Summary
“The Paranoia” continues to thicken the mystery as Alice evolves into her directorial role. Simultaneously, her obsession with Sophie manifests, bringing darker answers that she does not understand.
This recap of Apple TV+ series Losing Alice season 1, episode 5, “The Paranoia” contains spoilers.
Welcome back folks; before we get into this week’s episode, a noticeable feature of this series so far is Alice’s evolution that increases by increments. In “The Paranoia”, we see a major step-up in Alice’s character. She appears to be more confident and coy — it’s like the film is making her into the woman she wants to be, as she continues internalizing her concerns with Sophie. This story continues presenting that imbalance — it’s fascinating so far.
“The Paranoia” opens with the following text:
Nothing has really happened until it’s been described (in words). — Virginia Woolf.
As previous episodes have suggested, Alice is obsessed with the potential interior of the hotel from the script. She wants it to look “sleazy and sexy”. When touring a hotel with the production team, she’s over-the-moon and feels it is perfect. She then imagines Sophie and David playing the scene in the hotel room — her fantasies keeping manifesting. She asks a production crew member if she can stay in the hotel on days out of town.
A script reading
David and Sophie read the script together, playing Eleanor and Amir. Sophie slaps him as part of the reading, but it was ridiculously hard, and the pair end up laughing. As the previous episode suggests, Sophie appears to be the script, rather than her creation. It’s almost an outlet of some kind.
Who is the character Eleanor based on?
Alice watches a screen test with the casting director, but she isn’t too impressed. She gets out her phone and shows a photo on Sophie’s Instagram of a girl that only appeared on her profile to a certain point. She believes the character is based on her. One of the crew members says that the girl is called Naomi, and she disappeared. They want to find her. The fact that Naomi has disappeared, and that’s not the initial concern, is surprising. Does Alice know what Sophie is capable of? Her feelings on the matter feel mute.
David is impressed with Sophie
Alice tells David that days are currently intense with location scouts and budgets. David talks about how impressed he is with Sophie; how analytical and aware she is of the story. He tells his wife he will be finishing reading the script with Sophie at her place. Alice doesn’t seem nervous, and afterward, she obsesses over Sophie’s Instagram again. While Alice seems obsessed with Sophie, it’s apparent that everyone who brushes near her also becomes obsessed.
What does a “loyal type” mean?
Alice speaks to Tamir late at night. He’s surprised she’s letting David do this film with Sophie, but he does call him the “loyal type”. Alice teases Tamir about what “loyal type” means. Tamir says he is loyal, and that he’s never crossed the line, but sometimes he’s dying to touch someone, and that he feels like he is missing out sometimes. Alice tells him it’s normal to have fantasies — she still thinks he is loyal. Tamir then drops a theory — that seeing David in this film is a turn-on and she knows it will turn on others. This is an ironic scene considering what we witness later.
Finding Naomi
Alice heads to a University and asks about Naomi and where she disappeared to. There were rumors that she was murdered, but no-one found out what truly happened to her. Alice then asks about a short film Naomi created in her first-year and asks if she can have it over email. On her University record, Naomi spelled her name as “Nomy”, which Alice finds strange.
Alice wants to know where David is
As “The Paranoia” progresses, Alice gets anxious over David hanging with Sophie and keeps ringing him. She told the production team to cancel Sophie and David’s reading, but based on Instagram, it still went ahead. Later on, David rings Alice. She asks if he was at Sophie’s place, but he tells her she called it off.
Who is Nomy?
Alice’s obsession is always filled with irony because it’s Sophie’s seductiveness that reels her in, and that seems to be what the premise of the script is. Everything that Alice bases her casting and production on always seems to lead back to Sophie.
The casting director finds an actress that looks like Naomi, so Alice asks to bring her in. Alice searches “Nomy” on Instagram, and recognizes an older woman in one of the photos (it’s the one who spat at her in the car park). As she rushes out, she gets voice notes from Sophie; she’s panicked and wants her help — she says “he’s here” and asks her to hurry. When Alice gets to Sophie’s place, she’s naked on the couch, crying. She’s been physically hurt and wants Alice to get rid of a man. In a small twist, it turns out to be Tamir.
Naughty Tamir
Alice takes Tamir to a diner to eat. He explains how he first met her and how it escalated and how it was harmless at first, but one day, Sophie texted him asking to come over. He describes how Sophie took off her clothes; as he describes his experiences, Alice sees flashes of the film she’s making. The descriptions feel familiar to her. As Tamir keeps describing, Alice tells him to stop. Tamir tells Alice that Sophie drove him nuts, and wanted to play a game; before he knew it, Alice turned up.
The ending
Alice checks out a homeless refuge in the car park, and the older woman she saw on Nomy’s Instagram page shows up and heckles her. Alice shows her a photo. The woman says that Sophie murdered her. While this is a predictable moment, the question will be — if Sophie did murder Naomi, why did she?
Losing Alice season 1, episode 5 continues to thicken the mystery as Alice evolves into her directorial role. Simultaneously, her obsession with Sophie manifests, bringing darker answers that she does not understand.
Additional points
- Daughter Nina questions her mother, Alice, whether she wants to be around her. Alice insists if she could take days off, she would. Her relationship with her daughter is suffering due to the film.
