As the episode begins, Jane (Jessica Barden) clips dead sunflowers until a woman walks over to tell her it is time. She goes back to her cell where she takes down her pictures and drawings from her wall. Charlie Bass (Paul Grenier) arrives and tells her four years is a long time. She tells him exactly how long it has been. Although Jane Queller is a convicted felon, Laura Randall doesn’t even have a parking ticket. They go outside and sit down before Charlie explains she is a widowed single mother from Rhode Island. Her parents died in a fire when she was 18 and she married young. Her husband Jerry Randall was killed in a car crash when her daughter was two years ago. She learns that their birthdays have been changed according to protocol.
They moved to Georgia for a fresh start. She learns more about Belle Isle which is a retirement community before she gets a bag of clothes. Charlie also gives her a Wish Bear for Andy. Jane is worried because her daughter doesn’t even know who she is. As for Nick, Charlie promises they’ll get him. He tells her to focus on being Laura because she is going to have her hands full. In the present, Charlie (Gil Birmingham) meets with Andy (Bella Heathcote). She tells him Laura is in a dark gray Chevy Malibu with California license plate number H793WVZ, but Laura changes the license plate. While doing so, she remembers being in the clinic listening to President Obama talk about American jobs on television. She tells Andy to go home since it is going to take four hours.
Andy eventually agrees to go to the cafeteria to wait for her there. The woman sitting next to Laura admits it is hard to lean on them before asking for a pen. Once she gets the pen, Gloria says her son gave her a book that has all these questions. One asks what she values most and whether her values have changed since the diagnosis. She asks Laura if she has been putting off any dreams. She responds by saying finishing this book. In a flashback, Nick (Joe Dempsie) and the others ride in the van while listening to a report about Alex Maplecroft’s death. Nick takes Andrew (Nicholas Burton) and Jane to Clara (Gemma Bird Matheson) and Eli (Ben O’Toole) so they can stay there for a while. Nick tells Jane they need to hide the supplies in the shed while Andrew struggles with the gunshot wound.
When Andrew falls to the ground, Jane argues they need to get him to a hospital. The others aren’t sure they can take that risk though. Nick asks if Jane will do as he asks before they carry Nick into the house. In the present, Charlie tells Andy they checked the location she provided, but the car and bodies were already gone. Andy believes her billionaire uncle is covering his tracks. Charlie agrees to do some digging once they get her out of the Bay area. A stable Michael Vargas has been moved to a secure location. As for Laura, they’ve put a BOLO for her. If they find her, they’ll find him and this thing can finally be over. After Andy thanks him for doing all this, she reveals he was in the delivery room and was the second person to hold her.
He mentions one place Laura might go up north to an old house in the woods. A civil rights lawyer and his wife used to live there. Their guys went around a couple of days ago, but it might be worth going back. While getting treatment, Laura watches the women’s march in DC. The woman next to her talks about planning a vacation with her family, but Laura says it doesn’t matter. Andy walks in as her mother tells the woman she isn’t going to Disney World because she is dying. Once the treatment finishes, Andy asks her mother if she was serious about waiting to die. Laura says no, but Andy doesn’t believe her. She tells her mother that she hasn’t been eating. Andy doesn’t think Laura is even trying at this point. Laura admits she didn’t expect her life to end up like this.
She tells Andy her life didn’t begin when she was born. Laura sometimes feels like Andy only came home because she had nothing better to do. She complains that Andy could be doing anything, but she is hovering over her like any of this matters. Andy reminds her mother that she needs her even when she is the last person she wants to talk to. In the past, Nick and Jane watch Jasper on television as he calls them terrorists and says he’ll do everything in his power to bring them to justice. When Nick pitches the idea of bombing Jasper and his company, Jane argues he can’t do that.
He calls it a revolution although Jane says it is starting to feel like revenge. Later, Jane finds that Andrew is burning up and asks why he didn’t say something. He tells her he is dying for something he believes in. Jane tells him he sounds just like Nick before offering to take him to the hospital, but he refuses. When Jane reveals she is pregnant, Andrew hopes it is a girl because that would be perfect karma. Jane doesn’t want to be left alone. Andrew says she won’t be. Once he passes out, Jane looks through his stuff and finds a tape recorder. On the recording, Jasper is told he can take over the company and the board won’t even blink. Jane quickly turns it off before Nick can enter the room.
She tells him she is going to take Andrew to the hospital. Nick tries to convince her otherwise. He says they’ve never been whole people because the world broke them. They make sense together and need one another. Jane remembers what has happened and immediately says she can’t do this. Eli will take them to the border because he has friends in Calgary. Jane says no. He throws her to the ground before warning her he’d scorch the earth to find her if she ever leaves him. He begins punching her as we return to Laura’s treatment. She asks the nurse about Gloria who has she been talking to for a while now. The nurse reveals that Gloria has been moved to hospice care.
Laura visits Gloria’s room to apologize for what she said previously. She tells Gloria about the dream she has which is freedom. Laura was trained to be a good girl and keep the peace when bad things happen. She thought she saw a way out, but it was just a dead end. A flashback shows her attacking Nick from behind. The man she loved tried to kill her so she had to get away. She packs the money into the suitcase and takes the recording too. She became a new person and locked her old self away while telling herself it was her choice. As Laura tells Gloria about hiding for 30 years, flashbacks show her leaving with her brother in the van. Laura wants a way out because she doesn’t want to die in someone else’s skin.
In a flashback, Jasper meets with Jane at the hospital where he learns Andrew is gone. He never woke up so she never got to say goodbye. Jasper reveals there is an FBI agent outside before encouraging her to say it was Nick and Andrew who brainwashed her. Jane admits he is the second person to try to get her to abandon Andrew today. Jasper says he is dead and there is nothing they can do to change that. Jasper warned her. Now, he is there to clean up her mess. Jane says she’ll turn herself in, do her time, and on with her life. Neither will say anything about Andrew and he might’ve done. Although he can have the company, he will use the profits from the pharmaceuticals to make amends. She threatens to ruin his life if there is one whisper that Andrew did something or he keeps exploiting people.
She knows all about his side deal with Nick regarding Oslo because it is all on tape. Jasper insists he didn’t know Nick was going to keep him. He argues they have to look out for one another since they’re on the ones left. She steps into the hallway and tells the FBI agent she knows who killed Alex Maplecroft and where to find him. As Andy rides with Charlie, she learns the Feds got close to catching Nick the first time, but he managed to slip away. Charlie believes he had help. Andy wonders why he’d come back after 30 years. Charlie knew Nick beat up Jane because he took the Polaroid picture. Andy screams as their car is sideswiped. After the crash, Andy wakes up in a house she doesn’t know.
As she looks around outside, she realizes something about the property is familiar. While walking through the house, she remembers Clara checking on her when she was a young girl. Andy says hello to her mother by kissing her picture sitting on the dresser. Andy is allowed to go outside but warned not to go past the big tree. She goes there and picks up one of her dolls. Later that night, she spends time fingerpainting with Clara. She tells Andy that Eli might be coming home tomorrow since the jury is still making up its mind. When they hear something outside, Clara blames it on a fox. She sends Andy to get her PJs on before going outside with the shotgun to look around.
She finds nothing so she goes back inside and shuts the door behind her. The next day, Andy goes back to the big tree where she finds Nick waiting for her. He makes up a story about the dolls being attacked by monsters before learning her mother is gone. Andy tells him her name and that her mother grows flowers somewhere. Nick leads her down to the creek where the dolls can go swimming. Eli returns. Clara and Eli begin yelling for Andy so that changes Nick’s plan. He says he is her imaginary friend and it is a secret. Nick gives her the coin with ACW carved into it. As long as she has it, it means he’ll come back. Then, Andy is sent back. Once she returns to them, they agree to play inside today. Adult Andy looks around until she sees herself sitting on the bed when her mother finally comes back.
She is reunited with her mother who tells her she is beautiful. Andy is hesitant, but she eventually walks over to give her mother a hug. Jane gives her daughter the Wish Bear and sunflowers that she thought they could plant at their new hours. Clara reminds Andy that they talked about this and she is going with her mommy to her new hours. Although Andy wants to stay with Clara and Eli, she has to leave. Eli tells her it’ll be like an adventure as they go outside where Charlie waits for them. Clara knows she won’t be able to visit. Jane isn’t sure how she can ever repay her, but Clara says she did and something good came from it. When Jane says it is time to go, Andy says no and runs away. She climbs into the wooden clubhouse where she hides until her mother climbs inside with her.
Andy spits in Jane’s face and refuses to come outside with her. Jane eventually grabs her and gives her to Clara who tries to calm her down. Clara carries her to the car and puts her in before Andy leaves with her mother and Charlie. When the car stops, Jane tries to find out what her daughter has. Andy eventually shows her mother the nickel Nick gave her, but she won’t tell her how she got it. In the present, Andrea hears something downstairs so she goes to see what it is. Nick Harp (Aaron Jeffery) turns around before telling Andy she slept all day. He says he is Nick Harp and her father.
Pieces Of Her Review
This episode of Pieces of Her was pretty much more of the same with the past being revealed at a snail’s pace. Despite the flaws, the series could’ve been at least watchable had the runtime been cut in half or even more. It just drags on for too long with nothing significant happening from one episode to the next. Since it spans nearly eight hours and has never really got going, it is hard to justify recommending it. If it was only four episodes, I think it would’ve been far better.
During the past few episodes, I’ve become very frustrated with Pieces of Her and likely wouldn’t bother watching it if I weren’t going to recap the episodes. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Pieces of Her can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out 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.
