The evil Marilyn Downey
| “ | You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. | „ |
| ~ John 8:44, uttered by Marilyn Downey during her attempt to kill her son, Tyler |
Marilyn Downey (Katy Selverstone) was the main villainess from "Raising Cain," episode 2.13 of Medium (airdate January 23, 2006). She was the wife of Paul Downey and the mother of their only son, Tyler Downey.
Introduction[]
In the episode, seven-year-old Tyler turned up missing, with Marilyn and Paul being shown with Lee Scanlon, who later informed Allison DuBois about Tyler's abduction. Prior to this, Allison had a dream about a teenage boy shooting up his school, with the teenager later revealed as Tyler, which also revealed that the vision took place 10 years into the future. In addition, Marilyn (a devout Christian) also had the same dream, which cemented her belief that Tyler was evil--a delusional belief she had even as she was pregnant with her son.
Heel Turn[]
Marilyn's rant during her attempt to kill her son
Late one night, Marilyn turned heel by drugging her son with her medication and placing him in a garbage bag, as she planned to kill Tyler to prevent her delusional belief from coming true. The maniacal villainess drove Tyler to a nearby garbage dump, and after placing her incapacitated son down, the evil Marilyn uttered a scripture before shooting her son in the head, after which Marilyn placed the gun in a discarded toilet. She portrayed a worried mother to hide her evil secret from everyone (including Paul), but later that day, Tyler was discovered alive and rescued.
After Tyler was hospitalized (which saw Tyler inform Allison that he thought he was in Hell, because he was told that he would end up there), Marilyn's heel turn from the previous evening appeared in Allison's dream, which resulted in Allison being horrified to learn that Marilyn attempted to kill her own son. After a failed attempt at a drug test, Allison uttered the same scripture that Marilyn uttered in her attempt to kill Tyler, and later on, the villainess confronted Allison and accused her of being sent from the Devil, and responded to Allison's vow to keep Marilyn away from Tyler by claiming that she knew evil because she carried it in the womb, while ranting that she should be with Tyler.
Allison later learned that the shooter in her dream was a teenage Tyler, leaving her wondering if rescuing Tyler was a mistake. However, after another dream that sees Tyler as a valedictorian appears, as well as learning that Tyler was taken back home by his parents, Allison visited Marilyn and informed her that the school shooting dream was wrong, and that Tyler was a good kid who needed his mother to guide him. The villainess responded by accusing Allison of being a demon, only for Allison to repeat her genial stance and instruct Marilyn to be there for Tyler, while adding that only the two women knew about her evil secret. Marilyn broke down and stated that Allison was an angel sent to her, which Allison also denied, but at episode's end, Manuel Devalos informed Allison that Marilyn committed suicide with an overdose of pills.