As the second episode, Happy Wife, Happy Life, of Candy begins, kids throw eggs at the Gore house two years before Betty’s death. When Betty (Melanie Lynskey) comes out, the kids ride away on their bikes. At the school, Betty supervises the kids in detention. One girl tries to stand up to defend herself, but Betty slams her hand on the desk and refuses to hear her. The principal, Mr. Albert (Robert Mello), asks her about giving her entire class detention. Betty insists one of them had to be behind it. He reminds her this isn’t the first time she has done something like this. Betty explains the kids are a part of the community and the actions of one impact everyone. She packs her stuff and leaves the school a short time later. At home, Betty cooks Allan’s favorite meal so he suspects it is a special occasion.
As Allan (Pablo Schreiber) begins eating, Betty reveals she wants to foster another child now that she isn’t working and has so much extra time. She believes Christina (Antonella Rose) loves it when they bring other children in. Christina guesses she does. Allan questions whether it is a good idea with the new job making him travel and work more. Betty argues that the family has so much love to give. Allan brings Davey (Hudson Hughes) home and introduces him to the family. Betty says they’re happy to have him and just want him to feel at home here. While Christina shows David to his new room, Betty tells her husband that the boy is perfect. We jump ahead two years as Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel) tries to wash the blood from her body.
Later, Candy sings at the church with Betty, Allan, Pat (Timothy Simons), and others. Candy gives Jackie (Selena Anduze) a romantic book before she learns that Jackie and Bill are getting divorced. Although neither of them cheated, the marriage is just over. Jackie admits she is excited to see what is going to come next. Candy goes home where she listens to David Soul’s Don’t Give Up On Us while looking through old stuff from her relationship with Pat. She goes downstairs and asks Pat if he has spoken to Bill Ponder recently. Candy wonders why they don’t hang out more often. Pat says he feels sick enough going to church on Sundays. While she thinks he could use more friends, Pat says he has her, the kids, and he isn’t 11.
Candy begins kissing him only for Pat to stop her because the show has just started. Outside the church, Candy hangs out with Sherry (Jessie Mueller), Sandra (Sharon Conley), and Linda (Coley Company). Betty interrupts to pitch the idea of starting a children’s choir. She believes Christina and Davey would love it and that they could put together something really special. She is asked whether she wants to make the children louder, but her goal is to teach them to work together. Once she goes inside, Sherry ridicules her by calling her St. Betty of perpetual distress. Candy says she is just trying to do a good thing. Linda believes taking the boy in was good enough.
Sherry argues that Betty is just trying to make them feel like they don’t do enough. Candy isn’t sure they do enough. Don Crowder (Raul Esparza) has to speak to the congregation because Jackie is away taking care of some personal issues. He tells them about the divorce. Don suggests they spend the day doing whatever makes them happy since there won’t be a proper sermon. He begins talking about Grease while the news sets in for the guests. As they leave the church, Candy insists Jackie is fine and it wasn’t hers to tell. Candy claims they grew apart and it just happens, but the others say it doesn’t happen around here. The show jumps ahead one month. Allan leaves the family to go play volleyball.
Candy finds Pat working on a calculator that Becky threw out the window because she wanted to see if it could fly. He offers to get the kids so they can watch her play, but she urges them to stay home because the kids just run around. Once their team wins, Allan talks to Candy about the new shoes he saw a Sears the other day. The women are surprised when Jackie enters with another man. Candy goes over and gets introduced to Chuck (Preston James Hillier). As they play another game, Candy pays close attention to how close Chuck and Jackie are.
Then, Allan tells Betty that he is only going to be gone for a few days. He leaves a short time later. During dinner, Betty gets mad at Davey for feeding the dog. She scolds him when he does it again. Christina says it makes him poop real bad so he can’t have people food. When Betty asks if he’d like to go to bed without supper, David says he doesn’t care. She eventually forces David to go to his room. As for Candy, she plays with herself in the bathtub while reading a book. She stops when Becky (Aven Lotz) bangs on the door to ask about her ballet shoes. Pat knocks on the door to ask about Becky’s skate key. Later that night, Betty calls Allan who admits he can’t just leave. When he tells her he loves her, Betty complains that he whispered it.
Allan says otherwise. He tells her again and promises to be home soon. After the call ends, Allan sets the phone aside to ensure she can’t reach him again. Candy goes skating with Jackie and others. When they sit down, Candy tells Jackie that she has to be having sex, but Jackie denies it. If they’d played the following night, it would’ve been a different story. Candy asks if it was first-time foreplay. Sherry and Candy want to know more. Jackie says it was thoroughly enjoyable before reminding them she hadn’t been with anyone except Bill in 11 years. It was weird, sexy, and then a lot of fun. She goes on to say it was like Christmas seeing a new man undress. Candy wishes Santa would come to her house.
Betty goes inside and tries to get the kids to settle down as she begins tackling chores. She ends up taking a pill. Betty tells the kids that she won’t come out until they settle down. She tries to call Allan, but he leaves his motel room without answering. Betty finally confronts David and tells him to stop it. When Allan gets home, he asks her about threatening to smack him. Betty insists she would never actually hit anyone. It was a crisis situation so she had to do something. Betty asks if he knows where David came from before saying he needs and craves discipline. She insists she’ll make it up to him. Allan tells her that Larry was miffed because she called again. Betty argues Larry should know better than to send a husband and father out on the road.
He says it was only 73 hours. She is surprised that he counted them. Once the kids join them for dinner, Betty mentions that David has a birthday coming up. She thinks they should have a birthday party. Betty gets the invitations from last year so David can hand them out at school. As Jackie packs her belongings, Candy complains that she won’t be able to listen to her sexy stories anymore. She jokes that she’ll spend her time having a wild affair with someone. Jackie says that is a bad idea. Candy wonders why she should get to have all the fun, but Jackie explains that ending her marriage wasn’t fun. Jackie warns her that infidelities are a real messy place to be. Jackie gives her a book before Candy suggests they write a really nasty one together.
Jackie leaves after that. At the Gore house, David throws toys around while Allan reveals that the kids never got the invite. Davey confesses he didn’t give out the invitations because they were for girls. Christina says they can drive around and invite some of the kids still. Betty tells David that his actions have consequences. Allan asks Betty if she followed up with the parents since he is seven. Betty says he is eight and old enough to know that people don’t magically appear at birthday parties. David says he doesn’t like it here and wants to leave. When Betty tries to get him to pick up his mess, he refuses. David says he hates it here and hates Betty before storming out of the room. Betty tells Allan that she isn’t the bad guy and asks who is here to help her.
Betty goes to all their friends’ showers and parties while they stand around and ignore her. When she wanted to take in a child that nobody else wanted, she got nothing. Allan encourages her to get a hold of herself. Betty can’t handle another person in this house who doesn’t want to be here. Candy reads some of Jackie’s book to Pat who says he likes it. Candy seems turned on by it while Pat liked that it rhymed when he didn’t think it would. When Pat goes for a jog, Candy calls Jackie to ask her why she isn’t supposed to have an affair. Jackie tells her she has a wonderful life and doesn’t want to blow it up. Candy says she wouldn’t because it’d only be for a little distraction.
Candy believes she deserves more than what Pat is offering which she calls mouth breathing. Allan watches as David is taken away from the house. Betty asks him what they said. He reveals they said it was fine because it happens a lot. Betty suspects he thinks she is a monster, but he tells her to cut it out. He admits it is difficult to take care of someone when they’re troubled. Betty is surprised that Allan is going to go to volleyball tonight. Christina comes out to ask whether Davey was sad. Allan says they’re going to make sure to find the perfect home for him. Candy puts on makeup before joining the others for volleyball. She seems enamored with Allan. Once the game is over, she walks outside and gets into Allan’s card.
She asks him not to say anything or she’ll never get this out. She says she finds him attractive and would like to have an affair. Candy kisses him and says goodnight before getting out of the car. We jump forward as Don asks Candace what she did then. Before the episode ends, she responds by saying she grabbed the ax.
Candy Review
Although it has only been two episodes, Candy has been a mixed bag with a combination of high and low notes. The story is obviously fascinating given it will be the source material for a television movie and two television shows when all is said and done. The nonlinear storytelling was likely a bad choice as the action is constantly getting bogged down. At a few points in this episode, I genuinely felt bad for Betty Gore, but the emotional connection just isn’t there.
I’d love to know how much research was conducted before the series was created because it feels like they took too many liberties with the truth. The characters have no depth with some of the adults behaving like teenagers. Allan and Pat could be swapped indiscriminately and no one would likely notice because the characters are near carbon copies.
It is hard to believe Candy would be motivated to start an affair thanks to her female pastor’s divorce and new relationship. This is only one small example of some of the silly things happening in a true crime drama based on real-life events. I truly fear that none of the people who inspired this show whether victim, bystander, or suspect will receive justice from their respective portrayals.
The last minute of the episode made me want to watch the next though. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Candy can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.
