Diksha Sundriyal
Max Cady’s plot for revenge thickens in the second half of Apple TV+’s ‘Cape Fear.’ The initial episodes had him playing his games so subtly that it even made the Bowdens question whether he was really trying to harm them. But now, things couldn’t have been any clearer. The seventh episode, titled ‘Mongrels,’ shows just how far Max is ready to go to get what he wants. This episode marks a turning point on several fronts. From the Bowden siblings reaching their breaking point to Tom and Anna finally becoming desperate enough to make a move, the true scale of Max’s plan is starting to take shape. And he is not ready to let it be ruined at any cost, even if it means killing someone and risking prison all over again. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Ray Ends Up at the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
When Max Cady is released from prison, Anna Bowden becomes worried, and rightly so, about the safety of her family. Even as she tries to speak her concerns, no one really takes her as seriously as they should. At least, not until it’s too late. In between this, Ray helps her piece things together. She’d helped him get out of prison, and now, he is working with her and Noa to help other innocent people get their freedom from wrongful imprisonment. He is a private investigator and pretty skilled at his job. This is why, when Anna needs help finding out who Naveah is and what her connection to Max is, she reaches out to Ray in confidence.
Initially, Ray thinks Anna is just being paranoid, but with time, even can he see that behind the charming veneer, there is something very dangerous and disturbing about Max. This is why, when Max offers to visit a witness who can help them save a client’s life, Ray steps in and says, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Max doesn’t take it well, and he eventually ends up getting involved, thanks to Anna, and he doesn’t shy away from expressing his anger to Ray, though he does it in a way that can’t be construed as a threat if one starts nitpicking. This has remained Max’s MO so far. He inflicts damage, but legally, he cannot be accused of anything because he isn’t actually getting his hands dirty, so to speak. He finally breaks this pattern in the seventh episode.
While he has been fixated on the Bowdens, his stepsister, Crystal, has been stalking him. Despite his warnings and threats to her to stay away from him, she doesn’t listen. He reaches his breaking point and decides to handle her once and for all, but for that, he needs to find her. So, he takes a trip to see his father and stepmother, and as a cherry on top, Nat joins him because she wants answers about her parentage, especially after Paul doesn’t say yes when she asks him if he is 100 percent sure he is her father. Even though it isn’t particularly nice to see his parents again, he gets what he came for and heads to Crystal’s place. Unbeknownst to him, Ray has figured out Crystal’s location as well, and this chance meeting doesn’t turn out well for them.
Ray Becomes the Collateral Damage in the War Between Max Cady and the Bowdens
While Max is visiting his parents with Nat, Ray is on the trail of the masked woman. She has appeared to Anna a couple of times now and warned her to stay away from Max. Anna thinks she might be key to getting crucial evidence against Max’s wrongdoings, particularly in the context of his wife’s murder and his former girlfriend’s suicide. It takes some time, but Ray manages to find out the name of the woman who owns the car spotted following Max and Anna during their trip to Macon. It belongs to a woman named Val, and when Ray visits her, it turns out that she doesn’t really have anything to do with Max. Val sold the car for cash to Crystal, whose last name is Cady. At first, Ray thinks she is Max’s wife, but she turns out to be his sister. Step-sister, to be exact.
This is interesting new information, and thanks to Val, he finds out exactly where Crystal lives when she is not in a clinic. When he reaches her residence, he hopes to find her and talk to her, but by then, she has already received a call from her father about Max coming to her place. So, she flees in haste, leaving behind a stack of Max’s pictures on her table and a cold beer. Before Ray can venture any further to try to locate her, Max shows up there, too. This confirms that Ray is on the right path, but it also means he needs to leave, because Max being there cannot be good. Before leaving, Ray tells Max to let go of his hatred and anger, hoping that his words might make a difference and stop him from pursuing the Bowdens any further. But Max is far beyond that now.
Ray, and by extension Anna, finding Crystal is not good news for him, and one can assume that if it hadn’t been for Nat in his car, he still would have killed Ray. In any case, as soon as Ray notices an unconscious Nat, Max uses Nat’s gun (which she thought she’d kept hidden in her bag) to kill Ray. It is not clear what he did with the body. Either he threw it in the water, or he put it in the trunk of his car. Either way, Ray is dead and gone, and Max killing him with his own hands means that he is starting to get his hands dirty now, which is not a good sign for the Bowdens. It also shows he is rather desperate to keep his connection to Crystal a secret, which means finding her could be the key to defeating him after all.
Read More: Is Max Cady Based on a Real Killer?
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