‘Three Women’ Recap: ‘twilight’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Gabrielle Creevy as Maggie in Episode Eight of ‘Three Women’ – ‘twilight’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Eight of ‘Three Women’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. This article also contains discussions regarding abuse of a minor and suicide, which may be triggering to some individuals.
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We like to believe that the day we are going to stand up for ourselves, will be a proud day. One where we showcase our agency, our power, so that the person that wronged us understands, they messed with the wrong individual, and well… there’s merit to that belief. Because standing up for ourselves can accomplish that, but it doesn’t always give us pride and make us feel empowered. Especially when we stand up for ourselves regarding a toxic relationship. For standing tall there, exposes a lot of hard truths and involves a bevy of tough emotions, and that tough aspect to claiming agency is top of mind today, because it was put on display in the next episode of Three Women on STARZ.

For ‘twilight’ was all about Maggie, and her day in court. Because the trial against her predator of a teacher was underway and she thought… there would be pride. But instead, it was a harrowing experience that forced her to think even more upon the past. About how her teacher manipulated her often when they were ‘seeing’ each other and kept control over her through sweet nothings and sexual pleasure. And having to face that again, was difficult to say the least. Because hindsight helped her to see what he did to her emotionally, and the pain he imparted upon her because of that, and of what she lost by giving into his claims that he loved her and wanted her.

Because it forced her to keep secrets from her family, her friends, her closest ones even. All to keep the fantasy alive and keep this controlling creep happy and that cost her friendships when the truth came out, and of course… there was nothing left for her when he broke everything off. All of which explored, how standing tall against a toxic ex… makes us feel small. Makes us feel as though we were nothing but a fool, who followed our heart and our loins over logic, and that does elicit shame and fury. Fury over why we couldn’t see the warning signs sooner, or why we let ourselves fall for such nonsense. But that’s what toxic relationships do. They scramble us, and cost us so much, and the impact of that extended beyond reflection.

For she was trying her best to be herself in this story and find joy and be strong. But it wasn’t easy. In fact, at times she was just listless and lost and rightfully so. Because this was a lot to process, and a lot for her family to process as well. For they had some hard truths in front of them, and of course, learning about pain for one’s child… wounds deeply. Makes one believe that they are a bad parent or a failure because they couldn’t protect them from the chaos of the world. Which put Maggie’s dad in a dark, dark place. One from which there was no return and that brought fresh pain in the household and for Maggie… a greater sense of loss. In the direct sense since her father took his own life, but in the indirect sense as well.

Such as a loss of innocence, a loss of youth and a loss of power and agency. All because one man did his best to act out a fantasy and dragged her emotionally to have it, and that made for a powerful tale. One that spoke to the power of toxic relationships, and the fact that standing up for oneself doesn’t always end triumphantly. It can open cans of rotten worms and test one like never before, but we do come out of the other side for the better. It just takes time, and healing, as so many things in this life do, and this episode deserves a round of applause for pointing all of this out and for once again showcasing how much harder this process is for women. Since we don’t believe victims, we grill them… and that outright has to stop. Until next time.

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