The one thing that surprised me in the first 4 episodes of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, was the kind of person Adeline turned out to be. I felt that when she discovered the corpse at Ed’s house, she would freak out and distance herself from him. But she proved to be equally unstable, if not more so, than Ed Gein. That said, let’s find out what happened in the 5th episode and understand why Adeline wanted to go to New York City, and why she came back to Plainfield at the end.
Trigger Warning
How did Ed Gein become a necrophiliac?
Over a period of time, Adeline had gotten obsessed with moving to New York City and working under Mr. Weegee, the photographer who clicked pictures of crime scenes. She had written many letters to Mr. Weegee, and apparently, he had agreed to meet with her. Adeline was having sexual relationships with many guys at that point, and I don’t think Ed knew about it. She had gained an infamous reputation for being a player, someone more interested in having fun than in committing to a serious relationship. There was a newfound confidence in her, as if she had already gotten a job in the big city. She didn’t think twice before insulting others, who, according to her, did not have it in them to live in a city like New York. She shared an intimate moment with a boy named Randy, only to dismiss him afterward as though he were nothing more than an object to be used and discarded. Adeline had started to feel that Ed was way too clingy for her. She shared a special bond with him, or I must say, they were very alike because of their twisted sensibilities. But now she wanted to move on with her life and explore new things. Ed wanted to get intimate with her, but she told him that she didn’t feel like it. She told him that she was going to move to New York and he might never see her again. She quite bluntly told him that he should drop his plans of getting married to her because she didn’t want that sort of life for herself. Working a farm, cooking food for her husband, and learning to become a homemaker were not things she felt inclined to do. She suggested to Ed that he find a new girl for himself. Ed quite honestly told her that he didn’t feel comfortable in the presence of most girls, and those he liked didn’t want to talk to him. It was Adeline who suggested to him that he should get intimate with a girl who couldn’t say no. She said it so easily that it felt like it was the most natural thing in the world. It gave us a glimpse into just how psychotic even she could be. On the surface, Ed appeared to be someone with sociopathic tendencies, but I believe Adeline was no less unstable. In fact, she might have been equally, if not more, mentally unfit, her actions reflecting a kind of derangement that was as dangerous as Ed’s mind. In fact, Adeline even told Ed that he should dig up a fresh corpse instead of going for an old one. Adeline’s mother had asked her to attend Eleanor Adam’s sewing sessions, and she just couldn’t stand those ladies. In fact, after she had had enough, she stormed out of the class, cursing Adams and telling her that she would make sure that she laughed at her funeral. Not only did Adeline laugh, but she also made Ed exhume her corpse.
Did Adeline get a job in New York City?
Adeline went to New York City, and she met with Mr. Weegee. That’s when we got to know that the man had not called her because he thought she could be his assistant, he had agreed to meet with her because she just wouldn’t stop writing letters to him. He saw the pictures she had clicked and asked her to go back to where she had come, as he did not think that they were from crime scenes. Mr. Weegee felt that Adeline had taken some photos of dead animals from different angles, and she was saying that they were of a human body. Obviously he didn’t know what Adeline and Ed were up to in Plainfield. To make matters worse, Adeline was given a “cold room” in the hotel, as she didn’t have enough money to pay for the room with a fireplace. It got so cold at night that even her tears froze on her cheeks. Adeline lost control of her emotions and went to fight with the owner of the hotel to give her a refund. Things got heated, and Adeline ended up assaulting the lady and stealing all the money she had on her. Adeline had no option but to go back to Plainfield, because that was the only place where at least she had a room to sleep. Adeline was angry to her bones, as she hadn’t felt that helpless ever. She had left her town boasting about that she was a city girl and now she had to go back and face all those people once again. A part of her would have felt embarrassed, but she had no other choice at that moment.
Why did Adeline decide to patch up with Ed?
When Adeline’s mother found out that she had come back, she didn’t leave an opportunity to insult Adeline and make her feel extremely pathetic about her existence. Adeline’s mother confessed to her that during her pregnancy, she had tried everything she could to kill her before she was even born. She admitted that she was partly to blame for Adeline’s struggles, as she would deliberately stumble and fall during her pregnancy in the hope of inducing a miscarriage. Basically, she wanted to tell Adeline that she was good for nothing and lacked all the womanly skills that she needed to acquire a man for herself. Adeline, after getting her ego crushed, decided to go back to Ed, as he was the only man who she felt would marry her, knowing her idiosyncrasies. In episode 5, we saw that Ed had begun to take pleasure in his grotesque necrophiliac sessions, if one might even call them that. He had taken the corpse of Eleanor Adams to his home, placed her on a table, and engaged in physical intimacy with her dead body almost every other day. Sometimes, he imagined that she was still alive, while at other times he fantasized that she was none other than Ilsa Koch, the infamous Concentration Camp Murderess. The sheer perversity was horrifying, and I believe had anyone stumbled upon that scene, they would have been scarred for life. It was the kind of depravity that made your skin crawl, forcing one to confront the terrifying reality of just how deep into the abyss of bestiality a human being could descend. The moment Adeline reached Ed’s house, she started kissing him. Ed also reciprocated, as that was what he wanted for a really long time. But then suddenly he stopped. He told Adeline something that sent shivers down my spine and left me squirming with disgust. He told her that she was warm and that he didn’t like that, obviously because he had taken a liking to getting intimate with corpses. So at the end of episode 5 we saw that Adeline sat in a bathtub and Ed filled it with ice cubes. I believe that together they will cause unimaginable mayhem, and their union was surely made in hell. It would be interesting to see how long Ed and Adeline are able to keep their secrets hidden from the law enforcement authorities and what they plan to do next.
