Birthday
In the second episode of Echoes, we follow Gina and Leni as they switch places on their birthday. This tradition seems to be a regular occurrence, but something seems off about this year. Gina is hiding something, but won’t say what it is. ..
Leni is struggling to get back in the swing of things after putting on her southern drawl.
Leni tells Floss that four thieves, in ski masks and with horses, stole her horse and ran off with it during a summer search party. She points out that the horse didn’t know what was happening and didn’t hear the search party.
Leni’s story doesn’t seem very convincing to Floss. The police know this, because Leni’s story doesn’t match up with the evidence. ..
Jack believes that Leni was trying to run away, hence why she stole the horse. It would seem that Gina (the real one) stole from Jack but why? What actually happened between them?
Leni is upset that her relationship with Megan has broken down at school. She realizes that the flip-phone she usually has is gone and even worse, her relationship with Megan has deteriorated too. Leni is determined to get back on track and make things right for both of them.
The local computer whizz at the local phone company has managed to sort out a hard copy of this month’s billing reports from the flip-phone mentioned earlier. It seems that no one has used the phone for 3 days either, with no incoming or outgoing calls.
Deputy Paula, speaking to Leni about an old cold case about a church fire, tells her that Gina was looking into this for some reason. It seems that Gina was actually selling ketamine.
Leni’s father begs her to come to dinner with him and his sisters that night, but she’s hesitant. Natasha and the shady guy try to convince her, but she doesn’t want to get involved. Leni eventually comes over, where she finds out that the guy in the red truck is her brother.
That guy is a shady fella from the past called Dylan James. “I thought you changed your mind about everything,” He says, as the pair eventually drive together. These ties go way back to when they were kids, although it appears that Gina had some sort of plan worked out with him the night she went missing. It turns out they were romantically involved with one another, as it seems like Gina was having an affair with him. As he touches the crook of her back, Dylan figures out exactly who she is and the jig is up. ..
Leni tells the story of how Gina has been forced into a life of secrecy and lies. She says that Gina is the one who’s been forced to keep this sick game going, and that she’s not the only one who’s had a troubled life. Leni admits that Gina has had a troubled life, and that she’s not just the one who’s had a miscarriage.
Dylan is convinced that Gina won’t run away from him, as they had a plan together. Dylan is silent through all of this, but eventually agrees to take her home. However, it turns out Dylan actually has Gina’s passport and a stack of cash too. So naturally, Leni stuffs that in her purse and takes off.
Leni has been pretending to be Gina in the bathroom for some time now, and Floss is starting to think it might be a fake. Leni seems to be doing this constantly, but Floss can’t seem to switch back and forth properly. Maybe Leni is really bad at it?
Floss continues to be suspicious of her relationship with Jack while Leni learns her father actually has congestive heart failure. Leni doesn’t know about this, but Victor pleads with Gina (who’s actually Leni) to stay and to be together as a family so they can try and work through this. ..
Leni heads back to the motel, feeling distraught over what’s happened. Believing that Gina has destroyed Leni’s life completely, she takes a detour by the old burned church. Once there, she receives a series of images of the burned church on her computer. This is then followed by some messages that bleed through: “You killed him. You lied to me, I know everything. Let me go.” ..
The Episode Review
Leni has apparently been pretending to be someone she’s not for years, and it’s really poorly written and suspicious that she would suddenly start pretending to be someone else.
There’s definitely something strange about Floss being suspicious of Leni and it seems like she’s struggling to get used to her new life as a twin. It would make sense if it was just that her rusty play-acting with Gina wasn’t working, but when she rings Charlie, he can’t even put on the Gina persona properly either. I guess you could argue that stress is a factor in this, but it seems like an awfully convenient way to clear the air.
The ending of the novel hints that there is a killer on the loose, or at least someone who knows what the girls have done. The killer may have been stabbing the girls or could have been abusing them so they started a fire and he perished inside. The blackmailer online could well be Gina, but those are just theories at this point.
Echoes is starting to show some serious cracks and if this show isn’t careful, those could grow into large chasms for which there’s no escape. We’ll have to wait and see what’s next though.
