And Even More Flashbacks!
Episode 7 of Pieces of Her starts in the past with Jane leaving prison and being given her new life. Her birthday is changed and she’s given a whole new identity. Jane is encouraged not to act or speak like herself anymore, adopting and embracing this new Laura alias. In the present, Andy meets up with Charlie, giving the location of the shootings by the side of the road. The whole place has been cleared up though, with no evidence that people were even there. Someone is covering their tracks. However, Charlie does confirm that Michael is stable and has been moved to a secure location. Andy thanks him for his help, as Charlie opens up that they’ll find Laura no matter what. He also theorizes that she could be in a cabin in the woods up north. This is somewhere that she has ties with in the past. Earlier flashbacks show Jane’s faith in the program wavering. When Andrew is shot and starts to lose consciousness, he admits to doing what he believes in. Jane also reveals that she’s pregnant to home, as she pleads with Andrew to stay with her. Nick didn’t have him killed after all. Jane tries to have him taken to hospital but Nick refuses to allow it. After escaping the trainyard and with Maplecroft dead, they need to lay low. Unfortunately, Nick beats her when she refuses to listen, forcing Jane into submission. Jane ignores him though, teaming up with Clara and Eli – two other members of the Army – to take Andrew to hospital. Once there, Jane makes a deal with Jasper, deciding to turn herself in and reveal everything – including what went down in Oslo and Jasper’s secret deal. Jane allows her brother to take control of the company, as Jasper admits he had no idea Nick was going to have Martin killed. In exchange for a deal that would see her go into witness protection, Jane rats out Nick and everything he’s involved with. This explains why he’s so dead-set on getting revenge. On the road, Charlie’s car is struck, prompting them both to spin out of control. When Andy wakes up, miraculously with a few cuts and bruises (the wonders of plot armour, eh?), she holds her head as a migraine is all she sports. Andy is somewhere secluded out in the woods, away from the main road. This seems to be somewhere she recognizes as more flashbacks shed light on Andy’s upbringing. Specifically, how she was kept at this safe house with Clara and Eli raising her while Laura sorted out her affairs to get them relocated. Nick tracked a young Andy down in the woods though and tried to take her off to thee creek. However, Clara calling out for Andy interrupted this plan. So he hands over a coin and implores her to keep this all a big secret between them. And she does too. At least until the final scenes of this episode where she shows off the coin and spooks her mother. When Jane is ready, she picks up Andy but the little girl doesn’t want to leave. As she runs away, hiding in the outhouse, Jane tries to talk her daughter around. Eventually she agrees to leave. As the episode closes out, we cut back to the present as Andy heads downstairs where she finds Nick very much alive and lighting the stove.
The Episode Review
Flashbacks followed by later flashbacks… and then back to earlier flashbacks; Pieces of Her should have been renamed Flashbacks Of Her. There is so much explanation too for what’s actually a pretty simplistic plot. It not only bogs down the plot, it’s actually caused the latter half of this show to grind to a halt. That’s a real shame because the first couple of episodes had a lot of promise. Sure, the incident involving Queller is intriguing and there’s a decent plot and mystery at the hart of this, it’s lost in a sea of flashbacks that don’t really add too much to this story. However, with the reveal that Nick is still alive and plenty of drama still to come, the finale looks set to crash things out with a bombastic final action showstopper.
