The Last Thing He Told Me – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Never Dry

Bailey knows that the woman in the photo is her biological mother as episode 5 of The Last Thing He Told Me begins. She looks nothing like Olivia in the photo Owen showed her. Kathrine Smith’s father owns a bar, The Never Dry, which is still active. Bailey is getting restless with every minute, and this mystery is consuming her peace and has thrown her into an identity crisis. She urges Hannah to visit the Bar, even as Hannah posits they research the roster with the yearbooks in the library. Ultimately, Bailey wins and they take a taxi.

Hannah finds a profile of Charlie Smith online but it says he isn’t married anymore. When Bailey looks up Andrea Reyes, she finds a strikingly similar photo of the woman Owen claimed was Olivia in the photo he gave Bailey. It seems more and more like Owen fabricated that photo. But nothing is certain yet. Grady shows urgency in tracking down Bailey. There is clearly something going on between the US Marshall’s office and Owen. Was he an operative for them? Or is there a past beef that can disrupt things?

Grady and his boss, Maris, look incredibly tense and do not want Bailey’s presence in Austin to come out into the press at any cost. When Hannah and Bailey reach the bar, the former asks Bailey to sit in a café instead as she cannot predict what will happen inside the bar. Owen purposely didn’t tell her about the Austin roots which means there might be danger. She agrees, and Hannah goes in alone. She meets Charlie, who seems a warm man. The bar isn’t open yet and Hannah concocts a story about being an architect and possibly teaching at the university.

Hannah plays her cards carefully but oversteps when she mentions the young lady in a picture at the bar. Charlie is visibly frustrated and seems guarded about her. She was her sister and is no longer alive. Grady is getting more tense watching the news. He asks Maris to illegally track Hannah’s cell and she reluctantly agrees. He also gets Owen’s phone and passcode in the mail. Did Owen send it himself? From the looks of it, yes. Things are definitely getting very interesting.

Bailey has been in touch with Bobby. He knows the whole thing inside out and helps Bailey find Andrea’s address. She is planning on going alone but Bobby is skeptical. His fears are realized in the next scene when we see Charlie getting agitated and potentially violent when Hannah shows him a photo of Owen. Bailey walks in and asks Charlie to back off. He calls her “Kristin,” which might be her real name. They escape and are in a foot race with Charlie. They do manage to evade him – barely.

They stop near the river, where hordes of flying bats usher in another memory for Bailey. In this flashback, she clearly sees Owen, Charlie and his wife Andrea, and the blonde woman. Owen and she were intimate, and she also hears the name “Kristie.” Owen called Bailey Kristie, she says. That blonde woman is probably Katherine Smith, Bailey’s mother. She did die in a car accident, something that Charlie confirmed to Hannah before.

Grady finds exculpatory material on the phone, which demonstrates Owen tried to fix the bug; he wasn’t part of the primary coding team and alerted Avett against going public.

Maris will not phone Naomi Wu, from the FBI, and Jamie Caldera, running point on the investigation by the US Attorney’s office. Grady takes a team and heads to The Town Hall, where Hannah and Bailey are staying – but not for long. Hannah packs their bags but Bailey wants to find out the answers before going.

Hannah does not want to risk Bailey’s life and we get to the point where the series started. Hannah calms herself down and remembers the first night she spent with Owen. Even then, she confronted him about Olivia but he was hesitant to come clean.

Jules calls Hannah in a panic, Davis is there too, and they ask her to get out of Austin as soon as possible. Nicholas Bells, Kate Smith’s father-in-law, is a mob lawyer for the Campano family, one of the largest crime syndicates in America. Owen turned the State’s evidence against the Campanos after Kate was killed in the car accident. He took down the entire organization. Owen’s real name is Ethan Young and he left a handwritten will inside the safe.

Hannah cannot find Bailey. Grady arrives at the hotel and locates Hannah in her room. We see Charles coming back to the bar and calling his father Nicholas, confirming that he found Kristin (Bailey). Grady takes Hannah with her and the search for Bailey begins.

The Episode Review

Who will find Bailey first remains the million-dollar question. Or maybe she finds either one of Charlie or Hannah first. Either way, the plot in The Last Thing exploded in episode 5. It seemed like the show was playing its cards too close to its chest in the first few episodes, making us lose interest in the story. But ever since Hannah and Bailey came to Austin, things have changed.

Episode 5 saw the narrative shift gears and come into action mode. Owen’s entire history was revealed and the stakes have been upped significantly. He is also not responsible for The Shop fraud but that has taken secondary importance. Right now, getting Bailey safely out remains the priority and the central tension driver. This might be the tipping point for the series and it has got all of us very excited. There is finally a new lease of life for viewers, most of whom may have given up a while back!