'Defending Jacob' Episode 3: Has Laurie already accepted the possibility of her son Jacob being a murderer?
Spoilers for 'Defending Jacob' Episode 3 'Poker Face'
With the Barbers put in a state of turmoil after the previous episode saw their son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell) accused of a murder, 'Poker Face' deals with the aftermath of the incident as they start gearing up to a life that's a far cry from the picturesque happy family they were.
'Poker face', in addition to prepping the Barbers for trial also focuses on Laurie (Michelle Dockery) as he finds out the truth about Andy's (Chris Evans) father who was in prison for murder.
It was revealed that he killed a girl who was studying in college, and incidentally, she was found stabbed to death, the same case as Ben Rifkin, who was found with three stab wounds to his chest.
While Andy carries this secret for 17 years, the first signs of Laurie cracking under pressure are seen when they meet with Joanna discussing the trial.
That she opens up about the secret in the meeting was a classic case of fear and tension. Supplementing this theory was the fact she googled about the murder gene thinking if Jacob had inherited it from his grandfather.
It can be argued if this is just delving into the topic too much or if it was Laurie secretly thinking if her son had indeed committed the murder. Adding to this is the horrific and grotesquely written message on the wall on the side of the house— "Murderer Rot in Hell."
By now it is established that Laurie is a lot more sensitive to the situation. In one of the sessions with a psychotherapist assigned on the case, she manages to tie back some of Jacob's violent tendencies when he was four.
This is something that strongly hints at her believing Jacob may have probably done it, even though she denies it on the outside. "I know what he is capable of, and what he isn't. A mother knows her child," she explains. The final minutes of the episode sees her scrub off the message off the wall completely.
This leads to the one question: Has Laurie already caved in to pressure or is this a normal human tendency wherein she has a hard time comprehending the events that have unfolded in the last couple of days.
There are possibilities of both as it shows a mother torn between accepting or forcefully trying to reject the theory of her son actually being a murderer. For now, there is nothing that suggests Jacob may have done it, but there isn't anything to say he hasn't either.
'Defending Jacob' Episodes 1,2 and 3 are available for streaming on Apple TV+.