As the finale of Pieces of Her begins, Laura or Jane (Toni Collette) talks to Nick Harp (Aaron Jeffery) on the phone. He admits he has been keeping up with the news ever since she stole his move in the diner. He sent his friend to her house instead of coming himself because he is a fugitive. Laura has been thinking about how to make things right between them. She’ll give him what he wants, he leaves her alone, and she never testifies. Nick says owning Jasper will be his consolation prize. They agree to meet at the last place Laura saw him. She pulls over the car when she gets a text message telling her she should take better care of her daughter. It includes a short video of Andy (Bella Heathcote) sleeping in bed. Laura continues driving while Nick says he saw the crash and heard her calling for help.

While he brought her here, EMS was taking a man to the hospital so it was likely Charlie. When Andy asks about Clara, Nick says she is long gone. He asks if she is cold before admitting there is no electricity. He believes the resemblance between them is the eyes and the way she holds herself. Nick gives her a sweater and asks who Jane said her father was. Andy doesn’t answer and instead asks whether he loved her. After he says yes, Andy shows him the picture of Jane after he had beaten her. He apologizes and admits he didn’t know about her until he saw her that day in the woods. Nick wanted to take her with him but living in hiding is no way for a child to live. Andy says that is how she lived anyway although she didn’t know it. He suspects Jane didn’t tell her anything. Andy believes she knows enough so he asks what Jane said about him.

She says Jane told her that he hurts people, but Nick insists he never wanted anyone to die and he isn’t the big bad wolf. Andy is asked whether she has noticed how people like her grandfather strip-mine the world. Nick argues someone had to fight back before saying she is a part of a very wealthy, corrupt family. He believes she wants the truth and Jane can’t give her that. He goes on to say they have unfinished business. When Jane arrives outside, she grabs the suitcase and begins walking toward the house. Nick approaches her before she can enter the house and kisses her on the forehead. He tells her Andy is fine after taking her keys. Nick asks Jane if she is going to behave. Once they go inside, Jane sees her daughter and says thank God. She reminds her she tried to keep her out of this.

Andy believes that is why she ditched her. Nick admits she is good at making an exit. Jane learns about the accident and Charlie being taken to the hospital. Nick reveals he thought Jane belonged to a convent when he first met her. Andy asks whether they’re going to take the money and run off together. Nick says he wakes up sometimes and feels like he is in Andrew’s old apartment with Jane breathing beside him. Janes agrees that Andy reminds her of Nick so he has been there looking back at her every day. As Nick moves around, Andy sees the gun hidden in the back of his pants. He asks when she knew she was pregnant. Jane knew just before Oslo, but she was sent back to the house to spy on her father and they barely saw one another. That is why she never told him.

Jane explains she was sitting at breakfast with her father when this wave hit her and she barely made it to the bathroom. Mrs. Barfield bought her a drug store pregnancy test that she used to confirm she was pregnant. As for Martin, she knew it was the last thing he wanted. Nick reaches out his hand, but Jane doesn’t take it. Nick believes Andy doesn’t approve of him because she thinks he ran a cult, but he argues that family is the real cult. Although he is on the FBI’s most-wanted list, the Quellers aren’t innocent either. He throws the suitcase on top of the table and begins searching it for something. He keeps looking until he finds a small cassette tape. He plays the recording in which he encourages Jasper to get Alex Maplecroft invited to Oslo. He promises to do the rest and nobody will ever know he had any part in this.

In a flashback, Nick tells Jasper he’ll take over the company as the responsible son and the board won’t even blink. Jasper wants him out but not like this. Nick insists Martin will have to resign since he won’t have a choice. After Nick suggests Martin wants Jane to run the company, Jasper changes his mind and asks if Grace Juno will cooperate. Jasper says he doesn’t want to know the details. Jane tells her daughter she didn’t know Jasper was involved until later. She kept the tape to buy her life back. Andy asks Nick if he is going to blackmail his way to a pardon. Nick says they’ll see. He argues Jasper is the only one who got what they wanted. Jane thinks Nick got what he wanted now too. He says he wanted to see her so he sent the guy to Belle Isle to bring her to him.

While he talks, Andy thinks about the vehicle crash. Nick says there are things he’d like to know and he thinks their daughter would too. He asks what happened in Oslo because he didn’t give Grace that gun. Jane doesn’t believe him just like she doesn’t believe he doesn’t know what happened to Charlie. When Andy remembers it was Nick who caused the crash, the knocks the lantern to the ground causing a fire. He throws her around while searching for the recording. Jane tries to cut his name. During the scuffle, his gun falls to the ground and slides underneath something. Jane goes for the gun as the money burns. She helps Andy exit the house. Once Jane checks on her daughter’s arm and tells her to stay there, she heads into the woods to go after Nick. She begins shooting at him from behind.

He eventually stops, turns around, and tells her she has been waiting to do this. Nick encourages her to do it before Andy joins them. Andy tells her she doesn’t have to do this because it is over. The US Marshals arrive and arrest Nick before Jane can shoot him. Later, Gordon (Omari Hardwick) meets with Andy since he needed to see her in one piece. She can’t believe Charlie is gone. He admits he used to resent Charlie because he knew more about his wife than he did. He read about everything now, but it still doesn’t explain anything. He reveals he is revising Jane’s will and she is a Queller now. Andy should think about changing her name although she says she doesn’t want anything from them. Jane is told Nick will be heading to a supermax prison as soon as she gives her testimony.

She sees him in one of the interview rooms before Jasper (David Wenham) interrupts and asks to borrow his sister. She suspects he is worried about the tape that she claims burned in the fire. Jane says he already has an attorney so he’ll find a way out of this, but Jasper isn’t sure about that since he is responsible for the death of a US Marshal. He is also responsible for their father’s death. Jane believes they need to find out what he is telling them and Jasper can help find out. Jasper reminds her she is asking him to interfere with the justice system when he is about to be vice president. He calls her incredibly. Then, we jump forward and see Andy riding her bike through Belle Isle. She stops at the crab shack where there is a memorial for Shelley and Betsy.

Then, she rides away and meets up with Michael Vargas (Jacob Scipio) who reveals he was injected with some type of respiratory paralytic. If she hadn’t started CPR, he wouldn’t have made it. He says he is on his way to DC to deal with Internal Affairs because he did what he did. Andy admits it has been difficult to sleep. Michael says they can send a couple of Feds up to keep an eye on her and her mother if she wants. She says she is picky about her stalkers. Mike offers to stop by in a couple of days to get dinner. She asks if they can do it when she is a little better, but she is glad he stopped by. At home, Jane gets angry and throws away all of the clothes in her closet. Andy sees her and follows her inside to say they haven’t talked. Jane thought she might’ve needed some time though. She agrees to let Andy ask her a question. Andy questions why she wanted to see Nick.

Jane says she wanted him to leave them alone. She knows he could’ve killed her and it sounds like she doesn’t even care. Jane admits Nick has been killing her every day. She would sometimes become so enraged that she wanted to burn the house down. Since she didn’t want her daughter to see, she’d go to the beach and asks what Laura would do like she was real. Andy says she was real to her and she is trying to let her go without losing everything else. Her mother promises she isn’t going to lose all those years they had with Gordon. Andy argues it is better to know how she got here and who her mother loved. Although she is glad she knows who her father is, Jane wishes she’d never met him. Andy believes her mother is mad at her for stopping her in the woods.

Jane insists he has nothing to give her because Nick destroys people. Andy knows that although her mother doesn’t think she does. She promises she doesn’t care about Nick and did this for her mother. She wants Jane to have her own life. Later, Jane goes to a piano store to ask whether they have a Bosendorfer. She is given time to sit down and play on the piano. Meanwhile, Andy sketches at home. When Jane gets home, she admits she went to tell her daughter her real birthday which is July 9th. She was supposed to come in June but ended up being two weeks late. She was born in the hospital of the Women’s Correctional Facility in Eugene, Oregon. Jane held her daughter for a while before they took her away. Andy asks whether she ever thought about leaving her with Clara for good.

Jane says she did because she felt like she didn’t deserve her. Andy insists it is over so her mother doesn’t need to protect her anymore. Then, we see a flashback of Jane sitting down with Grace Juno (Catherine McClements) at the bar in Oslo. Grace tells Jane (Jessica Barden) that she shouldn’t be there. Jane asks why they call it morning sickness when hers lasts all day. Grace instructs her to eat saltine crackers when she wakes up. Jane is convinced it is a girl although she isn’t sure why. She is told she should be with her father. Jane admits her father made it clear how he feels about her conditions, but he doesn’t have a say in whether she exists. She says her father tried to hurt her. A flashback shows Martin putting drugs in her drink.

Jane is worried her father will do whatever it takes to prevent her daughter from being born. People treat him like he is some kind of king and nobody ever stops him. After Grace checks her watch, she says she is sorry, but her panel starts soon. Then, we see her shooting Martin on the stage. Later that night, Andy sends someone a text message to see if they’re still up. Michael calls her back before he is asked whether he read the WITSEC report about her mother. She has been thinking about Grace Juno and wonders whether she left a suicide note or anything. Mike says she didn’t. She blames Queller Corp and Nick put a gun in her hand. The security checked Grace so they know she didn’t bring it herself. Andy wonders whether anyone saw Nick give Grace the gun beside her mother.

A flashback shows Jane with the gun as Michael admits only Jane said she saw Nick give Grace the gun. In the flashback, Jane tries to pressure Grace into taking the gun by telling her Martin will do it again and take her daughter from her. When she says Martin takes everything, Grace agrees and takes the gun. She tells Jane to take care of her daughter. Andy watches the video and tells Michael that they switched bags. Her mother is afraid of Nick because he knows the truth. Arthur Gibson (Ewen Leslie) listens to the phone call as Andy apologizes for waking him up and abruptly ends the call. He has the ACW nickel in his hand. During the International Economic Forum meeting, Martin argues with Grace who he believes is Alex Maplecroft.

Nick is left shocked in the audience when Grace pulls out the gun and shoots Martin. Jane rushes to the stage. In the present, Jane gets a call from an unknown number. It is Jasper who wants to say there is going to be an announcement soon that he is Senator Shepherd’s running mate. He confirms he asked what Nick was talking about and he was talking a lot about her, Oslo, and what she did. Jasper agrees to keep it quiet because they’re family. She asks what he wants. Jasper says he’ll be in touch before the call ends. We see Jane giving birth to Andy and everything that has led up to this moment. Anette tells Jane to wake up. Andy gets up and finds that her mother has left.

She runs out of the house and down to the beach where she finds her mother staring out into the water. Andy thought she had gone, but Jane says she just couldn’t sleep. Jane admits she didn’t want to move here. When she saw the ocean for the first time, she ran straight into the water and thought this place might be okay. They agree to go walk for a bit as the episode ends.

 

Pieces Of Her Review

Although I wasn’t blown away by Pieces of Her, it is safe to say the book it was based on at least had an interesting story. I’d suspect the book was a bit better than the television show although that wouldn’t be a difficult feat to accomplish. Despite some proven actors and actresses, the show was crippled by a multitude of problems with the biggest being the runtime.

It just went on and on for far too long and many things that happened in the lead-up to the finale didn’t matter in the end. I think the need to Americanize the series was a serious problem since the accents often didn’t work. Omari Hardwick was one of the few to actually fit the mold here, but even he seemed out of place. The twist at the end wasn’t surprising for me at least since I suspected something like this would happen.

It may not be like that for everyone. It is a big relief to be finished with this show because it seemed so slow and sluggish. I couldn’t get into it or connect with the characters from the beginning and that never changed through eight episodes. Others may enjoy it though. 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 Reel Mockery by following this link.