Wild Cards – Season 1 Episode 8 “Eternal Sunshine of the Therapized Mind” Recap & Review

Eternal Sunshine of the Therapized Mind

Episode 8 of Wild Cards begins with the revelation that Dr Sophie Fernwood is dead. Although Max and Ellis are looking for a break from each other, they are assigned the case by Li. Fernwood was a renowned therapist with multiple bestselling books. She is found in the pool of her $5 million house with another 500k worth of cash floating around. However, she did not drown. Fernwood died before she was pushed into the water. While at her estate, Max and Ellis run into Daphne, her business manager.

On the night of the murder, Daphne was on a flight and did not come back till the wee hours of the morning. The reason she came to the house was to find Sophie’s laptop. The doctor had been working on her latest book, “Dream Interpretations,” for the past few months. This new work promised to be even more successful than the first two. The laptop contains the unpublished manuscript, which is already worth millions. 

Max steals a copy of “The Lighthouse Inside” from Sophie’s house in the hopes that it might help their investigation. The duo are invited to Sophie’s funeral where they pretend to be a couple. Well, Max does, and Ellis has no option but to follow suit. However, the funeral is dominated by the sensational confession of the murder by Wendell Collins, a famous news anchor. When he is brought to the station, Wendell keeps repeating his confession…and nothing else.

It raises suspicions but the police need more to indict him. Max and Ellis meet with Jane, Wendell’s producer, at the news station. She explains that on the night of the murder, they had dinner together. Afterwards, they went their own way. Wendell went for drinks at a pub in the complete opposite direction of Sophie’s house. But why would he make a fake confession? And what is up with his strange repeating? Jane explains that Wendell developed a fear of public speaking. 

Due to this, he suffered from anxiety and saw Sophie to try and overcome it. When Max sees a quote on Wendell’s dressing mirror, which Jane explains as his “personal mantra,” she immediately cuts short the interview. Ellis is confused but Max reveals that she read it in the book she stole. Sophie fictionalized the names of the patients she saw in real life but used their actual accounts. Some more reading reveals that the doctor used hypnosis in Wendell’s treatment. That explains his confession and strange repeating of the phrase.

When he regains his senses, Wendell vehemently denies the murder allegation. Even though he was hypnotized, he has no memory of how it happened. So, Max and Ellis head for the Fernwood Wellness Center next, posing as a couple going through tough times. They need to find out which other therapist at the centre knows and uses hypnosis in their treatments. Although they are only pretending for the sake of the case, Max and Ellis genuinely open up about their personal struggles.

Ellis mentions how his father would praise Daniel for his natural personality but would only recognize Ellis if he would achieve something. He is the reason Ellis became a detective and still measures his self-worth through his work. Max realizes that her tendency to mistrust people might be due to the lack of family and friends outside of Ellis. The duo quickly moves back to solving the case. New evidence emerges that gives Daphne a strong motive to kill Sophie.

She was recently fired from the job as Sophie did not believe that Daphne could lead her to the next phase of her career. Daphne felt betrayed by this decision as she had been with Sophie since her career began. Daphne kept looking for the manuscript in order to publish it and get her cut before she was off the payroll.

During a discussion with Yates and Simmons, Max brings up something she saw on Joan’s table. It was a book about dreams. Since she and Sophie were best friends from college, it is highly possible that Joan assisted with the books.

Max alleges that Sophie’s fame and Joan’s lack thereof could be a potential motive. Ellis tries to write it off but eventually agrees to look into it. Some more digging reveals that Sophie made several payments to Joan right after the release of her books, confirming that Joan was the ghostwriter. But she got paid only a minuscule amount of what Sophie earned. Joan had access to all of Sophie’s patient interviews and knew about Wendell’s condition. 

When Max uses the phrase “Just speak your truth”, which Joan also said to him at the funeral, he goes back into hypnosis, confirming Max’s theory. They confront Joan at the wellness centre, prompting her to run upstairs. Joan threatens to jump off and commit suicide but the duo tries to talk her out of it. Joan confesses to the murder but pleads that she had no intention. Max encourages her to keep writing from prison, which could still mean she has a life after it. Joan is convinced that things could work out.

After the case is wrapped up, Simmons enquires if therapy helped Ellis. His response is lukewarm, prompting Simmons to open up about his own therapy sessions after Daniel died. He encourages Ellis to take them more seriously and work through his unresolved issues. 

The Episode Review

Episode 8 was shaping up to be quite intriguing when it looked like Max and Ellis would have to solve the case using the clues in the book. But I had to pinch myself as a reminder that Wild Cards is cable network after all. The plotline in the episode is weak and unconvincing, although the premise itself is interesting. If Wendell, under hypnosis, would repeat just a single phrase all the while, wouldn’t it be apparent that there is something wrong with him?

Even hearing it a couple of times could easily indicate that the confession is false. The crucial scenes with Joan in the end are flat as well. The ease with which she changes her mind and decides not to jump is everything I hate about these format shows.

There were some bright moments though, like the clever use of the therapy setting to further peel the layers back around Max and Ellis’ childhoods. The growing camaraderie between the leading pairs of detectives advances appreciation of the individual. Episode 8 is lukewarm in comparison to last week’s episode but we’ll take it.