Did she have any female friends, I wonder? Maybe in sentencing we will hear from them? Not sure how that works.
I was reflecting on several things after rewatching her verdict. She looked scared, then shocked, then defiant and pissed, then stunned, then about to pass out when the judge said be seated. Did anyone else see the look of anger, or was it just me?
It creeped me out when I saw extended footage after the verdict when her hands come together then come up to her mouth -- I thought of all the intimate bodily fluids that those hands have handled in an effort to manipulate men and the violent attack they carried out. They were stumpy, not refined and elegant, and this seems to fit her. She presented very well on the stand, but it was all an act.
I think the bathroom writings incident enraged her more than anything --or was the final straw-- in the same way that Jodi Arias was set off by the very mean (but deserved) final texts from TA where he called her a three hole wonder.
My opinion, but these women pride themselves on their beauty and sexuality and their ability to use it to manipulate men. When that prized asset is no longer worshipped--even more infuriating, when it's turned into a negative and they're called a *advertiser censored*, watch out! There's nothing worse you can say to them because their sexuality is all that they have. They feel annihilated so they fight back and do the same.
It was cruel and sadistic of Jason to text her that bathroom graffiti pic. She didn't need to know that. He probably framed it as something "helpful" but it's how he really saw her and he wanted to hurt her. He probably made her think Alex did it because Jason had been betrayed by Alex, so he knew why there was fire in her eyes that morning before visiting Alex. Jason is a pompous, stupid, manipulative, disgusting loser. Dating teens? Playing D & D? Rejecting EM after an abortion? Thinking he's the bomb despite all of the above? PATHETIC! Not that he was to blame, but still.
I think EM had gotten used to having all of her FEELINGS valued and validated unquestioningly in the hippy dippy, academic, progressive, feminist, self-actualization-oriented community of Eau Clair (I say this because I've been a contented but at-times amused and exasperated member of similar university communities since third grade and through two M.A.s in the liberal arts). This environment, combined with her mental illness, made her think she could easily get away with murder.
She thought she'd create a missing persons scenario and leave AW behind, but the mud threw a big wrench into things (fantasy vs. reality, strike 1) . She thought that any previous psychological issues that her therapists didn't judge her over would explain any "fogginess" in memory (police don't believe that BS=strike 2). Then, she expected a jury made up of HER peers--women studies majors, nerdy coffee shop guys who would fawn over her, people like her therapists, her friends, etc. Nope=strike 3.
Real world culture shock hit her hard-- a place where common sense and reality reign and people have a major problem with things like knifing and slashing someone to death. No matter how pretty and demure you look, no matter how sensitive and thoughtful you seem, no matter how bright and artistic you are, no matter how much you were abused as a child or by men as you got older. None of that matters, especially when all of the evidence makes you look like a liar.
