Girls, let me tell you, back in July, the 21st, to be exact, Miss Charlotte Bayes, whose story is chronicled in the "Cold Case" episode titled above, was named Bitch Of The Week, after having had my eye on her for years. The timing just seemed right.
Last night, Channel 9 ran this benchmark episode of "Cold Case." I am not going to repeat the story; for that you may reference the posting I did on July 21st of this year.
I will just say that "Churchgoing People" tells the story of the Bayes family, who are desperately pretending to be what they are not, because they are hiding from what they really are--a family unit held in terrified thrall by a mother who is an alcohol fueled, Borderline Personality Disordered bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!
What was fascinating about it, this time around, were the stories surrounding what is actually shown. For example, it is clear to me that Judy Enright, the church chorister with whom Mitch Bayes was having an affair, knew about his situation, and knew the truth about Charlotte. I can even imagine her urging Mitch to do something, if for the sake of the children, but, just as we see Mitch breaking off with Judy, because he cannot allow Tina, who now knows, to be ashamed of him, one can see Mitch refusing to break with Charlotte for similar reasons.
Charlotte, once again, is played by Isabella Hoffman, in a bravura performance that should have netted her an Emmy, but nevertheless remains one of her most memorable portrayals. Aberrant personalities being my avocation, and freely acknowledging my lack of a field degree, I can safely give an assessment of Charlotte's back story.
Charlotte was an abused child herself. She grew up in comfortable surroundings, was attractive enough, but very likely possessed repressive parents who withheld their love. Which accounts for her in the present day having to be the Center of Attention. While alcohol fuels Charlotte's rage, it is clearly there from the get go. We hear it in the opening scene, at the dinner table, in the officious way she addresses her husband as "Mitchell" and in her dictum, "And tomorrow...no one misses Church!" Likewise, when Officer Sherman comes to tell Charlotte of Mitch's death, and she puts on the Grieving Widow act, when he insists one time too many that Mitch was consorting with prostitutes, you can hear Charlotte has just about had enough, when she insists for the third time that he did NOT. One more time, and she clearly would have snapped.
So she is always a time bomb, waiting to explode. Alcohol is just the fuse that lights her. The terror for her family is that these spells can come upon her anytime, for whatever reason, so they are never safe. Mitch takes the physical brunt of things, to keep it from turning upon the children, who, nevertheless, are verbally browbeaten, to the point of being cowed. Not to mention, Charlotte views daughter Tina as competition, and fosters a quasi incestuous relationship with her son, Ryan, which Mitch can clearly recognize, but is powerless to do anything about.
You have to wonder about Mitch, and his situation. A decent guy, he very likely met Charlotte in college, or at Drexel Insurance, where he worked. Both, on the surface, seemed pretty mundane, and, under good behavior, Charlotte can make a fine impression. She is good at deception; she has had to be, her whole life.
This is one of the few episodes where I wanted to see not only a follow-up, but what went before. That is, how Mitch and Charlotte met, married, and how the marriage dissolved into what is seen in "Churchgoing People." As for the follow-up, I would like to see Charlotte locked in an institution, where she belongs, and how Tina and Ryan will put their lives back together--and these kids are gonna need therapy, let me tell you!!!! Hell, they should have had it before!!!!!! You have to wonder; Ryan is so emotionally shut down, he runs the danger of marrying a woman just like his father did. Tina, who we know has been hospitalized for depression, and is a smoker, is obviously developing habits to sweep away feelings, and runs the danger of marrying or becoming involved with a male counterpart of her mother, or, worse, becoming just like her!!!!!!!!!! The genes of both parents flow in these children, and it worries me.
The Bayes family were brilliantly portrayed by Miss Hoffman, John Walcutt (Mitch, Jimmi Simpson (Ryan) and Daisy McCracken (Tina). To tell the back story and follow up, you would need these brilliant actors.
Poor Mitch. One wonders how much those living near the Bayes heard. Or if the police were called on Charlotte, how it was glossed over. The issue of women abused by husbands is bad enough; when it is the other way around, it is even more difficult, due to the macho stigma still held that a man should be able to "control" his wife. Try living with someone like Charlotte, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Historically speaking, this was only the fourth episode in the series, and the first one in which the perpetrator was female. Yet, even by the time "Cold Case" ended, Charlotte Bayes was, and evermore remains, this show's Most Hated Female Perp!!!!!!!!!
This episode is unforgettable. If you think you've got it bad, girls, think of Ryan and Tina!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone should have given it to that Charlotte long ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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