WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Clarice Season 1, Episode 6, "How Does It Feel To Be So Beautiful."
CBS' Clarice has been making intriguing retcons to the character Jodie Foster played in The Silence of the Lambs. Now, Agent Starling (Rebecca Breeds) has a much more nuanced family history, with siblings abound as well, and their past tragedies have fractured her mind as she tries to get over Buffalo Bill and expose a new drug conspiracy in Washington.
Interestingly, her big reunion with the girl she saved from Bill takes quite a shocking turn, and in the process it also alters The Silence of the Lambs' ending.
Clarice is meeting Attorney General Ruth Martin and her daughter, Catherine, for dinner, hoping to exorcise demons of old. Catherine's been dying to connect with Clarice to discuss how she killed Bill and saved her, but Clarice has been avoiding it due to PTSD. It's wreaked havoc on Cat's emotional state, so Ruth promises to let Clarice back into the field if she helps her with Cat.
Clarice, desperate after almost dying chasing leads on the new case, agrees but it gets out of hand as she realizes Ruth's unhealthy for the girl. Cat's emaciated, depressed and controlled, to the point that she's scared to make it past their apartment complex elevator. But as Clarice comforts her, a couple shocking revelations arise.
Cat reveals that she found the address of the woman who gave Bill (aka Jame Gumb) up to a foster home after her addiction and failed acting career. Now, she wants to meet Bill's mom as Cat feels blame must be shared. It's an enticing prospect but Clarice is against it as it could trigger memories and deepen the downward spiral. Cat dubs her afraid of the truth and it's here that she retools the ending of that harrowing ordeal.
In the movie, Clarice shot Bill, and as he died she called for back-up and rescued Cat. However, Cat reveals that that didn't happen -- he actually joked with Clarice as he bled out, telling her, "How does it feel to be so beautiful?" This was a horrific jolt, and apparently Clarice cried next to Buffalo Bill's corpse for hours.
It left Cat worried they'd never be rescued as she was the one who had to snap Clarice back to reality. It could explain why Clarice has residual fears and why Bill's still a boogeyman she can't let go of, as it seems his final lines made him and the moths immortal. And the way Clarice wants to use hypnosis in therapy to unlock repressed memories hints that Cat's seismic confession is true.
Starring Rebecca Breeds, Michael Cudlitz, Kal Penn, Nick Sandow, Lucca De Oliveira, Devyn A. Tyler and Marnee Carpenter, Clarice will return Apr. 1 and air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
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