Directed by Tim Matheson
Written by Gina Gionfriddo
Steven Chase always claimed that a blonde woman and shaggy man killed his wife Lindsay during a burglary in back in 1982. Nobody believed him until a dead woman found in a crack house was discovered to have Steven's ring. Is she the murderer?
Tropes:
- '80s Hair: The case was in 1982. Kitty was a hairdresser, and Lindsay was her best client, so of course, their hair was big and fabulous.
- Bittersweet Ending: Steven is exonerated for his wife's murder after 23 years behind bars.
- Fallen Princess: Lindsay, after her husband is sued for malpractice and they become penniless.
- It Began with a Twist of Fate: Melanie stole Steven's ring during a quarrel with Lindsay. Steven would still be in prison if not for that petty act of theft.
- Posthumous Character: Melanie got hooked on cocaine. Her life spiraled out of control until she ended up dead in that crackhouse.
- Red Herring: When it's discovered that Diane and Steven were having an affair, the detectives begin to wonder if Allan's death was in fact a murder and that perhaps Steven did kill Lindsay after all. It turns out he's innocent on both counts.
- Riches to Rags: Lindsay was the wife of a surgeon who lived in a lavish mansion, owned expensive household items, and went on glamorous vacations. Until a friend of theirs, Allan, died on the operating table with Steven in charge. Allan’s wife blamed Steven and sued him. After that, no one would hire Steven for surgeries, and Lindsay became so desperate to help keep them afloat she got a job sweeping hair at the salon she used to frequent, lent their house out for a mobster to cook meth, and was considering letting the house be robbed for insurance money, even if it meant sleeping with other men.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the case of Sam Sheppard
, a neurosurgeon who was arrested and jailed for the murder of his wife, but later absolved of the murder. - Title Drop: Steven brings up the title to describe the feelings of people who enjoyed his disgrace.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If Diane hadn't been so spiteful as to sue her friends for her husband's death and leave them destitute, Lindsay wouldn’t have gotten involved with a drug lord to help keep her and Steven afloat, and Kitty wouldn’t have gotten involved with him either, to help Lindsay, which ultimately led to her death. In the present, even when Diane still believes that Steven killed Lindsay for insurance money, she's remorseful for her suing him, believing that she was indirectly responsible for her best friend getting murdered.
- With Friends Like These...: Lindsay had some pretty fickle friends.
- She and Steven fell on hard times when their friend and neighbor, Diane, sued him for her husband dying during an operation that Steven was conducting, despite both insisting it was an unfortunate accident. Though Diane does come to regret it after Lindsay's death.
- Zig-zagged with Kitty. When Lindsey refused to sleep with the mob leader to fulfill a staged robbery deal to get insurance, Kitty did the deed. However, she did it without asking or even telling Lindsey until the worst possible moment—when they arrived to stage the robbery. When a naturally frantic Lindsey panicked and tried to send them away, she inadvertently brushed off Kitty's act of sacrifice. Hurt, Kitty shot Lindsey in a blind rage.
