The Woods

Paul and his sister-in-law, Greta, watch Paul’s daughter, Cara, do gymnastics at her school. Greta and her husband, Bob, help Paul with Cara since Paul’s wife (Greta’s sister), Jane, died five years ago. Two detectives enter the gym. Paul is the Essex County prosecutor but doesn’t know these men, which worries him. He went into the legal profession after Camille’s death. He wonders what Camille’s life would be like had it not been cut short. The detectives beckon Paul over, and Greta offers to watch Cara.

Detectives Tucker York and Don Dillon question Paul outside. York asks about Paul’s whereabouts the previous night and whether he knows a man named Manolo Santiago, who was murdered in Manhattan. Paul doesn’t recognize the name, but Santiago had items on him connected to Paul. York would rather show Paul the items in person, but Paul wants more information. Dillon angrily threatens to ruin Paul’s campaign for Congress if he doesn’t cooperate, and the threat disturbs Paul enough that he agrees to go to the morgue.

In the car, York reveals that Manolo Santiago was likely using an alias. He chats casually about Paul’s background, but Paul sees through the pleasantries. Paul was once questioned by the police when he was 18 after Margot Green, Doug Billingham, Gil Perez, and Camille were murdered at Camp PLUS. The murderer, Wayne Steubens, buried Margot and Doug’s bodies in the woods, but Gil and Camille’s bodies were never found. Wayne later murdered four other campers in Indiana, Virginia, and the Poconos before he was caught and dubbed the Summer Slasher. Without Camille’s body, Paul’s family hoped she was alive, and the uncertainty so overwhelmed his mother, Natasha, that she abandoned the family. The Camp PLUS murders still get frequent media coverage.

Paul, York, and Dillon arrive at the morgue to view Santiago’s body. The coroner reveals Santiago’s face, but Paul doesn’t recognize him. York and Dillon let Paul look through Santiago’s possessions. Newspaper clippings about the Camp PLUS murders, Paul’s address, and a girl’s ring stand out to Paul. He asks the coroner to show the man’s arms, and when he spots a ragged scar on the left arm, Paul identifies the man as Gil Perez.

Lucy Gold, a university professor, begrudgingly chats with an overachieving student, Sylvia Potter. Sylvia commends Lucy’s recent assignment for her Creative Reasoning class. The class combines psychology and creative writing (Lucy’s two doctoral fields), and she asked her students to write anonymous journals about a traumatic event in their lives. Sylvia looks like she wants to say something more, but leaves when Lucy seems disinterested.

Lucy’s same-age teaching assistant, Lonnie Berger, enters with the printed anonymous assignments. Lucy and Lonnie tease one another about their sexual escapades before reading the assignments. One journal stands out to Lonnie, and he passes it to Lucy. The journal opens with a 17-year-old girl describing her time at her father’s summer camp with the boy she loved, P. The girl worries that she’ll never love another boy the same way. Lucy recognizes herself in the story, and the description of the girl’s sadness opens Lucy’s old emotional wounds.

In the journal, the girl and P, who was supposed to be on guard duty, sneak out into the woods at night to make love. The two hear a rustling but assume it’s another couple. They kiss passionately, but nearby screaming interrupts them. The journal ends abruptly, and Lucy begs Lonnie to find out who wrote it.

Paul insists that the dead man is Gil Perez, who must have escaped the woods. York and Dillon let Paul go, and he returns to his office. He meets with two defense lawyers, Mort Pubin and Flair Hickory, about a case he’s prosecuting. Mort and Flair are defending two rich, white college boys, Barry Marantz and Edward Jenrette, whom Paul’s teenage, African American client, Chamique Johnson, accused of raping her. Mort and Flair tell Paul to drop the charges, since Flair will destroy Chamique when she takes the stand. Paul refuses.

Paul’s chief investigator, Loren Muse, arrives, and Flair criticizes her fashion sense. Flair reminds Paul that Chamique herself said the perpetrators called themselves Cal and Jim, and he claims that she had consensual sex with Barry at the fraternity party. Chamique worked as an exotic dancer for the fraternity the weekend before, and Flair suspects she’s just upset that the frat boys didn’t take her seriously. Mort, more cynically, thinks Chamique is just after money. Paul believes that the Cal and Jim misidentification proves that Chamique is telling the truth because it would be easy to use the boys’ real names in her statement. The argument briefly worries Flair, but he knows the argument is confusing enough to cause reasonable doubt.

Paul and Muse believe that they’re missing critical information about Cal and Jim. Paul is sure that Muse can figure out this conundrum, since she’s such a dedicated investigator. Paul’s mind wanders back to Gil Perez and the growing question of whether Camille may also be alive.

As Paul drives to Greta and Bob’s house, he thinks about his childhood. His family emigrated from the Soviet Union when Paul was four years old. Paul’s parents lived and worked well below their former stations, so when they learned that Greta (a rich girl) had a crush on Paul, Natasha urged him to pursue her. Instead, Paul fell in love with Greta’s sister, Jane. Jane left a huge fortune for Cara, as she was brave and practical when she learned of her terminal diagnosis.

Paul finds Cara playing outside with her cousin Madison, but Cara ignores him. Greta retrieves Cara’s backpack from inside, and Cara drives a battery-operated Barbie Jeep silently until the battery dies. At home, Cara sulks on the couch and watches TV while Paul prepares dinner. Detective York calls to inform Paul that Gil’s parents are going to the morgue in the morning, and he asks Paul to join them.

Paul reads to Cara before bed. She’s in a better mood and sweetly says goodnight when Paul finishes. As Cara sleeps, Paul works on Chamique’s case. At 16 years old, Chamique already has a criminal record and a child, which will be hard to portray positively to a jury. Paul, however, believes that Chamique deserves justice like anyone else. Paul pores over the case material, hoping to find something to explain Cal and Jim.

Detective York sits with Mr. and Mrs. Perez in an interrogation room, and Paul watches behind a one-way glass. Paul last saw the Perezes when the victims’ families sued the Camp PLUS owner, Ira Silverstein, for negligence. York bluntly tells the Perezes that an unidentified murdered man may be their son Gil. Mr. and Mrs. Perez sit in shocked silence, but Mrs. Perez composes herself and asks to see the body.

York escorts Mr. and Mrs. Perez to the viewing window, and Paul follows close behind. The coroner shows the man’s head; Mrs. Perez shudders, and Mr. Perez silently cries. Nevertheless, Mrs. Perez claims that the man isn’t her son. Paul asks the coroner to show the man’s arm. Mrs. Perez reasserts her denial, explaining that Gil’s scar was on the right arm. She apologizes to Paul, who likewise must have hoped that Camille was alive.

Paul returns home and meets Muse, who brought the fraternity’s phone and purchase records. Paul wants to search for something that catalyzed the boys’ behavior. They find nothing out of the ordinary for a frat house: daily pizza orders, Netflix movies, and pornography rentals. Muse advises Paul to work on his direct for the court tomorrow instead. Paul takes Cara for ice cream, and she chatters in the backseat. Paul is overcome with love for his daughter and reflects on his father and mother’s love for Camille.

Later that night, Bob informs Paul that Edward Jenrette’s well-connected father, EJ, forced major funders to pull out of JaneCare, the charitable organization that Paul, Greta, and Bob founded in Jane’s honor. Jenrette is also threatening to audit their finances. Bob nervously asks Paul to draft a plea deal, but Paul refuses. As he works, Paul looks at the photos on his desk: one of Cara and one of his maternal grandparents, who died in a gulag. He used to keep a picture of Camille and Jane out, but it was too difficult to discuss death with Cara.

Paul allows himself to think of that summer 20 years ago. He remembers Lucy Silverstein, his girlfriend at the time, and her hippie father, Ira. The murders tore Paul and Lucy’s relationship apart. Paul thinks about how he and Gil used to play fight, and how he avoided touching Gil’s scar. Paul rushes to the basement to find a box of photos. An old photo from camp proves that Gil’s scar is on his left arm and that Mrs. Perez lied.

Instead of preparing for court, Paul calls Detective York. York updates Paul about the Santiago case. Police found carpet fibers on Santiago’s body and have a new theory that his body was dumped. They also found Santiago’s girlfriend, Raya Singh. York asks if Paul wants to officially join the case or reopen his sister’s case, but warns Paul that the answers he seeks might help Wayne Steubens overturn his conviction.

Chamique Johnson takes the stand. Paul speaks openly about Chamique’s history as an underage stripper and sex worker, since he wants the jury to see Chamique as honest. Chamique describes how she uses a fake ID and how the fraternity hired her to strip the weekend before her assault. One of the frat brothers, Jerry Flynn, invited her to their next party as a guest, and Chamique accepted because she thought Jerry was interested in a relationship. Throughout Paul’s questioning, Mort makes fiery objections.

Chamique explains how she met Jerry at the party. She cries as she recalls the night’s happy start. Jerry’s behavior changed after he spoke with Edward; he became nervous and crude, and he invited Chamique up to his room. Chamique agreed because she wanted Jerry to like her. As soon as Chamique entered the bedroom, Edward and Barry assaulted her. Chamique describes the assault in detail, during which the boys called one another Cal and Jim. After the assault, Edward and Barry made Chamique shower and change, and Jerry silently walked her to the bus stop. Paul asks about Chamique’s hiring a lawyer to sue Edward and Barry, which Chamique doesn’t deny. She asserts that she, like everyone, cares about money, but that doesn’t mean she’s lying.

Court breaks for lunch, and Paul eats in a diner. He’s reflecting on the direct when a man hands him a note from EJ Jenrette asking to meet. Paul finds Jenrette in another booth, where he offers both Chamique and JaneCare $100,000 to drop the charges. Jenrette appeals to Paul’s paternal instinct, but Paul thinks the boys deserve punishment. Jenrette’s lack of sympathy for Chamique sickens Paul. Frustrated, Jenrette threatens to dig into Paul’s past. He claims that Edward and Barry will accept any plea deal that doesn’t involve prison time, but Paul still refuses. Jenrette reasserts that he’ll do anything to protect his child, but Paul won’t abandon Chamique.

At the university, Lucy reads the troubling journal to her class and asks Lonnie to watch their reactions, though he sees nothing unusual. Lucy moderates a lively discussion, and she prods her students pointedly. Class ends, and Lucy leaves for an appointment, imploring Lonnie to keep looking for the author.