Created by Joe Murtagh, The Woman in the Wall is not exactly a real-life story, but the makers have borrowed the experiences of the various women who had been sent to Magdalene Laundry back in the day and taken the creative liberty to weave them together with a captivating narrative. Lorna Brady, a survivor of the Magdalene laundry, was already trying to deal with a lot of things, and her life becomes even more chaotic when she wakes up to find a dead body lying in her house. So, let’s find out what happened with Lorna and if she is actually a murderer or was she just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Spoiler Alert
Who Had Sent A Letter To Lorna Brady?
We saw Lorna lying in the middle of the road at the beginning of The Woman in the Wall Episode 1, and she had no clue how she had reached there. She hurried back to her home and got agitated when she saw people looking at her in an amused manner. We realized that such episodes, where Lorna was not in her senses, happened quite often with her. Everybody knew that Lorna had been dealing with serious mental health issues since the time she was sent to Kilkinure convent by her own parents. Her child had been taken away from her, and no explanation was ever given to her by the fathers or the nuns working there.
The Kilkinure convent was one of the Magdalene laundries run in Ireland by the church. Women who, according to the church, were not of good character and had a somewhat promiscuous array of values were brought there and tortured mentally and physically. The survivors had also formed a sort of informal organization, and they wanted to tell the world what had happened to them, but because of the involvement of the church, no one wanted to come forward and help them. Niamh, one of the women who had been in that convent, was hopeful that one day, they would get justice, but others like Amy knew that they were too inconsequential for the system, and nobody cared if they lived, died, or were abused.
Niamh was in talks with a charity named Atherom Group, who had assured her that they would fight for their rights and get them compensation. But Amy told Niamh that she didn’t care whether they got compensation or not because nothing could heal their wounds and make up for what had happened to them. Amy wanted an apology from the church; she wanted them to accept that, in the name of religion, they were running a scam and ruining lives. But she knew that pointing fingers at the so-called messengers of God disturbed the delicate balance and that no politician, bureaucrat, or any other power-wielder would ever vouch for it.
Lorna’s life was already a mess, and she had no room for any more drama. She got an anonymous letter in which the sender wrote that they knew what had happened to her child. When Lorna called on the number written on the letter, the person at the other end cut her call and sent her a text message asking her to meet at the Thin Man Pub at 8 p.m. Lorna went there and waited for a while, but the anonymous person never turned up.
A man named Michael, who apparently knew Lorna from before, came and asked her if the one she had been waiting for hadn’t turned up. Michael may have asked it just because he wanted to start a conversation, but Lorna thought that maybe he knew something about the person whom she was supposed to meet, or maybe he was the person who had sent her the letter. Lorna went after him, but she was way too drunk, and she lost her balance and fainted. She woke up in her home, and she had no recollection of how she had reached there. To make matters worse, she found the dead body of a woman in one of her rooms, and she had no clue how that had happened.
Lorna once again called the number that was written on the letter, and surprisingly, she could hear it ringing in her own house. Lorna realized that it was the dead woman’s phone, and probably she was the one who had sent her the letter. Lorna didn’t know if she was the one who had killed that woman, but she knew that she would have to hide the dead body. Lorna brought her ax and started hitting the wall. The wall broke, and we came to know that she had a hidden space there. She put that woman’s body inside and then put back the broken pieces of plywood. Things became even more complicated when Lorna realized that it was the same woman who worked as a nun back at the convent and had taken her baby. But then the question arose: if she worked there, then why had she sent a letter? And moreover, if Lorna knew that she could help her get back her baby, then why had she killed her? No other woman had gotten that letter, and Lorna knew that for such a thing, she couldn’t even confide in anybody or ask for help.
Did Lorna Kill Father Percy?
Detective Coleman Akande came to Kilkunure in relation to a murder case that he was investigating. Father Percy Sheehan had been murdered at his Blackrock, Dublin, residence, and his car was found stranded in Kilkunure. Akande knew the Father, and he couldn’t understand why somebody would kill a nobleman who had done nothing but work for the welfare of the people. But Akande’s judgment was flawed, as Father Percy was responsible for ruining the lives of hundreds of women, and he was the one who had taken Lorna to the covenant back in the day. Detective Coleman met Sergeant Aiden Massey, and he asked him if anybody he knew had a vendetta against Father Percy.
Aiden Massey, for some reason, was concealing information, but after Akande met Amy, he got to know that a lot of women despised the man. Amy said that she was happy that the Father had died, and Akande was evidently shocked, as never believed the father was capable of such brutality. Akande also met Peggy, who told him everything about the Magdalene laundries and how she, Lorna, and others like them were brought there and tortured. Peggy said that women were brought there for different reasons, but they were all subjected to brutality. Peggy said that though they had survived, they still dealt with the trauma each and every day. Peggy told Akande that she was still one of the lucky ones who were able to maintain their mental sanity, but others like Lorna were not so fortunate. Akande got to know about the violent activities Lorna indulged in and how she despised the church and its clergymen.
During The Woman in the Wall Episode 1’s ending, Akande goes to Lorna’s house to question her, but she doesn’t open the door as she has a dead body lying there. Lorna was already in a tight spot, and to make things worse, she once again, in a hallucinatory state, went and burned the car of Father Percy, and when she snapped back to reality, she realized the blunder she had committed. Akande saw the car burn, and he knew that he had lost the most important piece of evidence that would have potentially led him to the murderer.
Akande has a lot to figure out, as everything seems to be connected to the Kilkinure convent. The obvious deduction that he could make at that point in time was that one of the survivors would have killed Father Percy, but he knew that things were not as simple as they seemed to be. Till now, he does not have any clue about that woman, whose dead body had been hidden by Lorna behind the walls. Lorna, right now, could just hope that nobody saw her burn the car because the act could potentially make her the prime suspect in the case, and that was something that she feared.
