Katie vs. Tom: The Battle Lines Are Drawn

"[Tom] knew that she moved there, but [he thought it was] for different reasons," the insider explains to People of her luxury Chelsea digs. "She said she moved there to drive into the underground garage. There are fewer paparazzi and it's less intrusive for her. It was the first phase of getting everything out of the house, and that's why she was able to say she's moving without giving an indication that she was going to divorce him."

That Holmes felt these secretive steps were necessary seems to say a lot about her eyebrow-raising, prenup-protected marriage, and some former Scientologists are applauding her methods.

"Katie ambushed Tom Cruise and in so doing outwitted some of the most controlling people on earth," onetime church executive Karen De La Carriere tells the Hollywood Reporter. "I have no doubt that she's being tailed by them. It's par for the course. But she had to have planned this very carefully, right down to using disposable cell phones and laptops to throw people off her trail. It had to have been a very cloak-and-dagger operation."

Adds De La Carriere, "By filing for sole custody of Suri, she's making it very clear she's not going to let what happened with Nicole Kidman happen to her."

De La Carriere accuses the church of "deliberately" turning Kidman's kids with Cruise -- Connor, 17, and Bella, 19 -- against her after their 2000 split.

If Katie were to win sole legal custody, she would make decisions on Suri's education, medical care, religion, etc.

And finally, let's end where we began, namely, with Tom's lawyer's making a crack about "playing the media," because his side seems to be pushing a "sad dad" narrative …