Too Old for This

Norma arrives with dinner and wine as a peace offering. As they eat, Lottie pockets a paring knife. Norma confronts Lottie about her past murder accusations. When Lottie hesitates, considering how to respond, Norma laughs and apologizes for being rude. She tells her about the anonymous calls and notes, explaining how she is convinced either Tula or Cole is lying. When Lottie excuses herself to the kitchen, she collapses, realizing that Norma has drugged her.

Lottie awakens tied to a chair. Norma confirms she drugged Lottie and accuses her of being connected to Plum’s disappearance. She produces Plum’s case file, which she found in the house, and reads aloud from old newspaper articles about Lottie. As Lottie inches toward the hidden paring knife, Norma reveals she already took it.

Lottie fakes respiratory distress and persuades Norma to loosen the ropes by claiming she hid more of Plum’s things upstairs. She sends Norma on a false errand and uses nail clippers from Norma’s purse to free herself. She slips into her study and locks the door as Norma returns. Enraged, Norma attacks the door with a fireplace poker. Using the house’s circular floor plan, Lottie exits through a second door and arms herself with a cane and a kitchen knife.

Lottie lures Norma into an ambush and kills her with the cane. Exhausted, she rests, then cleans the blood. She checks Norma’s phone but finds the battery dead. Disguised in Norma’s clothes, she inspects Norma’s room at the Harmony Hotel. She rules out a staged overdose and notes the reservation runs three more days, giving her time to plan.

The next morning, Lottie dismembers Norma’s frozen body. She checks voicemail and finds a message from Morgan. At the Harmony Hotel, Lottie stages Norma’s room and places a room service order to make it look occupied. Using Norma’s severed finger to unlock her phone, she begins a digital impersonation, texting Norma’s coworker and rescheduling a dental appointment.

Back home, Lottie reviews data from Norma’s phone and confirms Cole informed Norma about Plum’s disappearance. She also finds a record of a call to the Spokane Police Department. She flashes back to her difficult pregnancy and killing Gary, Archie’s father. A knock at the door comes just as Morgan texts, announcing her arrival.

Lottie greets Morgan, who apologizes that Archie forgot to mention her visit. Lottie insists she stay the night. Morgan explains she is in town to finalize wedding venues. Archie calls, and Morgan puts him on speaker while she admonishes him. Lottie prepares a guest room far from her own, noting the creaky floors. Before bed, Morgan gives Lottie a stun gun.

After a restless night, Lottie joins Morgan to tour wedding venues. Over lunch, Morgan confesses she often feels like an outcast, which helps them bond. Once Morgan leaves for her hotel, Lottie returns to the Harmony Hotel to keep Norma’s digital presence active. A text arrives on Norma’s phone from a man named Burke.

Lottie discovers Detective Kenneth Burke, who investigated her murders in Spokane, has been secretly communicating with Norma through an encrypted app. Realizing he orchestrated Norma’s investigation, Lottie takes control of the exchange. Posing as Norma, she texts a fabricated account of an encounter with Lottie, then calls the hotel to extend Norma’s reservation.

That evening, Lottie returns home to find Morgan waiting. Morgan cooks dinner and clarifies how she met Archie, and the two build rapport. When Morgan goes to the kitchen for dessert, she screams. Lottie rushes in to see a small container on the floor that fell from the freezer; inside lies Norma’s severed finger.

Lottie snatches the container and claims the finger is a prop for a church play about an Old Testament figure. Although shaken, Morgan appears to accept the explanation but remains unsettled. Lottie, aware of her carelessness, resolves that Morgan must leave soon.

The next day, while continuing to text Burke as Norma, Lottie destroys the finger by smashing it with a hammer and hiding the remains with the rest of Norma’s body. That evening at church bingo, she is surprised to find Morgan there with Pastor Doug.

Morgan claims her dinner plans fell through and, in front of Pastor Doug, Sheila, and Bonnie, brings up the finger prop. Lottie spills her drink to divert attention. Later, Morgan confronts her about the lie, and Lottie claims the play is at another church. Morgan assumes Lottie just wants to hide the fact that she is attending a second church from her friends, and they part on good terms. Back home, Lottie burns Norma’s remains in her fireplace.

The following day, Lottie airs out the smoke smell and flashes back to murdering Walter Simmons, a little league umpire who had humiliated Archie. Texting as Norma, she tells Burke that Detective Tula contacted her and wants to meet.. To her church friends, she claims the finger was a prop for her granddaughter Olive’s school play.

The next morning, a real estate agent tours the house and quotes a price far below Lottie’s hopes, dashing her plans for an upscale retirement community. Later, Jax calls her again. Initially, he apologizes for calling her old and insulting her during their last conversation. However, after Lottie hears someone leave the room in the background of his call, Jax then whispers that he wishes she would die, calling her an “old hag.” The conversation amuses Lottie, the triviality of it making her long to move past all the current stress in her life.

Determined to neutralize Burke, Lottie breaks her own rule by scripting her messages, then burns the notes. Posing as Norma, she tells him about her meeting with Tula. She claims that Tula believes Lottie is innocent, as she is too old to have committed murder. She then tells him that she is having dinner with Lottie. Burke is adamant that Tula is wrong. He urges Lottie (as Norma) to follow their “plan” and to be sure she “hides it” carefully.

Lottie searches Norma’s luggage and finds a tiny cellular camera inside a cigarette box. After researching how it works, she decides to turn it to her advantage. She stages the dining room to appear as if she and Norma just shared a meal, then activates the device. From beyond the camera’s view, she acts out a one-sided farewell to a departing “Norma,” creating false video evidence for Burke.