Alternative Character Interpretation: Did Emma write the message on Anna's car due to genuinely liking her and wanting to scare her away so she wouldn't have to kill her? Or was it just Pragmatic Villainy so that Anna wouldn't find out that she's the killer?
Complete Monster: Emma Coleman, Neil's sweet little daughter, is secretly a bloodthirsty Serial Killer. A vicious sociopath since she was born, Emma murdered her pregnant mother and her unborn sibling to remain an only child and subsequently murdered her teacher. In the present, Emma stabbed her father's girlfriend Lisa in the throat for refusing to buy her candy and tries to frame her neighbor Anna Whitaker for the murder using one of her stolen palette knives. Emma ultimately murders her own father and attempts to kill the handyman Buell before trying to murder Anna as well, planning to pin everything on her.
Anna's daughter being murdered is tragic, the fact that she was murdered because her parents thought it was a good idea for her to go with her father while he interviewed an imprisoned cannibal then left her alone in a locked cell with said cannibal is so ridiculous it's funny.
In the penultimate episode, Anna learns that Buell was a convicted murderer who killed his entire family with a claw hammer, which her husband neglected to tell her so that he could hire him to fix their mailbow.
Genius Bonus: Anyone who has read books such as "The Woman in the Window" will catch roughly 80% of the jokes (often in the form of Visual Pun humor or Freeze-Frame Bonus), while the rest of the audience will catch about 20%.
Anna. She's an abrasive drunkard who lounges around her home staring at her neighbours. But with how she's clearly mourning her daughter's death and gotten herself hooked on drugs and alcohol and the way everyone but her husband, Sloane and Buell treat her, you can't help but to want to hug the poor lady and book her into AA.
Surprisingly, Neil turns out to be this, too. He lost his beloved wife, was almost arrested for it and he was then seduced by a Gold Digger. Anna spends the rest of the season thinking that he was her killer and harasses him. Finally, his own daughter turns out to be a sociopathic monster and kills him.
Les Yay: Sloane's closeness and loyalty to Anna is occasionally interpreted as this.
For specifics, Douglas being revealed to be Anna's therapist is ridiculous and likely a horrible conflict of interest, but his conversation with her is genuinely heartwarming.
The reveal that Emma is the killer. Her corny Motive Rant and fight with Anna is somehow both chilling and hilarious.
One-Scene Wonder: In the last episode, Glenn Close, no stranger to Suburban Gothic thrillers herself, plays a mysterious woman who sits down next to Anna, utters a single word "Business", and then dies shortly thereafter. And she's arguably one of the most memorable parts of the show.
Spoiled by the Format: It's close to "The Woman in the Window" and so readers may be able to spot that the child of Anna's obsession is the killer.
Tear Jerker: Anna breaking down after coming from after her arrest, having gotten rid of her wine and pills and then discovering blood in her basement.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Invoked due to the nature of the show as a parody for both how much Anna beats herself up for her own failings that led to Elizabeth's death and how Easily Forgiven Douglas is by contrast. The series tries to make viewers believe that Anna' daughter's death was nobody's fault besides the killer Massacre Mike's. This is despite Douglas, against all logic and reason, taking her into a holding cell and leaving her there when someone came to speak with him, leaving her an arm's reach from a dangerous serial killer. His exoneration for his daughter's death is entirely unearned.
