Last week, Netflix dropped a number of new series and movies, so we have some interesting new streaming content to write about! First up, I wanted to provide an initial reaction fo the series, Pieces of Her. I will also be providing episode-by-episode reviews, so in this initial reaction, I will focus on episode 1. 

Source Material

The Netflix series, Pieces of Her, is adapted from a novel of the same name by Karin Slaughter from 2018. Slaughter is a well-known thriller writer, but this is the first of her novels that has been adapted for the screen.  It is a standalone novel, rather than a series. So, this single season of Pieces of Her is likely to be the only one. 

What’s it About?

Previews of the series give us some clues as to where this show will go over its 8 episode run. It is another in the line of Netflix thrillers that the streaming service has become very adept at producing.

In the initial scenes, we meet Andy Oliver, a 30-year old (it’s literally her birthday). She's a 9-1-1 operator living with her mother, Laura (played by Toni Collette), in a little town in Georgia, called Belle Isle. She moved back home in the past year or so, to take care of her mom, who was recovering from breast cancer surgery. 

Laura is a speech pathologist / counselor who works with veterans and others suffering from PTSD. She seems very dedicated to her work, is clearly good at it. Andy, on the other hand, is pretty mediocre at her job. She seems fairly disinterested in the admittedly mundane calls from local residents with relatively insignificant issues (maybe they shouldn’t have called 911). At 30, she has little or no direction in her life, which Laura can’t help but bring up in a parental way during a birthday meal.

As they eat, the wife and daughter of one of Laura’s patients stop by to thank her for all her hard work and success with him. Another sign that Laura is just really good at what she does. Andy is almost annoyed.

As Laura is talking to them, we learn the daughter is headed to medical school, which doesn’t make Andy feel much better about herself. Laura notices a man at a table in the background who seems very focused on Andy. Something about him sets off some alarm bells for Laura.

Where It Picks Up

Moments later, the young man approaches their table, pulls out a gun, and shoots the woman and her daughter. It’s pretty clear he is the daughter’s ex-boyfriend.

It also becomes clear why he was focused on Andy, who is still wearing her Belle Isle Police uniform. He thinks she is a cop and suicide by cop is how he intends for this to end. But, when he learns that Andy isn’t armed, or even a police officer, he gets angry.

He has already shown a willingness to kill bystanders. Laura puts herself between the gunman and Andy. But he's now out of bullets. Instead, he pulls out a knife and stabs Laura through the hand. It’s a shocking scene, but what comes next is Laura turning her hand around and slitting his throat. The entire incident is caught on a cell phone video and quickly becomes a viral sensation.

This is where things start going sideways. Laura’s reaction to the whole thing isn’t quite normal. She is delirious from blood loss but tells Andy not to speak to the police. Then, upon getting out of surgery and heading home with Andy and her ex-husband, Gordon, she tells Andy it’s time to move out. Immediately. The reasoning becomes clear when a man breaks into Laura’s house that night, ties her to a chair, and begins suffocating her with a plastic bag when Andy comes in. Andy struggles with the man, eventually hitting him in the head and knocking him unconscious. 

Laura immediately goes into damage control mode. She gives Andy a pre-paid cell phone (aka a burner) tells her to find the man’s car and drive to Carrolltown, look for a storage facility and go to unit 320, where she has a car stored. Then, drive the car north to Maine and wait for Laura to call her. The episode ends with Andy making her way out of town, in a bit of a daze at everything that has happened. 

Watch it nor Not?

The first episode gets us off on a good path. Clearly, Laura has a past that has been brought back to the surface because of the release of that viral video. Andy has grown up unaware of whatever this past might include. As viewers, we don’t know any more than Andy at this point. 

So far, so good. If you like a good suspense thriller, give it a look!