Echoes of the Past – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2

Episode 2 of Echoes of the Past begins with a flashback to Layla’s birthday. Sherif is secretly recording to Nadia till Ali shows up. He then records Yehia and Layla bickering. Nadia and Ali suddenly ask him to record them.

At present, Yassin preps for his annual gala at his home and invites the new client, Michael. Yehia is able to eavesdrop as he has hacked his phone via the text he sent about Mahfouz. Pretending to be one of the workers, Fatla then sneaks him into the house. 

Outside, Sherif and Layla catch up and it seems that he has married and has a child. Yassin gives his speech and that’s when Yehia takes over the projector. He puts up Nadia’s photo and then livestreams the factory being bombed. The guests run and Layla is in a daze. She heads inside and finds Yehia installing a spycam but doesn’t recognise him as he leaves. 

Back at his base, Yehia watches Yassin’s family argue as they wonder what to do with him. Sherif still doesn’t have their trust as they think he is defending Yehia. We learn that Layla has lost her memories of Yehia and Nadia. She wants answers but Mona refuses to answer. Instead, she invites her to move in with her. Layla continues to dig into the matter till her mother, Sawsan stops her.

As for Yassin, he hires a hitman who has the perfect record. He instantly figures out that Yassin’s phone and CCTVs have been hacked. As for the bombing, he believes Yehia has inside help. He questions the workers and Maldini slips up about not being home the day of the bombing. The cops too question Yassin about the factory but he doesn’t tell them about Yehia.

Meanwhile, Fatla is worried about Yehia and how far he will go. He wonders how he got so tech-savvy and Yehia shares that he learned in prison.

As for Yassin, he tries to get Ali to stay at home but he refuses to hide. He insists that he is not a coward and practises at the gun range. Sawsan too tries to stop him from going to work. He shares that he has been doing his parents’ bidding for 15 years but he cannot anymore. Instead, he tries to earn his dad’s favour by smoothing things out with Michael. At the same time, someone texts Yehia that Ali wanted to marry Nadia and didn’t kill her.

Next, Layla decides to ask Sherif about Yehia. Having looked into their past, she knows Yehia wouldn’t have killed his sister and that they were all friends once. She wants answers but Sherif claims she is asking the wrong person.

Desperate, she sends Yehia a message via the spycam. She lies that she knows about Nadia’s killer and meets him. In person, she assures him that she knows he is not the killer but she wants the whole story. However, he has no patience and tells her to ask her family.

He speeds up his plan and hacks the phone of Ali’s driver. While Ali is heading home, Yehia stops them with the excuse of a flat tyre. He knocks out the driver and takes Ali hostage at gunpoint. They end up in a cemetery where Ali insists he is innocent. A gunfight ensues as Ali tries to fight back.

He tries to reason with Yehia – he does think he accidentally killed her and feels guilty about it. But he is shocked when Yehia shares that Nadia was murdered. Ali reveals he had proposed to Nadia upon learning she is pregnant and Sherif has the proof. A flashback shows Sherif looking upset at Layla’s party as he is asked to film Ali proposing to Nadia. 

At the end of Echoes of the Past Episode 2, Ali sneaks up on Yehia but doesn’t kill him. He unloads his gun in a show of good faith and leaves.

The Episode Review

Echoes of the Past Episode 2 has a strong start with the typical birthday party expected from the 2000s. The Arabic folk music, the Y2K outfits, the vintage set direction, the handicam recordings and the general festiveness instantly reels in viewers. On top of that, it introduces another player to the mystery in the form of Sherif.

In fact, had the whole show kept the retro aesthetic and set the story in the 2000s, the technical style would have been better suited. The old-school rapid transitions still need a little getting used. At times, the superimposition transitions are clever like at the cemetery and the party. But the technical execution does take away from the story at times.

But the plot has definitely picked up. If Yassin’s family didn’t know that Nadia was murdered, it means there is a whole other bad guy apart from them trying to make Yehia take the fall for Ali. From what we can gather, if Sherif is the murderer, he must have framed Ali which is why he tried to stop Yehia from confessing. But we do hope this Netflix show is not this easy to predict since we are only in the second episode.