Two Can Play Recap Part 9: Blood and Water

This Two Can Play recap part 9 covers chapters 201–224 of the web edition, with spoilers. This stretch has several very dark scenes. We keep them general and never describe them.

"Felix is cheating on me"

Sierra's call ends the last part, and her story is worse than Celeste feared. Felix didn't just leave her at the roadside to run to Seraphine. Sierra is two months pregnant with his child, and she won't leave him. Celeste promises her one thing: she will get Seraphine out of Felix's life.

Mom's kitchen

Celeste goes home to her mother for the first time in far too long. There's breakfast, the kind that makes you feel ten years old, and then the truth: the videos, the pact, all of it. Her mother's answer is the most grown-up line in the chapter: "Two wrongs can never make a right." Celeste agrees, and then says what she came to say: "Mom, I have fallen in love with Dominic. And I want to be with him."

Felix walks in, locks the door and goes for her again. This time Celeste is ready: a knee, pepper spray, and then the truth about Sierra, said out loud in front of their mother. Their mother slaps Felix. Celeste severs ties with her brother for good, and her mother gives the only blessing that matters: "As long as you are happy, I am happy."

The yellow room

On the drive home, someone in the back seat knocks Celeste out. She wakes up tied to a chair, and the person standing over her is Elizabeth, with a confused Riley beside her. Elizabeth's plan is the ugliest yet: something that would make Julian let Celeste go for good.

Celeste has two advantages. The first is a silver cuff bracelet Dominic gave her ("Keep this on. Always.") with a hidden blade. The second is information. She reveals Elizabeth's secret in front of her own daughter: Julian and Riley are not Mr. Fisher's children. "What is your excuse, Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher?" finally gets its answer.

The rope gives way. With help from the bodyguards, who kick the front door off its hinges, Celeste turns Elizabeth's trap back on her. The book goes a long way past revenge here, and we won't follow it. It's the first time the heroine does something we can't cheer, and we come back to it in our analysis of Celeste's dark turn.

"Help me, Celeste"

Meanwhile Dominic's grandmother calls in tears: Imelda has hurt herself. It's a lie. When Dominic rushes home, his grandmother sedates him and locks him in with Imelda, hoping a pregnancy will end his interest in "that married woman". He fights it with cold water and the memory of the night he confessed.

When Celeste calls, he manages three words: "Help me, Celeste."

She drives across the city, and her fingerprint opens the door. His grandmother stands in her way calling her a homewrecker, so Celeste stuns her and then gently carries her to the sofa ("I'm sorry, ma'am. You left me no choice"). She kicks in the bedroom door, sends Imelda running, and gets Dominic to hospital. For once, she's the one who breaks down the door.

"I love you, Celeste"

At the hospital, Dominic is stabilised and sheepish. "Thank you. For coming for me." Celeste makes herself a quiet promise: even if they had forced him, she would have stayed. A fake doctor is caught taking photos, hired by Granny to shame her online.

Then her mother calls. The Seraphine and Julian videos are all over the internet, and Celeste didn't post them. She works out who did in one breath.

What we noticed

• The book finally pays off the Elizabeth secret it set up a hundred chapters ago.
• Dominic's grandmother is now the most dangerous person in his life, which is quite something in this book.
• Celeste's revenge on Elizabeth is the moment the moral balance of the book tips. How the story handles its consequences matters.

Previous: [Part 8](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-8-i-want-to-be-with-you) · Next: [Part 10](/posts/two-can-play-recap-part-10-pats-war).