Echoes (2022) Netflix Miniseries: Recap & Ending Explained

Echoes (2022) is the new limited series streaming on Netflix. Created by Vanessa Gazy, the show stars Michelle Monahan, Matt Boomer, Daniel Sunjata, Ali Stroker, and Karen Robinson. The story revolves around two identical twin sisters, Gina and Leni ((played by Michelle Monaghan), and their interwoven lives. While Gina is an upper-class LA-based writer, Leni is living a quiet and simple life as a housewife in the small American town called Mount Echo.

Echoes (2022) Miniseries Recap:

The series begins with the news of Leni’s disappearance. After hearing this news from Leni’s husband Jack (Matt Bomer), Gina flies to Mount Echo. After reaching there, Gina finds out that everybody is acting strangely – Jack acts like he is hiding something as well as her father, Victor (Michael O’Neill), and the local Sheriff Floss (Karen Robinson).

While the police are investigating the case, Gina does her investigation and finds out about an old rendezvous she and her sister know. There she finds a note hidden inside the book she has written that indicates Leni is not missing but in hiding. We also come to know that the two sisters are swapping their identities to live their life as one. Every year on their birthday, they swap their lives. During the time the story is based, the original Leni is playing Gina and the original Gina is playing Leni. So, it is not Leni, who goes to hiding, it’s Gina. On that note, it is written that Leni can live both of their lives as she not coming back.

Meanwhile, Leni finds out that Gina has been up to this for a long time as she has become distant from Jack making their relationship turn somewhat cold. This goes to new heights when Leni finds out that Dylan James, Gina’s lover from her teenage years has returned to Mount Echo and Jack suspects she has an affair with him. While searching for Gina, Leni questions Dylan about her whereabouts and finds out that Gina has told him everything about their secret. She also finds out Gina’s passport and money in Dylan’s cabin which Leni she later steals. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Victor, Leni, and Gina’s father have only about six months to live. Leni is quite shocked by the news but she is still frustrated with Gina’s hiding.

Gina and Leni eventually meet at their birthday party. There Gina threatens Leni and asks her to return her passport and money as she walks out. The next day, Dylan James’ burnt body is found right near Leni and Jack’s property. Leni tries to locate Gina when she gets a call from Victor who tells her to come home. When Leni goes home, she finds out that the police have arrested Jack for Dylan’s murder.

During this time, she gets a call from a hospital stating that her sister is admitted there. Leni, along with Victor and Charlie (Gina’s husband) go to the hospital, only to realize that Gina has left already. Meanwhile, Gina calls Leni and tells her that it’s Towers and Payne who murdered Dylan because they wanted to warn Leni and Jack about their unpaid debts. Gina also tells them that they are after her which is why she is injured. Leni tells her that she can pay them with her cashier’s cheque that she had withdrawn a day earlier. With that plan, she goes to pay Towers and Payne. When Leni is returning from there, sheriff Floss and her deputy stops her car and finds out the murder weapon used in Dylan’s murder under her car’s front seat. Floss arrested Leni based on that evidence.

While interrogating, Leni says that she is framed by Gina and also gives Floss (incriminating evidence on Gina) some information on a decade-old arson case where the two sisters were the key witnesses. Floss arrests Gina on that basis. During interrogation, Gina reveals their secret about being pressurized. Floss understands that she can’t prove any charges until she knows who did the mishaps. In the current situation, it is impossible for her to prove who is the real culprit. So, she lets them free.

This time everybody knows their secret. As a result, Jack asks Leni to leave his life, while Charlie says that he knew it all the way long but did not react as he was trying to help the two sisters. Gina and he reconcile afterward.

One day Victor calls Gina and tells her to come home. When she gets there, she finds out that Victor is unconscious. She helps him regain his consciousness. In his final words, Victor tells her some cryptic words about apple blossoming. Before Gina understands it, Victor breaths his last.

Meanwhile, Leni comes there and finds out about Victor’s death. She tells Gina to swap again like before and helps her move their father out. Gina tells her that she is not going to do that again and the two start a fight. The house accidentally catches fire and Gina escapes from there as Leni follows her into the woods.

In the woods, the two sisters come to the top of a fountain, where Leni tells Gina that she just wants to protect her from the trauma of their mother’s death, who was killed by their father. Gina understands her father’s last words and tells her that it is not killing but euthanasia that Victor performed with their mother’s consent. Leni refuses to accept it and tells her she will protect Gina. Gina refuses and jumps to the fountain.

The police find Leni and now she is the key suspect in the ongoing cases. Floss orders her deputy to bring the evidence boxes from the arson case to find out if she is missing anything. The deputy finds out a locket of a lion. Floss connects the dots as Jack tells her that their mother is named Leni ‘Leni the Lion.’ Now on the hunt for Leni, Floss lays a bait by sending her deputy to give Leni the locket. Leni takes the bait but soon throws it and heads for the airport. At the airport, she uses Gina’s fake passport she had earlier stolen to fly to Australia.

The airport security tells her that a woman who looks like her also boarded a flight to Kansas a day earlier. In the final sequence, we come to a book reading session by Charlie who wrote a book on these two sisters. A mysterious woman identical to Leni and Gina asks him what happened to the other sister who jumped into the river. Charlie replies that they never find her. After his return home, we find out that Gina is still alive and lives with Charlie. But when Charlie asks her about the incident, she denies it. In the last scene, we can hear Charlie speaking that he is going to find out who she truly is. While the other (Leni or Gina?) replyy does it matter now?

Echoes (2022) Miniseries Ending, Explained: Is it Gina or Leni with Charlie in the Last Scene?

Echoes ends in an ambiguous way confusing us about who is in the last scene with Charlie. Is it Gina or Leni?

Well, one thing is for sure – Gina survived the jump and headed for Kansas after that incident. Now in the last scene, Charlie tells her about changing keys every time he goes out to work, in order to prevent any mishap. So, she may be the original Gina as she is the only person who knows about it except Charlie.

But if Leni re-enters their lives, she can do her homework on this matter and intrude into their lives again, just like before. Crashing Charlie’s book reading can be an indication that she is looking at every step quite closely. So, it is possible that she is impersonating Gina in the final scene.

No matter what the ending truly means, it is fascinating to watch the show’s creators make it ambiguous, leaving us to interpret it in various ways. And if they plan another season, it can be a good stepping stone for them.

Read More: Boo, Bitch (2022) Netflix Miniseries: Recap & Ending Explained

Trailer

Echoes (2022) Show Links – IMDb
Echoes (2022) Show Cast – Michelle Monahan, Matt Boomer, Daniel Sunjata, Ali Stroker, Karen Robinson

Where to watch Echoes