The Truth Will Out
Episode 3 of Mythomaniac begins with the family gathering round at breakfast as they open the letter showing the results of the tests which is good, revealing Elvira doesn’t have cancer. At school, Carole’s teacher decides to change her exam score to a pass instead of a fail while Carole refuses to go out drinking with her friends after what happened to Kevin. Sam and Niklas decide to go for a picnic but have to bring Virginie along after she blackmails her to tell Niklas the truth. After sending Virginie out to pick some raspberries, the two teens finally kiss. In the evening, the whole family reunite at dinner to celebrate the good news and as the night ends, Sam and Niklas sneak in their room, kissing. As they do however, Niklas finds out the whole truth about Sam being a transsexual. The next day, Brigitte visits Patrick is his shop and as he gives in to the temptation, they start kissing but get caught by his associate Sandrine. This then prompt him to tell his brother that he’s planning to tell Elvira about his affair. At school, Sam tries to approach Niklas to explain herself but instead he tells her to go away and ends up punching her. At home, Elvira tends to her swollen face and tries to understand why she didn’t tell him the truth. She explains that if she did, they would never have kissed. After saying goodnight to Virginie, Patrick head to his bedroom and finally admits to Elvira that he had an affair. She tells him she had suspected it for a while and sends him to sleep on the sofa. In the morning, Elvira opens the mail and sees that Carole has been summoned by the police as Kevin’s parents are now pressing charges. In the car, Carole reveals that it was her fault Kevin fell because they were all playing truth or dare and she dared him to climb on the roof. Later in the day, Elvira has a meeting with Sam’s language teacher who explains that he won’t be able to go to Niklas’ family and that they’re having trouble finding a family who will take him after what happened. Back in her office, her boss tells her that one of their clients, Jane, is causing trouble. After calling her incompetent, she turns out to be the woman she stole the information from and as they speak, she finds out that the insurance has failed to help her out. Elvira decides to continue her lies and visits Kevin’s parents in hospital, tell them she’s sick which prompts them to be more understanding. Elvira then gathers all her family around the table to tell them the doctors made a mistake about their diagnosis and that she needs surgery to remove her cancer. We then see her put her plan into motion by speaking to Jane and making a deal with Kevin’s parents to get them to drop the charges. We finish the episode with Elvira asking her husband to move out. The third episode of Mythomaniac sees the lives of the family spiraling out of control as Elvira’s lies become more elaborate. Her children aren’t doing any better either, as they deal with their own dramas and in particular Sam’s dilemma has been quite tough and touching to watch as he struggles with who he wants to be. The actors have done a great job so far as they portray their roles which is probably the strongest point here in a series that is still quite slow in places whilst remaining intriguing to watch.
