Body
Episode 4 of Echoes starts with Leni calling out for Mattie. Thankfully she’s okay, she just head off to the main road to say goodbye to her aunt. When Charlie leaves, and Gina is presumed to be out of their lives forever, everything settles down a bit. But still, Leni is concerned that her sister is going to return. In the morning, thick, choking grey clouds smother the horizon. It seems there’s a bush fire, but Jack and Leni decide to go off together and check it out just to be sure. It turns out the fire wasn’t from a bush after all.. it’s actually a burning body. And it would appear that the body belongs to Dylan James. Floss speaks to Leni at her house and points out that the body and truck have been moved deliberately. It turns out Dylan had a knife wound across the stomach, meaning he was killed before the truck was burned. Floss is suspicious of both Leni and Jack; the latter for a cut across his forehead and Leni for leaving the party abruptly. Either way, both of them are prime suspects in this murder. When Floss leaves (collecting evidence outside in the process), Jack admits that his cut was as a result of the foal owners – Towers and Payne. He got into a scuffle with them after they asked about the money he owed. After threatening Leni and Mattie, he lashed out. However, as Jack hasn’t actually paid back the money he owes, the debts and the stress is just piling up further. Victor rings Leni, pleading with her to return home. Unfortunately, when she does so, Jack is in handcuffs and taken away. It turns out the evidence points toward him being the culprit, which is only compounded further by ketamine being found in the truck. Leni’s father points the finger at Leni. They’re both interrupted by a call from the hospital though, as word comes in that Leni has shown up. Of course, it’s not actually Leni but clearly Gina playing mind games again. When the pair arrive, Gina is gone. She’s pulled out the IV and bolted. Leni scrambles up to the police station and speaks to Jack, apologizing for what happened between them. It’s here we learn exactly what sort of trouble Jack is in. It turns out the family were going broke and Jack didn’t know what else to do. When Towers and Payne called, he knew that the horse was stolen but as Towers is a good friend to have, he tried to get on his good side. Of course, that’s all tumbled out of control and now Jack – and by extension the family – are in debt. So as a result, the pair agree to speak the truth about stealing the horse, but also expressing innocence to killing Dylan. From Dylan’s phone, Gina rings and claims that Towers and Payne are responsible for his death and after her. She urges Leni to show up at Grandma Georgia’s so she can protect her sister. So naturally, Leni arrives to meet her. When she gets there, Georgia is slumped over a chair. She claims that two men entered and came after her. Georgia pleads with Leni to leave and not get the police involved. She needs the 60k to hand over but Leni decides to go right to the source and give it to them personally. Unfortunately, Towers and Payne don’t take kindly to the check (that’s traceable) or the short-changed amount and contemplate tying Leni up and using her as a bargaining chip to get to Gina. Thankfully, Leni talks a big game and manages to get herself out of trouble, pointing out that Jack is in the police station and could rat them both out. After handing over the cash and getting in the car, Leni breathes heavily and points out how much of a close call this was. That night, Floss pulls over Leni by the side of the road where she’s forced into the back of a cruiser. She’s put under arrest for murdering Dylan. It turns out Gina has been helping the police, and that seems to include framing Leni, given the police have pictures of Leni paying off Towers and Payne, as well as the whereabouts for the murder weapon. It turns out the blade was found under the front seat of her car. Is Leni really responsible? Or has she been set up?
The Episode Review
Things are just starting to get interesting now as it appears there’s enough evidence against Leni to incriminate her whilst freeing Jack and Gina of any wrongdoing. However, the screenplay has been a bit wild and haphazard so far, with the main genre of this swinging wildly between murder mystery, thriller and psychological chiller. Although there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it does make for a rather messy screenplay at times, although these later episodes have certainly complicated matters and made the story a little more intriguing, despite how chaotic everything is. It would appear that we’re going to get some big answers in the upcoming episodes but we’ll have to wait and see what Netflix’s latest series has in store for us first!
