Diksha Sundriyal
Paramount+’s ‘Little Disasters’ follows the story of four women whose lives go through a drastic shift after one of them is accused of hurting her daughter. Over six episodes, the show weaves a compelling tale that examines the true meaning of what it means to be a good mother. At the same time, it also keeps the audience on their toes about what really happened to the child and who should be held accountable for her situation. It isn’t until the sixth episode that all the cards fall into place and the jarring truth comes to light, making everyone wonder if they truly know the people around them and what secrets people hide from others. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Little Disasters Plot Recap
When their daughter, Betsy, does not stop crying, Ed wakes his wife, Jess, and tells her to take the baby to the hospital. Jess is visibly in a battered state, and it later turns out that she is not the kind of person who trusts hospitals or modern medicine easily. This is why, when Liz, Jess’ best friend who had drifted away from her, sees her in the hospital, she is concerned. What makes matters worse is that Betsy seems to have serious injuries, especially to her head, and Jess doesn’t seem to have any idea how they came to be. She claims that Betsy fell while she was trying to stand, but the injuries suggest that an accident of a more violent nature took place.
Having known Jess, Liz knows she is lying, but she also knows that Jess would never intentionally harm her children. However, when Liz refuses to tell her anything, Liz is forced to make a decision. Her superior advises her to call the social services, which is what she would have done had it been someone else. She is conflicted about it because it’s her friend, but she must do her job as a doctor, and so she places the call. With the involvement of social services, the situation escalates quickly. Jess is not allowed to be in the same room with her daughter, and for all intents and purposes, it seems she has lost her daughter.
When the news reaches home, her husband, Ed, is confused and agitated, especially after it is revealed that the cops have been called in to investigate the case and find out what happened to Betsy. To get to the bottom of the truth, Jess and her family’s past is excavated, which brings out all the tension and chaos that had been simmering underneath. Jess’ other friends, Mel and Charlotte, and their husbands, Rob and Andrew, also become embroiled in the drama, threatening the delicate balance in all of their relationships.
What Happened to Betsy? Who Hurt Her?
Over the course of six episodes, ‘Little Disasters’ digs into the lives of people around Betsy to deliver several suspects who may or may not have hurt Betsy. Because her injuries are grievous and the incident happened inside the house, the suspicion falls on Jess and Ed, but eventually, it turns out that neither of them was at fault. Jess had been telling the truth when she said she didn’t know how her daughter got her injuries. She only lied about being in the kitchen when it happened because she was trying to conceal the fact that she had left her two young children at home alone. If this came to light, she would be seen as a bad mother, and she didn’t want anyone to think that she was not taking care of her children. This fear was also why she never shared the recurring thoughts of hurting Betsy and her other children with anyone. She needed psychological help, but she wasn’t ready to believe that she could be helped, and that exacerbated her problem. That day, Jess had been terribly exhausted.
Betsy wouldn’t stop crying, and Frankie was being a menace. Jess had loads of housework to do, and with her already fragile mental state, she couldn’t bear her children’s cries anymore. So, she left the house without actually thinking about what she was doing. While Jess was gone, Frankie tried to calm his sister down. He realised she had soiled her diaper, but he couldn’t change it by himself. At the same time, he heard a knock on the door, and on opening it, found Rob. He thought that with an adult in the house, he could change his sister’s diaper. Rob was surprised to see that Jess had left her children by themselves, so he decided to help. His main purpose was to prod Ed into giving him money for his record label. When Frankie left to find the diapers, Rob placed Betsy on the table, where his eyes fell on Ed’s credit card. It gave him the idea to forge Ed’s signature and get the money from his card, and while he was busy looking at it, Betsy turned around and fell from the table, hitting her head.
At the same time, Frankie walked into the room and was horrified by what had happened. He picked up Betsy, who stopped crying, and put her back in her crib. He couldn’t have Jess or Ed find out about it because it would ruin his chances to actually get money from Ed. So, he manipulated little Frankie into believing that he had hurt his own sister. He said that if Frankie hadn’t asked Rob to take Betsy out of her crib, she would be fine. He turns the whole thing around on the boy, making him believe that he is at fault, which leads Frankie to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing. He is obviously shaken by the whole thing, and when Jess comes back, she finds him crying by Betsy’s crib. She believes it’s because she left him and Betsy alone, and he never mentions anything about Rob’s visit and Betsy’s accident until much later.
What Happens to Rob?
When Betsy falls, Rob doesn’t take responsibility and take her to the hospital. Rather, he hides his mistake and terrorises poor Frankie into making it look like he’d never been at the house. However, as Betsy’s situation worsens and the family starts to fall apart, Frankie is gripped by guilt, which leads him to act out. He is unable to share the truth about that day with anyone, blaming himself for what happened to his sister, but with time, his situation gets worse, which starts to concern his parents and his teachers. Eventually, the truth comes out when Frankie sees Rob at the park. He tries to get his mother away from the place, but when she doesn’t, he runs away, making everyone frantically search for him. When he is found, he says nothing but keeps crying, which confuses everyone, especially his parents.
In that moment, when he is surrounded by everyone, Ed gives Betsy to Rob to hold so he can attend to his son, which is when Frankie loses it. He shouts at Frankie to leave his sister, which is when everyone’s alarm goes off. It is when Charlotte takes Betsy from Rob that Frankie calms down and reveals everything that happened that day. The truth shocks everyone, and Ed lunges at Rob to strike him, but is held back by the others. Rob, being his usual self, doesn’t seem to harbor any guilt at all. With the truth out in the open, Liz places the call to the authorities, which leads to Rob’s arrest. He is arrested for not only having Betsy get hurt but also for not getting her the care she needed and then hiding it. He put her life in danger with his decisions. Eventually, he is charged with perverting the course of justice and wasting the police’s time.
If and when found guilty, he faces a potential two-year imprisonment. At the same time, he also loses his family. He had always taken Mel for granted, bogging her down by not letting her work while also wasting all their money and savings on a business endeavor that clearly wouldn’t succeed due to the kind of person he was. He is ready to save their house and move Mel and the kids away from London to his mother’s place. When Mel says she doesn’t want to leave, he tells her she doesn’t have a choice. If she doesn’t move, he will take her to court, prove her to be an incompetent mother, and take the children with him. She will have no home and no family. Because she doesn’t want to part from her children, she decides to go along with his plan. However, now that the truth about Betsy is out, there is no way Rob will ever get full custody of his children. His imprisonment also frees Mel from him. Now, she can live her life the way she wants, raising her children in her own way, away from Rob’s toxicity.
Who is the Interviewer? Does Jess Go to Prison?
The story of ‘Little Disasters’ is told from the perspective of the four women – Liz, Mel, Charlotte, and eventually, Jess – who are presented as being interviewed by someone. For the majority of the show, only the first three women are interviewed, as they give their views on the situation, providing context about Jess and her family. It isn’t until everything is resolved that we see Jess being interviewed as well, and then, it is revealed that the interviewer is the social worker who was assigned to Betsy’s case when Liz made the call. It turns out that the interviews were a way to assess the whole situation after Rob’s arrest and to determine whether Jess can be considered a fit mother. The charges against her have already been dropped since it’s clear that she had no hand in hurting her baby daughter. The only thing that works against her is the fact that she left her two children unsupervised, which may or may not have led to Rob coming in and Betsy getting hurt.
However, with the whole picture, it also becomes clear that she was struggling with mental illness and needed help. She didn’t deliberately put her children in danger. She just didn’t understand what was happening to her, and the guilt and shame kept her from getting help. When she is released on bail and moves into Liz’s house, Liz finds someone for her to talk to, and the therapy begins to help her. By the time the final assessment is made, Jess is in a much better place. Seeing that she has made great progress and is ready to put in the work to keep herself healthy and of sound mind, so she can take care of her children better, and the fact that everyone around her vouches for her as a devoted mother, there is no reason to keep her away from her children. She is allowed to go back to her life and be with her family.
Read More: Where is Paramount’s MobLand Filmed?
