Flashbacks
Episode 5 of Pieces of Her begins with Andy waking up in Queller’s place. In the morning, she meets Jasper who talks about Laura. She was apparently something of a perfectionist, and also pretty private too. ..
Now, Paula was actually part of this Amy of the Changing World, and an acolyte of Nick Harp. Andrew met Nick at Stanford and they had plans to change the world. At least until Andrew was killed anyway. Andy is encouraged to stick around, where she watches more footage of the Queller conference involving Martin, courtesy of some home videos she finds. Within this footage, the Professor brandished a gun, killed Martin and then shot herself in the head.
Martin was a pretty overbearing father too, keeping tabs on Laura’s mistakes while playing the piano. He also shows disdain over both his kids, although the shadow of Andrew’s death hangs heavy over them all. Laura (Jane) is instantly drawn to Nick through all of this, who claims they’ve both been “raised by wolves.” Jane has an extraordinary gift for music, typified by more old tapes she finds at Queller’s of her mother’s piano playing.
When Laura rings Andy’s phone, she realizes her daughter is with Queller and her heart immediately sinks. At the same time, Michael learns that Andy and Laura are out of the witness protection program. Just before he fills out his statements, he has a change of heart. He takes the suitcase, deletes his online forms and leaves.
As it turns out, Gordon was the one who phoned the US Marshall and had them tail Andy, worried about her well-being. Laura asks him for a favour, which includes drawing up a will in her original name, given Laura is just her alias. Her real name is Jane and after leaving a file confirming everything for him, Laura exits the bar.
Andy phones Michael and asks for help. They agree to meet on Pier 28, where they agree to liaise and exchange details about Nick Harp. Michael then tells Andy that Jasper is lying and that he knows Nick. Laura has also been recruited by Nick to be part of his Army of the Changing World. ..
Andy has been keeping tabs on Jasper since she arrived too, listening in to her conversations and working out what she’s hiding. Jasper grabs her gear and skips out, hurrying to the Pier to meet Michael. The security guards watch her go but decide to let her, given they know where she’s heading.
Andy admits to Michael that she believes Nick is her father, and Michael believes that Jasper is responsible for sending the men after her. However, before he loses consciousness, Michael tells Andy to go. ..
The Episode Review
The flashbacks feel like they are constantly coming back to haunt the characters, and it becomes difficult to follow what is going on. The pacing could be improved if the flashbacks were kept to a more reasonable amount of time.
It seems like Laura (Jane) was recruited by the Army of the Changing World. She couldn’t follow through with their ideology and as such, they’re after her now. At least, that’s what it seems like. But did we really need so many scenes to show Nick and Jane close in the past? The whole episode just feels so overbearingly long because of this and I can’t help but feel tighter editing would have really helped this one. ..
The novel starts out promising, with the protagonist, a young woman named Sarah, finding herself in a dark place after her family is killed. However, the novel quickly becomes too long and convoluted for its own good.
