The Perfect Son

After crying for a long time, Olivia begins feeling around the hole for a better sense of her surroundings. In one corner, she finds a thermos of water and decides to ration it so she can survive longer. In the next corner, she finds a skull and screams.

The police interview Alice Herbert, the child psychologist Liam saw after the comment about keeping his future wife in a hole. After hearing about Olivia’s disappearance, Dr. Herbert comes forward, despite being bound to patient-doctor confidentiality. She describes Liam as mature for his age and tells the police that he starved his pet hamster to death. She diagnosed him with an antisocial personality disorder, most likely both sociopathy and psychopathy. She isn’t sure her meetings with him helped other than to teach him to keep his bad thoughts to himself. Dr. Herbert says she became increasingly scared of Liam, describing one session in which he saw a photo of the doctor’s daughter on her desk and asked personal questions about the child. His tone upset her, and she hid the photo after their session. She stopped seeing Liam shortly after that.

On the night of the PTA meeting, Jason wants Erika to skip the meeting, but she goes, not wanting to cause a scene by not showing up. She’s late to the meeting, and the way people look at her when she walks in makes it clear that everyone believes Liam was involved in Olivia’s disappearance. Erika is surprised when Jessica announces that the chair of Movie Night is someone other than Erika. When she asks why Jessica changed the assignment, Jessica says Erika is too busy. Frustrated and embarrassed, Erika leaves the meeting. She feels the urge to slap Jessica as she leaves but controls her impulse.

The police interview Madison, Olivia’s best friend. She tells them that Olivia is a typical, well-behaved girl. Madison believes Liam is behind Olivia’s disappearance because of his history of weird and threatening behavior. She mentions an incident with his English teacher, but the police say they are already aware of the incident. She relates other incidents, including Liam lying to a teacher and kicking a fence when he lost a track race. The police ask why she’s so positive Liam hurt Olivia, and she repeats that she thinks he is “crazy.”

Erika checks on Liam, studying in his room. As they talk, she remembers what his psychologist told her: He doesn’t feel emotions and doesn’t love her because he is incapable of love. She asks where Olivia is, and he denies knowing. She tells him she doesn’t believe him, offering to help him free Olivia, but he angrily says he didn’t hurt Olivia. Afterward, Erika recalls another conversation with Liam’s psychologist. Erika asked the doctor how Liam could have ended up this way despite growing up in a happy, affluent home. The doctor told her that there was a genetic component to his diagnosis, which confused her until she learned her own father was a murderer.

Olivia names the skeleton in the hole Phoebe, after her favorite character from Friends. She hears footsteps and starts screaming for help. Her captor uncovers the hole and shines a flashlight inside. When Olivia screams for help, he tells her they are in an isolated cabin, and her screams are futile. She tries to convince him to let her go. When he laughs at her, she tells him that she’ll tell the police everything, and he responds that he needs to make sure the police never find her. He tosses down a bag of food and water and says he’s unsure when he will return. Before he leaves, she asks for a flashlight, but he refuses, shutting the door and leaving her in darkness.

Jason decides to work from home, and Erika is relieved at his company. She tries to work but struggles to focus, and soon the doorbell interrupts her work. The police are there with a warrant to search the house and Erika’s 4Runner. At the same time, Erika receives a phone call from Liam’s principal, reporting that Liam was involved in a fistfight at school. In front of the detectives, Erika tells Jason what has happened and takes his car to the school.

Hannah is waiting for Erika at the school. She tells Erika that the fight wasn’t Liam’s fault; Tyler Martinson attacked him because he thinks Liam is responsible for Olivia’s disappearance. Hannah and Erika go to the principal’s office, where Jessica, Tyler’s mother, is already waiting to speak with the principal. Jessica and Erika make tense small talk.

When the principal opens her office door, Erika sees Liam, who has a bruise forming on his face. Despite everything, Erika feels a strong urge to protect and comfort her son. The principal tells the boys’ mothers it was one of the worst fights she’s witnessed in her career and excuses the boys to talk to Erika and Jessica. She is suspending Tyler for a week and Liam will receive one day of in-school suspension. Furious at the inequity of the punishment, Jessica rudely screams that Liam is “crazy” and most likely murdered Olivia. She apologizes to Erika but doubles down that Liam’s violent and manipulative behavior is why he and Tyler are no longer friends. Liam scares both Jessica and her son. The principal scolds Jessica for her outburst.

Hearing a scuffle outside the office, the principal opens the door to Madison yelling demands that Liam tell her where Olivia is. A school security guard escorts Madison away, and the principal suggests that Liam stay home until things calm down. Erika agrees, realizing that the principal has fallen for Liam’s charm.

The police interview Tyler Martinson, Liam’s former best friend. He tells the police that, as a child, Liam was able to get away with bad behavior because of his charm. He details several instances in which Liam acted cruelly or erratically, including when Liam brought a trapped chipmunk to Tyler’s home so they could watch it suffocate together. Tyler told his mom, who didn’t appear surprised and told him to stay away from Liam. Another time, Tyler says he and Hannah got into a fight. A few days after Hannah told Liam about it, Tyler found a disemboweled stray cat in his bed. He told his parents that he thought Liam did it.

The police ask how well Tyler knows Olivia, and about their romantic past and her rejecting him. He tries to downplay it, but as they ask about his history of fighting and violence, he realizes they are implying he did something to Olivia. Tyler doubles down on his accusations against Liam.

With the police still searching their house, Erika takes Hannah and Liam to McDonald’s for lunch, where she tells them about the police search. Hannah says they won’t find anything incriminating, but Liam says nothing. Erika reminds him that they will see his attorney later that day.

Olivia goes through the bag her captor gave her and inventories two water bottles, two apples, a granola bar, and four slices of bread. She realizes her captor is purposefully not giving her enough food, making her weak and unable to fight back. She organizes her hole, designating a purpose for each corner: The skeleton is in one corner, her food is in another, she goes to the bathroom in the third, and she sleeps in the last corner. Determined to escape, Olivia decides to build a mound so she can stand and reach the cover of the hole. She doesn’t think her captor will let her go on his own, so she must save herself.

Jason tells Erika the police finished searching the house but need Liam’s phone. She brings the kids home, and Liam turns over his phone. Jason tells Erika the police primarily searched Liam’s room. Their attorney, he says, has a police department connection who says the police are close to making an arrest. Later in the afternoon, Liam’s attorney tells them the police found something during their search, and Liam will most likely be arrested in the next 24 hours. For the first time, Liam looks afraid. His lawyer adds that the police plan to use an incident with Liam’s former English teacher to prove his guilt. Liam’s lawyer asks if he knows where Olivia is, and Liam denies it. The lawyer asks to speak to Liam alone since Erika and Jason don’t have attorney-client privilege with him. Outside the lawyer’s office, Jason says he can’t believe the police are bringing up the incident with the English teacher, but Erika reminds him how serious the incident was. Jason reminds Erika that their son is not a “monster,” but Erika is not so sure.

The police interview Richard Young, Liam’s eighth-grade English teacher. Richard says he instantly disliked Liam as a student, finding him to be inauthentic. When Liam began showing interest in Richard’s daughter, Richard told him to stay away from her. After that, Liam paid her increasing attention, especially when he knew Richard was watching. When Richard began grading Liam more harshly, Liam complained but didn’t act. His relationship with Richard’s daughter faded, and Richard thought the issue was over. However, one night, Richard’s dog woke him by throwing up in bed. Richard realized he and his wife both had terrible headaches. He called 911 and went to check on his daughter, but couldn’t wake her and passed out in her room. Ultimately, the family spent a few days in the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning but had no long-term damage.

The police ask how it happened, and Richard explains that their radiator had a crack and their carbon monoxide detector had been unplugged. One of Richard’s neighbors saw a teenager around the house at the time of the incident, and Richard showed them a picture of Liam to confirm it was him. The police questioned Liam, who told them he had a friend in the neighborhood. There was no hard evidence to support that he was responsible. Still, Richard believes it was Liam. He ultimately gave Liam an A in English because he didn’t think it was worth endangering his life.