Who is Erin Carter? – Season 1 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Episode 4

Episode 4 of Who is Erin Carter builds up the titular character’s back story.

As a child, her mother deserted her. Erin’s father met his demise a while ago. As a result, she was brought into the system and passed on from one foster home to the other. When she grew up, Erin decided to take matters into her own hands and enrolled in the police academy. She was a top 5% student at the academy and excelled at every nuance of the profile. However, another student got jealous and got into a scuffle with her. This resulted in Erin getting kicked out of the academy.

But she was recruited by DI Jim Armstrong of Central Intelligence and Operations. His division specialized in undercover operations where the agents would infiltrate criminal gangs and lead to their arrests. Armstrong promised Erin that she would be given a place at the CIO if she could prove herself with her assigned operation. The gang she joined was run by Thomas.

Within the gang are characters we have never seen before – Margot, Gaspar, and most importantly, the blonde woman, Lena. In a shocking twist, it is revealed that Harper is actually Lena’s child and not Erin’s.

Erin is roped in as the getaway driver for the gang, who wants to rob a bullion shipment that is coming into the town in a matter of a few weeks. Thomas and his gang have been responsible for many high-profile robberies thus far. They are smart operators so Erin will have to be alert on the job. Erin’s task is also to learn who is bankrolling these robberies. Jim and the CIO suspect that the money is being fronted from abroad.

Lena and Erin bond when they steal a Smertle toy from a factory for Harper’s birthday. Like Erin’s mother, Lena is mostly absent from Harper’s life. Not because she feels the responsibility is too much but because of the nature of her work. Erin and Harper also start building their rapport, which will be crucial when establishing trust. Margot, Erin, and Lena discuss keeping the stash for themselves since they will be doing all the hard work stealing a vehicle for the job.

Jim pushes Erin to “work” Lena for answers as she thinks Lena might know more about who is bankrolling these robberies. Erin finds herself in two minds due to her growing closeness to Lena and Harper. The former even offers her to tag along with them after the job. They want to move to Barcelona as Lena found it to be perfect when she once visited the city.

We also learn the source of Harper’s nightmare – they were masks that the gang used for the job. Lena wears the exact same one to prank Harper. When they come back to the garage, Thomas squares up to Erin.

He thinks she is a mole working for the police. Thomas has learned that the police have beefed up security on the night of the heist, even though an equal amount of bullion is being delivered on other days as well. Erin stands her ground and luckily for her, Scott Micky, the other new recruit of the gang, becomes shaky. This leads Thomas and the others to believe that Scott is the mole. One of the men proceeds to kill him.

Thomas decides they will go ahead with the heist that night. Erin frenetically informs Jim, who asks her to go ahead with the robbery since he cannot move the forces up to the date this quickly.

The gang executes the heist according to plan with some notable hiccups. Lena gets herself into trouble and is almost killed by an officer but Erin saves her life. The gang notices police cars chasing them after they leave the facility, leading Margot to think they are waiting for them. And the mole could only have been Erin.

The gang successfully steals the bullion and comes back to the garage, only to find that police have tailed them to the location. In the ensuing chaos, Lena is shot and Erin thinks she is dead. Margot vows to take revenge as members of the gang are caught. 

Erin escapes with Harper through the backdoor and keeps a few bullion bricks for their future. She is livid with Jim for thinking she is disposable because the police opened fire without caring for their asset. She decides to ditch everything and run away with Harper to Barcelona, as we saw in the opening episode.

The Episode Review

We finally get the highly anticipated backstory and I am disappointed. While things like Harper not being Erin’s real daughter and the connection between Lena and Erin integrated well with Erin’s character, the rest of the story is unconvincing. Given how she has been dealing with men twice her size in the present, something more appropriate to her profile should have been chosen. I know such liberties are often forgiven, but the writers have shown no zeal for detailing at all.

Perhaps that is part of the bigger problem as episode 4 ruefully messes up its most important scene: the heist. The run-of-the-mill effort does no favours to the events folding in the present and certainly does not make us any wiser to who Erin Carter really is. The past does enhance her relationship with Harper to an extent, however.  Tying it up with her own mother’s indifference was a very nice touch indeed.