Well, trust me if I say this, but Netflix’s Worst Roommate Ever, a true crime documentary series, is creepy as hell. It makes you question how well you really know your closest ones. Because in the end, we trust the one we know so well, right? But can we really trust them because anyone could have those sinister thoughts inside their heads? Take the first episode, for example, where we come across Rachel and Janie, who were best friends for 25 years and were extremely protective of each other. But was this protectiveness or something else? That’s for you to decide after watching this episode. Things took a turn when Rachel and Janie started to live together. Rachel got pregnant and suffered a severe back injury, and she became more dependent on Janie. What happened next? Did Janie step up as a good friend and savior? Or were Rachel and her baby, Ryder, in danger? Let’s dive into the recap of Worst Roommate Ever episode 1 and uncover the truth.
Why did Rachel and Janie start living together?
Rachel met Janie in 1995, when they were young. Rachel was very outgoing by nature, but Janie was the complete opposite. She was shy and quiet, and she really struggled to make friends. That’s why Rachel became Janie’s only friend, but she always used to help Janie make more friends. During that time, Rachel had recently divorced her first husband because he played mind games and controlled her. She was young and fun, and his controlling nature was why she left him. She was homeless, and that’s when Janie stepped in and offered to let Rachel stay at her house. Rachel was grateful and didn’t think twice about it. After all, two best friends living together seemed perfect. But things weren’t as she expected. When Rachel wanted to have fun with other friends or go on dates, Janie got incredibly jealous. She would cry, scream, make scenes, and call Rachel names. Rachel was scared. When she confronted Janie, Janie claimed she was just being a good friend, trying to look out for and protect Rachel from bad people and bad friends. She said Rachel was safest with her, and everyone else was evil. Janie’s emotional manipulation made Rachel feel like a bad friend for even thinking otherwise. To keep the peace and avoid Janie’s aggressive outbursts, Rachel stopped going out with her other friends. She just needed some peace in her life and didn’t want Janie to become aggressive towards her.
What happened after Ryder was born?
Everything was fine until 2010, when Rachel had a slipped disc while working as a paramedic. Then, out of the blue, Rachel found out she was pregnant. Now Rachel was in a tough spot as she needed urgent surgery, had lost her job, couldn’t pay the bills, and was expecting a baby. She had no choice but to rely completely on Janie. Janie liked having that control. She enjoyed ordering things in Rachel’s life. When Rachel’s son, Ryder, was born, he was autistic and needed special care. Rachel tried her best to take care of him despite being in terrible pain. During this time, Janie became Ryder’s second mother. She went around talking to Ryder’s principal and other parents at school, pretending she was Ryder’s mother. After Ryder’s birth, Rachel took out a life insurance policy with a huge payout and named Janie as the beneficiary because Janie was already like a second mother to Ryder, and Rachel’s parents were too old. It seemed like the best decision for Rachel, at least until things changed. One day, Rachel got a phone call saying Janie was suing her for custody of Ryder by claiming Rachel was unfit to be a mother due to her health. Rachel was shocked. They went to court, and eventually, Rachel won custody of Ryder, and Janie lost the case. Knowing she had to move away, Rachel and Ryder went to live in a shelter because they had no other options. But Ryder was unhappy; he missed home and missed Janie. On the other hand, Janie contacted them multiple times and apologized, saying she was sorry and promised to be better. She begged them to come back. Despite her doubts and knowing it might be unsafe, Rachel decided to return for Ryder’s sake, as she hoped he would be happy again.
How did Rachel find out about Janie’s murder plan?
In the meantime, Rachel had multiple surgeries and was in terrible pain. During this time, Janie took care of her, gave her medication, and even washed her stitches. But after a while, Rachel noticed that, before cleaning the stitches, Janie was putting something on her back and massaging the wounds with it. Rachel didn’t notice at first, but every time she tried to sleep, she was in severe pain. One day, the pain became unbearable, and Rachel had to go to the hospital. There, doctors discovered her stitch wounds were infected with MRSA, which is a dangerous bacterial infection. They had to reopen the wounds and perform surgery again. It was a horrible experience for Rachel. People noticed that Janie seemed emotionless, almost angry that Rachel had survived. Her blank expression was really scary. Later, Rachel had another incident where she was rushed to the ER again because her blood sugar level was dangerously low, almost down to single digits, and she couldn’t even stand. With all her existing injuries, this new condition was awful. Rachel didn’t know what had happened. It was as if someone had injected insulin into her body from the outside. She started eating spoonfuls of sugar every day so that her glucose level wouldn’t go so low, but it didn’t work. This low-sugar incident happened three or four times, which was really unusual because her body showed no other signs of what was causing it.
Meanwhile, an FBI agent named Steve Cadiz tracked a location and found out that someone named Janie had ordered VRSA on the dark web. The police couldn’t understand why someone would order something so life-threatening, so they decided to track Janie when she went to receive the order. When she did, they arrested her for questioning. At first, Janie pretended she knew nothing and claimed she ordered it to make beer at home for Christmas. But eventually, she revealed the truth: she wanted to have Ryder all to herself and wanted Rachel out of the picture. That’s when the police realized Janie’s motive and her attempts to kill Rachel. It was horrible. Even more disheartening was Rachel’s reaction when the police told her about Janie’s attempt to murder her. Rachel was confused and didn’t believe it for a second. She trusted Jane completely and couldn’t believe her best friend would try to kill her. Janie had taken advantage of that trust. Rachel then asked the police if Janie had a record of ordering insulin on the dark web. That was the last piece of the puzzle, and both the police and Rachel realized the extent of Janie’s murder attempts. All Janie wanted was custody of Ryder and to win the insurance policy by getting Rachel out of the way. She tried to murder her best friend four or five times and became increasingly desperate to get what she wanted.
So, what ultimately happened to Janie? She served 25 months in prison and was then granted parole and released. Meanwhile, Rachel and Ryder tried to cope with their lives by focusing on being happy and together. Rachel did everything she could to be the mother Ryder needed. But, obviously, an incident like this leaves a definite, lasting mark on you. The scariest part was that even after going to jail, Janie made phone calls, saying she still needed to have Ryder. She claimed that once she was out, Ryder had to come back to her. Her obsession with outshining Rachel, controlling her, and dominating her led Janie down this dark path. She tried to ruin Rachel’s life, but ended up ruining her own. We can only hope that Janie gets the counseling she needs and tries to live a normal life, far away from Ryder and Rachel, for their safety. Rachel and Ryder deserve peace and a chance to heal from this nightmare.