YMMV / Mommy Sleeps in the Basement

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Paisley actually write all of her poem herself? Or did one of her family members help her write it in an attempt to alert the outside world as to what's going on? Mrs June even speculates at one point that one of Paisley's older siblings was involved due to the inappropriateness of the poem, so maybe she was actually onto something.
  • There's some ambiguity around Betty Jackson. Just how culpable is she in Tom's abduction of Claire? She doesn't seem to approve of his actions, even telling Paisley that Tom's head is "wired wrong". She looks after Paisley and Tommy even though Tom blatantly favors them over her own children, and says that Claire's baby dying of SIDS wasn't her fault when Tom blames her. She's never reported Tom or tried to help Claire escape, but it's very possible she is afraid of her husband and dares not defy him.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The revelation about what's really going in the Jackson family takes it from a sad story about a dysfunctional family to utterly horrifying. Tom stalked and kidnapped a teenage girl, has kept her locked in his basement for twelve years and sexually assaulted her multiple times. The truth was staring everyone in the face all this time, but no one put two and two together. Even more frightening is the fact this scenario is entirely plausible, as there have been many cases of similar things happening in real life.
  • The explanation behind the title, overlapping with Tear Jerker. Paisley's mother was actually murdered by her father and he has apparently hidden her body in the basement, covered with cement. Paisley, being a young child, doesn't seem to understand what has actually happened and thinks her mother is just sleeping in the basement.

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