Trigger warning: This article mentions sexual assault, pregnancy loss, gun violence, and other sensitive topics.
As the penultimate episode of The Good Daughter speeds the Peacock limited series toward the big finish, we're continuing to unravel the mysteries surrounding the Kelly Wilson case. In the previous episode, Sam and Charlie tried to uncover who fathered Kelly's baby, while Sam's impending leave from Pikeville was upended by the sudden passing of their father Rusty.
The Good Daughter episode 5 begins with a flashback to Charlie in Sam's hospital room as she cries that everything hurts. She asks Charlie where the mom is, leading to Charlie delivering the bad news. But Sam keeps asking about their mom through sobs. In real time, Charlie lays on the ground outside as Ben drops by to check out her after Rusty's death. It hasn't even been a full 24 hours yet.
Rusty has already made arrangements for his funeral service, complete with an open bar. Ben brings Charlie her dad's infamous clown nose. Sam visits Kelly, who offers her condolences about Rusty. Sam promises that she will remain in town to see her case through. She questions Kelly about the men in her life: her dad, teachers, Huck, Colton Alexander.
Sam presents Kelly with her theory that the father of her baby pushed her into the school shooting thinking the police would kill her. The more Sam talks, the heavier Kelly's breathing gets. Kelly bites back at Sam that she knew what the father wanted and she won't let anyone kill her baby. Sam backs down and supports Kelly. There's more to this story, but Sam can't keep pushing.
Charlie shares the truth about the past with Sam
Lenore accompanies Charlie to the funeral home for the proceedings. Charlie steels herself before entering the room to say goodbye to her father. Sam arrives and gets jump-scared by Charlie outside their father's visiting room. They enter together and slowly walk up to Rusty's open casket. Charlie's horrified by how Rusty looks and shuts the casket, with help from Sam pushing a button.
Charlie asks Sam about his last words, and she explains that he wanted them to look for a photo of their mother together at the farmhouse. They finally have the drag-out fight that's been bubbling under the surface, leading to Charlie admitting that she can't have children and had a miscarriage in New York. Not even Ben knows what happened. She had two other miscarriages after that.
She lost one of her pregnancies as six months, a baby she Ben planned to name Harriet after her mother. Sam finally understands her sister and repeats her intention to get her out of Pikeville. Charlie reveals that day in the woods, she didn't get away. A flashback takes us to the moment Sam was shot and Charlie ran away. One of the masked men chased her down in the woods.
He tackled her to the ground and raped her. In her mind, Charlie thought of running with Sam on the track. Another man arrived and tackled the attacker off of Charlie. She escaped through the woods to a cabin belonging to the Pinkmans. Judith takes Charlie to get cleaned up as Douglas turns off the lights and grabs a shotgun. Rusty arrives to pick up Charlie and she tells him she was raped.
Rusty assures her that nothing that happened was her fault, and she makes him promise that no one can know what happened to her. He tells her to pack away what happened in a box until she's ready to talk about it. Back in real time, Charlie explains that she never felt she could tell Sam the truth out of guilt. Sam promises Charlie that she's never going to let her get away again.
Sam and Charlie unearth Rusty's secrets
Charlie takes a moment to herself with Rusty's casket. She knocks on the outside like he always did to cheer her up and briefly opens it to put on his clown nose. Ben takes Charlie and Sam out of the funeral home to a party in the parking lot full of his clients. During the party, Charlie realizes that Greg Alexander, Emma's father, was the one who stabbed Rusty.
Without prompting from Sam, Charlie explains what happened in her marriage to Ben. She takes full responsibility for driving him away. When the Culpeppers show up, Ben immediately tries to pull Charlie away, but she screams at them to instigate a fight. He calms her down by admitting he can show her a video of Kelly's confession and that he already quit his job.
Ben plays the video of Kelly's supposed confession, which looks like she's very apparently reading off of something. Ben also plays the security footage from the school, which shows her shooting Mr. Pinkman. Sam looks away before Kelly shoots Emma. The shooting order confirms that Kelly wasn't intending to kill Emma. They have more evidence, but the truth still eludes them.
Sam convinces Charlie to accompany her to the farmhouse to look for the photo to honor their father's last wish. They hold hands as they enter the house for the first time in years together and it floods them with memories from their youth. The house is filled with stuff as if Rusty had been hoarding. Sam finds a box of letters from Zach Culpepper. They all say "YOU OWE ME."
Checks bear the name Hulga Hopewell Trust with M. Pointer as the trustee, and the checks go back years. The names are from a Flannery O'Connor short story called Good Country People. Ben discovers that the account has nearly $2 million. There are many checks made out to Zach Culpepper Jr. for $2,000 from the trust.
Sam fears that Rusty's stabbing had nothing to do with the school shooting and everything to do with this money. Ben heads upstairs to look for more records and grab a shotgun in case Cleet Culpepper retaliates. Charlie hears a car pull up outside, and as she stares in concern at the front door screen, she calls out for Sam.
Watch The Good Daughter only on Peacock.
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.
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