“I See You’ve Played Knifey-Handy Before”
Episode 1 of Pieces of Her begins with a young woman named Andy finishing her shift as a call operator and heading home. She’s moved from NYC to this rural town, which explains her nonchalance and boredom at work. She’s there to look after her Mum, who happens to be working as a speech therapist. There’s definitely uneasiness between the pair, with Laura encouraging Andy to try and pursue something she wants in life. Andy though, is quite content to drift. While they head out for lunch together, celebrating Andy’s 30th birthday, she likens herself to her father, Jerry. Andy believes she gets her “f*ck up” gene from him. Despite being better now, Laura blames herself for upending Andy’s life, encouraging her to head back to NY. The thing is, Andy was actually juggling several part-time jobs there so going back isn’t really all that appealing. In a café, a deranged gunman suddenly stands up and shoots a woman named Shelly dead. He also shoots her mum too, as the rest of the customers all hide under tables and drop to the ground. Among those are Andy and Laura, with the former forced to stand up after being called a pig. Laura tries to stop the gunman, talking him down. Only, he stabs her straight through the hand. Instead of passing out though, she doesn’t seem too phased and swipes back and slits his throat, killing the man and stopping his rampage. Laura has lost a lot of blood and as she’s taken down to the ER, she tells Andy: “Is it snowing? I’m so cold. He’s coming back. Don’t talk to the police.” Quite what this means though is a mystery for now. It’s particularly disturbing given this area actually has the lowest crime rate. Naturally, this brings in Detective Wilson from Savannah police department. Alongside Andy is Gordon Oliver, who happens to be Andy’s stepfather. He’s divorced from Laura too but the pair have a good relationship, if their chat in the waiting room is anything to go by. Now, it turns out someone actually filmed the whole incident, which appears to be motivated by a simple break-up. Shelly broke up with Jonah and he obviously hasn’t taken it well. He was banking on Andy having a gun and shooting him down, but that obviously hasn’t materialized. Off the back of what’s happened, Laura is unhinged and kicks Andy out the house. She wants her to start acting like an adult and that includes staying at Gordon’s place for a while. With a half a million views clocked up on the video of Laura’s extraordinary confrontation with the gunman, a mysterious figure watches and phones someone, telling them they have a problem. There’s something big going on here but what? I’m sure we’ll find out soon. With the rain pouring downs, Andy collects up her stuff and heads out. Only, a strange guy in a hoody starts lurking about, smashing the glass to Laura’s front door and interrogating Laura. With her tied up to the chair with a bag over her head, Laura pleads for her life while her daughter grabs a lamp and manages to distract him. It’s enough time for Laura to break free from her binds, just as Andy knocks out the gunman. However, just prior to this she’s also phoned the police, prompting Laura to immediately perk up and organize traffic. After handing over his phone to Laura, a distraught Andy tries to listen to her mum’s instructions. She tasks her with taking the car and driving to Carrollton. With money and key cards in hand, she’s to head to Unit 320 at the Get-And-Go Storage unit. She’s then to switch over to a car stored there and drive up North to Maine. She urges Andy not contact anyone and to leave. Laura promises to call as soon as it’s safe but right now, it’s not and she needs to go. With police sirens wailing, Andy follows her mother’s instructions, ducking for cover in the car. Leaving her old life behind, Andy heads off and prepares to follow her mum’s instructions.
The Episode Review
Pieces of Her gets off to a great start here, with a really nice vibe, a show that feels a lot like The Sinner in the way it presents a shocking murder and then tries to make sense of it. Unlike that show though, this one leans a lot more into the idea off there being a big secret that Laura is keeping from her daughter and everyone around her. It seems like she’s got a secret life, and that’s something that I’m sure will be explored in more detail in the episodes ahead. The acting in this show is great and the 39 minute run-time works really well to ease into the story and set the scene for what should be a very enticing series to come. Andy has officially dived head-first down the rabbit hole. But how far does that go?
