American Crime Recap: Sudden Changes, Tragedy

The 6th episode of “American Crime” Season 3 (April 16, 2017) opened up with Gabrielle, the Coates’ nanny, writing a letter to her son, Yves. Clair came in to say that she and Nicholas were going out and asked what she was doing. Gabrielle showed Clair the letter that started out telling Yves she missed him very much. Clair asked her if she was going to mail it, which seemed like a weird question. Gabrielle said no because she’s written Yves many letters that he never answered. Now she just writes them to God.

Clair and Nicholas met friends Scott and Helen for a game of pool. Clair showed photos of Nicky to Helen who cooed over the boy’s progress and as we have seen before, Nicholas doesn’t like her doting mother routine. He brought up her hiring the French nanny to do all her work. His sarcastic remarks escalated when it was Clair’s turn to shoot. Both Helen and Scott told him to stop trying to rattle Clair’s game but when she called the 8 ball in the corner pocket, he leaned in and asked her if she wanted the nanny to do that for her, too. Clair sank the cue ball with the 8 ball. She got her revenge by telling Helen, in French, that it was Nicholas’ fault that they couldn’t have a baby. He was impotent. Nicholas pressured Helen more than once to try to find out what she said but Helen didn’t spill.

The next morning, he found Clair eating breakfast. She didn’t make him any and wouldn’t even speak to him. He went to work and was told about an offer to assume the company’s debts for 51% control of it. He considered it seriously and got angry when his business associate, Eckels, reminded him he would no longer have any control and he refused to talk about it further.

Gabrielle is forced to sleep in the storage room

At home, Clair made Gabrielle move out of the nice large room she was initially given and stuck her in a little storage room, claiming she was going to work more from home and needed that room for an office. Helen stopped by to relate how Nicholas thought she was shutting him out by talking French with her nanny. Helen asked if what she said about Nicholas was true. Clair said she was just being an ass because of the way Nicholas behaved. When Gabrielle came in the room, Helen noticed cuts on her hands and Clair claimed she was doing it to herself. Also, Clair insisted that Helen speak only English to Gabrielle. This sudden change certainly seemed ominous to us in terms of isolating Gabrielle. Clair later brought Gabrielle a bandage for her hand and spoke to her in English, while insisting that Gabrielle speak only French. Clair said Gabrielle was bringing this on herself and she could be happy but she just doesn’t fit in. She said they were doing everything possible to make her a part of the family because they love her but it’s difficult.

When Nicholas came home, Clair straight up told him what she said to Helen and he said it was a lie. Viciously, Clair said it was true, adding she “had to use another man’s sperm and that’s why you hate Nicky.” Then she went for the jugular: “The one thing a man should be able to do, and you couldn’t do it.” So just when you thought Nicholas is the bad guy in the Coates storyline, Clair’s evil nature smacks you right in face. We don’t think Gabrielle is self-mutilating. We think Clair is abusing her. Gabrielle got up in the middle of the night and went out in her bathrobe to mail the letter to Yves.

Kimara Walters got a visit from a guy who represented a large donor to social programs. He was going through the final steps of approving a big grant to the shelter run by Abby Tanaka and needed Kimara to confirm that she placed 105 cases with Abby in 2016. Kimara stalled him off and met with Abby to ask her why she was trying to commit fraud. Abby tried to make Kimara see that it was for the greater good. Kimara, she said, probably referred more than 105, she just didn’t have room for about 40 because she doesn’t have the beds. She can get the beds if Kimara will cook her books and Kimara can get a job at her shelter that pays 8 grand more than she’s making. Now that’s some powerful bait because Kimara could really use that money for her IVF treatments.

Over at her sister’s, Jeanette Hesby was coming to grips with the precarious financial position she has put herself in. She went to a work center to try to find work based on her non-existent skill set. You had to feel a little bad for her, if you didn’t heartlessly laugh, when she told the interviewer that she had, on occasion, introduced her husband on stage before he made a speech. It’s like she thinks someone is just out there waiting to pay her $25 an hour to do stuff like that. She was told she could take a 9-month training course to go into the medical field as an assistant but Jeanette needs a job now and she needs more than minimum wage. She thought her sister had to work for minimum wage because of her criminal record. Raelyn set her straight on that. Jeanette didn’t really tell Raelyn the scoop surrounding her split from Carson, and Raelyn is under the impression that this is a temporary arrangement.

The Shocking Conclusion is on Page 2: