After only four of seven episodes of Who is Erin Carter?, that central question has already been answered in full, as the mid-season episode of this sunny Netflix thriller is a full flashback episode.
For three episodes we've been following Erin Carter after an innocuous incident caused her face to appear in the papers, alerting people from her past to where she lives now. Plus, she's been fighting with other moms at her child's school and gangs tied to her husband's best friend.
Now, though, we get a much better idea as to who Erin is, and who these people are that are chasing her. Well, some of them at least.
This Who is Erin Carter? episode 4 recap will run you through the events of this flashback episode, so you can remember what happened or if you decide to skip it since it's not strictly necessary watching for the main events of the show.
The life and times of Erin Carter
We pick up where episode 3 ended: Erin Carter (Evin Ahmad) falls unconscious, hallucinating horned figures as she does so. And then we're in the past: firstly, we see a 6-year-old Erin being found by the police after being abandoned by her mother, then we see her at police cadet academy practicing shooting a gun, learning about first aid and playing basketball.
After a rival cadet attacks her and she breaks his nose in self-defense, she's kicked out of the cadets, but she's head-hunted to join an undercover task force by infiltrating a gang. When picking a name, she almost picks 'Erin Carter' but instead opts for Kate Jones.
Erin — or should that be Kate? — has an initiation test with Margot (Ana Ularu) who we've already met in the present. After some stunt driving and a two-week wait Kate is brought to meet the gang members, including leader Thomas and Lena (Denise Gough), another character we've seen snippets of in the present.
Lena has a daughter, and Kate's first criminal task is to help the woman steal a sought-after toy for the kid. Turns out this child is actually Harper — so Harper isn't actually Erin's child at all!
Harper's lineage
The gang is planning a bullion heist, which Kate will be the driver for. When she, Margot and Lena steal a vehicle, Kate sets up the idea of them going into business for themselves — following her mission of sowing the seeds of dissent.
Kate starts looking after Harper more and more when Lena is busy, and they grow a bond. When talking to her police overseer, it sounds like Kate is tempted to simply join the criminal group and ditch the cops.
Lena and Kate also grow close. The former also admits that her plan after the heist is to run away with Harper and her share of the cash to Spain, to live in a villa. Kate seems to long for something, though it's not clear if it's a child or a relationship with Lena.
When preparing for the heist, Lena buys some masks for the crew — hers has big horns on it, just like the ones on the figures Harper has been hallucinating in the present.
The bullion heist
Thomas figures out that the police know about them, and after questioning Kate, he decides it's another member of the gang and they're killed. The heist is brought forward to that evening.
The heist goes ahead as planned but as the group breaks into the building the bullion is being kept in, Lena disappears. Kate finds her being held up by a policeman, removing her mask to be identified. Kate shoots the man but the shots alert the police, and the heist is cut short.
After a brief car chase the gang escapes, but upon returning to their hideout, it's raided by the police. Thomas and some of the other members of the gang are shot — including Lena. Kate grabs Harper and they run away with some of the bullion.
Later, Kate calls her police overseer and realizes that she was expendable this whole time. She runs away, taking the gold and Harper with her.
In the present, Erin wakes up in a hospital with an IV drip.
Who is Erin Carter? is available to stream on Netflix now.
