[Warning, this post contains spoilers for The Act season 1 episode 4, “Stay Inside”]
If you’re all caught up with Hulu’s The Act, you’ll know that the latest episode will change everything. While Gypsy Rose begins discovering her body (in more ways than one), Dee Dee is working harder than ever to exert control. But the tighter she holds on, the harder Gypsy pulls away...right into the digital arms of Dee Dee’s future killer.
An “18-year-old” Gypsy—who is actually 22—is “finally” an adult, capable of making her own medical decisions. Dee Dee spends the majority of the episode frantically trying to convince Gypsy (and a lawyer) to hand her legal guardianship of her daughter. Gypsy is reluctant and proves herself knowledgable about her own care when quizzed by said lawyer.
Luckily (I guess?) for Dee Dee, she’s diagnosed with her own medical issue: diabetes, which she uses to guilt Gypsy into agreeing with her terms. Now, they need each other. What Dee Dee doesn’t know is that her daughter had purchased a secret laptop at the mall and is using it to meet men online.
And that’s how she met Nick Godejohn. According to ABC News and The Act, the two connected on a Christian dating website. At first Gypsy wore a wig and kept her “conditions” a secret from him. That doesn’t last long.
At first, Gypsy comes clean to Nick over video chat about her hair but mentions her wheelchair when he asks her to “spin around” so he can see her body. But don’t we know that she knows she doesn’t really need that wheelchair? Later in the episode though—after basically signing away her legal rights to her mother—she tearfully tells him the truth about not needing a wheelchair and not really being sick. To comfort her, he suggests...BDSM?
Perhaps to show a disturbing parallel with the sexual imagery he sends Gypsy, The Act depicts the gruesome consequences of going against Dee Dee’s wishes when she finds her daughter’s hidden laptop. Gypsy enters the kitchen where her mom is smashing it with a hammer. Things get heated when Gypsy says she’ll just buy another one, and Dee Dee drags her by the arm and ties her to her bed with a blue satin ribbon.
It’s very disturbing for audiences to watch, but it can’t be more traumatic than actually living through it. Although this specific fight arose after an attempted escape in reality, the real Gypsy Rose told 20/20 that her mom also chained her to the bed for two weeks. “It started to be physical in 2011,” she says. “She would hit me with a coat hanger sometimes.” She goes on to explain what happened when she tried to run away: “She physically chained me to the bed and put chains on the doors.”
Gypsy told Dr. Phil that after smashing her laptop, Dee Dee threatened to use the hammer on her fingers next. And unlike the ribbon used in the episode, Gypsy says she was chained with handcuffs and a dog leash.
After that explosive moment on The Act, Gypsy is back on the phone with Nick who promises to protect her against anyone. We already know how that turned out, but we’ll start seeing it play out onscreen really soon.
New episodes of The Act will go live on Hulu every Wednesday.
