Spoiler alert! This story discusses the ending of the Netflix drama Pieces of Her, including multiple plot twists. Proceed with caution if you haven’t finished watching the series.
The new Netflix series, Pieces of Her, follows Laura (Toni Collette, who recently starred in the highly rated Nightmare Alley) and her daughter Andy (Bella Heathcote, who appeared in the Fifty Shades Darker cast) on a dangerous journey after Laura violently killed a man who opened fire in the restaurant where they were dining. The national attention brought on by Laura’s seemingly uncharacteristic actions alerted people from her past to her whereabouts, and Andy slowly begins to uncover secrets about her and her mother’s past. The Pieces Of Her ending is full of twists and revelations that reveal who Laura really is and what she’s been hiding.
Based on the book of the same name by Karin Slaughter, Pieces of Her consists of eight hourlong(ish) episodes that include plenty of plot twists, aliases, and flashbacks across different periods of Laura’s life to show what led to the situation she and Andy find themselves in now. Most of the puzzle was pieced together by the end of the eighth episode, but there were enough questions left for viewers to wonder if maybe another season could be ordered. Let’s take a look at what we learned from the ending of Netflix’s Pieces of Her.
Laura And Andy Were In Witness Protection
Laura used to be Jane Queller, who became involved with Nick Harp, the leader of a domestic terrorist organization that was responsible for the murder of Jane's father Martin Queller, a Big Pharma billionaire. After more unexpected deaths, a pregnant Jane turned herself in to the FBI, testified against Nick and the others in the group, and joined Witness Protection.
The national attention Laura received after killing the restaurant shooter alerted Nick — now on America’s Most Wanted list, as he’d evaded capture for 30 years — to Laura’s new identity and whereabouts. Charlie (Gil Birmingham), who had been like a godfather to Andy all her life, was a U.S. Marshal assigned to Laura’s case, as was Michael, the man who followed Andy when she left town.
Laura’s Killing Of The Shooter Mirrored A Murder She Witnessed In The Past
What drew the most attention to Laura’s restaurant-shooter killing was the violent way in which she took him out. After taking a knife clean through her hand, she turned her fist around and back-handedly slashed his throat. It was a move that Jane had watched Nick execute 30 years prior when he’d killed kidnapped professor Alex Maplecroft.
Nick And Jasper Were After Jane For A Tape, Not The Money
Jane decided she had to get away from Nick and get Andrew to a hospital after he was shot, as the Army of the Changing World fled following Alex Maplecroft’s murder. While grabbing some of the money they’d gotten from Maplecroft’s ransom, Jane happened upon a mini-recorder, and the tape inside contained a conversation that implicated Jane’s other brother, Jasper, in the plot against their father.
Jasper took over Quellcorp following Martin’s death. In the present day he was on track to become the running mate for a presidential candidate, which made that tape very valuable to both Jasper and Nick — to Jasper to make sure he was never tied to the murder, and to Nick so he could have control over Jasper. When Andy found the suitcase full of ransom money that Jane had taken all those years ago, she didn’t realize the people who were after her were looking for the tape hidden in the suitcase’s lining, not the cash.
Jane Set Her Father Up To Be Murdered
A huge twist came near the end of the series, when it turned out that Nick was telling the truth about not giving Grace Juno the gun to kill Martin Queller. The Army of the Changing World’s plan had been only to detonate dye packs to represent metaphorical blood on Martin’s hands. But, after Martin had tried to poison Jane to make her lose her baby, Jane snuck a gun into the Oslo conference and gave it to Grace, who blamed Martin for the death of her husband and children, telling her what her father had tried to do to her baby.
Grace killed Martin to protect Jane and her unborn child, Andy, and Nick knew the truth all along. That’s why Laura/Jane had been so afraid of Nick finding her — the entire case against Nick was built around Jane's false testimony that she saw him give Grace the gun.
The Finale Twist Left The Door Open For Season 2
With the tape (presumably) burned in the house fire that Andy started while trying to escape Nick, and Nick finally in custody, It seemed that Pieces of Her was about to wrap everything up with a nice bow. However, when Andy made the connection regarding her mother’s involvement in Martin’s murder and called Michael, the U.S. marshal she stayed close to, for information, it was revealed that Jasper still had people listening in on her phone calls.
Jasper also called Laura/Jane to inform her that he was officially going to be a vice presidential candidate and that Nick had told him that she was responsible for their father’s murder. He said he’ll keep Nick quiet, but it was clear that favor wasn’t going to come cheap. There’s also the matter of Paula Kunde, a member of the Army of the Changing World, who was about to finish her prison sentence and still held a pretty strong grudge against Jane.
Netflix hasn’t made an announcement about whether or not there will be a second season of Pieces of Her, but there was no sequel to Karin Slaughter’s book. There were still plenty of stories left to create, even without another book, so now we’ll just have to wait and see.
Pieces of Her is available for streaming with a Netflix subscription. You can also check out some of the other shows to binge watch on Netflix, and see what premieres are coming up soon on our 2022 TV Schedule.
