Love & Death ― Episode 7 “Ssssshh” Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Ssssshh

The season finale of Love & Death starts where we left off with Candy being called in for interrogation on the same day. Don asks Candy to be as vulnerable as possible during the hearing. She takes the stand, where Don starts interrogating Candy about the day of the murder and the incidents that followed thereafter.

Don asks Candy if she had gotten in any physical altercations before the incident and Candy denies it. He the asks Candy to recount the incident and she does so, detailing the entirety of her affair with Allan and how Betty had attacked her all of a sudden. She adds that Betty had hit her on the head and struck the axe on her leg with a lot of force.

Candy starts to break down a little during the questioning, going on to say that when she was certain that Betty wanted to kill her, she grabbed the axe from Betty’s hand and attacked her once. She also adds that Betty had asked her to shush when she said, “Ssssshh” trying to stop her which eventually caused her to strike Betty on the head multiple times.

In court, Betty’s father breaks down upon hearing the details of the attack. Candy claims she was afraid that Betty would come back to harm her so she kept hitting her. She apparently never planned to kill Betty but it all just happened. She then took a shower and get the blood off her, in order to make it all go away.

Don brings the axe in front of Candy and she breaks down in court. Judge Tom is worried about Candy’s reaction as well but the prosecution cross-examines Candy about the incident and claims that Candy is a liar. He asks Candy about a piece of evidence – the lens to Candy’s sunglasses that was found in the Gore family garage.

The prosecutor claims that Candy had gone to the garage herself to retrieve the axe but Candy claims that the lens may have gotten in the garage during the physical altercation between Betty and herself. The questioning takes a turn when Candy’s statement falters. Don tries his best to object but Judge Tom over-rules all of his objections.

At the end of the hearing, Don loses his mind over the case and claims that the media is against Candy. Robert argues that Candy has struck a chord with the jury, who were the decision-makers in this case. Don asks if Dr Fred Fason, Candy’s psychiatrist, could make a visit and be their next witness.

That night, Candy has a nightmare where she sees her mother asking her to defend herself. She wakes up with a jolt, scaring Pat. Don shows up at the Montgomery house that night asking why their phones had been turned off. Pat explains that they had been getting prank calls but then learns that Don wanted Pat to go next on the stand.

The next hearing goes with Pat being examined in court where he claims that he was to be blamed for Candy’s relationship with Allan. He states that since he was emotionally unavailable, Candy had to seek that from someone else. Pat was grateful that Candy came out alive from the altercation and not the other way around, trying to paint a very good picture of Candy.

The prosecution see right through this though and claim that Candy is a manipulative person and a liar.

The last witness to take the stand is Dr Fason who details how Candy had underlying mental health issues. Candy was blocking out the murder because of what happened to her as a child. After suffering from an accident, Candy hit her head and was rushed to the hospital. On the way there, Candy’s mother stopped her from crying by asking her to ‘Ssssshh’ similar to what Betty had done during the attack.

Dr Fason believes Betty triggered childhood trauma in Candy that led to her being angry and infuriated. He adds that Candy had broken down in his office after a lot of coaxing, alleging that she was very used to putting up a brave face in front of people. Candy has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) but Judge Tom believes this description sounds like that of a mentally ill patient.

Don has another argument with Judge Tom during the hearing causing him to lose his temper. Judge Tom charges Don with an effective immediately 72-hour jail sentence with another $100 fine. Don continues the interrogation by asking Dr Fason more about people with DID and the psychiatrist claims that it was common for people with dissociative personalities to worry about what people thought about them.

Don asks if he thinks that Candy knowingly killed Betty and the psychiatrist claims that it was highly unlikely for Candy to have done so. The prosecution cross examines Dr Fason but fails to do any serious damage to the case.

During the hearing break, Candy asks Don why he showed her the axe during the testimony and he claims that the public and the jury needed to see that she was a human.

The last set of witnesses is fellow churchgoers who talk about Betty. Pastor Ron was one of the people who spoke badly about Betty. The hearing ends with Don being arrested in contempt of court. He is taken out of prison after Robert filed an emergency bail for him. Don’s wife is unhappy that he painted Betty in such bad light to save Candy.

That night, Allan goes over the news with one of his neighbours. The woman tries to empathise with Allan and claims that she was there for him when she kisses him and Allan reciprocates.

The next morning, Don and the prosecution finish off the case with their closing arguments. Both lawyers do their best to protect their clients and the prosecution paints a negative picture of Candy while Don tries his best to show Candy as a vulnerable person.

The jury goes in for deliberation while Pat and Candy have a meal at their house. Candy claims that she cannot wait for it to be over when she is found innocent. Pat states that it will never be over for them and that the jury will not find her innocent, but not guilty either.

If Candy is found not guilty, they will have to leave Wylie and move somewhere else. Candy states that she’s lucky to have Pat because he had her back throughout everything.

How does Love & Death end?

The group gets a call stating that the jury have ended their deliberation and ready with a verdict. Don rushes to the courtroom and Judge Tom announces that the jury had deliberated that Candy was not guilty of brutally murdering Betty. Don is relieved and the case comes to an end, with Candy breaking down in court. Allan is void of any emotion and looks at Candy from afar.

Candy leaves the courtroom amid the chaos, and eight days after the hearing, she and her family bid Wylie farewell. Sherry comes to see Candy one last time before Candy and the Montgomery family move to Georgia. Candy also meets Allan before leaving and apologises for what happened to Betty as the episode comes to an end.

What happens to Candy after the trial?

The final credits of the show state that Candy and Pat have separated after moving to Georgia. Allan Gore married a woman from the same church shortly after Betty’s death. Allan divorced the woman and then remarried a third time after which he lived in Maine till the present time. Don had run for Governor of Texas a few years after the trial and eventually shot himself in 1998. 

Betty’s autopsy  concluded that she was not pregnant during the murder, and her children, were adopted by her parents after Allan remarried. Candy works as a therapist in Georgia alongside her daughter Jenny.

The Episode Review

If you thought the last episode was brutal, this one was really terrible. The gory murder scene was brutal and not meant for the faint-hearted.

I am really disappointed in how the makers showed Allan in this episode and I am appalled by his ability to move on this easily. Allan was so void of emotion that he alienated himself from Betty and eventually moved on with his life, giving up his children and showing why Betty was so paranoid after all.

Knowing that Candy was going to come out with a not-guilty verdict did not make the end of this episode any less shocking. As a viewer, I did not sympathise with Candy but it goes without saying that Elisabeth Olsen does a very impressive job at portraying Candace Montgomery, the axe murderer.