We’re rolling right along with our recaps of the new Netflix thriller series, Pieces of Her. In episode 2, we started to really question Andy’s decision-making. In particular was trying to hook up with a stranger in a bar, after asking him to teach her how to shoot a gun. She seemed to recognize her mistake when she recognized his car from near her mother’s house the night of the intruder.
Meanwhile, Laura’s plans to use her would-be assassin as a way to track down his boss go sideways when the killer dies of an apparent seizure. Apparently, Andy really did some damage when she hit him in the head. We left off our last recap with some running guesses about what Laura’s secret past might include. Let’s see what we learn in episode 3.
A Flashback Clue
Episode 3 starts off with a flashback, to an economic conference held in Europe years in the past. At the conference, big pharma tycoon Martin Queller is shot and killed onstage. We are pretty sure this is going to be important to Laura’s past, but we don’t exactly know how yet. Is she one of the people we see in the flashback?
Laura Sends a Message
Back in the present, Laura goes on national TV to do an interview that is clearly just a thinly disguised way for her to get a message to the person hunting for her. Basically, she wonders aloud why we can’t all find a way to call a truce and end the senseless violence of our society.
She calls it being an army for change. It’s vague enough to be a broader comment on society, but the message she is sending to whoever is clear. She wants to call a truce.
Andy Makes a Detour
Andy finally makes a good choice, buying a used car and ditching the vehicle, which we learn the dude from the bar (Jack) is tracking via GPS. But, Andy keeps flashing cash and it’s going to get her in serious trouble at some point.
She buys the car and decides it’s time to start looking into her mother, instead of heading to Maine, as Laura instructed. It’s obviously important to the plot, but Andy’s investigative skills are pretty suspect at this point.
She initially heads to Charlie’s house. Remember, we met Charlie briefly when Laura got home from her little adventure with the potential assassin. They share an odd conversation that suggests they may be in a relationship, but it’s a bit odd.
Andy has known Charlie her whole life it seems, but upon arriving at his house, she begins getting suspicious. She starts looking around at Charlie’s possessions and spots dust marks from pictures that are missing from a cabinet. She quickly finds them in a drawer and they show Charlie with a wife and family.
Clearly, this is a shock to Andy (one more in a long line since the beginning of the series) and she high tails it out of Charlie’s house. She calls her step-father, Gordon, and demands answers. We know Gordon knows more than he has let on. He won’t go into specifics and isn’t much help when he can’t tell her who Paula Kunde might be. This is a name her mother said while being a bit delirious at one point and Andy has latched onto it.
Who the Heck is Paula Kunde?
Andy starts looking online for this Paula Kune person and finds that she is currently in prison serving an 80-year sentence and was involved in a terrorist organization called the Army of the Changing World. (Aha! Laura was very specific in her wording during the interview about an army for change. Hmmmm.) Paula and the ACW were apparently involved in the kidnapping and murder of professor Alex Maplecroft and then the murder of Martin Queller.
Andy hatches a plan to meet Paula Kunde by working through her defense attorney. But when that stalls out, she turns into Jason Bourne, coming up with a sneaky way to steal the ID of a lawyer in the attorney’s office. She then puts together a disguise to allow her to get past prison security using the other woman’s ID. Seriously. This is the same Andy who has been ‘barely’ able to hold it together to this point. It’s hard to buy this sudden level of competence from the character, but let’s move on.
Flashback #2!
This time we see Annette Queller (husband of Martin) attempting to sneak her three kids out of their mansion, fleeing her husband. However, he catches them, and the middle son (Jasper) unlocks the car so Martin can recover the kids. We assume Annette had good reason to want the kids to escape with her, but don’t know any more yet.
We’ve also seen Laura respond oddly to a TV showing coverage of Jasper Queller, who now runs the family empire and is a candidate for the Democratic Vice Presidential nomination. There’s an obvious connection here. Is Laura one of the kids in the car?
One Question Answered
Laura gets on the phone with Andy, who promises she is coming home. But, once time passes, Laura realizes Andy is off on a hunt about her past. A chase that Laura obviously wants to keep her away from. Really can’t blame her, since it has already involved an attempted murder and later a visit from a shady person who seems to represent some sort of organization. Perhaps unaffiliated with the man hunting for Laura since he claims not to know where ‘he’ is. Very cryptic.
Eventually, Laura decides to leave the state and follow Andy to TX, where Paula Kunde is in prison. But on her way, she is blocked by a couple of black SUVs (the kind we see driven by federal agents in so many TV shows). She is taken to a house where Charlie, clearly wearing a gun and a badge (looks like a US Marshall’s badge) walks out and greets her, saying “Hey Jane. You’ve been busy.” Curtain.
OK, I think we’re feeling good about our witness protection program theory now. We’re also feeling like we know that Laura is actually Jane Queller, the long-lost sister of Jasper. More to come in the next episode!
