Measure of Disorder

Measure of Disorder is the seventh episode of the first season of Hemlock Grove and the seventh episode in the series as a whole.

Summary
Shelley commits an act of independence. Chasseur questions Roman but crosses paths with Olivia, and Peter and Roman's friendship takes a turn.

Plot
Episode 7 begins in a flash-back Juliette’s death, Olivia is coping much better than J.R. is expected. He sends her to his brother Norman Godfrey for therapy despite Norman being visibly wary of her. Olivia and Roman are shown in the car after picking him up from the police station after he got arrested. As they’re stopped at a crossroads, arguing, the voices she overhears seem to momentarily overwhelm her. Peter finally gets home after being left stranded at the steel mill in the last episode. His mom, Lynda Rumancek, is waiting worriedly for him when he walks through the door, and Peter tells her that she was right and that he made a mistake in getting involved with Roman.

Chasseur, meanwhile, is doing some night sleuthing at the Godfrey mill when she is very rudely interrupted by Neck and Nose, the two cops that arrested Roman a few hours ago. Neck and Nose threaten to arrest her for trespassing as well, but Chasseur calmly points to what they should actually be concerning themselves with: the bottom rotting half of Lisa Willoughby not five feet away from where they’re standing. Backup is called and Sheriff Sworn and Chasseur reunite post-disastrous grave robbing fiasco only to throw pointed questions at each other. The Sheriff is starting to realize something is up with Chasseur and with this “animal attack” case.

Shelley Godfrey takes the bus to town to visit her friend Jenny at work. Jenny shows Shelley the earrings that she had set aside for the Godfrey girl, knowing that Shelley had loved them. Shelley purchases the earrings and heads back home, where her mother Olivia is appalled to hear about the bus trip and when she sees the jewelry dangling from her daughter’s earlobes. She demands that Shelley take them off, which she does. Roman defends his sister, and reveals a secret that he’d been keeping for a while that he’s the sole beneficiary to the Godfrey estate and all the money that comes with it, not Olivia. All the threats she’s been making about cutting Roman off from his inheritance will be moot once he turns eighteen. Shaken, Olivia kisses her children goodnight and wanders away, as Roman lovingly puts his sister’s earrings back on and then tucks her into bed. In Shelley’s attic room, Roman spots a painting she made that looks eerily like Ouroboros. Norman is called away in the middle of the night by an as of yet unknown individual. Once he’s done getting ready and leaves the house, Letha sneaks into her father’s office to look for J.R.’s suicide note, continuing with the detective work she’s been doing at Peter’s behest. The letter she finds reads is addressed to Norman, and among other very dark and serious things, reads “Do not let her destroy you.”

We then find out who it was that called Norman the hospital, because Francis Pullman killed himself during the night via shoving a syringe deep into his skull. The next day, Peter’s at his school locker when he notices a folded up note containing a painting of a beheaded wolf done in what’s implied is actual blood and feces. Peter takes the strange threat to heart, and meets with Roman to end their friendship and he's not going to be investigating with Roman anymore. Roman practically begs Peter to stay, but when he realizes that Peter’s not changing his mind he turns vicious, telling Peter that if he sleeps with Letha, Roman will kill him. Peter just walks away. Presumably at the same time, Lynda and Olivia are having their own hangout session. Olivia comes to visit Lynda at the Rumancek trailer and haltingly asks Lynda to please be her drug dealer. Apparently, the eyedroppers we've seen Olivia using aren’t just recreational they provide a great relief for what Olivia calls a “condition” of hers. Lynda’s price is $5000 a bottle. Olivia reluctantly accepts, and then starts chowing down on the raw meat that Lynda’s using to make meatballs. Right afterwards, Lynda goes to her niece Destiny’s house to celebrate.

Letha approaches Peter on the school bus to show him her uncle’s suicide letter, to tell him about Pullman’s death, and to ask after Roman. She also ends up going back to Peter’s place, where they awkwardly hang out before hooking up. Elsewhere, Roman is continuing with his destructive behavior, doing lines of coke before slicing his face up with a razor and painting his lips with his own blood. Roman’s routine is interrupted by Chasseur, who’s come to interview Roman on what he knows about Peter. Roman keeps his word to Peter, and doesn’t rat his ex-friend’s werewolf status out even after being provoked, though he does tell her about the ritual they did with Lisa Willoughby’s entrails. He offers his aid to her, but Chasseur tells him he can’t do anything to help because “god doesn’t want you to be happy, he wants you to be strong.”

Olivia walks in and breaks their little party up with a cold look and a few choice words. Before Chasseur leaves, she takes note of Olivia’s pair of shoes an expensive size 11, which left a very memorable print in the mud where Chasseur found Lisa at the beginning of the episode. And then Norman calls Roman to ask him where Letha’s disappeared to. Roman knows exactly where she is and who she’s with: Peter. He drives up to Peter’s trailer, peers in through the windows to see Peter and Letha are having sex, and then drives away screaming that they’re both liars. He then shows up at Ashley Valentine’s house. She was the girl who aptly called Roman a fucking sociopath – and after she kindly brings him in out of the cold and the rain, an initially consensual sexual encounter turns into him proceeding to rape her. After the attack, he uses his mesmerizing to make her forget it ever happened or that he was ever there.

Main Cast

 * Famke Janssen as Olivia Godfrey
 * Bill Skarsgård as Roman Godfrey
 * Landon Liboiron as Peter Rumancek
 * Penelope Mitchell as Letha Godfrey
 * Freya Tingley as Christina Wendall (credit only)
 * Dougray Scott as Norman Godfrey

Supporting Cast

 * Lili Taylor as Lynda Rumancek
 * Aaron Douglas as Sheriff Tom Sworn
 * Kandyse McClure as Dr. Clementine Chasseur
 * Laurie Fortier as Marie Godfrey
 * Kaniehtiio Horn as Destiny Rumancek
 * Ted Dykstra as Francis Pullman
 * Nicole Boivin as Shelley Godfrey
 * Michael Andreae as the body of Shelley Godfrey

Guest Cast

 * Paul Popowich as J.R. Godfrey
 * Holly Deveaux as Jenny Fredericks
 * Emily Piggford as Ashley Valentine
 * Marty Adams as Neck
 * William Devry as Chin
 * Michelle Zlomislic as Nurse

Songs from the Show

 * Unidentified song (Shelley goes to the general store)
 * "One Little Kiss Will Do It" by Bob Kelly (Roman and Ashley #1)
 * "The One Thing I Could Lose" by The First Times (Roman and Ashley #2)
 * "This Ready Flesh" by Trust (end credits)