Summary
Andy digs deeper into her mother’s past, whilst Laura contacts her unforgiving foe.
This recap of Netflix’s Pieces Of Her season 1, episode 3 contains spoilers.
Access the archive of recaps, reviews, and features for Pieces of Her.
Oh, how this series loves its flashbacks. Episode three opens with what we believe to be a younger version of Laura (Jessica Barden) eying up a suave gentleman (Joe Dempsie) from across a crowded theatre. Both are sat at a pivotal forum. This gentleman is a romantic interest of Laura’s, but no more is revealed at this juncture. Further flashbacks later in the episode involve a pharmaceutical tycoon (played by Lost’s Terry O’Quinn) who is assassinated during that filmed debate and may or may not be Laura’s dad. This disjointed approach of multiple flashbacks alludes to the title, fragmented memories are being ‘pieced’ together. Laura has a chequered past that we’ve only really just started to scratch the surface of.
Pieces Of Her season 1, episode 3 recap
The rest of the episode flits back and forth between Andy’s adventures and Laura’s rapidly shrinking world, as she starts to lose control of the situation. She agrees to a live interview to discuss her heroics at the diner shooting, although she has ulterior motives. Cleverly, Laura uses this as a way of subliminally contacting her adversary, a powerful man who seems intent on having her killed. In her live speech, the mysterious mother asks for a truce. Toni Collette is as great as ever in this commanding performance.
A paranoid Andy ditches the motel and her latest set of wheels, worried that Jack (you know, the guy who taught her how to shoot on their first date) is actually out to kill or kidnap her. Obviously, she is spot on with this assessment. Again, she can’t trust anyone and as the chapter unfolds, this notion becomes more and more evident with each fresh interaction. Using her suitcase stuffed full of cash, she buys herself a new car from a suspicious salesman and hits the road. Andy has already evolved from the timid girl she was just a few days ago at the diner shooting. Now filled with rage and new confidence, she decides to do her own sleuthing.
Andy’s investigation leads to an imprisoned terrorist named Paula Kunde and her attorney Geraldine Ross. Paula was involved in the assassination of Martin Queller (Terry O’Quinn’s character), seen in those frequent flashbacks. Laura is entangled in it all somehow, yet that is still unclear at this stage. Andy tracks down this attorney but is denied a face-to-face meeting with her. She decides to step into her mother’s shoes instead and have a go at the secret agent life herself. Andy awkwardly steals a woman’s ID badge and tries out her first disguise, trying to impersonate the employee. To me, this felt a little farfetched, but unfortunately, this may be the way the plot is heading. I doubt Laura trained her daughter to be a spy, but it must be in her blood, her destiny, right?
The ending
Things go from the farfetched to the downright ridiculous as it is revealed that Laura’s pal Charlie (Yellowstone’s Gil Birmingham) was the one who had Laura kidnapped, ending with the line ‘You’ve been busy.’ It is a shame, the series started with such promise and is safely still in the realms of plausibility. It feels like the current direction it’s heading in leans more towards the absurd as the plot unravels. Let’s hope things stay as realistic as possible.
What did you think of Netflix’s Pieces Of Her season 1, episode 3? Comment below.
You can watch this series with a subscription to Netflix.
