Tuesday, 9 July

Alix starts the morning by rereading Josie’s meme about weak men and strong women, interpreting it as Josie trying to strengthen her resolve. While getting the children ready for school, Alix notices that the birthday bracelet Nathan bought her is missing, but neither Nathan nor Eliza knows where it is.

Josie arrives unexpectedly at Alix’s house wearing one of her new dresses. Josie asks about Nathan and presses Alix on whether Alix loves him, using Walter as a comparison and admitting that imagining Walter dead makes Josie feel that life would be better. Alix admits that Nathan’s drinking binges sometimes make her wonder whether life would be easier alone, but when Josie asks whether Nathan’s death would make her feel free, Alix says it would make her sad. Josie reacts coldly, and Alix, anxious to regain Josie’s approval, agrees to record another interview.

In the recorded material later used in the Netflix framing, Josie describes telling her mother on her eighteenth birthday that she and Walter were engaged and that Josie was leaving home. Pat warned Josie to remember she had choices, but Josie went to Walter’s flat and believed her life had begun, only later seeing that she had moved from one controlling person to another. The Netflix segment then cuts to Tim and Angel Hiddingfold-Clarke, who explain that in summer 2019 a frightened, disguised Josie handed them her dog, Fred, in the Lake District and begged them to take care of him.

At 11 a.m., Josie sits outside the café where she once thought she saw Roxy, spiralling through conflicting thoughts about Walter, Nathan, Alix, and her missing daughter. Josie sees Alix as a possible answer but is disturbed that Alix still loves Nathan. When panic overtakes Josie, Josie calms herself by touching and kissing a teaspoon stolen from Alix’s studio.

Back home, Walter questions Josie about the school mum she has been seeing, and Josie reveals that Alix is the birthday twin from the pub. Walter’s dry comment that he would never think Josie was weird triggers Josie’s anger. Josie demands that Walter explain himself, then suddenly slaps him hard and screams that she hates him; Walter silently resumes working at his computer.

Later, Alix runs into Pat O’Neill on Kilburn High Road. Pat says the podcast is weird but accepts Alix’s professionalism, condemns Walter’s relationship with Josie as disgusting, and calls Walter and Josie a toxic combination. Pat refuses to discuss Josie’s daughters in detail but warns Alix that she will need luck. Afterward, Alix messages Josie that she needs to speak to Walter for the project, and Josie suggests that Walter might come if the meeting were social, with Nathan present, perhaps over dinner.