Earlier in season two, viewers saw a surprise return of season one’s teacher-turned-villain Marilyn Thornhill, aka Laurel Gates, played by Christina Ricci. After it was revealed that Thornhill was actually the person controlling Tyler’s Hyde, who was behind all the outcasts’ killings in the first season, she was ultimately attacked by Eugene’s (Moosa Mostafa) bees in the finale.
However, she clearly didn’t die — at least not yet — as she made her grand return in episode four, titled “If These Woes Could Talk,” of season two. Dr. Fairburn (Thandiwe Newton) has Thornhill transferred to Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital, where Tyler is being held after he was apprehended in season one, for advice on how to rehabilitate Tyler, as she’s his master.
But when Thornhill asks to see Tyler face-to-face, which Dr. Fairburn eventually agrees to, it doesn’t go as planned, as Tyler clearly has some resistance towards her. He ends up transforming into a Hyde and angrily grabs Thornhill by the neck, slamming her against the wall, but not enough to kill her.
Later in the episode, when chaos unfolds at Willow Hill, Thornhill lets Tyler out of his isolation cell. “I told you Mama would get you out of here. I could never abandon you,” she tells him. However, Tyler clearly feels very different. “Wish I could say the same. You’re the reason I’ve been locked away in here. You’re not my mother. You’re my master, or should I say… you were,” he replies.
After giving her a head start to run from him, Tyler transforms into a Hyde, quickly catches up to Thornhill and ultimately kills her… or so it seems.
When later asked, co-creators and showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wouldn’t confirm whether Ricci’s character is definitively deceased. “Christina Ricci is just an amazing person and actor, and she brings such value to the show, and the character’s so wonderful. Never say never,” Gough told Netflix, before Millar added, “I will say, in this show, no one is officially dead dead. There’s always a way.”