Fridge / The Bad Seed (1956)

Fridge Logic

• The film's IMDb page points out that the much-contested penmanship award is - in the book - actually for the most IMPROVED penmanship in the class. And since Rhoda's handwriting had always been excellent throughout the entirety of the school year, there was little room for improvement, unlike winner Claude Daigle's handwriting. Thereby meaning that Rhoda was angry and driven to murder over an award that she never should have even won in the first place, providing further insight into the depths of Rhoda's deranged thinking.
• Given that so many people know Rhoda was bullying Claude Daigle near the pier shortly before his death, it's surprising she is never questioned by the police.
  • Who would ever suspect such an angelic little girl of being connected to such a horrible event?
    • In the novel, in fact, it's assumed that Rhoda witnessed Claude's death (or at least saw the body) and that she's either in shock/denial or that she's so young and innocent that she doesn't fully understand what death is. The adults around her treat her like a sympathetic secondary victim of the tragedy, and Christine originally encourages her daughter not to dwell on it. That's how above suspicion Rhoda is.