Loretta (played by Meryl Streep) is a working actor who wonders if "Death Rattle" will finally be her big break. When Ben apologizes to the cast after his poisoning (and before his ultimate death), Loretta is one of the only people he doesn't actually apologize to, and he calls her a "fellow snake." For her part, she seems to really hate his guts.
In episode five, Loretta and Oliver go on their long-awaited date, and she reveals to him that she called Ben a "f*cking pig" and they got into a big fight before the show. Did she write the words on his mirror? Later, Oliver snoops around her apartment and finds a book she has full of clips of Ben. It's very creepy and potentially very damning.
In episode six, Oliver is pretty panicked that Loretta is the killer, especially when he learns she got into a huge fight with Ben on opening night of "Death Rattle." He seems convinced she's the one who wrote "f*cking pig" on the mirror.
But in episode eight, we get some clarity about Loretta's place in the story. It turns out that as a young girl, Loretta got pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption. That baby? Dickie. Her book about Ben was actually a book about Dickie. She auditioned for "Death Rattle" just to meet and get close to Dickie, and they've clearly bonded in the weeks since Ben's death.
So did Loretta kill Ben to save Dickie from his brother? At the end of the episode, Loretta confesses to the murder, but she's clearly doing it to protect Dickie. When she's talking to Dickie backstage, it feels like she's realizing he's the main person who had the motive to do it. So Loretta only confessed to save her son. We also learn in episode nine that Ben was the one who wrote "f*cking pig" on his own mirror.
Our verdict: Not guilty
