Episode 6 of Murdaugh: Death in the Family ended with the most climactic and devastating scene of the show yet, where we saw Alex Murdaugh (Jason Clarke) react to the murder of his son, Paul (Johnny Berchtold), and wife Maggie (Patricia Arquette).
In episode 7, titled "On The Road You Take To Avoid It", we see what unfolds in the minutes, days, weeks, and months following the murders that took place on the Murdaugh estate.
The episode starts with an oblivious Buster Murdaugh (Will Harrison) returning home to his girlfriend, where she tells him that his dad has been trying to get in touch with him. When he finally calls Alex, he is stunned by what, at the time, would be the worst news he had received in his life, leading him to immediately speed to the Murdaugh estate. When he arrives, he embraces his father as they begin what would become months of heartbreak and grief.
Detective Laura Rutland and Agent David Owen are investigating the scene. Laura is from outside of town, so she has no connection or obligation to the Murdaughs. Her outside view leads her to be more suspicious of Alex. Instead of instantly believing his story like Agent Owen, she seems less engaged with the power of the family and more with the facts of the case. Alex has gone through life with the power and protection from his last name, and it is refreshing to see someone leading the investigation who is completely removed from the sort.
Before the funeral, police show up at the home to start questioning the immediate family. Buster is not only frustrated that they aren't doing enough to find the killer, but is also clearly still in shock and emotional about the situation. Alex, on the other hand, is suspiciously calm. He walks away from the interrogation to take a phone call from lawyer Mark Tinsley (Tommy Dewey), who is leading the civil suit from the boat accident. Mark informs Alex that they are dropping the suit, where he has such an ecstatic reaction to it that it almost feels inappropriate to everyone else in the room.
During the services, Alex gives an emotional speech about the passing of his family, and the family spends time bonding with those who knew them. Alex takes a second to talk to Shelly, his mother's caretaker. In this conversation, he tries to clarify how long he was with his mother on the night of the murders. She was certain it was only 15–20 minutes, whereas Alex was convincingly saying it was more like 45.
The conversation ends with Alex mentioning her wedding that is coming up, and how he will be there to financially support her if needed. While he wasn't bribing her, he was clearly using his power over her to persuade her into taking his side, something he tends to do when things aren't looking good for him or his family.
We then see what occurs in the months following the murders. After Alex's father sadly passes away, he and Buster spend some time bonding at the Edisto house, where Buster decides he is going back to law school. For a minute, things are looking better for the remaining Murdaughs, and they seem to be getting back on their feet after such a tragic loss.
Flash forward to September 2021, Alex is back in the police station looking for answers, but Detective Laura Rutland and Agent David Owen think the answers that he is looking for might only come to life if he himself starts talking. They inform him that not only was Paul's friend Rogan convinced he had heard Alex in the background of a call he had made to him shortly before his murder, but they also found bullet casings matching missing guns from the family home, and had a conversation with Shelly, who told them he was only at his mom's for 15–20 minutes. Alex sternly says that he had nothing to do with it and is allowed to leave the station.
That's not the last of it for Alex, his brother Randy calls him into the office where the entire firm is sitting down to confront him about missing checks. They have uncovered that he has been defrauding the firm for millions of dollars for over half a decade, and at this point, Alex is in too deep to deny it. He blames it all on his painkiller addiction and agrees to go to rehab, but not before one more night of havoc.
He heads home and drunkenly trashes the entire house before staying up on a bender overnight. In the morning, he meets up with his "deadbeat cousin" Eddie, where he tries to convince him to end his life. Alex is obviously in over his head, but doesn't have it in him to do it himself. When Eddie declines, Alex points the gun at Eddie, leading to a fight for the gun, where Alex ends up on the ground with a gash in his head.
Buster arrives at the hospital to find his father rambling about how Eddie tried to kill him and left him on the road to die. Suddenly, Detective Rutland and Agent Owen walk in and let Alex and Buster know that they talked to Eddie and found surveillance footage proving that Alex was the one who showed up with the gun, begging to be shot. Buster is yet again in a state of shock as Alex finally admits to him that he has been struggling with a painkiller addiction, leading to Uncle Randy dropping him off at rehab.
While Buster returns to a trashed home, the family of the late housekeeper, Gloria, reaches out to Mark Tinsley about the missing insurance settlement money that had vanished into Alex's hands. Mark calls journalist Mandy Matney, letting her know that there is yet another layer to the Murdaugh madness that the public might not be aware of.
With the world crumbling down on the family, and it truly being one thing after the next, it is hard not to be counting down till the series finale next week. The final episode of Murdaugh: Death in the Family, titled "The Man In the Glass," airs November 19 on Hulu.