Based on a True Story – Season 2 Episode 1 Recap & Review

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Based on a True Story Season 2, episode 1 starts with Ava and Nathan struggling with parenting. In particular. Ava is stressed because she doesn’t have enough breast milk and has tried everything. She hires an expert, but when she asks about Ava’s birth story, we realise it was anything but calm. Three months ago, Simon walked in on them, cleaning blood up. Ava had to pretend she was in labour to get him to leave. It turns out she was indeed in labour, and they had to call Matt to deal with the body.

After the expert leaves, the couple fights over whether Av should start using the formula. Nathan thinks it will help, but Ava is against it. Nathan leaves to coach Jaden but gets offended when his mom asks him to stop parking his car on the front. At home, Ava listens to the Boobie Bev trying to find breastfeeding tips. Later, Nathan returns home, and they revisit the formula discussion. Ava admits she is scared to turn out like her selfish mom, and Nathan tries to assure her.

As they talk, Nathan gets a text from Matt. Upon looking at it, Ava realises that her sister. Tory is not in law school but in Mexico with Matt. She panics and sends Nathan to fetch her sister. Before leaving, Nathan suggests that Ava tries to reconnect with her friends as part of their cover. Ava follows his advice but ends up regretting it. On her way home, she starts having hallucinations, talking to Ruby’s ghost. According to Ruby’s ghost, Ava is feeling too guilty to produce breast milk.

In Mexico, Nathan finds Matt in a luxurious treatment centre and the latter claims he has changed. He is healed from his disease. Matt finds Tory, and she defends Matt, saying he has changed and is doing his best not to kill anyone. She questions if Nathan and Ava can say the same. After all, they tried to use Matt’s ‘disease’ for personal gain. Nathan begs her to reconsider going back and starting law school. He then joins Matt in one of the bonding sessions and finds his inner alpha. This brings him and Matt closer. Matt assures Nathan that he loves Tory and will no longer kill anyone. He promises not to stand between Tory and her future.

Back at home, Ava continues to have guilty hallucinations and decides to make amends with Simon. Simon is currently out on bail but is under house arrest. She visits him, and as they talk, Ava gets a message from Nathan. It turns out that Matt didn’t kill Ruby. Simon killed her in a moment of anger, and Matt secretly watched the whole thing. While Simon went on a drive to figure out his next step, Matt stole Ruby’s body. Nathan refers to the whole thing as a Shawshank. Simon realises that Ava is on to him and confesses. She intentionally throws breast milk on his ankle monitor to set it off and get a chance to run.

After bonding with Matt and talking to Tory, Nathan returns home. The following morning, Ava wakes up in a great mood after getting a good night’s sleep and showering. She is also excited that Tory is on her way home and thinks she is coming back to go to law school. However, Tory returns home with Matt in tow and informs everyone they are engaged.

The Episode Review

It looks like parenting has not been an easy task for Ava and Nathan. However, their true concern is Tory, who has fallen for Matt. In hindsight, Ava and Nathan brought this upon themselves. On the bright side, Matt claims he is a new man. He is cured of his ‘illness’, but that remains to be seen. His engagement to Tory starts this season off with higher stakes, but let us see if Matt is done killing women.

By the end of the episode, Ava is slowly coming back to herself. Being a new mom can be draining and terrifying.  This plus the pressure to hide what they did to Ruby was probably getting to her. Now that she knows Simon is guilty, she feels less inclined to feel sorry for him. However, she still has a lot to feel guilty about. On the other hand, Nathan wants to try his best to be a good dad. I think the first step to that is not introducing your three-month-old kid to a serial killer. This will be a fun season, let us dig in!