Gina – As the fifth episode of Echoes begins, Gina (Michelle Monaghan) drives Dylan James (Jonathan Tucker) who has been stabbed. He tells her that she has to get away from her no matter what she says. Gina claims they will go together. Gina says you only know what Leni wanted you to know and not the truth. Their mother was the only person who could ever tell them apart. When their mother died, something changed in Leni because she closed up. Gina never saw her cry. They were closer than ever. The girls had real power and they knew the switch could save them when they face real trouble or Leni said anyway. In a flashback, the girls push Claudia causing her to fall from a tall platform. A cop talks to Gina while telling her about Claudia being seriously hurt. That is how Gina got blamed even though she didn’t do it.

Gina was going through her punk phase while Leni was going through her awkward phase. They switched all the time at school and shared everything. The girls even shared Jack. Jack, Leni, and Gina were a tight threesome until they weren’t. She needed someone of her own so she starts eyeballing a young Dylan (Clayton Royal Johnson). She needs her own life. Gina makes an effort to talk to Dylan and form a relationship with him. Dylan tells her that her sister seems uptight, but Gina says she is cool once you get to know her. He suggests getting to know her instead. Gina thinks it is the same thing. Dylan doesn’t because he doesn’t think Gina is anything like her sister. She remembers every day of that summer and fall like she remembers the night at the Halloween party. While making out and getting ready to have sex, they hear something nearby leading Gina to believe someone is in there with them.

Dylan doesn’t think anyone is in there, but he agrees to look. Soon, he begins screaming fire so people can escape. Leni and Gina realize Dylan is still inside, but they have to run when the cops arrive. Gina is told that a man died and Dylan ran. She is asked how that is going to look to the police since they’re investigating him for murder. Gina insists she was with him so he couldn’t have done it. Leni asks if she was with him the whole time. She wonders why Dylan would run and leave town. Gina suggests it was an accident. She admits she loves him. The next morning, he was gone so she thought he had run, but she didn’t know the truth. She didn’t know what Leni had done. Gina was alone again while Leni and Jack got closer. When Leni married Jack, it felt like the end of Leni and Gina. Leni had Jack forever so she had to find out how to be on her own.

She got a scholarship to UCLA on the other side of the country because nobody in Los Angeles knew she was bad Gina. Although she was free at last, she didn’t realize she’d feel so disconnected. Gina started losing control before having a breakdown the fall of her sophomore year. UCLA student services referred her to a doctor who did work pro bono. The doctor, Charlie Davenport (Daniel Sunjata), helped her find herself. Once she started telling her story, it kept rolling and her senior thesis in creative writing got published. She says you read it. People loved the story of two traffic twin sisters. Charlie was proud so he decided to take her to dinner to celebrate. Since he loved her for what she was and wasn’t, they were happily married. They got pregnant at the same time and Gina thought it was a good thing for some reason. Leni wants her to come to Mount Echo, but Gina likes her life in LA.

Leni believes she needs special attention, but Gina says she is not that person anymore and stronger than she thinks. Leni promises to be there for her when she needs her. Gina lost the baby. Leni was there for her after the miscarriage. Gina needed her and Charlie seemed to stay away when Leni was around. She reveals coming home hurt. When Charlie and Gina arrive, Jack and Leni are there to greet them and show them the baby. Being in Mount Echo gave her the opportunity to reconnect with Leni. She didn’t know what was going on with her. At one point, Leni nearly lets Mattie drown in her bathwater. Leni confesses she sometimes wishes the baby would die.

Later, Gina recommends getting a nanny and even offers to pay for it. When Leni says Jack would never accept that, Gina urges her to do something because she might have postpartum depression. Leni suggests she was never meant to be a mother. Gina believes otherwise and says she was meant to be a mother. Leni believes the same about her. She offers to be Gina for a while so she can stay here and be with Jack and Mattie. Gina stayed a few more weeks to help. When they went together to get makeovers, no one thought anything about it. When Mattie took her first step, Gina celebrated with Jack as Leni. Gina suddenly grew to love readings and Q and As. Charlie was always incredible. Mattie grew and Jack was the perfect father and husband. The women switched every year on their birthday. They inspected their bodies for any new freckles to avoid being caught.

When they meet, they talk about Mattie who is looking forward to the first grade. Gina eventually tells her that she is confused because she feels like she is betraying everyone she loves. She is told they probably saved two marriages so they’re just living two incredible lives. After Gina asks if they’ll ever tell Mattie, Leni doesn’t know why they would since this is working so well for them. As the arrangement continued, Leni grew more controlling of both their lives. Gina is told that they love her idea to tell the story of her miscarriage and healing. Since it is a story people need to hear, they’re planning a big initial run of 250,000 copies. Gina complains about Leni pitching the story because she shouldn’t do that. Later, she gets a message telling her to let him love her because he expects it. She notices a camera above her so her sister is watching what she is doing.

Leni calls her later to ask why she has been at that building every Thursday without mentioning it in the diary. Gina claims it is just a yoga class, but Leni knows she is lying because she called and canceled all her future appointments. Leni tells Gina that she doesn’t need a psychiatrist since she has her before Gina hangs up the phone. After having sex with Charlie, Gina says she can’t do this again. He asks if this is about the book and if she doesn’t want to tell the story. She is reminded that the story is hers and nobody else’s. Gina thinks she has to write it because they’re counting on her, but Charlie sees it differently. After she says she is sorry, he insists it is okay to be a mess because he would never judge her. Gina started making plans so she needed cash that Charlie wouldn’t know was missing. She finds a diary talking about winning her back from Jack. She finds more about her scent and sex.

Gina goes to Charlie to ask if he loves her or just found her fascinating once upon a time. He asks if it can be both, but she says no. When she says she doesn’t think so, Charlie admits he is deeply obsessed with her and will always love her. Next, Leni tells Gina to come away from the window because they need to get this done before the guys come back. Gina tells her that she had a breakthrough with the book. She is looking forward to going home and spending a year in Mount Echo. At the Plattsville Aquatic Center, Gina hangs out with Meg (Alise Willis). Gina asks if they do diving lessons for adults here because they’re going diving on their next vacations. Meg tells her to talk to her cousin Dylan since he is the coach here. She approaches him as Leni moments later. They talk about Gina as Dylan admits he read her book. He tells her that he is putting his life back together and staying with Georgia. He tries to leave before she asks about free diving.

Although they don’t offer classes here, Dylan is certified and dives. She suggests he can teach her. At work, Jack tells her that he has to get to the Campbell’s place because one of his mares is foaling. She is taking Mattie to her swim lesson so dinner will be a little late. Jack offers to teach her to swim, but she doesn’t think he has the time for that. She begins questioning him about the paperwork for the new foal since she didn’t see him. She pushes until he admits they need the money because the tax has doubled after the new assessment. They either do this or sell the land and he isn’t going to accept money from Charlie and Gina. He complains about the money they spent on the expensive trips just to keep up with her pretentious sister and her rich husband.

He isn’t going to do it anymore. He’ll stay here and continue running the farm. Although she claims that is enough for her too, Jack says it doesn’t feel that way lately. Gina trains with help from Dylan. He tells her it is impressive and that water in Lake Tahoe is so much colder. She suggests trying it in the ocean. Dylan says it is about half a day away. Gina can get away if he can. They go out drinking that night. He wonders what she is doing. She claims she is trapped in her own bad choices. He jokes he specializes in making bad choices. He goes on to say it is real and it is better to be real. Dylan admits he can’t do this because they have too much history and she destroyed his relationship with Gina. He left the day after the right to protect Gina like Leni said. She thought he needed to leave town to deflect attention since cops thought it was him and Gina. As time went by, his life went to crap and he thought Leni was jealous.

When he leaves, Gina chases him out and reveals her identity by telling him about their first kiss at 16. Once he suggests Gina could’ve told her all that, she begins kissing him. It is enough to convince him that she is indeed Gina. She tells him that he knows what Leni wanted him to know, but he doesn’t know the truth. He wants Gina to tell him her truth. They have sex. Later, Gina drops Mattie off with Claudia who wonders why she is dolled up for her swimming lesson. Gina tells her she should think about signing up for a dating app. Once she leaves, she meets with Dylan and asks him to come with her to the town she had picked out. She has a connection in LA that can give them birth certificates, passports, and everything they need. Dylan is still trying to get his life back together here. Geni asks if he really wants to end up here after everything they did to him.

The next day, Gina sits down with Meg who is mad at her and can’t believe she would do this. Meg says they’re best friends so she should stay away from Dylan. Gina pretending to be Leni tells her it isn’t any of her business. Meg says they’re cousins and she watched her family run him off once. She isn’t going to let them do it again, but Gina insists nobody is running anyone off. Gina says they’re getting a chance to learn more about each other. She is happy for her and Liss although she doesn’t think Track and Terry have any idea. Gina threatens to tell them because she loves him and needs it to be kept secret. Next, Gina shows Dylan the positive pregnancy test and says it isn’t Jack’s baby since they haven’t had sex in weeks. They try to figure out what they should do. Dylan wants her to have a say in it because they had no choice in much of what happened to them. She once dreamed of running away with him and starting a family. He says the same.

When asked about Mattie and Jack, she says she loves them, but lies aren’t the answer no matter how long she has been living with them. Gina admits they’re going to have to go before she starts showing so they can’t wait for the birthday trip. They discuss a way to get money right now before Gina says she thinks she has an idea. She goes back home and rummages through the office cabinets. Then, she goes to the cave to leave clothes and a message for Leni. She goes back outside where she finds Zelda injured so she has to put the horse down. When she goes back to Dylan’s place, she sees Leni leaving in a pickup truck. Gina goes to Georgia’s place to ask for help before hugging and kissing Dylan. She says she was stuck out there for so long and had to shoot Zelda. He tells her he took Leni to the cabinet to see what she knew.

Gina tells him that she stole the passports and tickets. He apologizes for looking away. Gina is adamant that they should get out of town and never look back. She will go to the party to say her goodbyes. She hangs out with Mattie. They talk about Mrs. Moon. Gina doesn’t think she really needs her because the people she loves will always be in her heart. She tells Mattie that she’ll be right there even when she is far away. When she makes it to Georgia’s house that night, she learns that Dylan is gone because she called and changed the plan. Georgia reminds her she is supposed to be at the cabin. Gina knows it is Leni so she rushes to the cabin. She finds him with a nasty stab wound to the stomach. As they drive in the truck, Dylan urges her to get away from Leni and take the baby no matter what she says. Dylan dies moments later. She says goodbye to Dylan before setting the truck on fire.

 

Echoes Review

The fifth episode of Echoes was surprisingly better than the fourth because it just seemed a bit more competent and flowed better. The episode didn’t run around in circles while the acting was good from the primary characters even though some of the accents are still tough to handle. Viewers got a detailed account of everything that happened just before Dylan’s death and how he died.

The show is starting to build Leni as the bad sister while Gina has been encouraged to get as far away from her as possible. Much of what happened was predictable, but it is good that the series is starting to provide definite answers. There are still points when the series is confusing and it might be intentionally confusing. When the character is supposed to be Gina, there is always a bit of doubt since you just never know and a bait and switch is always possible.

The episode was better than the last though so it scores a 5.5 out of 10. As it goes on, it may develop into an interesting, edge-of-your-seat drama, but it could descend into chaos too. Time will tell. Recaps of Echoes can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support us at this link.