Homecoming is supposed to be about crowns and corsages. In “The Shards,” it turns into an arrest, a severed head, and a mystery that gets murkier instead of clearer. Episode 7, titled “Homecoming Part Two,” delivers one of the season’s most jarring twists — and it’s worth breaking down exactly what happened and why it matters.
The Shards Episode 7: Overview
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Episode Title | Homecoming Part Two |
| Network | FX / Hulu |
| Key Event | Susan Reynolds arrested |
| Accuser | Rhonda |
| Victim Found | Matt Kellner (deceased) |
| Prime Suspect | Robert Mallory |
Why Susan Gets Arrested
Rhonda, who returned in the previous episode after her abduction, has struggled to identify her kidnapper — but she remembers one key detail: a distinctive “girlie smell.” At the homecoming event, Rhonda catches a whiff of that same scent on Susan Reynolds’ hand and immediately accuses her of being the kidnapper. Police move fast, cuffing Susan and hauling her off despite the accusation resting on nothing more than a scent memory.
The irony cuts deep here. Susan had spent the episode wanting to experience losing for once in her life — and she gets exactly that, just not in the way she imagined. To make things worse, she still wins the Homecoming Queen crown moments before her arrest, and her earlier attempt to hand the title over to Rhonda now reads as suspicious in hindsight, as though she’d been trying to cover her tracks.
The Problem With the Evidence
The case against Susan has a major hole: the scent she’s identified by, an expensive Giorgio body spray, isn’t remotely unique to her. Multiple characters in the show wear it, including Liz, who’s shown wearing the same perfume in the same episode without drawing any suspicion. Rhonda’s identification comes from smell alone, not a recovered memory of Susan physically holding her — a distinction that makes the arrest feel shaky at best.
Adding another layer of doubt, Robert Mallory — Bret’s longtime prime suspect for being “the Trawler” behind the season’s disappearances — is the one who gifted Susan that exact bottle of Giorgio, and he’s shown wearing the same scent himself. When Bret confronts Robert demanding he help clear Susan’s name, Robert calmly reveals that Susan already has an alibi: the two of them were together at his house on both nights tied to Rhonda’s and Matt’s disappearances, a detail police are already aware of thanks to Bret’s earlier accusations against Robert.
Matt Kellner’s Fate Is Revealed
The episode’s other gut-punch comes when Bret makes a horrifying discovery at school: Matt Kellner’s severed head. It’s a brutal confirmation that closes the door on any hope Matt survived, while raising fresh questions about why “the Trawler” kept him alive as long as he did — and why Rhonda, by contrast, was allowed to escape.
Is Robert Really the Trawler?
Episode 7 leans hard into ambiguity. Robert’s choice to give Susan that specific perfume right before homecoming, combined with him wearing it himself, makes for a compelling case — but the show deliberately keeps it short of proof, since Liz’s use of the same scent muddies any definitive link. Whether Robert orchestrated the entire situation, or whether Bret, the story’s narrator, is simply an unreliable lens through which we’re seeing events, remains one of the show’s central open questions heading into its final episodes.
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