Why Hulu's Candy Showed Betty Gore's Brutal Murder Scene In Finale

Hulu's Candy star Melanie Lynskey explains the show's decision to depict Betty Gore's brutal murder in the finale rather than shying away from it.

Why Hulu's Candy Showed Betty Gore's Brutal Murder Scene In Finale

Candy stars Melanie Lynskey and Jessica Biel opened up about why the Hulu series decided to depict Betty Gore’s brutal murder in the finale. Candy is the latest true-crime drama to captivate audiences with its adaption of the dark, twisted, and true story of Candy Montgomery. The series premiered on Hulu on May 9, 2022 and aired its finale on May 13, 2022. Depicted in the series, is the 1980 case of Montgomery, a suburban housewife and mother of two who murdered her friend and neighbor Gore with an ax. Gore was found murdered in her home on June 13, 1980, and had been hit with an ax 41 times.

Candy stars Biel as Montgomery, while Lynskey portrays Gore. The series attempts to examine how an innocuous housewife came to brutally murder someone she considered her best friend. Of course, the full story quickly comes out as Gore’s murder is investigated. During the investigation, it is uncovered that Montgomery had an affair with Gore’s husband, Allan (Pablo Schreiber). Despite her past with Allan, Montgomery would claim self-defense in her murder of Gore. The jury accepted her defense and she walked away with no jail time.

In an interview with EW, Biel and Lynskey opened up about Candy’s decision to depict Gore’s brutal murder in the finale. Lynskey explained that the show really didn’t want to shy away from the truth of the story. The intensity and brutality of the murder was a big component in accurately portraying the case. Biel also pointed out that the scene adds more layers to Montgomery’s courtroom scenes. Check out Lynskey’s statement below:

I don’t know if you want to shy away from the brutality of it and how absolutely awful it was and the intensity with which it must have happened.

It is easy to see why the decision to include the murder scene was not taken lightly by Lynskey and Candy’s executive producer, Biel. When it comes to TV adaptions of true-crime cases, there is always the controversial discussion of how respectful it is to the real-life victims and survivors. Was showing Gore’s death respectful to her and to her two living daughters? Secondly, is such a violent scene necessary or is it being depicted for entertainment? This is why there was much discussion on whether to depict the murder scene at all. However, as Lynskey and Biel pointed out, it was very crucial for the series as a whole. To depict it accurately, one can’t ignore the brutality of the case. It also highlights how shocking it was that Montgomery could commit such a murder, what might have been going through her mind at the time, and how she still managed to be acquitted.

Candy‘s depiction of Gore’s murder is definitely difficult to watch, but it’s important. It raises a very necessary discussion on the Stand Your Ground laws, what constitutes self-defense, and how the suppression of women and their regulation to the status of housewives could foster such loneliness, desperation, and even rage. Candy really attempts to do justice to both Gore and Montgomery. They weren’t one-dimensional people where one is simply a murderer and one is simply a victim. It was a convoluted case and no one besides Montgomery knows what actually happened that day. They both had lives, stories, and struggles, and it all came to a head in one brutal scene. By depicting Gore’s murder in Candy, the series adds many layers to the story and refuses to sugarcoat the tragic nature of the case.