TV Recap: FX's "The Shards" Episode 3 — Really Rhonda Meets The Trawler
Following “Don’t You Want Me,” the third episode of The Shards sets a trend for naming episodes after popular songs. This one comes from The Beach Boys’ “Help Me Rhonda,” which somewhat breaks the show’s 1980s soundtrack, but perfectly aligns with both the show’s L.A. setting and The Trawler’s latest victim. Here’s a recap of the third installment.
Episode 3: “Help Me! Rhonda!” - Written by Ryan Murphy & Juli Weiner
Looking back on 1981, Bret Ellis (Igby Rigney) explains how October 1st was the start of spooky season. “That’s the day the Trawler got Really Rhonda.” Rhonda Fox (Ivy Wolk) was a neuro-spicy classmate whose father paid a lot for her to not be in special needs classes. She was often not in control of what she said, which caused the teachers to often say, “Really, Rhonda?” And that’s how she earned the nickname the whole school knew her by, “Really Rhonda.” Bret believed that Rhonda knew he was gay, and in spite of not being in control of her outbursts, she kept his secret, which he respected.
A little behind the times, Rhonda loved to spend her night at Wheels, the last roller disco still running in L.A. On the night of October 1st, her parents reported Rhonda as missing when she didn’t come home at curfew. When cops patrolled the venue, they found bloodstains on the ground by the dumpster. Bret went there himself the next day to check out the scene.
We see Rhonda locked in a dog cage in a basement. It’s not clear if it’s real or Bret’s vision, but The Trawler, all in black, slides a tray into her cage full of wiggling black worms. “Eat it,” he commands her. “It took about three days for everything to go back to normal,” Bret’s opening narration concludes.
Robert Mallory (Homer Gere) has inserted himself into Bret’s friend group the next time they hang out at Hamburger Hamlet. His girlfriend, Debbie Schaffer (Hayes Warner), refuses to eat because she wants to get the camera’s attention for their upcoming appearance on the teen cable access show Dance Off. Susan Reynolds (Kaia Gerber) is spending all of her time planning Robert’s party on Saturday. “I’m so excited. I’m thrilled. Etcetera,” Robert coolly says when Bret suggests they not throw a party while two of their classmates are missing. Susan’s boyfriend, Thom Wright (Graham Campbell), is frustrated as his girlfriend flirts with Robert in front of him. When Bret tries to get them all to talk about Matt and Rhonda, Susan and Robert decide to work together to organize an awareness campaign at school.
Susan and Robert lead a school assembly. Inspired by missing ads on milk cartons, they got Rhonda’s dad to pay to have her face on her favorite sparkling water. Debbie sits next to Ryan Vaughn (Daniel Dale), commenting on how sexy his cologne smells and questioning whether it’s for men. He tells her it’s called Kouros. As the rally ends, Thom approaches Susan and kisses her, to Robert’s annoyance.
Bret has his second business lunch with Debbie’s father, Terry Schaffer (Wes Bentley). He submitted a screenplay treatment of his novel to Terry’s assistant, Steven, but Terry claims not to understand it. Bret explains that the main character is a version of himself, but Terry says a great movie needs to be about loss, and he’s not sure what Bret’s is. “My virginity?” Bret answers.
Terry drives Bret through a secret, gated street that connects Beverly Hills to the valley, bragging to be one of only three people with the code. Terry parks his convertible on the top of a lookout pass, saying this is where he sometimes comes to be alone with his thoughts. “We could come be alone together,” he suggests, as a beige van drives up behind them and parks nearby. Bret seems anxious about the van and asks to be taken home, saying he has homework.
That night, Bret goes to Matt Kelner’s house, finding the pool house open. He finds Matt’s school blazer and holds it, smelling it, starting to cry. The phone rings and Bret answers, hearing heavy breathing on the other end of a bad connection. “Where is Matt?” he asks, feeling watched. “What have you done with him? Where’s Rhonda? Why are you doing this? Robert?” The caller hangs up.
A drunk Liz Schaffer (Evan Rachel Wood) uses one of Terry’s Oscars to imagine herself accepting the award. She talks about her daughter, Debbie, calling her the disappointment of her life. Before she can “thank” her husband, Terry walks in, mockingly applauding her. She blames him for holding her back from her dream, turning her career into his forever plus one with no achievements of her own.
During the daytime, we see Bret following Robert’s car as his narration says that Robert never showed concern for the missing teens, as if he knew they were already gone. In Bret’s passenger seat is a copy of Joan Didion’s The White Album, fitting as Bret waits for Robert on Cielo Drive, home to one of the Manson Family’s most infamous murders. He watches Robert enter a house, waiting for him to leave again. He had a bowling bag, and Bret’s narration reveals that he later told the police he suspected it contained a human head.
Bret enters the barren rental property through the back door. The door to the basement has an unusual number of locks. He heads downstairs, finding red footprints that look like blood on the ground. He follows them to a door down a hall that is full of empty dog cages. Well, not completely empty. One has a school blazer covered in blood. Bret lifts it to find a live pet iguana underneath it.
To be continued in Episode 4, “Robert’s Party.”
Songs Featured in this Episode:
- “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” by The Police
- “Rapture” by Blondie
- “Help Me Rhonda” by the Beach Boys
- “Games Without Frontiers” by Peter Gabriel
- “Edge of Seventeen’ by Stevie Nicks