Summary
“I Don’t Know You” is a marked improvement as we begin to feel the parallels and differences between the characters.
This recap of Amazon’s Tell Me Your Secrets season 1, episode 4, “I Don’t Know You” contains spoilers.
This a bit better than the previous chapter — it at least establishes character relationships rather than throwing in any plot detail possible. Sometimes less is more, and Tell Me Your Secrets struggles at maintaining a balance — anyway, “I Don’t Know You” delves deeper into Emma’s turbulent life and the true form of Mary.
A flashback shows Emma getting interviewed by Peter while in prison. He tells her that loving a bad person doesn’t make them a bad person and wants to see if she’s right for the psychiatric program he runs; he reckons he can unearth her memories. Emma wants her old life back. A scene later, one of the inmates named Louise attacks her — she’s known as the woman who helped a serial killer attack women, so she’s not a popular person in prison. After this attack, Emma tells Pete that she’s ready to talk.
Mary feels guilty about the recording
On the internet, there are threads about Kamala Walker’s recording with Parker that was private to that woman. It delves into her marriage — it was a personal moment. Mary feels guilty and wants to speak to her, but her son Jake tells her it’s too late and needs to leave it. It’s strange how the character didn’t know the value of that recording for Walker — she uploaded it to the internet without question.
Pete and Emma are angry with each other
“I Don’t Know You” shows the tensions reaching a boiling point between Pete and Emma.
Pete is angry at Emma for changing the locks to her house and looking into his sealed records. Emma feels she is being lied to, but he tells her he works for the federal government, and that he wouldn’t be able to do this job if there was something shady about it in his criminal record. The pair continue to argue, and Pete gives her the option to leave.
Pete drops the bombshell that the place she lives in is his, so she doesn’t feel like it’s her home when she returns to the cabin. She goes through her clothes and her other belongings and finds a photo of Pete and a woman. It’s difficult to gauge if Pete is a villain in this story — all the characters feel like a villain somehow.
A plan to get more information from Esther
Mary meets John at a shopping mall. She wants an address for Karen Miller and requests that she joins him at the hospital. John is concerned about the last-minute changes to his operation. They agree on an alias name for Mary.
Mary and John visit Esther, and they pretend to know her, but Esther tells the nurse that she doesn’t want them in her room, and they are kicked out. It’s weird how Mary has given John a mission, and then subsequently undermines it.
Tom has the hots for Emma
Tell Me Your Secrets season 1, episode 4 gives a slight hint at a romance, but it almost feels like two desperate characters rather than a genuine spark. Emma talks to Tom about finding a way to break the seal on Pete’s file. Tom is suspicious that Emma rents out the cabin from a psychiatrist. He insists that Emma can trust him. The pair kiss, and it reminds Emma of her intimate moments with Parker. Emma goes all in and rushes into it and starts taking off his clothes but then storms off — Tom was overwhelmed at her aggressiveness. But it feels implausible that Emma wants a romantic connection — she’s entirely in love with Parker, who’s now dead.
John tells Mary to let him do his work
John joins Mary for dinner. He tells her that dementia isn’t a specific disease and gives her a breakdown of how it works. John asks her to let him do his work because she brings specific energy to the room — he senses her rage. Mary is annoyed that he’s analyzing her. John believes that Esther felt Mary’s anger. Mary tells John that she can feel rage and that she hopes she can keep it inside. John suggests that she meditates at it helps her cleanse. This dynamic is so strange — you wouldn’t think that John is a vicious ex-predator if you watched these two characters for the first time. He’s creepy, but at the same time, Mary is sinister.
Mary visits Esther alone
Mary cannot help herself, and she visits Esther herself in the middle of the night and wakes her up. She apologizes for bringing a man into her life, referring to John. Esther talks about Karen and how she’s flourishing. She tells Mary that she’ll never find her. Mary tells Esther that she will sit and wait for her to draw her last breath as she will only find Karen when she comes to visit her coffin. Mary tells Esther that if Karen is innocent, why is she hiding. Esther gets upset, and Mary tells her to stop making noises and covers her mouth.
Emma learns that Esther is dead
And then the news reaches Emma — this character must be very close to having a complete breakdown. When Emma returns home, there are two men in her house. She tells them to get out of her house and starts smashing things up. One of the men recognizes the kitten. Later in the night, Emma calls the hospital and asks to speak to Esther. John answers and offers his condolences and reveals that Esther passed away. Emma is absolutely devastated. John then says, “Is this Karen?”, which shocks her, so she puts the phone down.
The ending
The next day, Emma plans to flee the town. Rose insists she has money and wants to go with Emma, and asks her to wait. As the episode ends, John watches Esther’s room footage and sees that Mary visited and murdered her with a pillow. He’s in shock at what he sees. This is a crucial moment when a monster trying to be a better person is witnessing the origin of another monster.
Tell Me Your Secrets season 1, episode 4 is a marked improvement as we begin to feel the parallels and differences between the characters.
Additional points
- Lisa asks Pete if he still has a file on her; she wants to know how he saw her before falling in love. Peter tells her that he’s always loved her. Lisa used to be a patient of Peter.
