The mother of all cons...

[Bemorebeth]

Apologies if there is another thread on this. Couldn't see one.

Thoughts?

I was wondering if Meg was in on it but decided she wasn't, especially as she had tried to get away from Jean towards the end of her life. Jean is just evil. Thank God her other daughter spoke up as well, knowing what sort of a person her mum really was, having been brought up by her but now having no contact

Maya Kowalski case has been overturned on appeal and a new case put in for 2027

https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2025-10-29/appeals-court-reverses-judgment-against-all-childrens-hospital-take-care-of-maya-case

I think Nina’s first interview in the whole series where she describes her feelings with her mum as complicated illustrates the way the mum had a peculiar hold over them all.

On the surface no neglect issues. It sounds like they were all scared of her.

Yes, the Maya Kowalski case was extremely mishandled and any evidence of abuse was not allowed. The jury were not given the whole picture and were confused by genuine medical experts versus shady, paid “experts” used and recommended by the medical child abuse community.

Thankfully, a new trial is coming and will be handled better, fingers crossed. The outcome of that farce put so many children’s lives in danger as medical practitioners would be scared to report abuse for fear of getting sued.
Unfortunately it puts more pressure on poor Maya and her brother as they want to think their mother was innocent and are being heavily influenced by their father to stick to that and not question anything, despite the fact that Maya has been absolutely physically fine since, went to school, played sport etc. This is the girl, her mother wanted to put on end of life care…

Yes I feel that is particularly telling that she has made a full recovery sufficient to go skating I don’t think people usually do from CRPS

(Honestly bloody algorithms!)

this popped up on fb for me

I don’t doubt that there will be a part two in the future as well as case reviews and changes to safeguarding guidelines as a result

single record would have helped all this tbh.

also, unpopular I know, but the proposed single record for children that can be shared across all professions eg education, nhs, SS.

things would have been picked up. Niggles recorded. Homeschooling would have had better checks.

Watched two episodes last night. Looking forward to the third!

Me too- I found it so bizarre. More so that they felt Meg was 10 but in the photos shown with the pilots she didn’t look it. And the friend accompanying her certainly didn’t look like he was medical support (he looked like the teenager he was) which they assumed…

Yes he looked scared to me. I imagine he cared for her very much but maybe as he got older he realised things were quite right. Like when he arrived in the US.

Thank you. I’ll listen - that makes a lot of sense from what I’ve seen in similar, a little less extreme cases.

Which is the podcast? Is it bbc or another platform?

Watched all of this last night. Wow it was weird. I didn’t love the glee with which the people suspecting something were messaging. Sounds like a very odd clique with favourites. Very weird timing of Meg’s death. Unless she had a learning disability I’m a bit confused as to why she would think she had a brain tumour, the UK ime is very hot on talking to the patient not the parent. Did she never google anything?

It’s a BBC podcast. I listened to it on Spotify. Called Believe in Magic

Thank you. Glad the bbc are on something like this

Only watched one so for. The person ( Joanne?) who cottoned onto them is amazing.
It's so easy to get sucked into this sort of stuff and to be made to feel bad if youre not on board.

Just finishing watching this. I felt quite uncomfortable with how smug Nick and Joanne were. It felt distasteful. I didn't get a good vibe from Nina either. The story about the tins was weird, and she had no emotion whatsoever, which seems strange when you are talking about your deceased sister. I might be way off key here but I got the impression she has a bit of a martyr complex and wanted her 5 minutes of fame. This was all quite odd and left a lot of unanswered questions.

Did you even watch the same thing

The Mother of All Cons? Yes. It made me feel uncomfortable.

Are you for real?! Why would they feel smug when they rightfully wanted to find out the truth? The only smug person here was the evil mother of Megan.

I agree. It's felt quite off and strange to me.

I think it's great they found out the truth, and I admire how far they went. But some of the messages shown, and the smirks on their faces at points, personally made me feel uncomfortable.

@Planetgreen Nick himself said the whole thing was very ugly his part included.
He also explained the incredible pain and anger he was feeling after the death of his child.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with taking delight is finding evidence to support something so utterly wrong, that you are being ostracised even for suggesting is a bit off.
Nina was detached from Jean as a self preservation tool due to the trauma of being raised by her and then shunned.
She is entitled to her feelings of resentment and anger towards Jean and Meg and doesn’t owe anyone a performative show of hypocrisy. She also reflected that she had probably let Meg down in her indifference/ animosity towards her but I thought it was understandable.
The whole thing is off that’s the point, that’s why it’s so fascinating and beyond anything we can imagine.

I personally think the world needs a few more Nick and Johanna’s right now, to shout out that the emperor has no clothes on, without fear for their own reputation.
I admire their tenacity.

I take your point, and I agree that Nick acknowledged his own behaviour wasn't great and that he was acting from a place of immense grief and anger. I wasn't really judging anyone morally as much as reacting to the overall tone and dynamic that came across on screen.
With Nina, I completely accept that trauma and complicated family relationships can affect how someone expresses emotion. My reaction was more that there seemed to be a level of detachment that I found surprising, but that may well say more about my expectations than the reality of her experience.
I think we're probably in agreement on one thing - the whole situation is deeply unusual and messy, which is why it provokes such strong reactions.