Twisted -- Homecoming
Why did he do it?
Original Airing: June 11, 2013
Lacey and Jo are swinging on the swings when their friend Danny comes towards them dragging his jump rope with him. He declares that he had to do it and didn't have a choice. Apparently, what he had to do was strangle his Aunt Tara with his jump rope but he won't tell anyone just why he did it.
Five years later he's released from juvenile detention and he's coming home. Only no one is rolling out the welcome mat for him. And his former friends, are no friends of his. Jo wants to tell him off, while Lacy gives an interview calling him a socio who shouldn't be allowed back in town.
Turns out Jo and Lacy aren't friends anymore, either. Lacy is part of the mean girl tribe as school. The head of the clique is Regina. Lacy and her buddies Regina and Sarita trash Jo's looks. After their gone, Lacy goes up to Jo and acts nice. She even invites Jo to Regina's party. jo blows off her offer of friendship.
All the kids stand around and stare at Danny as he enters. He goes up to Jo and Lacy and says, "Boo," to them but they don't respond. Danny tries to talk to Jo later, and she blames him for ruining her childhood and causing her to develop PTSD. He says he can never reveal why he killed his aunt, when she asks if he has a reason. In class, Jo asks the signs that someone is a sociopath, obviously aiming it at Danny.
Regina takes a shine to Danny and invites him to come to her party. He notices that the necklace she's wearing belonged to his aunt. So just how did Regina get it? She claims it was a gift when he asks where she got it.
Danny gets Jo to go to Regina's party with him after they have an encounter at the local diner. Danny tells Jo it wasn't his idea to come back to town. He says he thought Jo would be the one person to give him half a chance. She follows him after he leaves. She tells him not to come up to her at school or the diner and he says he'll leave her alone.
Once they get to the party, Danny tells Jo she can ditch him now. Regina accuses Jo of wanting Danny, and Jo tells Regina that Danny is all hers. Regina gets Jo to drink a drink. Sarita then eggs on a guy to take off his shirt and tries to pressure Jo to eat something off his bare chest. Danny saves Jo from the situation. He whispers something in the guy's ear that's bothering Jo that scares him spitless. Then he takes Jo out of the party.
Lacy goes after them and gives them a ride. Jo's father isn't thrilled when Danny brings a drunk Jo home. Danny gets Lacy to come back to his place and she falls asleep. After she does, Danny gets a text from Regina asking him to come over. When he turns her down, she texts back that she knows why he killed his aunt and he'd better come over now.
The next morning Lacy wakes up on the floor of Danny's bedroom and he's asleep in the bed. She sneaks out. Meanwhile a maid finds Regina laying dead on the floor. The necklace she was wearing is missing from around her throat. Did Danny go there as she demanded and did he take another life?
Jo's father Kyle seems to think so, as the Chief of Police brings him in for questioning. Danny lies he's never seen the necklace before when Kyle asks if he's ever seen it before. Kyle says the necklace is missing and Regina would never take it off.
When everyone at the school assembly to talk of Regina's death are accusing Danny of doing the crime, Jo stands up and defends him. She later regrets it when Danny reveals the text he got from Regina. He claims he didn't go and see Regina and went to sleep. However, when he's alone in his room he examines the necklace he had to have taken off of Regina. So it seems he didn't go to sleep like he claimed and went over to see Regina.
Did he kill someone else because they knew the truth about why he murdered his aunt. Or did someone else want her dead because she knew the truth?
Danny's mother also has a secret. When he accuses her of making them come back to town because she wanted to be the social butterfly of town, again, she reveals she tried to sell their house, but no one will buy it. She says they have enough money, but it's obvious she made them come back to town because she didn't have a choice.
Danny didn't like his Aunt Tara as a child, but just why didn't he? Just what did she do to him? Could she have been molesting him? Other than that I can't think of any reason he'd be driven to kill his aunt. Yet he claimed to Jo that he was protecting her by not telling her the truth. So just what is the truth?
Danny seems to be more interested in mean girl Lacy than Jo. Yet even though she was crappy to him at first, Jo actually defended him to the whole school. Hopefully, he'll get a clue and want the one that's loyal and actually trying to give him a chance, over the one who only cares about what everyone thinks about her.
The show has an interesting premise. Instead of teen that's been murdered, you have a teen that killed someone and won't tell anyone why he did it. It makes a good pairing with Pretty Little Liars. Considering the shape Pretty Little Liars is in this show was actually better.
One final thought to contemplate is was the death of Danny's father really just an accident? Or could that have also been murder, as well?
