Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family’ follows the turbulent story of the eponymous family, which comes into the public limelight after a boat crash. While Paul Murdaugh remains at the center of the story, the focus shifts towards his elder brother, Buster, in the fourth episode. The previous episode ended with Mandy Matney finding a connection between Buster and a young man named Stephen Smith, who died under suspicious circumstances in 2015. As she digs deeper into the truth, things get difficult for Buster, while his father, Alex, falls into a spiral that he cannot claw his way out of. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Buster Murdaugh Gets Entangled in Stephen Smith’s Case
The episode begins with a flashback to 2015. Stephen Smith is alive and well and getting ready for a party. It is revealed that he is secretly dating a guy whom he calls the “Prince,” and no one really knows his real name. The scene shifts to 2021, where Maggie prepares for the parade to honor the family’s patriarch. Meanwhile, Paul and his new friends busy themselves with playing video games and making a mess in the room. At the same time, an article is published about Stephen, which includes his suspected connection with Buster, shocking and disturbing him. Maggie goes to the supermarket, where her card is declined. While she tries to figure out how to deal with it, she gets a call from Buster about the article. Meanwhile, unaware of the article, because he won’t respond to any texts or calls from his son and wife, Alec makes Billy talk to the judge who is to preside over the case where Mark Tinsley has demanded an inquest into his finances.
Meanwhile, Buster becomes increasingly concerned about his name being dragged through the mud over something he knows nothing about. His mother tries to console him, telling him to focus on his life and career. Later that night, she attempts to log in to her bank account but is unable to do so. She cannot discuss it with her husband because he is terribly drunk. She tries to tell him about the issues with Buster and the bank account, but he is in no state to talk about anything. The next morning, Paul and Buster go hunting, where Paul teases his brother about being in the same boat as him. At this, Buster points out that the difference is that he didn’t do anything, and if it weren’t for Paul’s boat crash, no one would have gone back to Stephen’s case to find more dirt on the family.
Stephen’s mother and friends hold a gathering in his memory, where his friend Genevieve talks about how great a friend he was. Sandy thanks Mandy for bringing her son’s case to public attention. Mandy, in turn, talks about losing her brother, Michael, when she was younger, and how it led her to help other people get to the bottom of the truth about the loss of their loved ones. Later, one of Stephen’s friends comes up to Mandy and tells him about the Prince. When she tells him to take the information to the cops, he says he did, but they never followed up on it. The next morning, Maggie chides a hungover Alex, but he gets angry and things get even more heated between them.
Mandy Finds Stephen’s Secret Boyfriend
It’s the day of the parade, but Buster’s mind is on the article and how the whole turn seems to be turning against him. He talks to Brooklynn, and she assures him that she believes him, while telling him that he should talk to his family about his thing in law school. Meanwhile, Alex meets with the judge, but the latter tells him that he has made up his mind and there is going to be a hearing as Alex desperately tries to talk him out of it. When the judge leaves, Billy asks him if it would really be that bad if his finances were looked into, suggesting that he has no idea what his client has been up to. While Alex’s head spins with the thought of the hearing, Gloria’s sons try to talk with him about the settlement money, which they don’t know he has already pocketed.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family gathers around Randolph for the parade. Paul leaves after a girl tells him that he should have been the one to die that day, not Mallory Beach. Buster doesn’t fare so well either, as Genevieve accuses him of Stephen’s death.
Elsewhere, Mandy follows the clue given by Stephen’s friend. He told her that, one time, he saw Stephen entering a house with someone, though he is not sure if the Prince lived in that house or if it was just a rendezvous point. Mandy visits the house where she meets a woman. She asks the woman how long she has lived there and if she knows anything about Stephen and Buster. When the woman says she doesn’t know anything, Mandy shows her Stephen’s photo. This leads the woman to tell her about her husband, Josh. Her words suggest that Josh was closeted, and because he never got to be able to be who he really was, it ate away at him, and eventually, he died by suicide.
After the drama with Buster at the parade, Maggie asks for Randy’s help. He agrees to help her, but later, he seeks out Alex, who is sitting under a tree, getting drunk. Randy tells him about Maggie’s plea for help regarding the article and asks his brother what’s going on with him and why he is not doing anything to solve the problem. As Alex gets irritated by his brother’s words, Randy tells him that their father wants to see him. When Alex meets his father, he is told that with all the problems going on with his family, he should focus on them. In view of the current situation, the position of the managing partner is going to be Randy’s. Alex gets so angry at this that when he sees Paul next to his car, welcoming him with a hug, he pushes his son so hard that he falls to the ground. Buster sees it happen and helps his brother.
Maggie Takes a Bold Step Following a Heartbreaking Discovery
At the house, Alex confronts Maggie about going to Randy to help. This leads her to call him out for his incompetence. She points out that he hasn’t been around to help Buster, and he hasn’t really taken care of Paul’s problem either. Her words pierce him, and knowing that there is no answer to her questions, he leaves the house in anger. Meanwhile, Buster and Paul drive home but stop at the place where Stephen died. There is a memorial shrine in his name, which leads Paul to think about Mallory and Gloria’s death. He says that he, too, is as good as dead because there is no future for him. This prompts Buster to reveal that he has been expelled from law school for cheating on his paper, so there is no future for him either.
While Paul makes fun of his brother, he also tells him that he shouldn’t do law if he doesn’t like it. When he asks him what happened with Stephen, Buster says that he honestly has no idea. Meanwhile, Maggie tracks Alex’s phone and follows him to a motel. She sees a scared girl running out of a room and being taken back to the door by a man. When the door opens, Alex comes into view, leading Maggie to realize that the scared girl is a sex worker being forced into the situation. This is the final straw for Maggie, so the next day, she packs her bags. She finds Paul by the chicken coop and tells him she is going to Edisto, and he should join her.
Paul is confused about what’s happening, so when his father comes, he reveals what his mother just said. An angry Maggie throws Alex’s pills in his face and drives away. Elsewhere, Buster meets his grandfather, who asks him why he ran away from the parade. Buster tries to explain that he had nothing to do with Stephen’s death, to which Randolph says that it doesn’t matter. He cites a long line of Murdaugh men who have been accused of all sorts of things, and even as Buster states that he is not guilty of anything, Randolph tells him that he shouldn’t have run away even if he were guilty. He also seems to know about law school and tells Buster to stick with school, as their family’s connections will help sort out the problem with his expulsion.
Maggie informs Sandy that Josh was Stephen’s secret boyfriend, and he is now dead, too. In turn, Sandy reveals that she got a call where she was told that Buster never had anything to do with Stephen’s death. His name was thrown in because someone wanted to mess with him. Even as Mandy tries to rationalize the Murdaugh family’s past by covering up their wrongdoings, Sandy says that she believes that Buster didn’t have anything to do with what happened to her son. Still, this doesn’t mean that they are going to stop fighting, and Mandy assures her that they will keep pushing for a fair investigation and won’t stop until justice is served. The last scene has Maggie in the car, with her dog in the backseat, feeling free for perhaps the first time in her life.
Read More: Murdaugh Death in the Family: True Story, Explained
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