The following contains spoilers for Love & Death, Episodes 1-3, now streaming on HBO Max.
It’s not unusual for shows or movies to take inspiration from actual events. This is especially the case with crime stories. True crime is a very wide genre, and as it turns out, HBO Max’s Love & Death is based on a true crime case.
The HBO Max miniseries, Love & Death is already pretty popular despite having only debuted the first three episodes on April 27. However, Love & Death marks a great return for Elizabeth Olsen in her first television series since 2021's WandaVision as Wanda Maximoff. The series features what some are hailing as Emmy-worthy performances by Olsen and Lily Rabe. In Love & Death, Olsen plays the real-life Candy Montgomery with Rabe playing real-life murder victim Betty Gore -- two people at the center of an apparent love-driven murder case.
How Candy Montgomery Was Caught in the Real-Life Murder of Betty Gore
The year 1980 featured a gruesome series of events that rattled the small Methodist community of Lucas, Texas. Essentially, it all started in 1978 with a simple case of marital boredom. Candace “Candy” Montgomery was experiencing a bit of a rut in her marriage with Pat Montgomery as they were in a comfortable household, but Candy wasn’t exactly content. Hoping for more passion in her life, especially sexual passion, Candy jumped on the chance for the fireworks she longed for. A simple encounter with family friend Allan Gore led to a less-than-extraordinary extramarital affair. After just under a year of routine rendezvous, the two ended their relationship. There was little to suggest that the affair would cause as many problems as it did.
The morning of June 13, 1980, started off as an ordinary day. Allan Gore prepared to take off for a business trip, leaving his wife Betty Gore, and their baby girl at home. Betty had struggled with her mental health and was prone to panic attacks and general anxiety when Allan went on his trips. As such, going the day without hearing from her started to worry him that he frequently called neighbors and friends to check up on his wife and daughter. This included a phone call to the Montgomery residence to check on 7-year-old Alisa Gore, whom Candy was babysitting. Candy assured Allan that Betty was perfectly fine earlier that morning, but Allan’s worries intensified to the point where he had his neighbors enter the house to check for themselves. That’s where they found the body of Betty Gore, bloodied and horrendously disfigured.
Although the untrained eye assumed Betty had been shot, the ensuing police investigation revealed the truth quite easily. Behind the blood-stained freezer was a bloodied axe that came from the garage. There was also a newspaper review for Stephen King’s The Shining, no signs of forced entry, a bloodied footprint trail, and a clear fingerprint on the freezer door. It didn’t take long for the truth about Allan Gore’s affair with Candy Montgomery to come to light and for Candy to become the main suspect. She was arrested nearly two weeks after the murder, and continued to maintain that she was acting in self-defense. The 1980 trial was extremely chaotic, but the jury believed her story, and Candy Montgomery was added to the list of infamous acquittals of history.
Love & Death Dramatizes Betty Gore's Murder Case
As of the first three episodes, Love & Death mostly stays true to the bones of the Betty Gore murder case. But it’s not a detail-by-detail retelling of the police reports or a First 48-style Homicide Detective account. Instead, it’s a dramatized version of the events. Although the world may never know whether Candy Montgomery murdered Betty Gore or not, Love & Death seems to be teasing that angle as it builds up the events leading up to Betty's gruesome murder.
Towards the end of Love & Death Episode 3, "Stepping Stone," Betty Gore confronts Candy about her affair with her husband Allan, with the garage axe in hand. She’s understandably upset, but her rage takes over. She then attempts to attack her husband’s former mistress, ending on a cliffhanger. While the actual murder will probably be depicted in the remaining episodes of the HBO Max series, the story does portray Candy in a very sympathetic light. It also kind of paints Betty Gore as the enraged wife and potential villain of the story.
In execution, Love & Death features award-worthy performances by Elizabeth Olsen and Lily Rabe. The stories of real-life people are elevated and explored further than a police report would ever provide. Even though The Hollywood Reporter reports that HBO Max did not reach out to the surviving Candy Montgomery before making the series, it’s a relatively respectful account of events and a spine-chilling drama. Whether or not it stays that way as the remaining episodes stream on a weekly basis is yet to be seen.
To see the based-on-true-events story, Love & Death is now streaming on HBO Max.