Shining Girls (Season 1), Episode 6 Recap and Ending Explained: Shining Girls has started streaming for over a month or so, and every other episode is building a beguiling net of facts to guide us to the truth about the situation of the survivors. The personal narrative of Kirby, played by Elisabeth Moss, keeps the viewers emotionally invested in the pursuit of finding the culprit. Since it had focused on the effects on the minds of the survivors, it takes some time now to delve into the mind of the culprit who subjected them to evil acts.
Shining Girls (Season 1), Episode 6: Recap
Until now, the narrative of Shining Girls primarily focused on the character played by Elisabeth Moss. The culprit, played by Jamie Bell, was shown lurking around in the lives of other characters, creeping in but hardly ever participating in any of the interactions himself. He was a mere shadow representing the trauma he inflicted on the survivors. The 6th episode undoes this and unfolds the story of Harper by taking us through past scenarios from his life and giving us a window into how he became what he did. The serpent-like ability he has to move through different times is something that he discovers about himself in this particular episode.
Episode 6 starts with a dance sequence of Kirby (Elisabeth Moss) dancing along with the woman from the tape she finds in the previous episode (Klara, played by Madeline Brewer). Then, the episode abruptly cuts to Harper (Jamie Bell) on a battlefield. Leo (Christopher Denham) stands right behind him. After their brief one-on-one interaction, the episode again cuts to a completely different place with a woman dancing on a stage. Harper is watching her from the audience. This is again the woman from the tape that Kirby finds in the previous episode. After the dance performance, Harper walks in backstage after her and has a word with her. We sense that they have known one another for a while.
Together they leave this venue to go to an old lady’s home with the intent to rob her. However, Klara does not like the idea of doing it as adults, even if they did such things when they were little kids. They eventually break in and start going through the stuff from her drawers. Suddenly they hear a beep sound and see an instrument (a digital watch) that they have no idea what it is. The lady suddenly arrives there and but somehow, Harper manages to take the watch along with him. This particular scene was his introduction to understanding that things are different, that they are not as he expected them to be. It gives us a peek into him, understanding his ability to jump through times.
Harper later breaks into this house again, along with Leo. While rummaging through the stuff present in the house, he finds a diary with the year 1973 embossed on top of it. Leo finds some currency notes that he can’t recognize from the time they are in. Meanwhile, Harper finds the old lady’s husband inside a cabinet. He gets out, pointing a gun at Harper’s head, and asks about the year they are in. Apart from the things in the house, this question baffles Harper. During their interaction, Harper soon takes the gun from the man’s hand and points at him. The man soon tries to run out, and during his attempt, he gets hit by a vehicle. Through the interaction, we also get a sense that the year Harper and Leo think they are in is around the time of the first world war.
Later, Harper returns to his place and starts speaking with Klara. They eventually lie down on the floor and look up at the chandelier on the ceiling. The chandelier changes, and both of them get a sense of Harper’s ability to shift through realities. Being amazed by it, Klara asks to go as far as possible. They enter modern times and look at the advancements with the amazement of little kids. Then after some time, they go back to their place to find disgruntled Leo sitting by himself. He does not like the fact that Klara also knows their secret (about their time-shifting ability). That’s when Klara comes in and asks Harper to tag along to go out to party. They go to an auditorium (where Kirby used to work), and Klara becomes impressed with the changes that she can see in the place. They go to the bar and order drinks. After a word they have, Klara and Kirby start dancing on the floor. This is the same dancing bit that we see at the beginning of this episode.
Shining Girls (Season 1), Episode 6 Ending Explained:
Before leaving, Klara goes to the washroom from the auditorium. On her way, she meets Leo, who starts telling her about the lies that Harper has been feeding her. He tells her that Harper did not go to Paris either the way he claimed her. That’s when Harper barges in and starts conversing with her, and both of them leave the place. Now we see a tape recording being done, which looks exactly like what Kirby had gotten in Episode 5.
From the recording, the scene shifts to their actual conversation, where she confronts him about his lies. He gives her an answer that would possibly convince her and tries persuading her to get in front of the camera again. When she refuses to do so, he suddenly says how she always does this. From this statement, she realizes how he has lived this present scenario multiple times already, which made him say it. During their argument, when she does not submit to him, he attacks her. Later, we see him along with Kirby in the auditorium by himself. He also tries to impress her with his exact guesswork about a thing from her past. That does not impress her, and she goes back to her work while not giving any importance to this chat.
From this episode, Harper is conveyed as the toxic man that he is who uses any power he has to abuse others in his life. Whether Klara or Kirby, he sees them as his sources of pleasure and tries to make them fall under his spell. His sense of control derives from his ability to not pay heed to the needs or well-being of these women. The ending furthers this claim by showing his creepy romantic interest transition from Klara to Kirby while being that man who always wishes to be in control of any conversation and situation.
![Victim [2022] ‘Venice’ Review – A Mother’s Unexpected Encounter with Politics of Polarization](https://79468c92.delivery.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Victim-2022-768x432.jpg)
