The Last Thing He Told Me made its Apple TV+ debut last week with two episodes. The main characters of the story were Owen, Hannah, and Bailey, Owen’s child from a previous marriage. The day before the couple’s 14-month anniversary, Owen vanished, and The Shop, the business he worked for, was accused of committing a big fraud. Two cryptic handwritten notes and a duffle bag filled with cash were the only hints Owen left Hannah and Bailey. As if that weren’t unsettling enough, Hannah learned that the FBI, U.S. Marshall Grady Bradford, and an unidentified bald man were all keeping an eye on her. She made an effort to secure assistance for her well-known legal ex-boyfriend Jake as well as her journalism friends Jules and Max. But it made no difference. Hannah eventually discovered that Bailey had some hazy memories of being in Austin for a ceremony, Owen had a dislike to Austin, and Grady was stationed there. She and Bailey made the decision to leave Sausalito and travel to Texas in order to learn more about Owen.
Warning: Major Spoilers
Hannah And Bailey Realize They ve Got To Look For Churches In Austin
Hannah has memories of visiting the theater with Owen and Bailey. Hannah was ridiculed by Bailey for bringing two buckets of popcorn, but Owen assured her that she would act as Hannah’s mother. Hannah and Bailey observe that word of The Shop’s illicit activities has gone beyond of California and to other countries while they are in the air. Hannah gets a worrisome voicemail from Jake after arriving in Austin informing her of the official FBI interview she must attend in order to clear her name. She hangs up the phone and immediately after she detects someone staring at her, she assumes that she has been followed from California to Texas. Max’s credit and debit cards are used by Hannah to make her hotel reservation. Because she doesn’t recognize the seriousness of the circumstance, Bailey believes that is overdone. Before heading back to Austin, where Hannah and Bailey are touring one of the biggest stadiums in the world in an effort to trigger Bailey’s memory, we catch a brief glimpse of the bald man visiting Hannah’s house and Grady taking note of it.
At first, Bailey doesn’t react all that favorably. She remembers being at that stadium as a little child with Owen to watch a game, though, after discovering a foam finger that had been abandoned. She also thinks that because they were wearing their formals, they weren’t dressed adequately to watch football. The program alludes to the notion that Owen has purposely left out elements of his life that are connected to Austin when Hannah notes that he never loved football. Hannah surmises that Bailey and Owen had walked from a wedding ceremony to the stadium based on Bailey’s highly erratic memory. As a result, she requests that Jules check for local churches that hosted wedding ceremonies in 2011. Hannah loses track of Bailey while she waits for more instructions and she begins to worry. Finally, she discovers Bailey at the Bass Concert Hall, reflecting on her singing career that has been put on hold as a result of this fruitless search for information about her father’s past. Hannah reassures Bailey that they will make the necessary changes to enable her to carry out her future ambitions. With all the inspiration she can muster, Bailey decides to go church-hunting with Hannah.
Grady Bradford Takes The Duffle Bag Full Of Cash
While switching between churches, Hannah receives a call from Avett asking about Owen and introducing the main topic with something about a business setup or accounting blunder. Hannah and Bailey are unaware of a detail about Owen’s past that Avett is aware of. Avett also suggests that he has been monitoring Hannah, which is how he knows she has left town. Bobby, Bailey’s boyfriend, is the only individual who is still in the dark about that information at this time. He shows up at her house with a large gift basket to try to make her feel better, so that’s why. He leaves the door open when no one answers it, and Grady takes a note of that. Returning to the stepdaughter-stepmother pair, Bailey has another temper tantrum about having no memory of being in the church they are in. A short while later, her memory begins to function, and she recalls going to a wedding there. They go to Ms. McGovern, the church’s custodian, and ask her for information about the marriage that occurred on the day of the match. McGovern is dissuaded from assisting them by Bailey’s grating demeanor. But Hannah succeeds in influencing McGovern with her cunning strategies.
Hannah goes outside to speak with Jake as McGovern gets Bailey and Hannah the information they require. Jake informs Hannah that things aren’t looking good for Owen. Even more so, he cautions her against tampering with the FBI because doing so could result in her being charged with Owen’s crimes and losing custody of Bailey. Regarding Bailey, she and McGovern have yet another argument regarding the church’s failure to hold any wedding ceremonies on game day in 2011. Hannah calms the situation down and asks McGovern to give her a call if she learns of any information that she believes will be useful to her and Bailey. Grady approaches the bald man trying to break into Hannah’s house in the interim and discovers that he is Avett’s goon. Avett has therefore been monitoring Hannah and Owen for the entire period in this way. He might have been for the bag of cash that Grady finds hidden in the bedroom and ends up taking for himself, proving that he isn’t a decent cop (the idea of a good cop is a lie, after all).
Jake Informs Hannah About Owen And Bailey s Past
Hannah and Bailey are at odds because Hannah wants to visit The Statesman’s headquarters to investigate if any wedding announcements are contained in newspaper prints from 2011, since this may aid their research. She also wants to go to the Austin U.S. Marshall Services office because Grady is connected to it. Bailey, though, is obviously fed up and ready to return home. Hannah recalls a similar argument Bailey had with Owen with Bobby inviting Bailey to his parents’ boat party as she rushes out of the room. Additionally, Owen had turned down Bailey’s invitation to the party primarily out of concern for his ability to control her. He sensed that the day would soon come when she would ignore him and follow her own agenda, and he wasn’t prepared to accept that. He also said something about keeping her safe from any looming peril.
Jules interrupts Hannah’s recall of this event. Hannah asks Jules to visit her house so they may check out the piggy bank, which has Lady Paul written on its belly, after they have exchanged some standard information about each other’s well-being. Why? Hannah discovered a password-protected file whose hint was L. Paul while browsing Owen’s laptop. Bailey explains to Bobby that Hannah isn’t the evil stepmother they were portraying her as during their chat. Jules returns to the story after discovering a key in Lady Paul’s piggy bank. She believes someone has broken into the house, but before she can locate the lock or door that key unlocks. Thankfully, Jake—who is only there to see Hannah and persuade her to participate in the FBI interview—is the claimed offender. He instead learns Hannah is in Austin. However, he doesn’t panic because that won’t help anyone.
Hannah is calmly informed by Jake that Owen Michaels, Olivia Miller (Owen’s deceased wife), and Bailey are not real people in accordance with the findings of his investigator. Yes, there are a few more people with that name. Evidently, the ones Hannah is familiar with are false. Hannah is obviously frightened by this because she begins to doubt her reality. No, this isn’t like Fight Club, Stay, Ghost Stories (the 2017 version), or The Lighthouse where the entire miniseries is playing out in Hannah’s damaged mind or where the characters we are seeing are manifestations of Hannah.
The identities of Owen and Bailey are false, yet they are very real. The disturbing thing is not that. What’s troubling is the justification for their identity-swapping antics. It is clear that Owen, or whoever his real identity is, was attempting to flee Austin in order to escape his history. He has made sure that no distinction can be made between him, Austin, and Bailey (or whatever her real name is) because he loves his daughter. But what about Olivia? What caused her death, in reality? Does Owen have any involvement with this? Did he murder her? Has he been hiding from that the entire time? Has he fled because he is no longer able to face Bailey and Hannah? The solution undoubtedly falls somewhere between those two queries, but we won’t know where until the next week.
