If anyone could get Dan out of trouble was this guy, on the series Clay was patient zero, the first man who saw and experience Alex mental health problem, he also had a background of family with mental health problems and it was several times were Alex basically snap at him for no reason or just because he didn't agree with her or even remind her of what she have said in the past, we didn't see that behavior with Dan but with Clay she use to forget what she said and repeat the contrary, Clay who quickly notice it knew something was wrong with her but he like her, Clay try to stay with Alex and I would say even help her with her problems, there was a scene at a roof top where he said
What ever is bothering you just let it go...
Trying to send a message to Alex, she didn't say anything at the moment but look like wanting to cry while she hold his hand, when ever she was pissed for some reason she quickly take it on others, for example her neighbor Emma who was a very kind woman, she talks a lot but was nice, the dark side of Alex have no mercy and quickly told her she didn't care for her AT ALL!!! , on the last three episodes of this season we quickly see how dangerous Alex was, its like her character comes from been a normal person that's at first when she was with Dan, first episodes where everything was great between them and she was happy to the point where the series start really tell who Alex was.
Clay kept trying to bond with Alex, kept telling her its ok to have problems and its ok to be herself and cope with her problems with her mental health, its weird because it doesn't look like love, it looks like pity or compassion based on what he saw his mother go through and I think that's what upset Alex, she might have metal health problems but she is not stupid and constantly bother how Alex try to "help" her, probably if he kept so playing along she probably stay with him and never be part of Dan's affair, that would be a twist to the story and probably Clay was the right person to her but he rush things instead of waiting for the right moment to have an opinion about Alex problems because they were just dating, they haven't even fuck once and he already want to help her.
At the time all this happen Clay use to work at Legal Aid, Dan had a few people over there that didn't like how much power he had, how successful he was and some times how he make wining a case so easy to do so it was obvious that when Dan fall he had no hope, he had no chance, he was too big to fail and he did fail so Dan became a trophy for the system.
This was the exact moment when Alex got tired of Clay trying to correct her, remind her of what she said or not, with age this is a natural thing for humans to repeat things or forget what they said a few days ago but I have a feeling Clay wanted to make it all about her mental problems, like anything she does wrong has to do with it and its probably that he was obsessed with this topic because of his mom history mental health, so Alex telling Clay to fuck off had nothing about she been crazy or not, as any other human she got tired of him trying to correct her and been pity.
At first Dan didn't have the right name of Clay, he and Mike thought it was a Biff, Cliff, Smith something like that but they had to go to Legal Aid and ask, waiting for them was Ruth another person who back in the day didn't like Dan for what ever reason but mostly the obvious, his power, his success, the most expecting thing to do, don't help Mike, that's what her order to the department, Ruth was just one of the many people that were not friends with Mike mostly because he was with Dan.
If I had to make a list of Mike and Dan "enemies" I would be out of ink and paper, deputy Ibarra also didn't want to do anything with their investigation, after all its a fifteen year old case so he was off the hook although at some point he was also chased by Alex but never said anything about it formally and was not called to testify on Dan's case, we start see how the narrative of Dan been a trophy to the system starts to pick up.
Earl Broker, another one, in this case a crime investigator who was not part of Dan's fan club, he and Dan had history and when he took the case he prepare Dan's bed, set him a trap and Dan fall for it but the problem is not that he lie to Earl, the problem is that he had an affair with Alex so it wouldn't help if he said the truth or not if no body take the blame for Alex murder with proof, because someone taking the blame for her murder doesn't stop Dan been a big fish for the system to catch and put behind bars, even under that circumstances he could still end up in jail but its true that the worst thing he could do is lie to Earl.
The only two that had Dan's back when he didn't had the money for his attorneys defense was Julia and her husband Arthur
This is something definitely helpful to remember down the line, at the time Julia had cancer and was dying slowly, Arthur love her very much, they were Dan and Beth best friends, it was a lot of money they were going to spend on Dan's defense, Beth's father didn't want to help because he didn't have the money and also said he wouldn't even if he had it.
I don't like rushing things and at the moment of this post I haven't seen the other episodes so I'm not sure whats next but I don't think we are getting a second season, hope we do.
On this episode we see how Ellen starts to get more attention than in other episodes, I'm not talking about screen time but things related to her specifically, we have to see her from time to time talking with Dan but she starts to stalk Stella and Richard, Stella a student partner and Richard a professor who have a relationship, Ellen at firs tries to tell Richard to stop it because its for the best this based on how Dan's affair end up with Alex say Ellen had that example but now she is following them so I wonder if she was doing this because she wants Richard for her?? and not because she is doing him a favor
The most interesting thing we could get out of this episode is how bad Alex was mentally before he met Dan, at the same time she was still conscious of her actions proof of this is how she got tired of Clay but at the same time proof that she had temper issues is how she told Emma that she didn't care at all about her, Alex had serious issues before she met Dan and I'm worry Ellen becomes a monster similar to Alex, would be very ironic but after all this is all fiction, the most obvious topic from this episode is how Dan had no chance and back then and even now everyone was against him, I still believe he didn't do it, have no proof and it would be a hidden scene that comes up at the end but based on the facts until then for me he didn't kill Alex, the moment he had all excuses and right motives to snap and kill her he stop himself and want to make her go away using his power at the court and just killing her.
The title makes reference to the story of Toni Wolff and Carl Jung, doctor and patient relationship, Toni end up as Carl's mistress, the term medial mostly apply for people who live the reality and their own world, I'm no expert on the matter but it really applies to Alex, how she even had conversations with herself and tend to imagine things that never happen, but I wonder why they use that as the name of the episode when we saw that happening on previous episodes, unless I'm wrong and they referring to Ellen or Stella although so far both seem to be very realistic and had not mental health problems. Here a link that I found online about the topic.
https://claredetar.com/2018/05/02/medial-personality-part-1-definition-history-and-related-concepts-from-an-autodidacts-perspective/
Episode 1: @skiptvads/fatal-attraction-pilot-season-1
Episode 2: @skiptvads/fatal-attraction-the-movie-in
Episode 3: @skiptvads/fatal-attraction-the-watchful-heart
Episode 4: @skiptvads/fatal-attraction-beautiful-mosaics-season
Episode 5: @skiptvads/fatal-attraction-medial-woman-season