Poor Tiffany. She is the supreme example of how one can have it all, but still end up on the skids.
Tiffany started out in affluent Chestnut Hill, a Philadelphia suburb, in the ficitonal land of "Cold Case." Her character is featured in one of the better episodes, "The Sleepover."
At first, Tiffany was the apple of her dad's eye. Not much is known about Tiffany's mother.
When Tiffany was in junior high, enrolled at Chestnut Hill Collegiate, a pricey prep school, Tiffany lost her respect for her dad, when he began having an affair with a community college arts teacher from the wrong side of the tracks, named Kelly Baxter. Her daughter, Rita, though a scholarship student, was very bright, and went to school with Tiffany, and her cohort, Brandi Beaudry.
You see, at that time, Brandi and Tiffany ruled the school. They were the Head Bitches. Ariel Shuman, a student in their class, was desperate to be a part of this "In" group; so much so, she sold out her friendship with Rita.
As I have written previously, based on what happened, I have no sympathy for Ariel at all. I have a degree for Brandi, though she and Tiffany were mean to Rita. Rita had no idea her mother was having an affair with Tiffany's dad, but Tiffany did, so when she told Rita her mom was ugly and a slut, Rita had no idea what she was talking about. And this was what Tiffany struggled with--betrayal by her dad.
She did try to save Rita, by getting her to leave the house with her. But Brandi forbade it. Eventually, Tiffany took to drink to medicate those feelings over her Dad's behavior, and Rita's death, which she had some genuine remorse about. I think Tiffany felt, as she took a last look at Rita, that, in light of what happened, she might have prevented the death. That is possible, but she could not have foreseen what was going to happen. Especially after she tried to tell Ariel to "get over it."
Tiffany' guilt led to her heavy drinking, moving out of Chestnut Hill to the more downscale Mt. Airy (though she says she was "happy to get out of Chestnut Hill") and a series of DUI's that has her wearing a ankle monitor and under house arrest.
When Scotty finds her, she tells the truth "I hated Rita and her slut mother as much as I hated my jackass Dad. I just didn't have it in me to kill her."
It is too bad Tiffany was done in by it all. But she was the only one of the three with any remorse and integrity. Brandi takes care of her brother. But Rita and her tragedy is just a blip on her memory radar.
Poor Tiffany. She will never be Audrey Hepburn, but she can sleep with a clear conscience.
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