With last week’s Judge Crawford twist behind her – or so it seems – Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) is left asking for whom the bell tolls, or, more specifically, why the bell tolled, sending a famous pop star to her death. And after a slight step back in the last episode, Elsbeth Season 3 returns with another strong adversary for our heroine in the form of Hollywood legend Dianne Wiest, playing a nun with a killer habit (I promise, no more bad puns… nun more) in “And Then There Were Nuns.” It’s an episode that poses another question: Is Alec Bloom (Ivan Hernandez) really as perfect as he seems to be?
The episode begins with a music video from pop star Alaia Jade (Lindsey Normington), seen cavorting in a church à la Madonna. The camera pans out to reveal four nuns watching the video in horror, only to be more horrified when Reverend Mother Constance Mary Cabot (Wiest) catches them. They were curious, with a rumor going around that Jade had put in an offer to buy the convent, which Constance confirms, but assures them to keep the faith. She has veto power for any sale, or at least would if the archdiocese didn’t disregard it and sell it anyway. Monsignor Frank (David Rasche) explains the Vatican has already approved the $27 million offer. Mother Constance is enraged, but it doesn’t change anything; they’ll need to be out by the end of the week.
As he leaves, Mother Constance prays, asking God if there’s a path to save their home, to give her a sign. On cue, the bell tolls. She puts her plan into place that evening, stepping away to pry open the door to the belfry and moving the “Danger” sign out of sight. Constance returns as the nuns finish watching Father Crime, starring Jack Wilson (Dominic Fumusa), who you may remember from Season 2’s “Toil and Trouble,” and pulls Sister Darby (Eva Kaminsky) aside. She launches into a blistering tirade on the young nun about having rung the bells at 6:02, not at precisely 6:00, causing Sister Darby to swear that it will never happen again. It’ll be difficult, though, after Mother Constance swipes her watch when she’s not looking and resets it.
In the next scene, Alaia is on her walkthrough, and is sitting in a hallway recording song ideas on her phone when she’s startled by Mother Constance. They strike up a conversation about Alaia’s plans for the convent. She then asks Alaia if there’s something weighing on her soul. There is, with Alaia looking to cut ties with her producer of 13 years, and worries about it. Mother Constance tells her a story about how she went to the top of the belfry and was comforted by the sunset, with the city suddenly covered in “divine light, gold and pure.” She tells Alaia that she could find the same when the sun sets at 5:42 pm sharp. Later, Alaia is seen walking up the belfry stairs as the sisters are in evening prayer. Sister Darby ducks out, believing its 6:00 pm, and rings the bell at precisely 5:42 pm, sending Alaia to her death.
Elsbeth Finds That Mother Constance is a Hard Habit to Break in ‘Elsbeth’s “And Then There Were Nuns”
Elsbeth arrives at the crime scene with Detective Smullen (Danny Mastrogiorgio), and questions the nuns about what they heard. Was it an “ahhh” then thud, or “whooa” then thud? Officer Reynolds (b) arrives, confirming the injuries were consistent with the fall, but not the contusion on her head. The bell? Yep, and Sister Darby is aghast that she is responsible for the death. Elsbeth assures her that it wasn’t her fault, and lightens the mood with a joke: “A nun, a cop and a lawyer walk into a church, or is it a bar… or it is a bar. Is it a priest, a nun and a chicken?” Just then Mother Constance arrives, and when asked why Alaia would be in the bell tower anyway, she says, “It was her bell tower, I suppose. I just accepted her generous offer to purchase our convent.”
Alaia was unhappy when told the bell tower, locked up for years, was off limits, she explains. They go to the bell tower, where Elsbeth notices that the danger sign had been dragged through the dirt, turned around when it wouldn’t have made sense to have done so. It’s a puzzler, alright, and Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) is looking for ideas. The detectives suspect that Alaia, notorious for drinking excessively, was under the influence and was simply unfortunate. Wagner turns to Elsbeth, who has been waiting for her turn to talk (she’s trying to be better at it), and she explains about the danger sign and how Alaia couldn’t have pried the door open since she only had a phone on her.
Elsbeth and Smullen bring producer Shane Sills (Ben Chase), the last to hear from Alaia, in for questioning. He’s not broken up but pissed, since her death makes it more complicated, but not impossible, to finish her next album. He has access to her cloud and everything she ever recorded on it, proudly claiming, “If she sang in the shower once, I own it.” He also admits that the claims of her wild behavior were all made up by him, giving her an edge, when in reality she lived like a… “Nun?” Elsbeth suggests, to which Shane agrees.
Back at the precinct, Sister Frances shows up, thanking Elsbeth for showing Sister Darby such kindness. As they converse, Sister Frances corrects Elsbeth when she claims that Mother Constance had okayed the sale, saying that, in reality, she had never seen her so angry in her life. Hmm, that’s interesting, as is the fact that the bells ring at precisely 6:00 pm at the end of evening prayers, “Unless Sister Darby is late again.” Elsbeth sparks at that disclosure, and after Sister Frances leaves she tracks down Wagner, explaining that the bells were supposed to ring at 6:00, but the 911 call came at 5:45. It was no accident, Elsbeth asserts, but it doesn’t matter – someone has confessed to having killed Alaia.
Thou Shalt Not Try to Get One Over on Elsbeth in “And Then There Were Nuns”
It’s Stanley Culpepper, a “Gem” who has been stalking Alaia for weeks. But Elsbeth proves that Culpepper is not a killer, just an obsessive fan. He doesn’t know why Alaia went up the bell tower, but maybe the “lady in the black dress knows,” and he has photos. Elsbeth confronts Mother Constance with the photos, and she admits she had talked to Alaia about the bell tower being off limits. She claims Alaia was unhappy about it, but she doesn’t look unhappy. “It’s the camera angle,” Constance abruptly quips. She’s a hard habit to break (okay, one more), so Elsbeth turns to Sister Darby, who says Mother Constance expects perfection, “especially when it comes to the bells.” Sister Darby is adamant she was on time, and if she wasn’t on time, she’d hear about it. Only Mother Constance, who was in the kitchen with her before, had said nothing. Constance overhears the whole thing, and manipulates the monsignor into demanding the police end their investigation, citing the need for a warrant if they want back in. “We’re not welcome,” Wagner says to Elsbeth, “so we better figure out a new way to get thee to that nunnery.”
It just so happens Elsbeth does have a way in, having been invited by Sister Frances to their food drive that weekend. Mother Constance is not happy about Elsbeth being there, or the fact she brought Jack Wilson with her. She’s about to kick Elsbeth out when two trucks full of donations come in, with Elsbeth explaining that Jack had put out a call for donations, and “it’s amazing what a celebrity guest will do for turnout” (brilliant meta reference, writers). Sister Frances is happy Elsbeth is there, though, and explains that Mother Constance wasn’t always so dour. In fact, she was quite the rebel, and escaped the eye of her Mother Superior in the belfry. Elsbeth goes up the belfry and finds an old stash of liquor and smokes, but is startled by Constance. “That belongs to a girl I no longer recognize,” Constance says, explaining it was here where she heard the call, looking out the window and seeing “God’s divine light… gold and pure.” Elsbeth leaves, but back at home, she hears a new single from Alaia called “Resurrection,” which Sills pieced together with vocals from the cloud. The lyrics are great: “I lose myself in your allure; Divine light, gold and pure.” Sound familiar? Yep. Gotcha.
Back at the convent, Mother Constance is giving a pep talk to the sisters, saying she won’t rest until they’re settled in a new home. She’s interrupted by Elsbeth and Smullen, who snaps back at the monsignor that he doesn’t have a search warrant, but does have an arrest warrant. For Mother Constance, with Elsbeth explaining why in detail. Constance said she accepted Alaia’s offer, but Sister Frances contradicted that. She changed the time on Sister Darby’s watch, and inspired Alaia to go up in the belfry at that exact time. The giveaway? “Divine light, gold and pure,” recorded by Alaia on her recorder just before climbing the tower. “I just wanted to save our home,” Constance laments, but to add insult to injury, Elsbeth did save their home, with the food drive success gaining the attention of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. “It’s a miracle,” the nuns proclaim, but we know it’s just Elsbeth.
And what about Alec Bloom? Well, Teddy (Ben Levi Ross) has his first byline for the paper, and it’s following up on the story of Alec as a young boy, being fed sandwiches by Pete, an MTA worker. He tracks Pete down, and arranges for him to meet Alec at the convent as the capper to his article. Alec is thrilled to see him, but Pete? Doesn’t recognize Alec at all, and suggests the name of the boy wasn’t Alec. But he admits he could be mistaken, and joins Alec for the photo op. Teddy, however, isn’t so sure.
