This article, “who is Charlie Bass” contains spoilers regarding Netflix’s Pieces Of Her season 1.
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All respectable spy thrillers have characters that switch between good and evil, hero and villain. It’s a plot twist as old as the genre itself, one that can be rather effective in building tension and surprising the viewer. Charlie Bass is the king of the flip-flop in Pieces Of Her, swapping between moralities like they’re going out of fashion. Helping to confuse the audience at every turn. So in the end, is he a good guy or a bad guy? Who is the real Charlie Bass?
Who is Charlie Bass in Pieces Of Her season 1?
Charlie Bass is introduced as a close friend of Laura’s, with strong indications of a possible romantic history. He’s portrayed by Yellowstone regular Gil Birmingham, dressed in jeans, a bit of a cowboy. When Laura is still recovering from the knife attack, with reporters hounding her for an exclusive interview, she calls upon her old friend to help out. He’s supportive and protective, but speaks in riddles, hinting at a murkier past. Andy (Laura’s daughter) knows him as a close family friend as well and she too calls upon him in her time of need.
At first seen as a reliable, quintessential good guy, Andy drives to his house for help. She’s been chased by hooded criminals and a man she befriends at a bar. Andy is a nervous wreck, unsure who to trust. She turns up at Charlie’s house expecting some peace. They talk and Andy digs a little deeper into her mother’s past. Charlie goes to make her a meal and she dives into his drawers, finding family photographs. Andy enquires about his family, Charlie says he doesn’t have one. Alarm bells ring, metaphorically, and Andy flees. Now Charlie has fallen into the bad guy category.
The same episode ends with Charlie kidnapping Laura and the audience is left completely bamboozled. This sweet man is framed as a criminal. By episode four though, Charlie is back to being a good guy all over again. This villainous angle was a red herring, a ruse to trick an unsuspecting audience. Well, we all fell for it. Now it is revealed that Charlie actually works for the police, he is the lead on Laura’s witness protection case, making sure Laura is safe at all times. Laura’s safety is paramount because she is their star witness after all.
In flashbacks, we see the origins of their relationship, as Charlie explains to Laura her new identity. The youthful casting of Charlie in the eighties is scarily accurate, they deserve an award for it. Young Charlie talks her through the new arrangements and hunts for Laura’s ex, the fugitive Nick Harp. Back in the present day, Charlie tells Laura how he’s spent more time with her family than with his own, a touching realization that highlights the depths of his dedication.
This devotion to protecting Laura ultimately ends in his own death. Nick Harp crashes his car into Charlie’s in an attempt to kidnap his own daughter Andy. Only later in the finale is it revealed that Charlie died in that car crash. Poor Charlie doesn’t receive any real send-off and is reduced to one line of dialogue. The writers chose to use Charlie as a plot device, but this nobleman was a hero, who helped Laura and Andy achieve the freedom he was never afforded. Hashtag justice for Charlie.
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