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Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9, titled The Stinging Aroma of Sulfur, dropped on FX in a two-header on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, further complicating Detective Lois Tryon's newfound reality. The first part of Wednesday's release was pretty muted, and gone are the mind-bending murders to solve from episodes past.
Episode 8 served as an explainer of Lois' new life after waking up from a coma, as well as the start of her trying to understand what her dreams could mean. It turns out that most of the events and characters in her coma-induced nightmare are a product or projections of her messy family life, and even messier work as a homicide detective.
With that said, Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9 blurs the lines between Lois' dreams and reality, as one of the murder scenes in her coma-induced dream comes to life— the murder of the Burnside family. She now thinks that the killer, Mr. Grotesquerie, which she cast as Father Charlie in her dreams, followed her to reality, which means there is another killer in the vicinity.
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Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9. Reader's discretion is advised.
The Burnside murder in Lois' dreams came true in Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9
While Lois talks with doctors Witticomb and Smythe, the show teases snaps of Megan going into a crime scene. It looks like the first murder scene in the premiere, a horrific picture of a family murdered in the dining room of their house.
Like the visions of the murder scene from Lois' dream, a mother and her children are tied in the dining chair with their mouths stuffed with human organ meats. The father is left headless, and his body is lying on the kitchen floor.
The scene appears like a detailed recreation of Lois' dream, right down to the bubbling soup that looks so horrific it almost makes Lois gag, and the mysterious liquid all over the house.
Whether Lois can truly predict the future or have a vision of what happens in the future via her dreams, as doctors Witticomb and Smythe theorized in Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9, it appears that there is a new killer in Lois' reality, and they still leave a grotesque murder scene in their wake. Maybe, this time, because Lois already dreamed about the killings, she will have the clues to find the killer sooner.
Can Lois predict the future in her dreams and does that mean there's another killer?
Fascinated by her coma-induced dreams, Santino Fontana's Dr. Witticomb is joined by Thomas Ellenson's Dr. Smythe, in making more sense of Lois' dreams in Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9. During their therapy session, the three of them try to find the meaning of all of Lois' dreams.
In Grotesquerie season 1 episode 8, Dr. Witticomb deduced that Lois dreamed of Marshall in a coma because she felt that she had no control over her crumbling marriage. The dream version of Megan is because she felt like she was taking away Lois' work, while Father Charlie, as the killer, was because she heard Charlie in real life talking about taking her off life support.
Dr. Witticomb further explained to Lois that Mr. Grotesquerie in her dream is a totem of all the mess in her life, and the violence and long-term PTSD from her career. He also deduced that Ed Laclan in Lois' dream was a caretaker, because, in real life, he helped her as her AA sponsor.
When they talk about Lois' dreams of murders in Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9, Lois is unsure of what they could mean or how they relate to her real life. Dr. Witticomb helps her understand that all the violence she dreamed about was a jigsaw puzzle of the reflections of all her experiences.
An instance of this is when she dreams of the bloodied Andrea in the final scene of Grotesquerie season 1 episode 4. In real life, the detective botched Andrea's case, causing her death.
However, Lois points out to Dr. Witticomb that not all of her dreams of murders relate to her real-life cases, like the Burnsides. The death of the family was featured in the Grotesquerie premiere as one of the first murders. At the therapy session, Dr. Witticomb brings Dr. Smythe to help Lois, and they tell her another theory about her dreams.
At one point during the therapy, Dr. Smythe said:
"The ones [dreams] we don't forget [is] what I call "failed dreams" because we should not remember them. You saw the future I think. You envisioned it."
Dr. Smyth thinks that Lois can predict the future in her dreams, and Dr. Witticomb plays with the idea that Lois is a prophet, like Moses, who can envision the future. Their theories appear to be true because, as Lois recalls the horrors of the Burnside family murder to the doctors, the same murder is happening in real time.
Lois decides to leave the town in Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9
Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9 marks a transition for Detective Lois Tryon as she's going to retire and plans to leave town. The episode starts with Maisie and her driving towards Redd's house, where Marshall now lives. She goes there to say goodbye and finalize their divorce— by giving him the papers to sign and her wedding ring.
At this point, Lois tells Marshall that she has no ill feelings toward him or even Redd. She understands, somehow, why Marshall chose to be with someone who liked him because she can no longer love him after he feels disgusted with Merritt's weight gain in college. She also tells him that she's going far away, to a little town in Florida called Tarpon Springs.
Lois tells the same thing to Merritt when she goes to meet her daughter, but not before a tense scene between the mother and daughter. Lois tells Merritt that she's been a b*tch to her for decades and gives what Merritt gave her in episode 8— a slap to the face. However, as she leaves Merritt's house, she tells her daughter to come and visit her in Tarpon Springs if she ever wants a real relationship with her.
Redd doesn't want Marshall either
After Lois visits Marshall and Redd to give the divorce papers, Redd visits the detective at her house. There, Redd tells Lois that she's not happy about the divorce because while it would look good in her favor as Marshall's mistress, there are a lot of compromises she has to make.
Oddly, the woman Marshall cheated on with rants in front of his wife about not wanting him in her house all the time. Redd muses that she can no longer do what she wants to do because Marshall is always there.
She says she's obligated to do other things, like cook, because of Marshall's constant presence. In one of her rants, Redd revealed to Lois that she liked it better when she was simply a mistress and could do whatever she wanted and just see Marshall a few times a week.
Surprisingly, in Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9, Lois has no hard feelings against her husband's mistress, and Redd also feels positive about sharing her feelings with Lois. At one point, Lois even advises Redd to leave Marshall after the other woman says that she feels jealous of Lois' plans to get away.
Another death rounds up Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9— is Justin the killer?
Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9 ends with someone dying. The show's original detective duo, Lois and Megan, reunites in the final scenes of Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9, when Megan calls Lois about clues from the Burnside murder scene.
Oddly, Megan is currently living at the motel, where she and Lois stayed in Grotesquerie episode 5, after a physical altercation with her boyfriend, Justin. While there, Lois plays the idea that someone took her files from the hospital and is trying to recreate the murders from her coma-induced dream, like what happened to the Burnsides.
That said, Lois has another theory— she thinks she's still dreaming. Hence, she asks Megan to cut her arm so they know if she's awake or not. And when she bleeds, Lois thinks it's a confirmation that she's existing in reality. But just as she cleans up in the bathroom, Justin arrives in Megan's room and starts attacking her.
Megan doesn't have her gun on her like the last time, and is powerless against her abusive boyfriend. Thankfully, Lois has her gun on her, and she points it at Justin's head as she emerges from the bathroom. However, Justin is not ready to back down just yet, even facing the barrel of Lois' gun. He tells Lois that she couldn't do it, just like Megan couldn't.
Lois then proves that she can by pulling the trigger and shooting him in the head, even with Megan trying to stop Lois from doing it. His blood splatters all over the motel room, including on Megan's face, just before Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9 ends.
Did Lois' dream predict Justin's death?
In Grotesquerie season 1 episode 6, Lois pulled the trigger that killed the man in the mask. He turned out to be the killer Mr. Grotesquerie, aka Father Charlie. But that scene was only part of Lois' coma-induced dream. That said, that could be another prediction, as doctors Witticomb and Smythe mentioned, like the Burnsides.
Moreover, before Megan calls Lois to the motel, the detective is sleeping, and in her dreams, she sees Megan with blood splattered on her face. It's the same picture at the end of Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9, where Justin's blood was all over Megan. With all these coincidences, what doctors Witticomb and Smythe theorized about Lois having premonitions of future murders could be true.
It would be interesting to see what happens next for Lois and the rest of the Grotesquerie cast and characters, with only one episode left in the series. Moreover, Travis Kelce's character is noticeably present in the newest two episodes, after the bombshell in Grotesquerie episode 7 about Lois' and his affair.
Grotesquerie season 1 episode 9 premiered in a two-header on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, on FX. Catch the latest episodes of the series on Hulu starting Friday, one day after their television release.
