Murdaugh: Death in the Family Episode 1, 2, 3 Recap: Is Gloria Dead?

Hulu’s ‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family’ begins with a phone call. Alex Murdaugh places a 911 call about the murders of his wife, Maggie, and their son, Paul. This is the point that the story will converge towards as the clock is dialed back to 2019. Alex and his friends test out the new guns while playing for money. When he wins and is accused of cheating, he says that it’s not cheating if he doesn’t get caught. This is the mindset he has been functioning with, and he will continue to use it until eventually, a saying of his father comes true. At a trial for his client, for whom he demands a sum of $1.1 million, Alex, in his closing remarks, speaks of his father’s warning, “just because you don’t want to pay the bill, doesn’t mean it ain’t due.” Perhaps he should have heeded this warning more closely. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Big, Bad Murdaugh Family

It is a big day for the Murdaugh family as their patriarch, Randolph Murdaugh III, is getting an award. Alex’s wife, Maggie, takes the responsibility of arranging the party, believing it will strengthen the bond between Randolph and Alex. While Alex gets ready to leave for the courthouse, his son, Paul, returns with a dented car that has a branch hanging out of it. By this time, no one is surprised to see that he had been drunk-driving, but his mother is relieved that nothing happened to him. At the court, Alex demands a $1.1 million sum for his client, but later, his father and his brother, Randy, agree that it is too much. They point out that there is a chance the jury might not give the verdict in his favor, given his client’s past reputation, and that he should settle when he has the chance.

Alex doesn’t like people questioning his decisions, and he hates it even more when his brother and father gang up on him. When he shares this concern with Maggie, she consoles him that it’s probably because Randolph has the upcoming party on his mind. They get good news when their son, Buster, comes home to reveal that he has been accepted into law school and will be joining his family’s long tradition of producing lawyers. His parents are beyond the moon, but for Paul, this is just another instance where his brother has outshone him. Later that evening, they are joined by Maggie’s sister, Marian, who asks Maggie to take a break for her own sake. Alex suddenly leaves after getting a call from his cousin, Eddie, and when Maggie objects to it, he lashes out at her. She suspects that he is back on the pill, but her search through his things doesn’t reveal anything. She asks Gloria, the house help, if she’s seen anything, and she says she hasn’t.

The next day, the entire family assembles for the party. Before joining her guests, Maggie has a talk with Marian after she gets a bracelet from Alex. Marian believes it is his way of making up for doing something bad, and she asks if Maggie has really forgiven his affair, which happened a few years back. It seems Maggie has forgiven her husband, and she walks into the party with the desire to make everything go perfectly. She talks to Randolph about his son and asks him to be more amicable to Alex. Meanwhile, Alex welcomes the officer who had been the reason for Eddie’s call. Alex and Eddie are building a new business, and while some of their permits are still being processed, they have already started operating. The officer wanted them to heed the process. Alex, however, finds it unnecessary. At the party, he introduces the officer to important people, allowing him to make connections, in return for which, he is allowed to let his business work.

Paul’s Drunken Adventures Lead to a Tragedy

Alex’s fear of his father and brother ganging up on him worsens when they get a call from the prosecution. It seems they want to make a deal, and after some negotiation, they are ready to settle at $750,000. His father tells him to take the offer, and despite his inhibitions, Alex is forced to agree. Randolph also reveals that he is going to retire soon, which means that his seat in the business will be empty. Now, Alex worries that Randy might get it. Meanwhile, Paul prepares to leave the party with his friends when Buster shows up. Feeling overshadowed by his brother leads Paul to incite a fight, which is broken up by their parents.

Paul nurses his hurt ego as he gets drunk, and then he and his friends, which includes his girlfriend, Morgan, his friend, Mallory, and Mallory’s boyfriend, Anthony, get on the boat. Paul drives at an insane speed even when the surroundings are too foggy to make out anything. Everyone pleads with him to stop, but he doesn’t, and then the boat crashes. At home, Gloria finds Alex’s pills and gives them to Maggie, who eventually hides them. Later that night, the call comes in about the crash. Alex and Randolph immediately head for the hospital. They find Paul in a bad state, though not surprised that he is drunk.

What makes them worry is the fact that while all the others on the boat are accounted for, though they are all more beaten up than Paul, there is no sign of Mallory yet. Assessing the severity of the situation, Randolph tells Alex to immediately round up all the other kids and tell them not to talk with the cops. When Alex discovers that Morgan has already given her statement to an officer, he points out to the cop that the statement was taken without the presence of a lawyer or a parent, which makes it inadmissible. Shortly after, the parents arrive, and Alex gives them a pep talk about how one wrong word could send one of them to prison for life. So, he advises them to keep their mouth shut. Everyone agrees, at least for the moment.

Mandy Matney Sets Her Investigative Eyes on the Murdaughs

When Alex was young, he got into a car accident after speeding. When the cops arrived, he got out of it by using his family connections, leaving the rest of his friends in the lurch. This points towards his habit of leaving people when it suits him, and this is what he intends to do with Paul’s situation as well. The morning after the crash, Paul comes home, while his parents and his grandpa go out to the site of the crash. While Mallory’s parents are not allowed to see the boat, the Murdaughs are led towards it without any concern for protocol. As Maggie lays her eyes on the bloodied and battered boat, she realizes that this could be the thing that sends her son to prison.

Meanwhile, journalist Mandy Matney arrives on the scene and notes Alex in the crowd. Later, she discovers that the Murdaughs are a very well-connected family. The online discourse hints that they may be covering up things, and a little digging reveals that they may have covered up things before as well. She presents this hypothesis to her editor, but she is told to get real facts because she can’t report based on Facebook comments and baseless conjecture. Meanwhile, Alex convinces his client to make an investment of their $750,000. Paul is shut out by his friends, and he becomes even more restless when his parents refuse to let him leave the house. Perhaps the true scale of the situation hasn’t dawned on him yet. When Alex asks his father if they couldn’t save Paul, Randolph points out that, to his credit, Alex never led to a young woman going missing.

Tired of being confined to the house, Paul takes Gloria’s car to meet Morgan. She isn’t very happy to see him, and his attitude makes her realize that he might not be very repentant either. Believing that Paul’s family will bury everything and Mallory will not get the justice she deserves, Morgan goes to Mandy and tells her everything she remembers about the night. As Mandy sets her sights on the Murdaughs, she is warned that they are powerful people and must be dealt with carefully. Shortly after this, Mallory’s body is found, which spells prison time for Paul.

The Murtaughs Start to Fall Apart

As Alex and Maggie wonder what it means for their son, Maggie confronts him about the drugs. During the fight, it becomes clear to her that Alex cannot function well while on withdrawal, and she needs him to be well to save Paul. So, she agrees to give him two pills a day, with the promise that he will stop it once things with Paul have settled. That might be Alex goes to Connor Cook’s house, blackmailing him into taking the fall. However, the next morning, the news of Alex’s indictment is published on the front page, which means there is no getting out of it so easily.

At the hearing, Paul easily receives bail, but with all his friends standing against him, he starts to feel the guilt. He shares these feelings with Gloria, who tries to console him. Alex meets with Eddie over breakfast and comes out of the conversation with the idea of taking his family to the Bahamas. The next morning, Gloria bids them goodbye, cleans the house, locks it up, and goes back home. She has dinner with her sons, one of whom takes stock of her health, pointing out that she has a heart problem and must get it looked into. Gloria says Maggie has promised to help her with it, and that’s the end of the conversation.

In the Bahamas, Alex, Maggie, and Paul are joined by Buster and his girlfriend, Brooklynn. The vibes are off as Paul struggles with his guilt while Maggie has an uncomfortable talk about Buster with Brooklynn. Later, Maggie goes to an energy healing session and comes out of it with the realization that she has given up too much for the family, and now she’s just full of anger. That evening, she meets another woman at the bar. The woman reveals that she is a doctor, traveled the world with Doctors Without Borders, and has an adopted daughter whom she takes with her everywhere. In return, Maggie says she is divorced without children and is alone on the vacation.

Another Death Darkens the Murdaugh Family’s Door

While Maggie talks about an alternative life for herself with a stranger, Paul makes friends at a different bar. He gets drunk again, and this time, he gets them to beat him up. Somewhere else in the hotel, Alex drinks and goes to the club, where he hits on a young woman. When she rejects his advances, he goes back to his room and has sex with his wife, who has clearly started to reconsider her life decisions. Later, Paul calls Gloria, talking about his guilt, and she assures him that he will be forgiven and everything will be fine.

The next morning, the family sits down for their final meal before they leave. Alex arranges a surprise for Paul where he is bombarded with pomp and show, and a lap dance, but he sees Mallory standing in front of him, and immediately lashes out. This leads to an argument where Paul fights with his father and brother while his mother tries to calm everyone down. Eventually, the fight subsides. Alex gets a message with $750,000 in his account. This is after he told his clients that it will take time for their money to come to them. He uses that money to pay his bill, proving that he is indulging in financial fraud.

Back home, Alex goes out for lunch and meets with Mark Tinsley, the Beach’s lawyer, who reveals that they are going to file a lawsuit against the Murdaughs. This makes things even more complicated for Alex, but this is just the beginning. At home, Gloria receives a snowball souvenir and is left alone to carry the family’s bags out of the car. She makes several trips, heaving while carrying each bag. Eventually, she falls, hitting her head on the ground and bleeding out, ending the life that she’s dedicated to the Murdaughs on their doorstep.