooled by all the things she suddenly has.

If this were the old Alma, she would have surrendered, but this is the new Alma we’re talking about, and she doesn’t give a crap what anyone thinks. In fact, she learns from one of Joan’s maids that Joan is having an affair and goes to a hotel twice a week.

Alma shows up at the hotel on the day and spots Joan in a hotel room with Grace (Virginia Williams). She’s surprised to learn that the women are having an affair but isn’t afraid to use it against Joan. It’s a shame because while Alma isn’t close to Joan, she is close to Grace, but it doesn’t make a difference when she’s trying to vouch for the best spot in the club.

After blackmailing Joan, she gets Joan to step down from the race and promote Alma in the process. And while Alma is closer to her ultimate goal, it’s coming at a hefty price that will come back to bite her in the butt.

Why Women Kill Season 2, Episode 2 recap: Rita’s tragic circumstances

We can say what we want about Rita’s attitude and behavior, but there is a nice human being inside her. We’ve seen it even on her worst days, but she never let that side of her come out. Now that she has fallen to rock bottom, you can see that Rita is beginning to realize all that she took for granted, especially Scooter’s (Matthew Daddario) love.

It’s a bit too late to think about all of that, but her downfall is rather tragic. She didn’t care for anything when she had it, and now she has no one but herself to blame. Of course, she came from unfortunate beginnings and had to seek out unconventional means to make money. It’s why she transformed into a mean person when she fell into money.

Everyone she met or saw was a reminder of her past which is why she was so quick to hate on Alma. Rita understood that she didn’t deserve the life she got with Carlo but didn’t want to face the reality of it. This brings her to this heartbreaking point in life–lost, confused, and homeless.

Nonetheless, she asks Scooter for some money to get by and some of her old clothes that she could potentially sell. Rita doesn’t expect him to leave Catherine (Veronica Falcón), but she just needs some help, and it’s not like she can walk back into her old house.

Scooter attempts to help Rita by taking the belongings to her, but he doesn’t know that Catherine is onto his shady behavior. She doesn’t realize that he is just trying to help Rita, not run away with her, and that’s when things get super messy.

When Catherine confronts the two of them, she refuses to listen to their explanations. Instead, she pulls out a gun and points it at Rita, and fires. Sadly, the bullet hits Scooter, who steps in the way of it, and the second one hits Bertram, who just so happens to be walking home in a drunken stupor.

R.I.P. Bertram and Scooter.

Why Women Kill Season 2, Episode 2 recap: Bertram’s unexpected way out

The way Bertram’s life comes to an end is rather fitting because it absolves him of all the things he’s done. He’s also been carrying around the burden of Alma’s actions and had completely lost his way as a result. Throughout the episode, he spent most of his time in a bar talking to a hallucination, that is until Dee (BK Cannon) shows up to talk to him about Mrs. Yost’s body.

Earlier in the episode, Dee finally shows up to talk to her mother after eloping with Vern (Jordane Christie) a few weeks prior. She had abruptly left the house after finding Mrs. Yost’s body in the garden and didn’t look back since.

But Vern would show up trying to talk to her so much that she finally went home and spoke to Alma. Of course, Alma lied about the whole ordeal saying that Bertram was having an affair with Mrs. Yost, and one thing led to another, and in a rage of fury, he ended up pushing Mrs. Yost out of the window. Once again, Alma is trying to find the easy way out that makes her look harmless.

Another reason Bertram’s death might have been a good thing for him is that Vern found out that the chemicals used to kill Carlo are the same chemicals that Bertram has been buying for years. It would be rain hell down on him, but now the spotlight may fall on Alma.

Let’s see her get her way out of this predicament!

Next week is the Why Women Kill Season 2 finale!

What did you think of this week’s episode? Tell us in the comments below!