Summary
The Last Thing He Told Me returns for Season 2 with a radical shake-up to the status quo. “Cape Cod” gets this across well enough, but the broad changes to the style of the story may not be to everyone’s tastes down the line.
Season 2 of The Last Thing He Told Me is actually an adaptation of The First Time I Saw Him, the second book in the Hannah Hall series. And while it wouldn’t do for Apple TV+ to change the title of a show, it’s worth mentioning, since Episode 1, “Cape Cod”, is about establishing the new status quo after a five-year time skip. The follow-up novel is very different from its predecessor, and by extension, this second season is likely to feel very different too, so it’s worth getting the basic particulars out of the way so everyone knows where we stand.
At the end of the first season, Hannah and Bailey had ridden off into the sunset, essentially, having made a deal with Bailey’s corrupt grandfather, Nicholas Bell, that they’d be kept safe, even if it meant not being reunited with Bailey’s father – and Hannah’s husband – Owen. Owen’s on the run for turning state’s witness against the criminal Campano family, for whom Nicholas was a pet dirty lawyer, and the criminal underworld isn’t big on forgiveness, so his name is still mud in certain circles.
When “Cape Cod” picks up, this arrangement has been going well for years. Hannah and Bailey are now firm besties rather than fractious mother-and-daughter-in-law, and they both have a very close and loving relationship with Nicholas, Charlie, Andrea, and their children. However, Owen’s very brief, partially disguised appearance at Hannah’s exhibit, during which he slipped her a necklace, heralds the coming of a big shake-up that’ll define the rest of the season.
As a result, we spend a fair amount of time with Owen, who is working with U.S. Marshal Grady Bradford to build a case against the Campano family. What has changed is that Owen is clearly anticipating a return. If he’s able to take the family out of commission, it’ll mean getting his own family back, although waltzing into it after so long – and so many lies prior to that – will likely be harder than he’s imagining it to be.
Bailey is now a lot older and much more even-keel, but she’s also more trusting than Hannah would necessarily like. She earnestly believes that she doesn’t have anything to fear from the Campano family, even patriarch Frank and his daughter, Quinn (played by Judy Greer here, who I never imagined in the role when I was reading the book, but makes complete sense), who used to be her birth mother’s best friend. Bailey relishes all the stories and insights that Frank and his family can provide her, but Hannah has never quite shaken the urge to keep looking over her shoulder.
Thanks to this urge, when she receives a text out of the blue telling her to get out of the house immediately, she knows how to respond. A goon disguised as a gas worker makes a move, but she’s able to fight him off and hit the road. Over the years, she had cultivated an escape plan, which Bailey is now old enough to go along with without much fuss, despite her confusion at having been suddenly stabbed in the back by the Campanos.
Hannah knows it’s Owen helping her, tipping her off via messages and asking her to come to Cape Cod, where they share some memories. But The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2, Episode 1 keeps that reunion for another episode, as well it might. What’s more important to understand right now is that things have changed. Hannah gets a call from a panicked Charlie telling her so. Nicholas has died from a sudden heart attack. And now that he’s out of the way, the Campano family has no reason to honour the deal they made. They still want Owen, and going after Hannah and Bailey is the easiest way to draw him out of hiding.
It’s a pretty good way to shake things up for a new season, but as things progress, the tone will change somewhat. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, though.
