Source: Tyler Perry Studios / BET
*Spoiler alerts ahead*
Episode 11 of Tyler Perry’s “Ruthless,” titled “Devil’s Brew,” came with many twists and turns — some we may have saw coming and some we did not. Here are some highlights and thoughts from Thursday night’s episode.
Ruth is not dead
The greatest bombshell to unfold between episodes ten and eleven is the fact that Ruth is likely not dead. If you’ve been keeping up with “The Oval,” you know that the police and Barry’s family are under the impression that Ruth was murdered. However, with the way things are going, it seems highly likely that the body, which police believe to be Ruth, actually belongs to Niecy, the Rakadushi woman that was killed in episode eleven. As you may recall, for Ruth to gain the trust of The Highest and solidify her elder status, she had to pour acid onto Niecy’s face. This doubled as a test for Ruth and a slick move for Rakadushi leaders, who apparently go to great lengths to convince the outside world that certain members have died once they achieve elder status. It’s a diabolical act but it’s also quite genius. They gave Niecy a tattoo similar to Ruth’s and burned her face with acid, which will make her unidentifiable unless DNA tests are taken. Based on what we see on “The Oval,” their plan worked because the body police found was identified as Ruth Truesdale.
Mack is incompetent as hell
Since episode one, Mack has proven to be a highly incompetent supervisor. He sent Andrew to the Rakadushi compound as an undercover recruit, allowed him to become compromised and he has done virtually nothing to rescue him except to essentially sacrificed another agent, Brian, by sending him undercover as well. Even worse, it appears that this case is on the fast track to ruining Brian’s life as well. Before he even officially agreed to take on the case, his wife, Lynn, snuck off to the compound, was sexually assaulted and drugged by Dikhan and now appears to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Not only is she clearly strung out on the drugs given to her on the compound, but she’s also apparently in love with her rapist and is struggling to decide if she should give up her life to join the very cult that her husband and his FBI unit is trying to take down. This case has essentially ripped apart two families while Mack still sits around idly.
Dikahn is what nightmares are made of
The Highest has all of the power when it comes to life on the Rakadushi compound, but if we’re being quite honest, Dikahn is the scariest and most lethal figure in this cult for a few reasons. For one, he is the highest-ranking elder in the organization and he is deeply in love with The Highest. He is fully committed to the ways of the Rakumas and is not even remotely doubtful of their teachings. Worse, he is dangerously jealous of anyone who gets too close to The Highest, as evidenced by his disdain for Andrew. But what truly solidified Dikahn status as the embodiment of what nightmares are made of is his deep hatred for women. He knows that he hates women, but has no trouble with turning on the charm to convince women to join the cult, which we see taking place between him and Lynn. He knows that he has no intention of being with Lynn in that way, but continues to play on her attraction to him.
Ruth’s adamance about seducing Dikahn in order to plot her escape from the compound with Tally and their kids always seemed like a poorly thought out plan because as we saw at the end of this episode, even though she was able to get him to sleep with her, his kneejerk reaction following their tryst was not surprising. His hatred for women was only going to result in him blaming her for the fact that they had sex — even though he was a willing participant — and using a violent punishment as a vehicle to unleash his shame and guilt. However, we will have to wait until episode twelve to see if he actually gives Ruth up to Elder Mother for her “evil” ways.
Did you watch episode eleven yet? What are your thoughts on how things are unfolding?
