As the third episode of Pieces of Her begins, we see an older meeting of the International Economic Forum. Nick (Joe Dempsie) sits in the audience and listens to the man on stage talk about capitalism and pharmaceuticals. Laura Oliver (Toni Collette) is prepared for the upcoming interview. The interviewer insists she’ll do great and they’ll talk about the work she does at the veterans center. He asks if she learned the knife move from one of her patients there. Laura changes the subject by asking if they could turn down the brightness of the light. She believes a little good will come of this if she can reach one person who is thinking about hurting someone else. The interviewer offers to pitch her for CNN Heroes with her daughter, but Andy is out of town and unable to participate.

Andy Oliver (Bella Heathcote) panics while looking out of the window of her motel room. She goes outside and asks the receptionist whether there is a shortcut to town only to learn there is just one road. The man from the bar watches her through the window. The receptionist tells her about a walking path behind the motel that can take her there. She visits a car dealership where a salesman (Robert Longstreet) is eager to help her. She tells him she is coming from Birmingham before she is offered one of the cars for $5,800. She asks if he has a bathroom. She goes there immediately so she can count the money. A man elsewhere watches Laura’s interview on television. She talks about needing to talk and call a truce while Nick Harp (Aaron Jeffery) listens carefully.

Laura insists nobody wants to live with this kind of threat. He gets up and leaves the motel room. Meanwhile, Andy returns to the car salesman with the money. He is surprised so he tries to find out more about Andy and what she is doing out there. He lies about putting new radials on the car to charge her a bit more than what he originally offered. After seeing someone suspicious outside in a truck, the salesman asks if she needs a friend because he can help her out. When a man enters, Andy gives the salesman enough money to cover the $6,500 total. Once the man leaves to get the paperwork, Andy uses the phone to call Bass Escrow out of Bessemer, Alabama. Charlie (Gil Birmingham) answers the phone.

Jack retrieves what looks like a tracking device from Andy’s car which is still sitting outside the motel. Laura steps outside where she encounters Arthur Gibson (Ewen Leslie) who says his employer is happy to see her alive and well. He wants to know why she talked to the media and asked them to join her army of change. Arthur suggests they can help each other since he can offer her safety and support. Once he offers to get her out of the country until things settle down, Laura asks if he knows where he is and whether he has reached out to him. She doesn’t think he can help her. Instead, Laura threatens to go to the police and tell them exactly what she knows.

He offers to take care of her daughter too and insists this is what they want. Before he leaves, he reminds her that she knows how to reach them. Andy arrives at Charlie’s place and hugs him. Laura listens to a politician on television while crushing some type of tablet in a glass of alcohol. We see that the speaker is Quellcorp CEO Jasper Queller (David Wenham). His name is on the short list to be picked by Shepard as vice president. He is asked if he is surprised that he made it this far considering his family’s history. Jasper reveals his father’s murder was a defining moment for him because he realized how fragile things are and nothing matters more than the people you love. He is asked about Nick Harp who was behind his father’s death and the fact that he is still a fugitive.

He thinks it is up to the FBI to find him. Then, he is asked about the Army of the Changing World and whether it still poses a threat. He wants to focus on problems going on right now although the interviewer would prefer to talk about his company’s history of corruption and racketeering. Laura removes the bandage from her hand. She looks at it while remembering things from her past before her phone rings and retrieves it. Someone on the other end says hello Jane. Charlie tries to find out what is going on with Andy. She tells him about the guy who broke into their house as well as the guy from the bar last night.

She believes the guy has been following her although she isn’t positive about that yet. Andy tells him about the money in the suitcase and every crazy thing that has happened so far. She shows him the picture of the girl and wonders whether her dad could’ve done this. Charlie isn’t sure Jerry could do something like that. Andy finds it odd that her mother never talks about him and only has one photo of him in the whole house. She was devastated when she died so she moved down south to start over. When he is asked about Paula Koontz, he insists he has never heard of her. He suggests she is exhausted since Carrollton is a long drive, but she doesn’t remember saying she came from Carrollton. He remembers her saying she was going to Maine too.

While he goes to make her something to eat, she asks him how he knows her mother and whether he helped her and Gordon with the house loan. He says yes and he painted her room the color she wanted. He asks if she still likes Tabasco on her eggs. Andy looks around and finds dust on his table nearby. In a desk drawer, she finds a picture of Charlie with his family. She asks why he never married so he claims he just never found the right person. Andy leaves in a hurry. Charlies walks out as her car pulls away and yells to ask where she is going. Gordon (Omari Hardwick) gets a visit from a coworker who tells him Andy is on line one. Andy complains that Charlie knew she was coming from Carrollton even though she didn’t tell him.

She demands to know the truth since her mother has been lying to her this whole time. First, she asks if Charlie is who he says he is. Gordon admits he is not. He won’t tell her anything else and recommends going to the police station where she should wait for him. He already knows about the man, but promises he is going to fix everything. She wants to know what is going on and who Laura is afraid of. Gordon tells her to go somewhere safe and stay there. When she asks about Paula Koontz, Gordon acts like he doesn’t know who that is. He swears he doesn’t know that name. Andy accuses him of lying to her when they got out of the hospital and it wasn’t the first time. Just before the call ends, Andy claims she is going to find out herself.

Gordon visits Laura to tell her about Andy visiting Charlie. He claims she is scared right now and needs to come home. Laura says she needs to listen to her mother and only called Gordon because he tells her what she wants to hear. He asks her about Paula. That leads to an argument as Gordon insists he isn’t going to let anyone hurt his daughter. She reminds him that Andy is her daughter and not his. Next, Andy goes to a trampoline park where she asks a mother if she can use her tablet for a minute. She uses the child’s tablet to look up the name Paula Koontz. She tries to find anything about Paula and a murder. She finds an article about a woman named Paula Kunde being denied parole in Texas. She searches the woman’s name again.

She finds a Wikipedia entry claiming Paula Louise Kunde is an American radical and former member of the Army of the Changing World. It says she was linked to the assassination of a pharmaceutical person Martin Queller at the 1988 International Economic Forum in Oslo. As Andy tries to write down the name and Fort Worth, the mother asks for the tablet back and reminds her that this place is for families. When her mother calls, Laura argues it isn’t safe for her to be out there alone. Andy wants to know why that is the case. Laura says people are looking for her although Paula isn’t part of this. Andy saw all of her mother’s false IDs so she suspects Laura was going to escape and leave her behind.

Laura doesn’t want to tell her over the phone. Andy promises to drive home without stopping anywhere. However, she ends up driving to Fort Worth instead of going back home. Laura uses a VPN to go online and learn about Paula. She also buys a plane ticket to Texas. Gordon calls someone and tells them he is calling about Laura and Andy. The next day, Laura drives around while we see a flashback of a mother waking up her daughter before carrying her out of the building. The mother gets into the car with her three children and tells them they’re going to go see where mommy grew up. Soon, a man begins banging on the car and telling Annette Queller (Sarah Aubrey) to get out. He claims he will raise the kids on his own. Annette turns the car on while threatening to run him down.

The kids are eventually pulled out of the car before we return to the present as Laura drives toward the Savannah Hilton Head International Airport. She is blocked in by two vehicles that force her to stop. Meanwhile, Andy goes to the lawyer’s office while the man from the bar watches her closely. He puts a screwdriver up his sleeve. Andy goes inside where she asks to speak to Geraldine Ross because she is making a documentary about sentencing reform. She’d like to talk to her about one of her clients Paula Kunde. She is told there is a $400 fee for an initial consultation. Unfortunately, she’ll have to wait three weeks since that Monday is the earliest opening. The man outside approaches Andy’s car while two women return with drinks for themselves and Geraldine.

She manages to slip by and walk up the stairs. The man outside jabs the screwdriver under the car causing the trunk to open. Andy follows the woman to the bathroom and pops the lid off the drink while she is in the stall. The woman returns, Andy knocks the drink all over her purse to create a distraction that she uses to steal her ID cards and such. Outside, the man gets inside the trunk and finds the blue suitcase. He shuts the trunk and leaves as Andy comes out. Charlie approaches Laura, calls her Jane, and tells her she has been busy. Andy puts on makeup and a wig to make herself look like the woman from the bathroom since she has her driver’s license.

 

Pieces Of Her Review

Pieces Of Her is trying its best to become a chicken with its head cut off. There is no real chemistry between Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, or Omari Hardwick despite the family factor in the series. While new things are being uncovered in each episode, the story itself is a juxtaposition of slightly interconnected scenes. Although this is turning into a crime drama that feels like a spy thriller, it is surprisingly slow.

I am already concerned that there are just too many episodes so there is too much time to overload the series with filler. I still don’t understand why they decided to make a show in Australia with Australian actors and actresses while pretending it is based in the United States. Very little about the show feels American, but I suppose it is going to be on Netflix so they felt obligated to cater to the American populace.

There is really nothing new here. The good news is that Pieces of Her is easy to follow and digest. It might be stupid entertainment that is so good it is surprisingly good. Only time will tell. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Pieces of Her can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support the Reel Mockery project by following this link.