Wrong People Will Tell You Who They Are

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” —Maya Angelou

We repeat this quote all over social media and between friends. Well, women do. I don’t know about the fellas. But it’s rare to find someone who actually practices it.

I’m watching The Following, a thriller series that’s from the 2010s. In the first episode, the writers showed their hand in what I thought was a sloppy way. It was obvious that this man was one of the serial killer’s cult members… one of the titular Following. But I wasn’t overly annoyed by it; episodic tv has its own limitations, and sometimes you can’t conceal the fact you’re putting a chair on stage because someone’s gonna sit in it.

But then there are guilt-signalling behaviors that go unnoticed by the audience. Most of it anyway. I’m one of the few who picks up on them. Maybe it’s because ripping people’s stories apart is my job. Or maybe it’s something a little deeper than that.

Fiction, ironically, is where the issue of people ignoring red flags becomes clearest. Mystery stories give us controlled environments—all the information we need, neatly contained. The plots are finite. The clues are planted deliberately. And audiences still miss what's in front of them. Not because the clues are hidden, but because we've been trained to explain away behavior that should alarm us.

The Grief-Stricken Mother

For instance, last weekend, I was watching Seven Dials on Netflix, an Agatha Christie adaptation. I’ll be spoiling it, but given the book is over 80 years old I think that’s okay.

Helena Bonham Carter plays Lady Caterham, mother to our detective, Bundle. She plays her quirky at best, maybe actively strange due to losing both her son and her husband. The family estate is falling apart. She can’t afford staff. Fine. Grief does things to people.

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