CBS’s Tell Me a Story
Chapter 6: “Guilt”
Directed by Jeff T. Thomas
Written by Mary Leah Sutton

* For a recap & review of Chapter 5, “Madness” – click here
* For a recap & review of Chapter 7, “Betrayal” – click here
Jordan (James Wolk) is slipping further down the drain. He’s bought himself a gun, which he tries to learn how to use from YouTube. He winds up putting a bullet in his fridge— a good sign of things to come, surely. You can pretty much bet things won’t go as planned. When it comes to revenge, things never go the way the vengeful want them to go.
At home, Tim (Sam Jaeger) tells his Colleen (Kim Cattrall) things aren’t as they seem when it comes to what happened between him and his wife before she died. He tries to explain, but it’s his daughter Kayla (Danielle Campbell) who needs explanations. They’re in a rocky place. In the meantime, grandma is sick, so she asks her granddaughter to look after her shop for the day. And Big Bad Wolf Nick (Billy Magnussen) keeps stringing Laney (Paulina Singer) along via text – “Good morning, sunshine” – using dead Ethan’s lopped off finger to get into the kid’s phone.
At the house in the woods, Gabe (Davi Santos) gets served a few red velvet pancakes by his estranged mother Madeline (Polly Draper). He and mom aren’t on horrible terms like she is with Hannah (Dania Ramirez). At least they have mom’s new man setting up a flight to get them away from legal trouble, or worse.
Both Eddie (Paul Wesley) and Mitch (Michael Raymond-James) are trying to stay under the radar after Jordan came down on them hard. The older brother gives his younger bro a bag of cash to get out of the city for a while with Carla (Justine Cotsonas). Eddie and Carla look ready to head of into the sunset and start a new life. Again, nothing ever goes exactly as planned. Once Sam (Dorian Missick) hears about the situation with the angry husband, he’s not happy. Added to that, Sam’s being sketchy about the money, which worries Mitch considering he just gave his brother a ton of cash.
Nick’s feeling more empowered now without his nemesis around, so he’s getting deeper into a relationship with his student/lover. He lures Kayla on the street with a bunch of roses, then suggests they “spend the day together.” Not so easy for her, yet she agrees to go on an adventure. No telling what this psycho has planned.
Hannah and her mother reconnect briefly when Madeline gives her daughter a bear she had until she was ten years old. Mom took the bear when she left, as a piece of her daughter. She apologises for her selfishness and explains she had mental health issues— “manic depression,” mostly known as bipolar disorder today. While their relationship will never be totally fixed, they’re at least trying to move forward.
Gabe and Hannah get worried when an unexpected car shows up. Mom hides her kids then answers the door. Two NYPD detectives are looking for the siblings, though mom says she hasn’t seen either of them in years. The men come in for a longer chat, and Madeline hears about the murder of Gabe’s roommate. Mom gives the kids up without another word. She doesn’t want to “do that to Richard” above protecting her children. Ouch.

“I just didn’t realise what big ears you have, or what big eyes you have.”
“Says the girl with the wolf tattoo”

Nick and Kayla go on their day out, sitting in the park. She discovers he’s a bit more into their relationship than a fling, talking about going places together all over the world. Then he drops those three little words, freaking her out. Kayla also forgot she was supposed to look after grandma’s shop, again fumbling her family life. After she apologises to Colleen, she goes back to Nick and tells him she can’t continue on with their relationship. Will the Big Bad Wolf only come out nastier? Oh, yes.
When Mitch gets home, his wife Shelley (Tonya Glanz) is ready to kick his ass. The bank sent an alert about his withdrawal. Shittier for him when he says he gave it to Eddie. She already thinks little brother’s a loser. Another mismanaged family situation, part of the connective tissue across Tell Me a Story— all these stories involve families, and that further plays into the aspect of fairy tales, too.
Later that night, Mitch and Shelley hear somebody in the house running around. He goes to look, finding Jordan on the lawn wearing a wolf mask. Is the intruder going to huff and puff and blow the house down? He vanishes. When Mitch runs into the road he nearly gets run down before Jordan’s gone in the night.
Nick decides to go for a drink at the restaurant Jordan owns. He ends up sitting next to none other than Tim, unknowing dad and chef. The two men strike up a conversation together. Nick’s clearly trying to weave himself into the inner life of his former lover, and the Big Bad Wolf’s getting creepier and more dangerous by the second.
Hannah and Gabe quickly find out they haven’t been taken by any cops. The men find the money in Hannah’s bag, making a call, then it’s off to who knows where, to do who knows what with the siblings. This is worse than bad. Gabe distracts the driver while his sister starts choking him. The car flies off through a guard rail and flips over several times through the trees. Goddamn.
Jordan moves on to Eddie, looking for the name of the “Third Pig.” He threatens the little piggy things will get uglier if he doesn’t get the name. Eddie only pleads with him, saying they never meant to hurt anybody. But none of that matters to the wolf. And what happens? Eddie’s so paranoid that he shoots through the door after someone knocks, only to see he’s killed Carla on the other side while the wolf watches on. Brutal justice. Although it doesn’t appear that’s exactly what Jordan intended. He seems to feel guilty, which becomes deeper after Eddie then kills himself right in front of Jordan.
Amazing episode! One of the best, if not THE best so far in the series. Lots of interesting, wild things happening. Chapter 7 is next time.