'Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story' Episode 4 Review: A psychologist explains the brunt of Betty's breakdown
Spoiler for 'Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story'
While Episode 3 saw the beginning of the end of the Broderick marriage, this episode sees the entire journey of Dan Broderick's (Christian Slater) infidelity and how he set up his wife, Betty Broderick (Amanda Peet), for a life where she could only depend on him. The aspect of mental health was brought to the forefront as the gaslighting Betty was subjected to by Dan was appalling. The episode was a well-constructed one with scenes from the murder trial showing a psychologist breakdown of Betty's experience, while we're shown those events in flashbacks. We understand now, where the hate began to foster and where the prospect of infidelity became a game for two.
The beginning of the episode sees the tender Linda Kolkena (Rachel Keller), Dan's new paralegal with zero prior experience. While no one was surprised that Dan initiated the hookup, we're shown how the duo went from daily "good morning" to private day trips. Betty was already suspicious at this point, but Dan always said he most certainly was not cheating. It was October 1983 when Linda and Dan kissed, and one month in, in November 1983, Betty admits to her friends that she thinks Dan is "banging his assistant." While she's weirded out that Dan is coming home early and paying her a tad bit more attention, Betty couldn't shake the feeling that her husband was cheating, especially, when she saw Dan and Linda interact.
Things take a salty turn when Betty visits Dan's workplace to surprise him for his birthday only to find him having gone "all afternoon." After she had found the wine and a small birthday party set up in his office, we finally see Betty's raw rage. The psychologist says, "She is getting information that the infidel is telling the victim is not true. She is very torn, during this time the behavior of the infidel makes the victim feel crazy and the infidel tells her that there is nothing wrong, she's crazy to be thinking that." While her suspicions in that situation ended up with her burning his things, Dan got himself out of the situation by gaslighting Betty and making her apologize for her actions. "I can't prove that I'm not doing something that you seem to want me to be doing? If I can't prove it, then what happens to us?" he yelled at her.
"Gaslighting - It' s named after a famous motion picture in which a man who wants something from a woman and pretends to be her friend and marries her but in fact is her enemy," said the psychologist further revealing that when the infidel may be kind to his victim, Dan was is " in every moment undermining her [Betty's] sanity." Two months into his affair, in December 1983 we see Linda walking around with no chip on her shoulder bragging about her trips with Dan. "Everything is called into question, the victim's self-esteem, their ability to trust themselves," said the psychologist as we're shown Dan and Betty buy a new home together. Nine months into the affair in July 1984, Dan had even convinced Betty to consider reversing her tubal ligation and you see Betty desperation as she tells her friend, while that was against doctor's advice, she wanted Dan to know that she would have done it, had he wanted her to.
"The more the lying and cheating, the more pressure the victim is under," said the psychologist. Eleven months into his affair Dan admits the affair to his assistant who told him that Linda was speaking about their dates. "I have been miserable for years and I am doing this the way I want to do it. It's not your business," he says with no shame and no reason to hide his affair. In December 1984, Linda expressed how she isn't able to introduce a married man to her father and from then on Dan focused on his divorce with Betty. The psychologist had explained that the infidel should have remorse for any positive change to occur but Betty didn't get anything from Dan. She had not got the resolution of the truth so the healing could begin.
On February 28, 1985, Dan leaves the family home, saying he wants to be alone to think, even after Betty asked, "You're going to be with her?" His ignorance of her feelings is jarring as we see the utter lack of respect he has for her in this situation. Betty, still in denial of the possibility of divorce, tells her friends that Dan had not mentioned divorce or separation. Eighteen months into the affair, Dan and Betty had bought a new home that Dan didn't want to move into. He had stayed back in the old home. He refused to go on family trips or help his family when they were stuck in a rat-infested home. Betty's retaliation of leaving her kids in front of Dan's home because he was having "too much fun lately," and "he needed to be reminded there's more to it than fun," got her into trouble. While she stands up to Dan again and tells him, "I'm not going to make your life easier for you." Dan simply tells her he's sought "emergency judgment" and that the couple's kids will now live with him. On Septemeber 1985, 23 months into the affair, Betty is served papers at home with 30 days to respond.
"Their life has become a mockery, they barely exist," says the psychologist as we see Betty visit Dan's home to see the kids on Wednesdays and ends up smearing Boston Creme Pie all over Dan's clothes and the bed because Linda had made "his favorite". In October 1985, two years after this ordeal started for Betty, she is not only given a court order to stay away from Dan's home but she finally gets the truth. "You were right the whole time," Dan tells her as we see Betty's spirit break.
Throughout the episode you saw Dan preparing to make sure Betty got nothing in the divorce and how he would always be well off. His character development had a huge confidence boost as he doesn't only have his MD and JD degree to help him but also friends in high places. His training and months of thinking about how to go about the divorce are so manipulative, you wonder how this was real. The episode's use of a psychologist made this an interesting watch as we're taken through the core steps of Betty's mental breakdown. We were shown how pieces of her identity were slowly chipped away as Dan entertained a divorce while being "kind" to her. The end of the episode saw her receive the truth she knew all along, invoking empathy from viewers who have seen the couple's entire journey since Day 1.
So far, this episode looks to be the most gripping one as we're shown the 'reason' behind why Dan filed for divorce. We were shown the stepping stones that Betty had used to develop a vengeance strong enough to murder Dan and Linda. From the acting and dialogues to the actors and their portrayal of a true-crime story, this episode was excellent. There is no shuffling between more than two timelines, rather a smooth journey from the start of Dan's infidelity to the end where he boasted about his infidelity to his broken wife.
It's a sad episode, which we knew since the first three have been quite emotionally draining to watch, but it's worth the 45 minutes, trust us.
'Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story' airs on Tuesdays at 10 pm ET on USA Network.