Truth Be Told Review: All That Was Lost (Season 1 Episode 8)
If you fell into the trap of believing that Lanie killed her father — don’t feel bad. The reveal on Truth Be Told Season 1 Episode 8, “All That Was Lost,” supports the well-devised twist.
I was duped, and it made for an entertaining finale — but what is it all worth in the end?
That’s a similar question to the one Desiree asks Poppy while she’s at the bar contemplating whether to turn Lanie in. Throughout the series, Poppy has literally ruined so many other lives in the pursuit of the truth as to what happened to Chuck Buhrman.
When it’s handed to her by Chuck’s murderer herself on a silver platter, suddenly Poppy isn’t sure what she wants to do with it.
More people are dead. Poppy’s husband is sleeping on the couch because of podcast-related drama. The person she’s trying to clear of murder has actually committed another one and fears for his own life in prison.
Poppy achieves her goal and now she wants to sleep at night? So does Warren. So does Melanie who is dying of cancer. So do we all Poppy! So do we all!
Erin’s death makes her a rather convenient scapegoat for her husband’s death and she’s been covering for both of her daughters since the murder. If justice to you means truth it’s not served here. It’s also not the most satisfying payoff after spending about eight hours of your life watching a TV show.
But Poppy picks what will help her sleep at night. After all, her goal in pursuing the truth is always to get Warren out of jail. (Because let’s be honest, we all know from the first episode that he’s not Chuck’s killer).
I don’t necessarily agree with her choice because I care about Josie’s fragility. In fact, I would argue that Josie is the character we know the least about, so good or bad, I care the least about her.
She murdered someone. Her father. Who cares if she’ll survive jail? She is softer than Lanie, but she doesn’t exactly wear a halo of sugar and spice and everything nice, ya know?
I can appreciate Poppy’s desire to sleep at night. She’s had a traumatic life, people she loves have died in front of her. She feels responsible for ruining a man’s life. She wants to do the least amount of damage with the truth that she has so that she can enjoy a glass of wine without guilt at night. Who can fault that?
It’s explained very quickly, but Josie’s motive wasn’t murder for murder’s sake. She thinks she’s witnessing her father about to molest her sister because that’s what Lanie set her up to believe.
This leads us to Erin’s murder — because Lanie’s histrionic personality disorder obviously isn’t being treated. She kills her mother because she’s about to tell the truth and the truth would hurt Josie. She’s extremely attached to her twin to an unhealthy extent.
She’s mentally ill. So, is prison time for Lanie actually justice or even going to help anyone sleep at night? Let’s be real. The prison system isn’t actually going to help treat Lanie’s illness. Naming the disorder is a big moment in the show.
Lanie’s arrest essentially erases her illness. As far as representation of mental illness — that’s grossly irresponsible. I understand that we aren’t at the trial yet and that’s where she can plead insanity. But it’s still not a good look.
I haven’t talked about Warren too much throughout this whole series of reviews. It’s sad that he is in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. But gangs and hits and murders in TV prisons aren’t new.
Aaron Paul is a great actor. But I don’t question whether Warren will get out of jail alive or not until the first few minutes of this episode. I wasn’t even invested in whether he lived or died during this hour.
That said, the moment he’s on the outside and makes eye contact with Poppy is unexpectedly emotional. It’s a shame that Truth Be Told doesn’t take time to strengthen that bond more.
One of the show’s biggest weaknesses is that it tries to do way too much. For example, as of right now Poppy’s father’s illness is completely unnecessary, as is her sister Cydie when all is said and done.
Markus is a decent enough character. But valuable minutes are wasted during a murder mystery for Markus to tell Poppy that he’ll allow her to be with her husband?
Did she ask you, sir? Did she even kiss you? No.
Most of our ends are tied. Warren is free. Josie is free. Poppy can sleep.
As for me, I wish Truth Be Told were slightly better overall. But it’s a mini-series, so what’s done is done. I’ll sleep just fine.
What did you think of this episode of Truth Be Told? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Truth Be Told Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV+
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.
11 comments
I was disappointed in the ending. I knew there had to be a twist, so I figured out after Erin died that it must be Josie. I was emotionally invested up to the beginning of this very last episode which was unfulfilling.
Aren’t there two more episodes though? I’ve read in some places online that the series is a total of 10 episodes. This end is too pretty…even with the plot twist of of Josie killing dad.
Why didn’t Poppy press Warren more about what he was doing at the house that night of the murder? What did he see? And has Poppy finally made the decision to move back to NY?
I thought it was 10 at first too, but it’s definitely 8. We have all of the answers at this point. Not sure if the series is going to continue. Apple calls it the finale.
What letters was Erin burning in the fire when the girls were young?
And why did Warren leave the house with a knife, the night of the murder?
We still have so many questions.
Exactly. There are many unanswered questions. Like the burnt letters – and the knife … but was the reliable eye-witness really all that reliable? And if Josie killed the father to save her sister, why was it fair for Josie to turn Lanie in when Lanie killed the mother to save Josie? And if Josie did kill to save Lanie, why did Lanie try to smother her and drown her? Daddy issues? Poppy had no right to act as judge and jury for the twins – if she was really after the truth and not just one big hypocrite, she should have turned both of the twins in to the authorities, let the courts decide their fate, and not allowed their father and mother’s names to be dragged through the dirt for something they didn’t do. I figured Josie was the killer about half way because she ‘seemed’ so innocent and naive and there was too much suspicion heaped on Lanie and Warren’s father. I really disliked Poppy in the end – she was selfish in her motives, freeing Warren so she could sleep at night, letting her wonderful husband down so many times and keeping things from him, even hurting her family, maybe because she felt they abandoned her as a child (Did anyone wonder if Poppy had something to do with her foster mother’s drowning? That would be the REAL twist). I think the power of her popular podcast made Poppy think she was God. A disappointing ending where justice was certainly NOT done.
I missed it the first time; she was burning Josies bloody shirt think using letters etc as tinder … or thought maybe the letters weren’t in code.
Agree I kept wanting the show to be better it was so close to being so good. It felt always a bit off beat.
And also, how on earth did Josie get Lanie arrested using that wire, without that conversation implicating Josie? “You killed mum to protect me?””Yes, it’s all for you”- umm, so, Mr policeman, you just heard that Lanie was protecting Josie because Josie was in danger of…..? Such lazy writing.
So Josie, the actual killer of her father, went free? Poppy is always is looking for the truth. Truth is she knows that Josie is a murderer and did nothing about that. Did I miss something???
Because Josie made it seem like mum was going to pin it on her.
Before saying “lazy writing” do some thinking first
Josie told the police that her mother killed her father yet when setting up Lanie for the police she said to Lanie, you gave Mom the pills because she was going to tell them everything and you wanted to protect me to which Lanie replied yes. To protect Josie from what? It couldn’t be from killing her Dad, even though it was, because Josie told the police her mother did it. Am I missing something?
I don’t have anything new to add but I also kept hoping it would be better.
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