Evergreen
Episode 2 of Shining Girls starts with Kirby completely flustered. It’s Marcus’ birthday, and everyone from work shows up for the celebrations. Kirby is distracted by her wedding photo though, spooked over her fractured mind and what other surprises her subconscious could have in store for her. In a scene that feels ripped right from Mother!, Kirby finds herself surrounded by people and struggling to put on a brave face. Remember Kirby’s journal? Well, Kirby heads off to take a look at it here and it seems to have scribbled down all the constants in her life. And one of those includes Marcus being her husband. Dan visits Howard at the arcade, who eventually takes him back to the morgue. Howard shows off some debris from the site that could hold some clues. Namely, Radium Ore from Midway Chemical Company. Howard confirms that it’s very old and has been there since the 50’s. Using his deductive powers, Howard shuts off the lights and realizes that the radium ore was actually inside Julia. It’s not now though. Either way, Kirby was right. Dan needs verify her story and test her though. Part of that comes from Kirby revealing what she went through in the past. She’s understandably hesitant, but eventually reveals that he left a matchbook from the Bee Happy bar with the address for a laundrette inside her. In exchange for her intel, Dan reveals what was inside Julia. Kirby eventually visits her mum, Rachel. She’s at the church singing when she finds her, but she does receive a warm welcome all the same. Kirby is after photographs and journals from the time after being attacked. Rachel is taken aback by Kirby getting involved, questioning just why she wants to be part of this. Dan meanwhile, speaks to Kirby’s father who lavishes praises on his daughter, calling her a diamond. However, he also mentions how she seemed to be stalked, given he had to walk her to her car numerous times. And that person? Pawel Banik. Dan is confused, and he’s warned not to build a case around “Sharon Leads”, which seems to have a connection to Kirby. It’s here we also learn that Kirby broke down after the attack and was admitted to hospital. Dan returns to see Kirby, who hands over the photographs. As he looks at them all, he realizes the PD write-up is light on details, which is explained through the fact she had her statement taken while she was on pain medication. The officers never came back to take another statement though. The only information we have to go on here is that Kirby was attacked from behind. According to what she tells Dan, there were a lot of people around her. Prior to her attack though, it appears as though Kirby was stalked – just like Julia was. Kirby is desperate for answers and heads over to Julia’s wake, pretending to be her friend. This gives her a way into the house, where she starts poking around in Julia’s room looking for clues that something untoward was happening. Dan notices Harper (the crazy man from the last episode and our killer) outside lurking about. He claims that he lives nearby. While they talk, upstairs in Julia’s room Kirby plays a tape and it happens to have Harper’s voice. That’s our guy, and Kirby heads out with the tape in hand, spooked. She hands it over to Dan (who’s no longer talking to Harper) and the pair head off together. The thing is, this tape incriminates Harper, and not only that, he mentions “all of you” which seems to point toward more women. When Abby finds out what’s happened, Kirby deduces that Julia hid this tape as she knew Harper was coming and couldn’t afford for the evidence to be destroyed. Kirby decides to work and get permission from the family for using this, while Abby sets to work informing the proper authorities. It’s game on.
The Episode Review
The second episode slows things down but it’s no less engrossing. With the killer already known, what ensues instead is a meticulously crafted game of cat and mouse. There’s a definite thriller vibe to this now and the interesting ideas that are being woven in this work well to give Shining Girls a moody, eerie atmosphere. Some of the material is a little on the slow side but that does feel like a deliberate ploy in order to get us accustomed to the different characters and allow us to really drink in the setting. So far though, Shining Girls has been a really solid watch and with the next episode clocking in at a little over an hour, it’ll be interesting to see how this week’s trio of episodes finish.
