The mystery is getting more tangled on Hulu's new mystery comedy series Phony. In episode 3, Sonny was stuck home with imposter mom Ellen, and even though he was bold enough to set a trap to catch her in a lie, she was able to evade the trick.
Sonny hasn't gotten much closer to finding his real mom, but new private investigator Sharla successfully tracked Ellen on a secret errand to hand over a large sum of cash to a mystery man behind a bar.
When we left Sonny, he and his girlfriend were heading to Shovel's "dead body party," hoping to learn more about whether this rumored dead body could have any connection to his mom's disappearance. He was smart enough to turn off the location on his phone so Ellen couldn't track him, but he left the second phone at home, and when Sharla called Sonny with updates about the cash handoff, it was Ellen who answered!
Dead Body Party is just the (terrible) theme
In Phony season 1 epiosde 4, titled "Vibes are Rancid," Sonny arrives at the party clueless about Ellen's mystery payment and her interception of Sharla's phone call. And it turns out that the party is more centered on a stuffed scarecrow type of "body" than anything having to do with the actual mystery around Ellen's disappearance. Sonny can't get a straight answer from any of his classmates and starts having a touch of paranoia about how they're all in on the disappearance. The only other person who seems to want to actually search for the real dead body is Weldon, who sets out into the woods to look for clues.
Weldon runs into Sonny, who wants Weldon's help to finally track down Shovel — and Weldon knows that Shovel is probably still talking with Mallory. As Sonny asks Shovel more questions about what he saw, he desperately tries to keep his cool and not spook Shovel, but he fails miserably. Shovel gets the impression that Sonny is just at the party to spy for his mom, the principal. He shuts down the conversation entirely after making fun of Sonny and refuses to take Sonny's questions seriously, sending him away.
Sonny recruits Mallory to get answers from Shovel
Sonny can't find Chloe at the party, but he does manage to find the mysterious beaver at the pond. He's not alone for long because Mallory checks in on Sonny and joins him to chat. She apologizes for how Shovel treated Sonny and tries to save the interaction, but Sonny wants Mallory to get the answers he needs out of Shovel herself. And we think it works, because the next thing we know, Weldon is telling Sonny that Shovel knows where the body is.
We learn that Ellen knows where the party is happening and that local cops are aware of the large group of kids drinking in the woods, so Sonny's time is running out. Shovel leads Sonny and the group to the spot where he saw the body, but when they arrive at the spot, it's gone. Weldon pitches the idea that someone's already taken it. That is until Sonny sees blond hair floating in the water and runs in to grab the body!
A mystery burial in the woods
When he pulls it out, he hears all the other kids laughing — he's holding the stuffed scarecrow and a wig. The police choose this moment to arrive on the scene and break up the party, but Ellen finds Sonny before he can run. She tells the cop she'll take Sonny home herself, but he uses his leverage in the situation and refuses to get in the car, calling Ellen out on smelling like cigarettes, something his mom never would have done. She lets him walk away, and Sonny instead leaves the party with Vogel.
Up until this point, Phony season 1 episode 4 was a bottle episode in the woods that didn't do much to move the story forward, nor did it expose new layers to the mystery. But in its final moments, we're left with a cliffhanger that cuts from the fake body to an actual dead body. And a mysterious person is waist-deep in a hole, preparing to dump the body.
We can't see much of what this person is wearing, but their coat has a seam across the back similar to what Ellen had on at the party. We're left on a final shot of a small cabin in the woods with a dark blue van parked out in front. It's not the same vehicle we saw in the parking lot cash hand-off from last week's episode, so whose could it be?!
New episodes of Phony drop Tuesdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.
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