Okay, so this question has been plaguing me ever since I finished If We Were Villains and I want to know if anyone else has any opinions.
How much does Wren really know about what happened that night?
We obviously know the basic facts about the night of Richard’s death, but I want to focus in on when James, Filippa, and Wren are all huddled up in Wren’s room, trying to comfort her.
This heart of absolute gold literally begs James to go out into the woods to find Richard so he doesn’t do something stupid. Now, from Wren’s perspective, we see James leave the room with the intention of finding Richard. He’s gone for maybe an hour or two, long enough for Pip to get worried and go out to look for him, so now Wren is alone in her room. She knows James (and now Filippa) are both in the woods, looking for Richard.
A few (probably) hours pass when suddenly, I’m assuming, Filippa comes into Wren’s room to tell her something bad has just happened and she needs to get to the lake asap. I’m assuming Pip is the one who tells her because by the time Oliver and Meredith get down there, everyone else is standing around and Pip was the one who summoned those two.
So, in Wren’s mind, the course of actions were: James leaves to find Richard, Filippa leaves to find James (and Richard), time passes, Filippa retrieves Wren from her room, and they all find Richard dead dying in the lake.
Now, when they all agree to let Richard die, they start discussing their separate stories. Where they were at the time of the murder. And Wren makes the statement:
“They’re going to want to know why one of us didn’t go after him.”
- If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (Act III, Scene 1)
…What’s that supposed to mean, Wren? Weren’t you the one who begged James to go find Richard? And didn’t he leave with the sole intention of doing that? What do you mean no one went to go look for him when you know full well that James did?
My theory: Wren knew the whole time. Maybe not everything, but she’s not stupid. It’s too much of a coincidence. And I don’t know what story James and Filippa would have told her to make her think they were innocent, so I’m thinking Wren, like Pip, wanted to protect James.
“She didn’t speak, didn’t even open her mouth–just nodded, slowly. Yes.”
- If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (Act III, Scene 1)
I don’t think she knew the full story, but there is no way she didn’t think James and/or Filippa were hiding more than they were letting on.
This also might be part of the reason why Richard’s death was having such an effect on her. Obviously, losing a family member would be hard on anyone, but the fact that only Wren and James were diagnosed with PTSD and went through the most changes after the death seems very telling.
Not to mention Walton’s later suspicions about Wren:
“My money’s on the cousin,”
- If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (Act III, Scene 11)
Which, like, come on, man. She’s been through enough!
So, if she knew, to some degree, who was really guilty, I’m curious about her reaction to Oliver getting arrested.
“Alexander’s face was so full of sadness that there was no room left for surprise. In Filippa’s expression there was only a desperate kind of confusion. In Wren’s, emptiness. In Meredith’s, something violent I couldn’t find a word to describe. And on James’s face, despair.”
- If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (Act V, Scene 7)
I think the fact that Wren never came to visit Oliver is telling, at least. Was she too guilty, like James, for letting Oliver take the fall? Did she think the whole time James was covering for Oliver? What does she really think happened that night and when does she confront James about it?
She has to have found out the actual truth at some point because, come on, who really wants to hide something like that from the victims family forever?
I just want to know how much she knew and for how long because I think seeing this story from Wren’s POV would be so interesting. At least these scenes.
