Echoes of the Past – Season 1 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Episode 4

Episode 4 of Echoes of the Past begins with another flashback – this time the group is playing a game. They believe Sherif is the “killer” and Yehia teases him with another girl. He looks uncomfortable as Nadia walks by. Later, he sees Nadia and Ali fighting. She is pressurised about the marriage and Sawsan’s approval, and Ali comforts her.

At present, Sawsan threatens to leave Yassin again since he cannot handle Yehia. She only stayed with him as he had promised to protect their family. Yassin takes out his anger on the hitman who coerces Sherif’s doorman to spy for him.

Sherif watches the tapes with fondness and it shows that Yehia wanted to major in Computer Science. Sherif wanted to be a director and they’d plan to live spontaneously. As for Yehia, he believes that he needs the tapes because Sherif may have recorded things that he did not see happen. 

While Sherif is out, Layla tells his wife that she needs his camera and searches the attic. She finds the tapes but Sherif shows up and tries to stop her. Yehia is waiting outside and the doorman spots him and calls the hitman. Yehia overhears the commotion inside and shows up at the front door. He goads Sherif by asking if he is hiding something.

Giving up, Sherif plays the tape which shows Nadia crying before Sherif makes a move on her. Yehia believes he is the killer and tries to attack him. However, Sherif reveals that he loved her and if he was guilty he would have never tried to stop Yehia from taking the fall. Nadia was being coerced by someone else and the tapes will give Yehia the answer.

At that moment, the hitman shows up and tries to shoot Yehia. Sherif helps him escape while his wife calls the cops. The hitman runs off and the cops have no leads. But Sherif’s wife is upset about the whole fiasco and leaves with their daughter.

Meanwhile, Ali asks Mona what to do. There are only two options – confront their parents or run away. Mona left Egypt and she tells Ali to stop spinning in circles and take a stand. He does so when he learns that his father has suddenly laid off 300 workers due to the bombing. He also knows that Yassin declared his father senile and took over. Yassin claims that his father was weak and would have led them all to bankruptcy.

Elsewhere, Layla and Yehia watch the tape of Nadia’s death. They are seen swimming for 13 minutes till they find the boat. However, Yehia remembers that the actual dive was only 2 minutes. He realises that the boat wasn’t at the same place.

Another tape shows Layla drawing on Nadia’s oxygen tank and playing with her. Layla is shocked that she doesn’t remember any of it. They realise that they cannot rely on their memories and need to visit the beach house.

Layla goes home to find her father drinking. He wonders if he is a good father and knows that his dream has always been to take care of his family. He doesn’t know why Mona and Sawsan avoid him, and where things went wrong with Ali. Layla asks about Nadia and Yehia and he rambles that he did his part and gave Yehia the money promised. The rest of his actions have been to protect his family.

At the end of Echoes of the Past Episode 4, Yehia watches another tape which records a fight between Mona and Nadia. In the next shot, Mona has a blade and is doing something with a scuba costume.

The Episode Review

Echoes of the Past Episode 4 finally picks up the action that we can almost overlook the technical quirks. It still chafes but the Netflix show has officially hooked us and we are focused more on the mystery and the narrative structure.

From what we can gather, it seems like each episode focuses on one character and makes it seem that they are the killer like Ali and Sherif. As Yehia goes about uncovering the truth, these suspects are cleared and a new character becomes the prime suspect.

And at the halfway mark, we now have the elusive Mona who has been missing since episode 1. If we are not wrong, she ran away after Nadia’s death. If we recall, she was also angry with Nadia before she went scuba diving. Mona may or may not be the killer but she definitely knows something about Nadia.