Summary
Bizzare, weird, mind f**k. It’s brilliant! It has a great story, and while you may not know what’s going on while watching, it’s fantastic to watch. Based on the first episode, Shining Girls looks set to be an exciting show from Apple TV+.
This recap of Apple TV+ series Shining Girls season 1, episode 1, contains spoilers.
Shining Girls season 1, episode 1 recap
In the year 1964, Harper Curtis speaks to a little girl and discusses the impending rain. After he lies down with her, he leaves her a small gift. Although she says she doesn’t want it, he claims that she will take it as that is what she always does. Moving to 1992, Kirby, who lives with her Mom and works in a job with few rewards, goes to work to find that someone is sitting at her desk. Except they’re not, and it seems that Kirby is simply confused.
For a while, much of Shining Girls focuses on Kirby, who doesn’t really seem to know where she is. Eventually, the story moves to reporter Dan who has a news story after there was a body found in the tunnels of LaSalle. When Kirby hears of the murder, she meets with an older officer who wants her to go through some photo IDs. She won’t, though, as she never saw him, which means her attacker could literally be anyone. When Kirby returns home, a dog (Grendel) appears, and it’s something that she writes in her notebook.
Jin-Sook, a scientist, finds a dead bee in her office before later going outside and finding an abandoned umbrella. Whilst at work, Kirby sneaks into notes related to the murder and finds the address of the possible murderer. She heads over to the house and speaks to the suspect, Pavel. Although hesitant, Kirby steps inside to talk to Pavel. He says that he did not hurt Julia and had only known her for five months. Listening to him, Kirby realises from his voice that he is not the same man who attacked her.
The ending
After Dan spots Kirby near the house, and clearly distressed, he takes her to a restaurant. As she reveals that her attack was six years ago, she also adds that she cut up just like Julia. The only difference is that Kirby survived. Harper meets with Jin-Sook and asks her if she recognises him, to which she doesn’t.
To help aid the investigation, Kirby agrees to be examined by Iris. However, as her wounds get checked, Iris turns into Howard. It freaks Kirby out, and the examination stops abruptly. Later on, she tells her Mom, “Nothing is where it should be; I don’t recognise it anymore. It starts with little things, and then big things”.With her Mom, Rachel possibly not understanding the whole situation, she advises her daughter to figure out her problems right where she is.
Once Kirby comes to believe that the killer may have left something inside of Julia, she asks Dan to get Howard to look into it. After Harper brutally murders Jin-Sook, Kirby returns to the flat she shares with her Mom. Except she mixes up the apartments. When Kirby returns to the flat she lives in, Grendel is now a cat. And her Mom no longer lives. Instead, Kirby lives there with her husband, Marcus.
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You can watch this series with a subscription to Apple TV+.
