I think they both think that they are. Please walk through this rant with me.

Although, Lori does like to pretend to be a damsel in distress... but not at the ultimate self-defense. She stood by her man... or did she want the credit for being the mastermind?

Here's how I think it really went down:

Lori wanted out of her life--think of how she talked about the children in that car ride. It happens. Middle age can make you do crazy things, especially, if you have a predisposition to depression or "the grass is always greener-itis." Chad is Lori's fifth husband. If there is anyone who was unable to find happiness, long term, in her own choices it is Lori. She is the poster child, for sure. During the Silver Linings team on the Mike King podcast, someone said (Adam?) that Lori probably didn't kill Joe Ryan, but prayed that he would die. So, when he died, she felt that she had gotten her way. So, I think when her life started, again, being what she didn't want, she started praying again.

In walks Chad Daybell. Chad is a wanna be cult leader and until Julie Rowe and Lori entered his life, he had no flock. Julie gave him some language and Lori gave him devotion and brought with her some wayward souls--who for the record FOLLOWED HER TO CHAD. They didn't come to Chad on his own, they came through Lori. Without Lori, Chad didn't have any real following. Think about his books' sales... Nonexistent, really. Chad needed Lori to be the leader he always wanted to be. His own family following him wasn't enough.

**That's something Chad and Lori have in common: not feeling fulfilled within their own family lives.**

Anyone remember that line in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," “The man may be the head of the household. But the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head whichever way she pleases.”

Chad thinks he is the mastermind because Lori played the damsel by asking him to give dark numbers, etc. but that phone call that everyone says shows how Chad was the mastermind because she was asking him for validation, to me, reveals she was in control. "Do you know what I mean?" She guided that call. She asked him very directed questions. She said, something to the effect that she can't be in control (now) because of where she is. She saw herself as in control when she wasn't in jail. He ate that ish up. He needed her "weakness" so he could feel strong, because he isn't really strong.

So, who is the head of the snake? Chad was the bloated head with Lori as the neck. Lori put the gun in Chad's hand (sending him text messages about the kids, begging him to kill Tammy, and identifying followers) and certainly Chad pulled the trigger, Alex. But, again, Alex was not a follower of Chad; he was a follower of Lori ("My source has told me good things about you.") Lori recognized that Alex was weak and could be manipulated--remember what she did with Alex and Joe. Not Chad. She saw that Chad saw himself as this mastermind leader, who Alex needed. It gave her plausible deniability: she would never kill her children without the cult. Ha! She used the cult to kill her children. Chad was the cult.

Let's discuss. Thoughts?