Summary
Big reveals open up the plot as Andy hunts down a billionaire and Laura wants out of her current predicament.
This recap of Netflix’s Pieces Of Her season 1, episode 4 contains spoilers.
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Observant viewers will have been piecing clues together throughout the first half of this entertaining mini-series, with the fourth chapter providing the most revealing twists yet. Like the best thrillers in the genre, Pieces Of Her slowly releases scraps of information to keep you hooked, whilst at the same time adding ambiguity and further questioning. They give a little, they take a little. It’s a standard genre convention that comes with the territory, but one that makes for addictive viewing.
Pieces Of Her season 1, episode 4 recap
Part four delivers more on these cryptic flashbacks, with an abundance of revelations on Laura’s past and the unusual circumstances surrounding the wealthy Queller family. Young Laura (known as Jane) and her love interest (Nick) are plotting a deadly protest at an International Economic Forum, where Martin Queller (Terry O’Quinn) is a speaker. Queller has been compared to Hitler and his business seems less than ethical. There are snakes in the grass ready to attack. This is a critical moment in the story.
In the present day, Laura is still under house arrest, living in a pleasant prison cell in a modern mansion. Her captor, Charlie Bass, has gone from the good guy to the bad guy and now back to the good guy again. It’s a confusing dance that the writers pitch as a tense plot device, but one that actually alienates the audience, detaching them from the story. It’s exciting when a character is deceitful, but damn annoying when they zigzag back and forth like a soap opera villain.
Andy continues her ‘expert’ snooping — remember the Google searches and the shoddy disguise from earlier? She visits Paula Kunde (the terrorist) in her genuine prison cell to discuss Laura’s murky past. The criminal seems unsure of the fake IDs thrown before her, yet she instantly recognizes Laura from the somber Polaroid picture. Paula quickly turns aggressive, antagonized by the photograph. She screams death threats and calls the girl in the photo ‘Jane’, to Andy’s surprise.
This is the grand reveal we’ve been working towards, Laura is Jane and Jane is a Queller. All the silliness of the last episode starts to add up, things are finally beginning to make a bit more sense. Charlie is actually on Laura’s side, they were shielding her via the witness protection program. Laura is a valuable witness and had to assume a new identity to avoid certain death. Charlie is the lead on her case and protects her at all costs. The lies here were actually for the greater good.
The ending
Director Minkie Spiro does an adept job of keeping the viewer in the dark, but now is the time for the reveals; this episode flows with them. Andy discovers this major twist at the hand of Jack, who of course isn’t actually Jack. The man from the bar, who’s been tracking her, announces he’s an undercover cop, a US Marshall sent to keep an eye on her called Michael Vargas. He tells her about the witness protection program. No one is who they say they are. Andy is an emotional wreck, although she craves further answers. Her dogged determination leads all the way to Jasper Queller (The Lord Of The Rings star David Wenham), the son of Martin Queller, at a fundraiser he’s hosting.
With an avalanche of reveals, things are rapidly falling into place. The absurdity of the last episode ebbs away and Andy ditches that god-awful wig. Laura’s past is becoming clearer with each new chapter and the players are all coming into view. The writers may have ironed out all the kinks, but this onslaught of information is actually distracting, there’s less character development and the cast is becoming disposable. Andy’s forced romance does not help with this. The only saving grace is a final shot as Andy steps into Jasper’s car, reeling the viewer in again, ready for more twists and turns.
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