CBS’s Tell Me a Story
Chapter 7: “Betrayal”
Directed by Millicent Shelton
Written by Andrea Thornton Bolden

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Guilt” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Truth” – click here
Hannah (Dania Ramirez) wakes to PTSD flashbacks from war, seeing her friend lose his leg, to find herself and Gabe (Davi Santos) upside down in the crashed car off the road. They manage to get out, though Gabe’s leg is fucked up. The men in the car look possibly dead. On top of that, there’s no cell signal out in those woods. One of the fake cops is still alive, and he fires off shots at the siblings as they flee for the trees.
Mitch (Michael Raymond-James) confronts the aftermath of his brother Eddie (Paul Wesley) killing himself after accidentally killing Carla (Justine Cotsonas). He’s devastated by losing him. The cops are swirling around the place, where they’ve unearthed the pig’s head in the nearby dumpster. The evidence suggests Eddie killed his girlfriend, then turned the gun on himself.
At home, Kayla (Danielle Campbell) cooks breakfast for grandma while Colleen (Kim Cattrall) admires the “modern neo–Romanticism” of her granddaughter’s latest sketches. She and her father Tim (Sam Jaeger) are getting back on better terms, too. At least everyone is trying, anyway. Over breakfast, Tim mentions meeting Nick (Billy Magnussen) at the bar, which certainly strikes his daughter as terribly sketchy.
Then there’s Jordan (James Wolk), at home stuck with Eddie’s bloody ghost sitting across from him, taunting him. First it was the grief of his wife hanging around, now it’s the manifestation of guilt lingering. Jordan just keeps on drinking, raging at the ghosts around him. He suffers from “denial posing as self–righteous anger,” accusing Eddie of essentially bringing on his own death. Nothing will stop him from having as much revenge as is available to him.

“… I don’t think the Wolf made it.”

At school, Kayla finds Nick and she’s pissed at him for getting involved in her life. He’s beginning to get further out of control— as if killing a young student weren’t enough already. Things are getting bad for him. Laney (Paulina Singer) notices he’s getting nasty, and so the rest of the kids in his class. Kayla confides in her friend, telling her the situation’s becoming “fucked up.” And that’s an understatement. The two girls decide to “Google deep” and look into Nick’s past, considering they know NOTHING about him. They see he uses his brother’s name, not his own, and his secrets start to unravel.
Hannah and Gabe are fired on in the trees. One of the men keeps following them. She sends her brother ahead while firing shots back. She gets the guy in the arm. When she runs out of ammo, she rushes to find her brother again, though has no idea where he is, and for now they’re split apart. Hannah starts marking her trail, just not with breadcrumbs. Soon, Gabe’s found by the injured man, but he escapes after beating him with a rock. He winds up at a park, only to be intercepted by a sly old woman.
Tim and others at the restaurant are concerned about their boss, noticing he’s slipping in his grief. His good friend and chef wants to check on him, so he and Katrina (Becki Newton) plan to go to his place. They find his apartment in a mess, including the wolf mask and a bullet hole in the fridge. And where’s Jordan? He’s gone to find Mitch’s wife Shelley (Tonya Glanz). Mitch gets home to find a box waiting with a book of The Three Little Pigs and then he gets a call from Jordan, who’s got his wife tied up in his trunk. All Jordan wants is the named of the third Little Pig, the one who killed HIS wife. Now Sam (Dorian Missick) is involved.
The inured man finds Hannah in a park bathroom. She fights with him, as the two brutalise each other with fists and everything surrounding them. It’s a rough fight. But Hannah didn’t come to lose, or die. She gets hold of the guy’s gun and puts several bullets in him before he can get his hands on her. She answers his cell, speaking to the old woman— she has to give them the money to get Gabe back.
Jordan takes Shelley someplace to keep her until the next leg of his plan. He interrogates the wife about her husband, why she was packing a suitcase. She says Mitch is “half a good guy” and it took her a long time to accept that fact. She finds out about the trio pulling the heist which wound up killing Beth. Mitch gets there, followed by Sam with his gun drawn. Jordan threatens to kill Shelley if the gun isn’t lowered. Sam taunts him, sure he won’t kill the woman. Jordan keeps seeing Eddie, too. So Sam puts bullets in Shelley, kills Mitch, and then tries to chase Jordan, but loses him. HOLY SHIT!
Laney keeps an eye on Mr. Sullivan while Kayla goes to his place and picks the lock to have a look inside. Kayla gets in, then explores. She looks through drawers, flicks through books and magazines for anything hidden. It only takes a second for Laney to lose sight of the substitute. He finds her standing there on the street, acting suspicious. She sends a warning that the Big Bad Wolf is running home fast. Kayla’s occupied, digging up whatever she can find. None of the papers reveal much. It’s when Kayla comes across a painting with the name Abby Powell on it that she appears shocked, and it’s right when the Wolf gets home— Abby, as in Kayla’s mother. Yikes.
This was a wild, eerie episode. Intense things happening, and the characters have developed so well. This series is turning out much better than originally anticipated. Chapter 8: “Truth” is next time.