Events in Who is Erin Carter? are starting to come together: after a few set-up episodes and a long flashback in episode 4 of the new Netflix thriller, we're now racing toward a climax.
The show, which follows British ex-pat Erin Carter as her new Spanish lifestyle is turned upside down by the return of characters from her past, started slow but now many of its plot threads are coming together
We now know about Harper's true parentage, Erin's muddied past and the impact of her exploits in the modern day, and now she's about to meet even more enemies — some of whom began as friends.
Here's our Who is Erin Carter? episode 5 recap, covering the fifth of seven episodes in the limited series. Of course, spoilers for this and previous episodes abound.
Erin's in a bind
Erin Carter (Evin Ahmad) wakes up in hospital, after the ending of episode 3. She's not in Barcelona anymore but a town outside of it, and the police are looking for her. She sneaks out, having to evade cops across rooftops and through a car chase.
Her husband Jordi (Sean Teale) is worried and lies to an indignant Harper (Indica Watson) about her disappearance. His best friend Emilio (Pep Ambròs) doesn't know her whereabouts either, until Erin calls him to tell him what happened. He picks her up and brings her a spare set of clothes.
Emilio tells Erin that she can't tell Jordi the truth of her past, and tells her to instead pretend to Jordi that she's an alcoholic. Eventually, she does just that, spinning and unconvincing yarn. Erin also comforts Harper, and Harper too can tell she's not telling the truth, but she accepts it anyway. She asks Erin to help with her family tree, and while doing it, Erin tells Harper that Lena is dead.
Lena (Denise Gough) is not in fact dead. After assaulting the woman in the previous episode her work release is canceled and she's being transferred to a maximum security prison. She does some research on Margot's death and finds the link to Erin, then called Kate (from episode 4).
Also, Olivia (Susannah Fielding) visits Emilio at his work as a police officer, as she saw Margot at the school performance in episode 1, where he was also present. She starts to notice he's covering something up, and she's very observant.
Olivia: friend or foe?
Emilio leads a police sting that goes well, but when his boss asks who his informant is, Emilio refuses to say. That's because his informant is Augustin, with the information received illegally (and shortly before he killed Augustin) in the second episode. Erin tells Emilio to back out now before his actions are exposed.
But after another bad meeting, Emilio looks into Muller, and finds her ties to Lena as well as a mysterious 'Jones' who he suspects could be Erin.
Erin also goes to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at the behest of Jordi, however, the person in charge can tell she's making up a story. Later, Harper tells Erin that Antonio (son of Penelope, Erin's rival mom) has asked her to the school prom. Erin sees in Harper's journal more drawings of animal creatures, which correspond to the heist masks Harper witnessed when young (which we saw in episode 4).
Later, Erin is tutoring Dylan, who's not too keen on the matter. His father Dan (Douglas Henshall) says he's put in a good reference for Erin at her school — and also that it was Olivia, not Penelope, who blocked her job opportunity (from episode 2).
Playing bowls later, Jordi, Erin, Harper, Emilio and Emilio's former ex-wife who's now just his wife again talk about Harper's prom. Later Emilio blackmails Erin for more help on his case, threatening to tell Jordi about her past, but Erin still rejects him, telling him to quit on his mission.
More allies becomes enemies
Harper has somehow figured out that she's not Erin's true daughter (did her completely different complexion give it away?), and Erin tells her the truth about Lena. Harper then goes to prom.
Jordi and Erin go for a drink (non-alcoholic, of course) so she can tell him the truth. She tells him that she's not Harper's mom, and that she's not even her legal guardian. Jordi still leaves, though, as he can't trust Erin after all the secrets and fake stories.
Shortly after this, during her prison transfer, Lena breaks out and goes on the run.
Erin calls Emilio for advice, but finds that he's gone to investigate the criminal gang without her help — unfortunately, he's found and beaten up by a man. Then Dan arrives — turns out he's the criminal mastermind. He's looking for information on the woman helping Emilio, but the man refuses to give anything away, so Dan stabs him.
Erin appears just to see this, and Daniel sees her, but is more bemused than surprised. He lets her escape, and she runs away.
Who is Erin Carter? is available to stream on Netflix now.
