House Rules

Part 8’s opening case study explores the crimes of the Green River Killer, a serial killer who evaded capture for more than 10 years until new evolutions in DNA typing technology allowed detectives to match sperm—left on the body of a victim—to Gary Ridgway, who had given a saliva sample in conjunction with an unrelated case. Further DNA testing proved that Gary Ridgway was the Green River Killer; he was convicted of 48 murders and sentenced to life without parole.

This case study transitions into an examination of Jacob’s Crime Busters notebooks. Oliver is spending the afternoon in the Hunt home to review the evidence against Jacob and is convinced that Jacob’s notebooks cannot be used against him until he sees that Jacob has written about the forensic evidence associated with Jess’s crime scene.

Oliver recognizes that the prosecution will see this as evidence of Jacob’s guilt. He shares his discovery with Emma, who panics; together, Oliver and Emma begin a frantic attempt to prevent this evidence from being used against Jacob. While they brainstorm potential strategies, Theo decides that he is sick of the chaos and neglect caused by Jacob’s trial. He steals Emma’s credit card and boards a flight to California, hoping that he can reconnect with his father, Henry, and find a parent who will treat him as a priority. His reunion with Henry proves disappointing, however, and is further complicated when Emma comes after him.

Faced with Henry’s new wife and children, Emma and Theo feel disoriented. It’s obvious that Henry’s new family is uncomplicated; Emma and Theo feel a pang of longing for the life they wish they had. Emma tells Henry that Jacob has been charged with murder and Henry responds by sharing a memory: Shortly after Jacob’s diagnosis, Henry and Emma left the boys with a babysitter and went on a date. Their outing was cut short when their babysitter’s father, a paramedic, came to the movie theater to tell them that he had taken Theo to the emergency room. Theo needed 10 stitches that night because Jacob had attacked him and pushed him out of his highchair. Shocked, Emma admits that she doesn’t remember this at all. Henry responds that Emma’s love for Jacob has always made her ignorant of reality. Their conversation is cut short, and they never get to finish it, but Henry’s recollection haunts Emma as she and Theo return to Vermont to begin the next stage of Jacob’s trial. Emma tells Theo that he must pay her back the money he stole for the flight.

Part 9 opens with the 1970 case study of Army officer and medical doctor, Jeffrey MacDonald. When MacDonald called the police to report the murder of his wife and two daughters, he claimed that he was wounded, and his family was killed in an attack similar to the Manson Family murders. But MacDonald was convicted when forensic analysts discovered that his pajama top, purportedly worn by him while he was stabbed by alleged attackers, had 48 clean, cylindrical holes that were too neat for a defensive struggle. The scientist demonstrated that these holes could have been made by folding the top in a way that aligned with the 21 stab wounds suffered by Mrs. MacDonald. This indicated that the pajama top was laid on top of her before the attack. Macdonald was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his family.

The narrative moves to the final phase of Jacob’s trial, when the forensic evidence against Jacob is presented. Jacob insists that the evidence is being misinterpreted and Oliver has to let him tell the truth. Oliver counters that Jacob’s words will be twisted against him and he will likely be sentenced to life in prison. For days, in between court sessions, Jacob and Oliver argue about their conflicting definitions of the truth and Jacob’s right to testify. Jacob contends that people would understand if he could just tell the truth. Oliver counters that the truth is irrelevant; his job is to get Jacob acquitted.

This conflict between himself and his attorney intensifies Jacob’s sensitivity to the chaos of the courtroom. Every day, when Jacob enters and exits the courtroom, he is bombarded by a pack of reporters who shout at him and shove microphones in his face. This triggers Jacob’s sensory issues and makes it even harder for him to cope with a day in court. Jacob also experiences extreme sensitivity to the clothes he is required to wear in court. For Jacob, the sensation of a button-down shirt against his skin is painful; each day, Theo and Oliver have to wrestle him into his courtroom attire while Jacob writhes on the floor and screams in pain. Each day, the ordeal of getting Jacob ready and attending the trial takes a toll on Emma, Oliver, and Theo.

Whenever Jacob has a meltdown in the courtroom or needs a break, Emma sees the jury gazing at her with pity. Emma wishes that she could tell them that she doesn’t want their pity, that she loves Jacob, and that she loves being his mother. However, just as she has never known how to make people include and accept Jacob, she doesn’t know how to make other mothers understand her. Meanwhile, Oliver is feeling defeated. Although he has not revealed this to Emma, this is his first criminal trial and he is out of his depth. To make matters worse, Jacob erupts each time he is confronted with unexpected stimuli, and each time, the judge reprimands Oliver for being unable to control his client. Oliver feels that the stigma surrounding Jacob’s autism encompasses him too and makes his job harder. He and Emma bond over their shared pain and exhaustion.

As the trial drags on, Oliver and the prosecutor interview an array of witnesses including Rich, Mark, and the owner of the pizza parlor where Jacob and Jess argued. During Oliver’s cross-examination of Mark, he catches Mark in a lie and uses this to hint that Mark, not Jacob, harmed Jess. But this strategy falls flat when the prosecutor presents Jacob’s notes from Jess’s crime scene. Oliver can feel the jury staring at Jacob in condemnation and realizes that he will not be able to get Jacob acquitted. Emma feels it too and wonders if every decision she has made on Jacob’s behalf has been a mistake. She reflects on Jacob’s experience in public school—how she fought for him to be included in the empty hope that other kids would treat Jacob as if he were just like them. But as she watches the judge, jury, and prosecutor recoil from Jacob’s differences, she fears that this will never happen and that she will never be able to help Jacob be accepted anywhere.

These thoughts haunt Emma late at night as she sits on her front porch in the winter chill. Across town, Oliver is also awake and struggling to write his closing argument. At 2:00 am, Emma runs to Oliver’s apartment in her pajamas and both of them break down crying. In a moment of spontaneous honesty, they confess their worst fear to each other: that Jacob will go to prison and there is nothing they can do. But the moment turns hopeful when Oliver confesses that he has fallen in love with Emma. She reciprocates his feelings, and they have sex on top of Oliver’s paperwork for the case.