Iron River, MI

> "*Because I don't deserve him. Or this dress. I don't deserve that life. It's not even mine. I did something awful... years ago, and... I ran then, too. I lied. And I never looked back. [...] Because. Because I wanted what she had so badly. The love, and the future, and she... she wasn't there to have it anymore, so I just thought... What's the harm? But I did kill her, didn't I? In a way. Oh, God. I think I did.*"
> ― Lauren to Old Hag
>
>

**Iron River, MI** is the seventh episode of the first season of the Hulu original series *Monsterland* and the seventh episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

A neglected daughter longs for another life.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Laruen and Elena discuss giving boys blowjobs while Elena curls her hair. She tells Lauren to practice with her fingers. She even sticks her fingers into Lauren’s mouth to demonstrate. Elena looks into the mirror and asks how good she looks. Good enough that the Lumberjack Killer might want her, she asks. Elena does her hair in accordance to the victims of the Lumberjack. Lauren’s mom often says that it served them right. No one ever goes into the White Woods expecting something good to happen, where as Elena’s mom calls it the "no-no zone."

Elena’s boyfriend, Pete, arrives and they sneak him upstairs while Lauren’s mom sleeps on the couch. Elena asks Lauren to hide in the closet while she and Pete have sex. After Pete leaves, Elena retrieves Lauren from the closet and tells her that Pete left behind a joint. But she’ll only smoke it if Lauren accompanies her to the White Woods. However, Lauren refuses as it’s too dangerous. Lauren admits that her mom is right in this instance. Elena retorts that Lauren’s mom is a bitch who controls her. However, Lauren is done with Elena bossing her around. She accuses Elena of being a controlling bitch and says that she has no intentions on going into the woods. So Elena decides to go by herself. She gives Lauren back her book about the White Woods before leaving.

Lauren returns home from school the following day to find her mother, Faye, sitting with Elena’s mother, Rebecca, as well as two detectives. They question her about Elena, who never made it home after leaving Lauren’s the previous day. Lauren was under the impression that Elena had just skipped school. Faye grabs her arm and asks Lauren if she skips school as well, but Lauren insists that she never has. Lauren claims that she hasn’t seen Elena since she left yesterday and that she claimed she was going home.

Ten years later, Lauren is getting married to Pete, and Rebecca has taken her in as a daughter. During the rehearsal dinner, he speaks about Elena’s disappearance, which caused the two of them to bond.

One of Lauren’s high school friends, Danny, warns visitors about the White Woods and how they should steer clear of them. It began during the winter of 1983. A girl named Alice Wiles went missing. By spring, her body was recovered by a hunter, though her head was missing. By 1986, there were four more girls missing. And those are were the victims of the lumberjack. In 1995, a friend of Danny’s uncle walked his whole family into the woods and shot them all execution style. And just last night, they supposedly found female remains.

Elena’s best friends, Abby and Cheyenne also attend the rehearsal dinner, though Abby is convinced that Lauren has successfully taken over Elena’s life. Cheyenne reminds Abby that Lauren’s also their friend, but she retorts that Lauren was just a girl they went to high school with. Lauren then joins them at the table. Cheyenne asks about Lauren’s biological mother, Faye. However, Lauren didn’t invite her as she's a cruel and abusive drunk. She replies that her real mom, Rebecca, is already in attendance. She started calling Rebecca mom after Faye kicked her out, and Rebecca took her in. Abby then asks if Lauren heard about the teenage girl’s body that was recovered in the woods. She wants to tell Rebecca in case it’s Elena, but Lauren and Cheyenne try to convince her now isn’t the time.

Lauren and Rebecca cleanup after the rehearsal dinner. Rebecca often thinks about what her life would’ve been if she had bothered to go anywhere else. Expand her horizons and be free. That’s what she wants for Lauren. She then gifts Lauren a check for $1,000.

Lauren’s wedding day has arrived. There’s also been updates on the body found in the woods. Abby and Cheyenne reveal that the remains belong to an adolescent female and decomposition suggests roughly 8-10 years since death. Lauren admits that she knows them all being together is weird as they were never friends, but Rebecca had a vision of the ideal wedding for her daughter, and Lauren wanted to give Rebecca that. Abby then asks when Lauren changed her hair. It’s now curly, similar to how Elena used to wear hers. Rebecca joins them with the wedding dress. Rebecca’s grandmother, Joan, was the first to wear the dress. Her twin sister, Lily, made it by hand. Then it was given to Rebecca’s mother, Anne, and then it was given to Rebecca. Of course her and James, Elena’s father, only lasted a year before he showed his true color, but the dress is about the brides. Strong woman. Four generations, including Lauren. Hearing this, Abby storms out with Cheyenne right behind her.

Cheyenne follows Abby into the bathroom and confronts her for ruining the photo op. Abby can no longer participate in Lauren’s wedding. She accuses Lauren of stealing Elena’s life. Since they were five, it was the three of them. But junior year, Elena met Lauren and dropped them. Then Elena disappeared, and Lauren took her place. In addition to that, a teenage girl’s body just happened to turn up. Abby is certain that it’s Elena’s body they found in the woods.

Abby believes that all those years ago, Lauren and Elena sneaked out to White Woods together to get high. She thinks that Elena pranked Lauren, which resulted in the two of them getting into a fight and Lauren accidentally killing Elena. She then took an axe and cut off Elena’s head to make it seem as if she was a victim of the Lumberjack. Cheyenne isn’t as convinced, however. While Abby can’t prove they went to the woods, she might know someone who can.

Inside the White Woods book are the photos of his female victims. Lauren holds it up to the mirror much like Elena did the day she disappeared. Faye unexpectedly arrives and claims to want to get to know Lauren. However, Lauren doesn’t want to know her. She then accuses Lauren of wearing Elena’s life like a dress. It’s been years since she thought about Elena’s disappearance. After hearing what the cops found and getting a call from Abby, details started to come back to Faye. She remembers finding dirt on Lauren’s coat and Elena’s scarf in Lauren’s room. More importantly, she remembers seeing them both sneak out. Faye suspects they went to the White Woods and asks what Lauren did to Elena. She slaps Lauren and tells her not to lie. Rebecca, Abby, and Cheyenne enter. Faye tells Lauren to reveal what really happened that day.

Lauren reveals that Elena coaxed her into accompanying her to the White Woods with the promise of telling her a secret. They smoked a joint and kissed. While Lauren was lighting up, Elena disappeared. At first, she was laughing, playing a prank on Lauren. But then Elena started genuinely screaming for help. So Lauren fled the woods with Elena’s scarf in hand.

Rebecca is distraught to learn that Lauren has been keeping this from her all this time. However, Abby believes that Lauren killed Elena in order to steal her life. However, Lauren insists that she did no such thing. But as Cheyenne points out, they can never be sure. Before leaving, Abby pays Faye the money owed.

Lauren flees to the White Woods in her wedding dress. There, she encounters an old hag. She tells Lauren to come with her. The old hag takes Lauren to her home in the woods and offers her something to drink from the ginkgo tree. She then asks Lauren why she ran away during her wedding day. Lauren replies that she doesn’t deserve such a wonderful life. Lauren left Elena behind because she wanted her life. And now realizes that she’s just as responsible for Elena’s death as anyone. The old hag was a girl before. She loved a blond haired boy named Andrew. He brought her to the woods to be together, she thought. He told her to take off her clothes. When she did, he pushed her out the car and drove away. She wandered for days. The old hag reasons that the world is cruel and that they have no choice but to take. She asks Lauren about her mother and says that she’d be the perfect daughter, referring to her as sweetheart. Elena then enters with a pile of wood. The old hag orders her to make the fire. She admits to having taken Elena ten years ago, on that very night she disappeared in the woods. She always wanted a daughter but got a cow instead. Lauren approaches Elena and whispers her nickname, Elle. Elena is forced to write when she wants to communicate as her vocal cords are frozen. She inquires about Pete and her mom. This angers the old hag, who beats Elena repeatedly. Lauren comes to her defense as the old hag raises her axe. The old hag then proposes a trade. A daughter for a daughter. Elena can go if Lauren agrees to stay. However, Lauren decides to save herself and leaves Elena behind once again.

## Cast

### Starring

* Kelly Marie Tran as Lauren Mills
* Joy Osmanski as Faye / Old Hag
* Sarah Catherine Hook as Elena Milak
* Susan Pourfar as Rebecca Milak
* Alice Kremelberg as Abby
* Rachel Zeiger-Haag as Cheyenne
* Henry Ayres-Brown as Pete

### Co-Starring

* Chris Bolan as Detective Leighton
* Robert Lenzi as Danny
* Fredi Bernstein as Rosie
* Samantha Sherman as Sarah
* Peter Evangelista as Mick
* Max Sheldon as Neil
* Roger Rathburn as Minister