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(This series isobsessedwith vaginas.)
Beverly aims to change childbirth from a medicalized process that kills women to a holistic one that empowers them.
Which of the twins starts going to church midway through the series?
(Its not the one youd think.)
And which Mantle is sharing her feelings about the death of her sister at those support-group meetings?
(That ones a bit more complicated!)
Warning: Deep spoilers for every episode ofDead Ringerslie ahead.
Episode One
The Basics:The Mantle twins are Manhattans most successful and notorious obstetricians.
What shes up to:After a (quite graphic!)
Still pretending to be Beverly, she meets Genevieve at a bar and makes the first move.
(Elliot spends a lot of time in bathroom stalls.)
:As the series opens, Elliot is her usual confident, voracious, possessive self.
My sister says Im a hungry person.
I like to feast, she says.
Later on, she scrolls through childbirth photos on her phone while her sister parties.
Toward the end of the episode,Dead Ringersflashes forward.
(Or does it?!?!)
We later find out this is Beverly.
Quintessential Twin-ism:Beverly:Shes a patient.
You cant fuck the patients.Elliot:Fine, I wont fuck the patients … anymore.
Beverly and Genevieves relationship is developing, and Elliot doesnt like being left out.
:Elliot is pissed about Beverlys new relationship.
(Elliot binge-eats when shes overwhelmed.)
She tells off Rebecca, calling her and her friends categorically theworstpeople.
Quintessential Twin-ism:Elliot: You all drilled holes in your skulls!
The next day, she demonstrates an experimental procedure designed to delay menopause.
The rich middle-aged women paying for everything love it.
Then Genevieve and Beverly leave for a romantic weekend and Elliot loses it.
Elliothopesshe isnt real because she pushed Agnes off their balcony.
:Elliot is feeling right.
Afterward, they go back to Genevieves, where Beverly meets Genevieves little brother.
:Beverly is uneasy with Rebeccas laissez-faire attitude toward medical ethics and wonders aloud if its all worth it.
Im struggling, she tells Elliot.
Quintessential Twin-ism:Tom:What the fuck have you done?Elliot:You dont want to know.
Episode Four
The Basics:The Mantles surprisingly normal parents visit New York.
We see flashbacks of the twins infancy, when their mother struggled with her ambivalence about parenting.
Elliot does join her family to watch the show, after which she binge-eats taffy while watching TV.
She oscillates between mania and depression and has started attending church when feeling low.
Now that shes pregnant, she and Genevieve begin planning a life together … without Elliot.
In a flash-forward (… or?
), she tells her support group about a dream (or is it a memory?)
in which shes in a rowboat on a lake and cant find her sister.
(Its not.)
After the disastrous birthday dinner, Beverly does an ultrasound on herself its twins!
:Being around their parents makes Beverly feel anxious and guilty.
She insists it hasnt beenyearssince theyve seen one another.
(It has.)
Even though shes pregnant, shes smoking and makes a baby sound before lighting up.
Quintessential Twin-ism:Elliot:Our cunts and our tongues are identical, so what does it fucking matter?
There, they meet Susans family, and everything goes wrong.
Elliot takes the lead with Susans creepy eugenicist family.
(She insists on driving despite her unstable mental state because Elliot can never not be in control.)
(At least thats what she says.)
In Alabama, Beverly throws up all over the dinner table.
(The doctor from the story is a reference toJ.
Marion Sims, the father of modern gynecology, who conducted horrific research on enslaved Black women.)
Still, she sticks with Rebecca, Susan, and the money.
Theres no going back this time.
She doesnt exist, she tells Genevieve.
Quintessential Twin-ism:Elliot:Were going to be parents.Beverly:Im having twins.
One and two.Elliot:Two little babies, Silas.
What shes up to:Elliot is in exile after the botched C-section from the previous episode.
Lying in bed and calling Bev over and over.
Now shes Beverly and can be the mommyandthe mad scientist.
Then Rebecca asks her to destroy her sister to save all of their reputations before Silass profile publishes.
She complies, calling Ellie abusive and destructive in an awards speech.
Still, she misses Elliot and returns to the apartment to smell her sisters sheets.
She dies bleeding out on an operating table.
In a mid-credits sequence, we finally find out what was happening with those support-group meetings in thefauxflash-forwards.
:Bev cant get Ellie out of her mind.
Thats in her head, but the insistent buzzing of her phone is real.
Shell never escape Elliot and will never be happy as a result.
Quintessential Twin-ism:Beverly:I have to climb inside of you now.
There was only supposed to be one of us.
You were always the better me.
