Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 18 Shocks Audiences with a Pivotal Character’s Murder

Critic’s Rating: 5 / 5.0

5

You can pick your jaw up off the floor now. The Elsbeth episode is over, and like you, TV Fanatic is utterly in shock. I don’t care how intuitive you are — NO ONE saw that twist coming.

Just wow. It’s common knowledge that the best way to create a captivating story is to supersede viewer expectations. There’s no better way to do that than by completely turning the story on its head.

Much like Elsbeth at the end of “I Know What You Did Thirty-Three Summers Ago,” we feel like we’re in an alternate reality where nothing makes sense.

(Michael Parmelee/CBS)

Suffice it to say, Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 18 changed the game by introducing actual life-or-death stakes.

The show is trading some of its “Pastel Pink” in for “Revenge Red.”

Just When We Wondered if Elsbeth Was Running Out of Ideas, the Writers Leave Us Flabbergasted

Normally, I save the juiciest parts of an episode for the end of the review, but we’ll never be able to process what we watched until we get past that cliffhanger.

First, the Elsbeth writers deserve a massive round of applause. Their plotting was expert because it came right up to the edge of unbelievable.

Interestingly, because Delia was innocent on Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 7, we automatically assumed she was a good person.

(CBS/Screenshot)

Humans are a complex species. We are capable of being mentally unhinged and a decent person at the same time. However, that’s good news for Delia because she might be able to plead insanity.

Truth be told, even as Delia raised the gun, I didn’t think she was going to shoot. Cut to half a second later, and there’s a bullet in Judge Milton Crawford’s torso right around where his heart should be if he had one.

Okay, did anyone feel a slight moment of sympathy for the character as he died beside Elsbeth? Yeah, me neither. That guy sucked. Enjoy hell.

Carrie Preston Delivered a Stellar Performance, Perfectly Mirroring the Audience’s Confusion

He was a truly awful character and deserved a much more horrible ending.

A better fate would have been if Elsbeth had exposed him. Then, Milton loses everything as a disgraced former judge before taking his own life.

(CBS/Screenshot)

However, that’s too damn dark for Elsbeth — even after this episode. Nonetheless, it was still an incredibly powerful and moving scene.

I have to give it up to our girl, Carrie Preston. Miss Acting went in on those scenes. It really felt like she was distraught and perplexed by the events.

Granted, it was a scene where a character played by Preston’s real-life husband was dying in her arms. It was probably harder for her to NOT cry during that scene.

The twist was like napalm to the entire vibe of the show, and it feels like the story is moving away from the campier side of things.

And it’s not as if Elsbeth can’t take itself seriously from time to time. Elsbeth Season 1’s overarching plot was about Elsbeth secretly getting info on Wagner for Agent Celetano.

Now Agent Celetano is gone, thanks to the antics of one dead judge on the courthouse steps. However, Judge Milton’s assassination may work in the dead man’s favor.

(CBS/Screenshot)

There Was Something Truly Compelling About Judge Milton Crawford’s Death

If you have kept up with the Elsbeth Reviews, you know I was convinced that Judge Crawford had every intention of stopping Elsbeth from working with the police and possibly even having her disbarred through “The Consent Decree.”

To be fair, CBS made a big stink about the star-studded Season 2 Finale, which will feature multiple murderers returning for one episode.

The Elsbeth writers must read TV Fanatic because that is definitely where the story was heading before it suddenly took a hard left turn.

What’s interesting is that murders happen on every single episode of Elsbeth, and yet, there was something so profound about Judge Crawford’s (Michael Emerson) death.

Maybe it’s because the way he was killed automatically made him a martyr. It doesn’t matter if he killed a girl for not being interested in him when he was younger.

(CBS/Screenshot)

All people are going to see is a man who was murdered in cold blood. Even worse, due to the circumstances leading up to the death, Elsbeth will certainly be implicated.

She was at the crime scene when the judge died; she had been seen having heated arguments with him, and worst of all, there’s clear evidence that Elsbeth had been in contact with Delia since her trial.

With how everything is set up, there’s a good chance the Finale is revving up the story for a massive change after Elsbeth Season 2.

With Elsbeth’s Story Completely Upended, We Have No Idea What’s in Store for Miss Tascioni

Whatever awaits us on the finale will change the series in the future. How do I know this? Decades of being obsessed with television.

In all seriousness, the Elsbeth writers have consistently gone out of their way to bring new and innovative ideas to the show.

(Michael Parmelee/CBS)

Rather than let Elsbeth be the run-of-the-mill case-of-the-week police procedural, the hands behind the series are keeping audiences on their toes and not the other way around.

We had a nice and easy thing with Elsbeth Season 1. It was all about the titular character fitting in with NYC folks and opening viewers up to her pastel-colored world.

The sophomore season has seen so much change, with Kaya not only getting promoted to detective but having a little boo thang of her own.

Then there’s Teddy, who was completely absent during the first season but is now practically a regular cast member.

I have truly loved seeing Elsbeth geek out as a mom, so I hope Theodore (I don’t know if that’s it, but Teddy can’t be his full name, right?) sticks around a little longer.

It’s not all good news, though. We could have done without the new Detective Rivers. I have no idea what that character brings to the story other than a capital on ignorance.

(CBS/Screenshot)

Mark my words, whatever CBS‘s Elsbeth has planned for the Finale, it will change the show entirely.

At the very least, hopefully, we’ll get more information about “Nut Job Sluts Who Kill.” It sounds like an award-winning and riveting podcast.

God, I just love this show.

How shocked were you by Judge Milton Crawford’s death?

What do you think about all these little changes to Elsbeth?

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