Twisted - Recap: Clarity

Recap and review of Twisted - Episode 18 - Danny, Interrupted:

I find myself kind of interested by how Twisted has changed in the second half of this season. "Danny, Interrupted" is an episode that illustrates the fundamentally altered dynamic of the show as we head towards the finale: in the first half, the villain of the show -- such as there was one -- was essentially the town, and the hive-minded mentality that made Danny (Avan Jogia) a pariah. However, in the back half of the season, we have actual villains for Danny and co. to contend with, namely Vikram (TJ Ramini) and Charlie (Jack Falahee). It's given a lot of momentum to these episodes, since you can't really fight a formless concept like reputation, and even if one could, it was clear that Danny was never going to (his dedication to preserving the secret of his father murdering his aunt was one that didn't always make sense, and it seems exceedingly unlikely we'll ever learn why Vikram murdered the woman; in a sense, it's far more chilling that way). But Danny can go toe-to-toe with his father, and he can stand up to Charlie. That alone makes "Danny, Interrupted" a thriller of an episode, as Charlie takes hold of the narrative by giving the story a clear-cut villain we can all root against.

Credit: ABC Family

So the story this week is basically the culmination of Charlie's true colors being revealed. He's basically become the "Socio" of the show's original title, mimicking human emotions to fool people into trusting him, and even liking him. He's basically the inverse of Danny, who lacks these fundamental, opinion-swaying talents for manipulation. This becomes evident when Danny reveals his anti-Charlie theory to Lacey (Kylie Bunbury) and Jo (Maddie Hasson). Neither girl believes him, and both think he's slightly off his rocker, allowing his personal animosity towards Charlie cloud his judgment. It gets so bad that Danny begins to wonder if maybe he might not be crazy after all. He goes as far as to track down his and Charlie's old psychiatrist from juvie to ask if his fears about Charlie are all in his head, since Danny's theory basically amounts to Charlie wanting to steal his life. The psychiatrist, in a moment I didn't entirely believe, flirts with breaking confidentiality by revealing to Danny that Charlie has demons in his past that even he isn't aware of, and that Danny isn't crazy for thinking the kid is dangerous. But having a psychiatrist vindicate his beliefs doesn't change Danny's very real problems...

Jack (Ivan Sergei) has been arrested for Vikram's murder, and Charlie has planted the dead man's cellphone in the boathouse, furthering the frame-up. And the high-priced lawyer Danny has hired to defend Jack can't undo the damage Charlie has done. And to make matters worse, Karen (Denise Richards) is all too willing to let Jack go to jail if it means Danny isn't taken away. It's this attitude that drives a wedge between mother and son. Danny blows up at her for being so cavalier about a man's life, and for attempting to emotionally manipulate him into taking her side. He insists he isn't a kid anymore, and I suppose one of the big tragedies of the series is that...well, he isn't a kid. In fact, he hardly even got the chance to be. His childhood was stolen away from him by the emotional manipulations of a father Danny adored. It's any wonder Danny is as relatively well-adjusted as he is now, given how he's been jerked around by both parents. But even being well-adjusted isn't enough to change how he's perceived by others. In confronting and physically threatening Charlie, Danny gives in to his darker impulses, but this is exactly what Charlie wants.

Charlie wants Danny to be driven to madness by his paranoia, so it'll be all the easier to discredit him. It was Charlie who moved Vikram's body, and it was Charlie who witnessed the murder in the first place. Everything he's done, including faking fight injuries and then claiming to Jo that Danny was responsible (in one of the more chilling scenes of the episode), has been towards taking over Danny's life: especially Jo. Yet, by the time Charlie reveals his true colors to Jo, claiming he's manipulated circumstances in such a way so that they could be together (and claiming that he's been dreaming of this since he saw her picture among Danny's things in juvie), it's too late for her to stop Danny from confessing the truth to Kyle (Sam Robards). Danny reveals to Sheriff Masterson that he killed Vikram, and that Jo could be in danger. And she very well could be, since she takes it upon herself to confess to her part in Vikram's death to her mother, Tess (Kimberly Quinn). Basically, we've got an explosive situation at hand, with no immediate indication that things will be getting better before they get worse. But then, it wouldn't be Twisted if there were an easy out. I'd argue the show's willingness to put its heroes' backs to the wall is its most admirable trait.

Credit: ABC Family

I also admire the show for its ability to make its B-plots feel substantial and integral to the show, even when their relevance isn't immediately apparent. Whitney (Brianne Howey) feels she's losing her father just as she's getting to know him again, and that feeling of angst and exclusion drives her connection to Lacey. Yet whereas the show could take a similar approach with Whitney as it took with Charlie, making the blonde bombshell into a Fatal Attraction-style psychopath, the show instead makes her into a mature, understanding young woman. When Lacey admits she's intrigued by the possibility that she might be into girls, Whitney doesn't belabor the issue beyond light flirtation; yet when Lacey later reveals that she's just not into it, Whitney takes a very grownup approach to her rejection, which is apparently a first for her. Again, this might not be the most substantive storyline of the episode, but it fleshes out Lacey's internal conflict over Danny, whom she's still not over, while also providing a frank, tasteful discussion on homosexuality that doesn't draw attention to itself or going for bawdy salaciousness. It's encouraging to see gay people and their love lives depicted on TV without sensationalism, since they very much are every bit as normal as girls like Whitney.

Credit: ABC FAMILY/Tony Rivetti

I actually liked the story a lot more than the continued intrigue with Tess, who tracks down her birth child only to discover that the baby allegedly died when she was two. Jo, who learns the truth about her half-sister, is there to support her mother and help her through her grief. Yet the grief is short-lived, as Tess discovers, in one of the photobooks the adopted mother gave to her, a picture that essentially proves that the adopted child couldn't have been Tess's baby. In short, her daughter is still out there somewhere, although where this storyline is going is anyone's guess.

"Danny, Interrupted" is an episode that keeps the wheels turning as we head towards an monumental finale. Seriously, I have no idea how Twisted plans to get Danny out of the rut he's dug himself into. But I can't wait to see the show try. It's rare for teen mystery soaps to be this fun anymore, but Twisted totally delivers a compulsively-watchable, binge-worthy experience. Here's hoping for a similarly encouraging finale next week.