What is the half-life
... of Trauma?
"SHINING GIRLS" from Apple TV+ is a supernatural crime-series based off a book The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. Apple TV's series adaptation stars Elizabeth Moss (The West Wing, Mad Men, The One I Love, The Handmaid's Tale) as the lead, with Wagner Moura (Elysium, Narcos), Phillipa Soo (Tick Tick ... Boom, Hamilton), Chris Chalk (12 Years A Slave, Detroit, When They See Us), Amy Brenneman (Heat, Fear, Judging Amy, The Leftovers), and Jamie Bell (King Kong, Jumper, Snowpiercer, Fantastic Four) in major supporting roles.
SHINING GIRLS second episode, "Evergreen," opens where episode one's "Cutline" left off -- Kirby's discovered the most recent time-shift not only has her living in apartment 3B instead of 2B without her mother but that she's also married to her coworker Marcus who she just met in passing the day before in the previous timeline. It's his birthday and from his point of view, she went out for party supplies and food but came back confused and empty-handed. Kirby later tells Dan Velasquez that her attacker (Harper) left something inside of her so he goest back to his coroner friend and asks to examine Julia's body, the latest known victim -- the planetarium worker has probably not been found yet. He learns that the crime scene was a mess but the on-site cops found nothing inside her. But while perusing through on-site evidence, Dan finds an old radium paint box which his coroner friend remarks is something that was discontinued in the 1950s. Asking to see the body, his friend warns him it's a hell of a sight but Dan turns off the light to point out glowing radium paint within Julia's abdominal wound. Excited about the link between Kirby and Julia, Dan checks her background and learns the cops have a poor impression of her. Checking back with Kirby, he learns the cops never did a follow-up on her, listed her severe assault wounds and minimal, and never pursued her case. With his faith in her restored, Dan goes with Kirby to Julia's house. Swarming with neighbors and reporters, Dan mingles with the crowd while Kirby pretends to be a friend returning earrings to get inside the house. Unable to pass up the chance at alcohol, Dan gets drunk and meets the time-traveling killer (Harper). Harper claims to be a reporter for Daily News and seems surprised when Dan reveals the Daily News has been closed for ten years. Whether or not this is obscure info or if Harper is getting getting timelines mixed up, it adds some humanity to this murderous psycho. Even he can't keep track of his time-hopping murder spree. Inside the house, Kirby finds a voice machine of Julia 911'ing for help and hears Harper's voice on the tape. Earlier in the episode, we get a fantastic sequence of Julia the night of her murder, nervously following photos of herself around the house -- what makes them spooky is they're photos of her only seconds into the future. There's a sequence of Harper returning home and while reading a newspaper, his coffee mug changes. The episode ends with our killer going to bed and the camera revealing radium paint stains glowing on blankets.
So far the apparent rules appear to be:
(1) When Harper travels through time, presumably anytime before 1990, it changes Kirby's personal timeline.
(2) Every time Harper changes the past, anything Kirby's said or done might no longer exist.
(3) Harper himself may be affected by his time-ventures ... or is another time traveler altering Harper's personal timeline.
(4) Only Harper and Kirby remember what happened in previous other timelines.
I thought this was a good episode that established the horror of facing up against a villain like Harper. How does any mundane individual, group, or organization apprehend a time-traveling criminal? If they get too close, Harper can just alter the past and scramble Kirby and Dan's timelines enough to protect himself. The horror of Julia seeing photos of herself from only a few seconds into the future was a nice addition of terror.
What's with the green-glowing radium paint?
Since Harper leaves items from previous victims in later victims, does the radium paint can mean he has a victim from the 1950s?
Why is there glowing radium paint in his bed?
Find out next time when we summarize and talk about episode 3!
Hope you're enjoying these reviews!
Here's a Youtube Trailer for Apple TV+'s SHINING GIRLS: