Lady in the Lake Murders: Clarifying Tessie Durst and Cleo Johnson's Mystery
With the murders of Tessie Durst and Cleo Johnson, Apple TV+'s Lady in the Lake sets the stage for a gripping mystery drawing viewers into a world of secrets and intrigue set in Baltimore in 1966.
Based on Laura Lippman's 2019 book, the show centers on Maddie Schwartz (Natalie Portman), a homemaker turned investigative journalist who discovers the truth about the two deaths. Black woman Cleo and 11-year-old Jewish girl Tessie become the focal points of a narrative examining racial, socioeconomic, and narrative power.
Death: The Lady in the Lake Opening Scene by Cleo Johnson
The show opens with a terrible scene: Cleo Johnson describes from beyond the grave, her body sunk in a lake. This eerie opening introduces the central theme of recovering one's story and shapes the mystery. With her words, "Until the lion tells its story, the hunter will always be the hero," Cleo underlines the relevance of her viewpoint and the injustice she encounters.
Though the scene is dark, viewers can see elements suggesting possible suspects. The man throwing Cleo's body into the lake looks quite similar to right-hand man of ruthless businessman Reggie Robinson (Josiah Cross). But the ambiguity about the man's identity lends a layer of mystery, allowing viewers to conjecture whether Reggie participated in Cleo's murder or just helped to arrange her body.
The disappearance of Tessie Durst: a missing girl and a web of suspects
Cleo's death sets the scene, but the narrative returns to the beginning with an eye toward Tessie Durst's disappearance. Young child Tessie loves seahorses and runs across Reggie in a tropical fish store. With a black eye, Reggie expresses Tessie's passion in marine life, but their meeting is cut short by Dylan Arnold's shopkeeper, Stephen Zawadzkie.
For Maddie, who sets out to locate Tessie, her disappearance takes front stage. Maddie follows her inquiry to a lake where she finds Tessie's body frozen and entwined with branches. The show begs questions about Tessie's death's cause, so heightening the mystery.
Having held his mother captive, the clumsy shopkeeper Stephen Zawadzkie is arrested in relation to Tessie's murder. This arrest, together with Reggie's frantic attempts to hide his presence and dispose of evidence, heightens the suspicions about both people.
Who killed Tessie Durst and Cleo Johnson? The clues and red herrings
With its engaging characters and entwined stories, the show makes viewers doubt the killers' identities and motivations. Though the opening scene, which reveals Cleo's death, suggests Reggie's involvement, the lack of clarity lets one speculate. The mystery is further complicated by the later events around Tessie's disappearance and Stephen Zawadzkie's arrest.
Though Reggie shows up as a top suspect with his black eye, his relationship to both victims, and his frantic behavior, the show deftly inserts red herbs to keep viewers on edge as they try to sort the truth.
Lady In The Lake provides insights on the possible killers as well as hints on the adaptation might stray from the original story. While his mother is found guilty of murder in the first degree, the book exposes Stephen Corwin (Stephen Zawadzkie in the series), the proprietor of the tropical fish store, who is convicted for his part in Tessie's murder. But the series's subtle deviations from the book—including different surnames—create suspense and suggest a perhaps different result.
Investigating the Narrative: Status, Race, and the Authority of Storytelling
Beyond the secrets around the murders, Lady In The Lake investigates the social complexity of Baltimore during the 1960s. The very ingrained inequalities of the time are highlighted by the different experiences of Black woman Cleo and Jewish girl Tessie. White society mostly ignores Cleo's death, so underscoring the systematic racism against Black voices.
Seeking a meaning in life, Maddie sets out to find the truth behind these deaths, so underlining the ability of narrative to expose the truth and empower underprivileged stories. Combining murder mystery with social commentary, Lady in the Lake is an engaging series that promises a fascinating trip through the underbess of 1960s Baltimore.
