Shining Girls Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Attribution
Carissa Pavlica
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Don't you just love it when a story comes together?
That could be said about Dan and Kirby's story about the murders or Shining Girls in general.
Shining Girls Season 1 Episode 4 went a long way to add context to the murders and the murderer.
There were consequences of Dan and Kirby's foray into the past by way of the evidence room.
Pieces of conversations were getting connected, ultimately revealing the story Dan and Kirby had been working on so painstakingly. Once it got out, Dan knew they had to publish the next day or risk getting scooped by the competition.
They had all of the main pieces on the board, but connecting them wasn't easy. Dan started pounding the pavement, meeting with all of the friends and family of the victims to glean whether they had any inkling they'd been targeted like Julia.
Once Dan identified where one of the pieces came from, it was like a cascade of information as he and Kirby connected each murder to the next.
They would have never been able to connect the dots without Kirby's firsthand experience. She's in a unique position to see things differently than anyone else on earth.
It's not an enviable position, but if there was going to be one person left in that spot, Kirby, with her journalistic urges and refusal to back down, is the right one.
Abby: We need to run with what we have. We should start with Julia. She's been our coverage so far.
Kirby: You should lead with me. I'll give you a firsthand account. You can have my police report, hospital photos, whatever you need.
Abby: If we include all that, we will not be able to hide who you are.
Kirby: I know.
Dan: You're sure? We can make do with what we have.
Kirby: I'm the better story. That's what I want for this.
We also saw some of what happened on the day Harper attacked Kirby and how close he got to the situation with enough skips forward and backward in time.
Harper gets his confidence artificially by inexplicably revisiting the same situations again and again, inserting himself where he isn't wanted or supposed to be.
Using an expert, Kirby and Marcus discovered an anomaly on Julia's tapes, an echo that played before she actually spoke.
He's playing a recording of her before she even says the words?
Marcus
It took her a while, but Kirby remembered receiving similar calls years before the attack, when she was a happy blonde girl named Sharon, just getting her foot into the door at the Tribune.
Kirby: You heard that, right?
Marcus: I don't know what I heard.
Kirby: He knew what she was going to say. He recorded her before she even said it.
Marcus: Are you sure you never got any calls like that?
Kirby: I didn't know what it was. I had just started working at the Tribune.
Marcus: Wasn't that like years before what happened to you?
I'm not sure how I'd react if I received a phone call similar to the one she got at the venue. We all experience deja vu and whatnot at some time or another, so it was probably easy for her to chalk it up to something like that.
If not that, then some strange sound phenomenon that was processing sound before her ears even had a chance to hear it live. She didn't share what happened with anyone for fear they'd think she was insane.
Even if she had shared it, it's unlikely that it would have made a difference to the outcome. Harper would have just rearranged things and tried again to get his desired results.
Can you even imagine a lonelier existence than Harper's? His very existence revolves around other people with the sole intent to, one day, kill them.
Why does he wait? Is it a puzzle to him to plan a scenario that he can control as he controlled Julia's death? And why doesn't he have anything better to do?
He's visibly agitated after learning Kirby survived. He's taking chances he might not take otherwise, being seen when he was often unseen.
He is an every-man. Nobody takes note of him. He doesn't have anything by way of looks that sets him apart from the crowd. That's why he managed to follow Kirby halfway across town and back without her suspecting a thing.
Jinny: I mean, if there was some heavy breather outside my window, I would know.
Kirby: I didn't. I was assaulted by the same man.
Thankfully, Jinny has a scientific mind. She can't see how she's connected to the murders even if her keychain was found in another woman's dead body twenty years earlier. It's surreal and makes no sense.
But she's willing to trust that Kirby does believe, and she has suffered something. She's even willing to suggest the future is too uncertain to just sweep it under the rug.
Just because something hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It always takes looking at something a few times before it makes sense.
Jinny
Of course, Harper was outside of her window, and he had been there before. He seems to have been everywhere before, never changing, never revealing himself until the right moment.
Except things are changing, and he did reveal himself at the wrong moment.
Harper: You don't look right. What's wrong with your hair? I stopped by your place. Somebody else was living there.
Kirby: I don't know who-
Harper: When did you move? You didn't know Jinny. I know you didn't. None of you knew each other. How did you find her? Or did she find you? Yeah, maybe that's it because she's smarter than you are.
Kirby: Stop. Fucking stop.
Harper: You look different. I don't like you like this. You remember me. From Aldridge Street?
Kirby: You gave me the horse.
Harper: The pegasus. It has wings. Horses are just hoofs and tails.
Kirby: I, you look the same.
Harper: You look nothin' like I left you. [launches at Kirby] I killed you. You shouldn't be here.
Now I'm certain that Harper didn't see the coffee mug change in his hands during the Shining Girls Season Premiere episodes. He's way off of his game as time subtly changes around him.
Breaking into Kirby's place to find an old man was unsettling. But how Kirby looked was even more unsettling. He recognizes changes, and it's scaring him.
Harper: You don't look right. What's wrong with your hair? I stopped by your place. Somebody else was living there.
Kirby: I don't know who-
Harper: When did you move? You didn't know Jinny. I know you didn't. None of you knew each other. How did you find her? Or did she find you? Yeah, maybe that's it because she's smarter than you are.
Kirby: Stop. Fucking stop.
Harper: You look different. I don't like you like this. You remember me. From Aldridge Street?
Kirby: You gave me the horse.
Harper: The pegasus. It has wings. Horses are just hoofs and tails.
Kirby: I, you look the same.
Harper: You look nothin' like I left you. [launches at Kirby] I killed you. You shouldn't be here.
In those moments, you can see Harper's vulnerabilities. Like any tormentor, he thrives on having the upper hand, and his unique skills have ensured he's undetectable and masterfully prepared to kill his prey.
But now, things are changing around him without his involvement. He is triggering the changes as much as Kirby is, but they're grasping at the wind, trying to understand it.
It's easily one of the coolest concepts I've ever experienced in television. And how it pertains to trauma is brilliant.
I've noted before that how Kirby and Harper interact created the reality shifts, but I wonder if the more Kirby learns, the more likely the shifts are to occur, as well.
She's been the victim for so long, hidden in her own life just as much as Harper has been hidden in his victims. As Kirby begins to wake up and take control of her life again, it's as if the world is reacting to her increasing energy.
Kirby and Harper fought each other into another reality. That was mind-blowing.
It came at a very crucial time in the murder investigation. What has Kirby missed? Will she still be part of the in-crowd when she returns to the paper?
What comes next can't get here soon enough. I'm very afraid for Jinny and hope she's on her guard. But what if she didn't have the same conversation with Kirby in the new reality?
There are so many possibilities.
I'd love to hear from you. Have you any theories? What comes next? Can you even fathom a guess?
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
