One thing I'm confused about but is probably really obvious: was the real Matty in on the plan? The scene where Ned meets her ("Hey lady, wanna *beep* isn't she introduced as Mary Ann? I'm assuming she was in on it, or else she would have been introduced by her real name. Am I missing something?
shareNo, if you listen to Ned explaining things to Oscar after he's in prison it's clear she didn't know.
shareIn that scene with Ned she was just waiting for her blackmail money -- which you can see the fake Matty hand her when she arrives.
shareAh right! Very nice explanation, I had missed the envelope she passed to Mary Ann in that scene. So Mary Ann wasn't in on the plan, but she had figured out that Matty was using her name (or wanted to cash in on some other information she had on Matty, older drugs story) and started blackmailing her. Well, that closes the deal - no innocent victims in this movie. Nice.
there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above her shoulder
No ,Mary Ann was just another one of Matty's victims, she knew Matty was useing her name but that's all she knew.
Grace beats Karma
I am not sure if I am remembering correctly, but when Ned was discussing the case in the end with Oscar, didn't Ned speculate that maybe the real Maddie (Kim Zimmer) might have been cut in after the husband's death? Then Ned went on to say, when the real Maddie showed up, KT would have to split the take three ways. Instead KT decided to get rid of them both. Ned was just musing at that point, so we really don 't know how involved the real Maddie was. Even though it was crucial to the plot, allowing KT to use her identity was kind of shady to begin with.
shareWhether or not the Kim Zimmer character was "in" on the plan from the beginning is not that important to the plot. However, when Ned and Lowenstein are talking, Lowenstein says
That's why he's been busting his butt trying to locate this Mary Ann Simpson. They finally found her place in Miami yesterday, but the woman herself was gone... looked like she left in a hurry.To me, that implies that her house/condo/apartment was registered to Mary Ann Simpson which implies that the Kim Zimmer character had been using that name for a long time. share