House Rules

Part 10 is preceded by the case study of Helle Crafts, a Pan Am flight attendant who disappeared in 1986. Her disappearance immediately cast suspicion on her husband, Richard Crafts. Evidence including blood on the mattress and purchases of a woodchipper and freezer linked Richard to the crime. Additional items like a letter, a chainsaw with human remains, and forensic evidence further incriminated him.

In 1989, despite no body being found, Richard was convicted of Helle’s murder, due to Dr. Henry Lee’s examination of the forensic evidence. Lee’s analysis of minute remains such as a hair, a single fingernail, and a few droplets of blood secured Richard Crafts’s conviction and cemented Lee’s reputation as a pioneer of forensic science.

This case study sets the scene for the final day of Jacob’s trial. A few hours after her illicit tryst with Oliver, Emma rushes home to prepare for the trial and finds Henry in her house. Henry has flown in from California, written Oliver a check for his legal services, and plans to attend the trial. Henry expects Emma to be grateful, but she is furious. Emma sees Henry’s presence as an attempt to make up for abandoning their family, and after their awkward visit to California, she feels that he doesn’t deserve this chance. Henry counters that he simply wants to do the right thing. He confesses that he is worried by the severity of the charges against Jacob and the likelihood that his son will be found guilty of murder. He bitterly remarks that Emma sees herself as the gold standard of parenting; because she sacrifices so much for Jacob, she invalidates Henry’s attempt to be a father in his own way.

Meanwhile, Jacob feels unsettled by Henry’s arrival. He hasn’t seen his father in years, and he knows that Henry left because of him. In an attempt to process his feelings, Jacob watches a home movie of his second birthday party. In the video, Henry and Emma are still happily married and Jacob seems like any other toddler—making eye contact with his parents, seeking their touch, and laughing as he enjoys his birthday cake. Jacob struggles to understand how his autism, which manifested a few weeks later, could completely erase this version of him. He wonders if autism really even exists or if his symptoms occurred because his father left and other children excluded him at an early age. He considers the possibility that he does not have a disability but is simply different from other people; perhaps those around him have invented autism as a disability to explain his differences.

These exact questions become the focus of the trial when Oliver and the prosecutor deliver their closing arguments. The prosecutor argues that Jacob is narcissistic, devoid of empathy, and has a pattern of lashing out through physical violence when he’s angry. She contends that this evidence—along with his notebook about Jess’s crime scene—is proof that Jacob murdered Jess. Oliver refutes this argument by asserting that Jacob communicates differently than neurotypical people. He argues that this difference has caused Jacob to be marginalized and ridiculed his entire life. By Oliver’s logic, this murder trial exacerbates a lifelong pattern of victimization. He urges the jury to acknowledge that Jess’s death was a terrible tragedy but convicting Jacob will only victimize him again.

Jacob has a meltdown during Oliver’s closing statement because he wants to testify. He insists that the jury has to hear the truth and, worn down by the chaos of Jacob’s outburst, Oliver agrees. On the witness stand, Jacob talks through his creation of the crime scene. He tells the jury that he wrapped Jess in his quilt because he loved her and wanted her to be warm. Oliver asks Jacob if he is sorry for killing Jess and Jacob says he isn’t. The jury interprets this as evidence that Jacob is a cold-hearted murderer. Emma has a panic attack, realizing that her son has just sentenced himself to prison. Oliver tells Emma that all hope is lost now; there is nothing he can do to help, and they have no choice but to await the jury’s verdict.

The jury deliberates for several days without coming to a conclusion. During this time, both Oliver and Henry stay in the Hunt home; Emma feels that all five of them have become an awkward family unit. Oliver feels threatened by Henry’s arrival and worries that Henry’s grand gesture may rekindle Emma’s feelings for her ex-husband. Emma assures him that her love for Henry died when he abandoned their family and that she only has feelings for Oliver now. The unexpected honesty of their discussion prompts them to reveal their relationship to Jacob and Theo who, in turn, confess that they were already aware. As they wait for the verdict, Theo turns 16 and Emma tries to organize a birthday party for him. As his mother and father sing “Happy Birthday” to him, Theo reflects on the normal, happy home life he imagined when he broke into other people’s houses. He realizes that, in this moment, he has the family he fantasized about—as long as he can keep himself from thinking about Jacob and the trial. Emma surprises Theo with an unexpected gift by telling him that she has released him from his debt: He does not have to repay her for the money he stole. Theo is overwhelmed by gratitude and shame for his own actions; he chokes back tears and promises to repay her kindness by mending their relationship.

Henry gives Theo the gift of his time by arranging for them to program a computer game together and—in so doing—offering Theo an opportunity to get to know his father. Oliver cements his place in their family by giving Theo the gift he has wanted most of all: a promise to help Theo get his driver’s license. This gift is especially meaningful because Emma has been too overwhelmed by Jacob’s needs to support Theo with milestones like learning to drive. Theo is touched by the thoughtfulness of everyone’s gifts; for the first time, he feels seen, loved, and valued. In a moment of quiet reflection, he decides that this has been the happiest birthday of his life.

However, the party’s joyous tone is shattered when, for the first time in Theo’s life, Jacob announces that he has a gift for his brother. Jacob produces the pink iPod that Theo stole from Jess’s house and presents it to Theo with great pride. Oliver recoils with the realization that Jacob is holding stolen evidence which Oliver is now obligated to present to the prosecution. Emma collapses under the horror of this discovery and its potential impact on Jacob’s trial. Jacob, however, remains unable to read his family’s social cues and does not sense the shift in the atmosphere. Jacob announces that he knows that Theo killed Jess and confesses that, to protect Theo, he moved Jess’s body and created a crime scene that would draw attention away from Theo.

The family then learns about Theo’s habit of breaking into houses and Theo confesses that he stole the iPod and ran away when he saw Jess getting out of the shower. Jacob confirms that Jess was already dead when he arrived for their scheduled social skills lesson and that he assumed that Theo had killed her. Oliver scrambles to arrange a meeting with the judge and prosecutor so that he can present this evidence and submit a new theory: Jess was not kidnapped or murdered by anyone. Instead, Theo’s presence startled her as she was getting out of the shower, causing her to slip on the wet floor and sustain a fatal blow to the head. Jacob then moved her body, thinking that he was protecting Theo.

Emma and Oliver rush to relay this information to the judge. Jacob and Theo are then required to return to court and testify. Together, the family drives to the courthouse; when it’s time for them to go inside, Jacob and Theo are sharing a rare moment of brotherly love and listening to music on Jess’s iPod.