As this episode of Pieces of Her begins, Jane (Jessica Barden) looks at her dad’s paperwork regarding the death of Mr. Juno. Young Jasper (Calum Worthy) interrupts to see what she is doing. He knows she is still seeing Nick (Joe Dempsie) although she says it has been over since this summer. Jasper doesn’t believe her and insists he isn’t the moron she and Andrew think. Martin (Terry O’Quinn) enters to tell Jasper he will be handling the company Christmas party since Jane is going with him to Oslo. He asks Jasper to leave before offering Jane a drink. He wants her to take better care of herself because she is precious to him. While making her a drink, Martin adds a pill to it.
Once he sits down, Martin asks whether Nick gave her the idea to ruin her career. He reminds her he is her father and it is his job to protect her. Martin promises Nick won’t harm her or anyone else. He goes on to say it’ll be good to get away and start over. Laura (Toni Collette) remembers her father telling her he always wins and she knows that. She walks up the stairs of Quellcorp while following one of the workers there before running into Arthur Gibson (Ewen Leslie). He asks how long she’ll be in town. Laura argues that will depend on her brother. She steps into the room with Jasper and tells him he looks like their father although he doesn’t want to hear that. They talk about being bored at the office when their father would bring them there.
Laura remembers Jasper wanting her to take a picture of him laying on the desk wearing glasses. She admits they all do things they regret. Jasper doesn’t know why Andy left although she was upset by how little her mother had told her. She reminds him she was in witness protection and had to follow their rules. Jasper always cared too much about what people thought and their father hated that. He tells her things have changed since it is his show no. She warns him she could ruin his political career with one phone call. He wouldn’t do that if he was her. Right now, Laura is worried about finding her daughter.
Jasper suggests she is trying to find out more about Nick. Laura believes Nick came back after he saw her on the news so she is worried about Andy. Jasper tells her his security team is at her disposal, but she scoffs at the idea. She has to go because he can’t keep Senator Shepherd waiting. Laura admits Jasper has done a good job of redeeming the family name. Seconds later, Charlie Bass (Gil Birmingham) gets a call from Laura who asks for his help finding Andy. He tells her to call the FBI because they deal with missing person cases. She asks about Michael Vargas since he was responsible for protecting Andy, but Charlie isn’t eager to help. Then, we see Andy (Bella Heathcote) entering Michael’s motel room using the keycard she got from him.
She searches the room until she finally finds the laptop and suitcase full of money. She also finds the paper pertaining to the kidnapping of Maplecroft. Andy tries to guess Michael’s laptop password before she hears something nearby. She hides in the shower and watches as a group of people enter. They take the money and leave. Andy runs out in time to see the elevator going down to the ground level so she runs down the stairs to catch up. She manages to get in her car and follow them as they pull out of the parking garage. Laura goes to the burial sites of her mother, father, and brother. She calls her daughter and leaves a voice message letting her know she is in San Francisco searching for her.
She knows she always hates it when she tells her to be careful, but she has lost so many people that she doesn’t know what she’ll do if she loses her daughter. Then, we see a flashback of Martin’s funeral. Andrew (Nicholas Burton) approaches her to ask if she wants drugs. He admits he hated their father for so long. Jane mentions Grace, but her brother asks her not to do with that. Nick joins them as they talk about Jasper who is worried the Army of the Changing World is going to come after him when he is named CEO of the company. The FBI is there to hold his hand after Maplecroft’s ransom note was on the cover of the Chronicle.
Nick tells them to draw this out for as long as possible. When Jane says they don’t need the money, Nick admits it isn’t about the money. Instead, they need to send a message so people know what they stand for. Andrew agrees. Before Nick leaves them together, he insists he isn’t getting caught because he is just getting started. Nick puts on a mask and joins a protest about AIDS. He retrieves the money from a nearby dumpster before throwing a smoke grenade as agents rush toward him. The bag is given to someone else before the FBI agents grab the wrong person. Andy follows the car into a convenience store parking lot. While the driver goes inside, Andy manages to sneak up to the car and place a nail under the tire to burst it when the car leaves.
Laura gets a message from Charlie telling her where to find Michael Vargas. She enters his motel room before finding a piece of paper with Charlie’s name on the back of it. She calls Charlie to tell him he was right since Michael and Andy were there. Michael was supposed to be on a flight to Atlanta, but he never made it. He didn’t log in certain evidence and read her full WITSEC report which he wasn’t authorized to do. Charlie admits he could’ve told Andy what was in the report as she finds a paper with several names on it, including Nick, Jasper, Paula, and Eli Wexler. She says she found nothing. Although Charlie warns her she needs to get off the street, she won’t until Andy is safe.
Once the call ends, Laura looks up the Wexler Law Firm to get the address. Andy drives past the car as they work to change the tire. She gets out and hides behind the guardrail as a highway patrol officer stops to see if he can help. Andy makes her move and tries to get the suitcase while they’re distracted. She can’t escape with the suitcase quickly enough so she has to hide in the trunk instead. A flashback shows Jane practicing handing her gun with Nick monitoring her progress. Then, she remembers him taking her to stay with Clara (Gemma Bird Matheson) and Eli Wexler (Ben O’Toole). In the present, she approaches Eli (Colin Friels) and tells him she is Jane.
Once they go inside, Laura notices a picture of Clara with Andy when she was a little girl. She says she is sorry about Clara, but Eli doesn’t believe it because she never called or anything. Laura asks about Andy. When he makes it clear he hasn’t seen her, Laura changes the subject by asking about the farm. He doesn’t go up there much anymore because of the memories. Laura admits Andy was always so happy there so she wonders if she should’ve stayed with them. Being a mother always seem easy for Clara, but it wasn’t for Laura. Eli asks if she wants someone to let her off the hook. He admits he can’t help her. Laura leaves immediately after that.
She gets a call from Charlie who says he is going to see Michael Vargas because he is in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A woman matching Andy’s description was with Michael when the paramedics showed up. Andy might’ve taken his personal phone so he is trying to get the number for it. She thanks him. After the call, we see Jane in a flashback as she takes food to the hideout of the Army of the Changing World. Paula (Mia Artemis) and the others argue about what they should do next. Nick pulls Jane aside to tell her he got the money. Paula worries that she might’ve been followed. They agree to go look while Jane tells Nick that they might want to consider making it stop. Jane believes they can explain what happened to the police since Grace was unstable.
Nick says Jane and Andrew might be fine, but the rest of them will be locked up or fried. He plans on letting Maplecroft go tomorrow before he gives her a cup of water to take to Maplecroft. Paula and Quarter see people walking around outside and suspect it could be cops. Seconds later, the guy is hot. Maplecroft bites Jane in an attempt to escape. Maplecroft (Raelene Chapman) begins swinging a knife or sharp object around as Jane screams for help. As Nick enters, he raises his hand and the knife goes through his palm. He uses it to slice open her neck and kill her. Paula runs in to tell them about Quarter (Abhilash Kaimal) being shot. She freaks when she sees Maplecroft on the ground. Nick pulls the object from the palm of his hand as they agree they got to get out of there. Andrew joins them while they try to escape and the FBI moves in. They run through a tunnel as the FBI begins shooting at them.
The group gets into a van before we return to the present. Andy gets a call from the trunk of the car. When the car stops and the two people get out, Andy pushes down the armrest and looks through the gap. As they walk back to the vehicle to show him the suitcase, he shoots both of them from behind. Andy hides underneath the car with the suitcase. He looks around the car. When he can’t find the suitcase, he calls Arthur to tell him it is gone, but the two have been dealt with. Arthur is told to clean up the mess. The guy drives away in the car so Andy climbs out of her hiding spot. Then, we see the flashback of a young Andy hiding as someone calls her name. In the present, Andy gets a call while riding on the bus.
She meets up with her mother at a café. As they sit down, Laura encourages her daughter to eat something. Andy learns that her mother got Mike’s number from Charlie. Laura is forced to admit she isn’t an only child, has a brother in the running for vice president, and another brother who was in a cult that killed her father. Once Laura apologizes, Andy says she believes Nick Harp is her father after watching the video. Her mother confirms it. She also admits that she was in the cult because she did whatever Nick wanted until Oslo. Laura explains she can testify against Alex as long as she is alive. Andy knows the money is the ransom for Alex Maplecroft, but she doesn’t understand why her mother would keep it. She thought they’d need it if Nick ever came for them.
Andy suspects Jasper tried to kill her to get the money. Laura doesn’t understand why Jasper would do that. Andy says she is going to call the FBI, but Laura doesn’t think that is a good idea. She says they can go to the Marshals when Charlie gets there. Andy isn’t sure they can go to the Marshals though because Mike believes there is some kind of leak. Laura tries to convince her daughter to leave. She eventually agrees to go to the nearest police station and call the FBI. Andy agrees to pay for everything while her mother goes to the bathroom. A snow globe near the checkout reminds Andy of the flashback in the wood structure and someone calling her name. Once she pays, she realizes her mother left instead of going to the bathroom.
She manages to run outside and block the car before Laura can drive away. Laura tells her to move, stay, and wait for Charlie. Eventually, Laura drives away leaving her daughter alone.
Pieces Of Her Review
The 6th episode of Pieces of Her was far better than the previous two or three simply because things started happening. It would take a miracle to get me to feel for the characters and care about their futures at this point, but the episode was indeed better. Why wasn’t this happening much earlier? Pieces of Her obviously had the potential to be very good. The cast could’ve been better if they weren’t handcuffed by the unnecessary American accents.
You can often hear them struggling to maintain the accent. It would’ve been better to just change the setting and tweak the stories slightly. To make this even remotely worthwhile, it needs to go all out in the next few episodes. This one scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Pieces of Her can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support Reel Mockery by following this link.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
