SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for The Last Thing He Told Me Season 3 Episode 3.
The third episode of Season 2 of The Last Thing He Told Me, titled “Reunion” provides multiple opportunities for the word to apply, the first being Hannah reconnecting with her mother, Carol (played by Rita Wilson).
After fleeing up the coast following an adrenaline-filled attack that triggered Hannah to grab Bailey (Angourie Rice) and run away through a very elaborate escape plan, the stepmother and daughter — who act more like mother and daughter now — are told by Quinn Favreau (née Campano) to go somewhere nobody would know about and hide out there. This destination turns out to be Carol’s home in Arizona.
“It was a real change of pace for us. [At first it]’s like, go, go, go, and then we just pause for a moment. Miguel Arteta directed that episode. I’ve done two movies with him and several episodes of things over the years,” Garner told Deadline of working with the Yes Day director. “He’s one of my very, favorite, most trusted friends and directors, and I knew I was in really good hands, and that I could relax into whatever was meant to be, because I knew he’d be watching for it. Miguel really wants the moment-to-moment to be real and grounded.”
For those who may not remember, Hannah was raised mainly by her grandfather after her mom left her to follow Hannah’s father around in the photography scene. It was Hannah’s grandfather who taught her wood-turning, and while they were close, flashbacks show a young Hannah bristling whenever Carol would turn up unannounced.
“Having Rita Wilson come in and play Carol was one of the gifts of the season. She’s really known for Sleepless in Seattle. There’s so many things that I’ve seen Rita in, and I can think of comedies, but people forget that she’s a full-on, grown-up woman who’s a mother and a musician and an artist in a million different ways,” Garner said of her costar. “She’s a painter. She can do anything, and she’s so grounded as a person. She brought all of that to set with her.”
Understandably, present-day Hannah doesn’t immediately take to Carol either. First Bailey and then Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) tread carefully when pointing out separate observations. Carol isn’t what Bailey thought, and has she similar taste to Hannah, according to her newly returned husband, whom she jokingly threatens to kick out of the house.
L-R: Jennifer Garner and Rita Wilson in ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Season 2
Apple TV
“She brought her artistic eyes, she brought her grounded performance. She got brought the gravitas of a mother who had left her child and had years and years before they were seeing each other again,” Garner continued. “It was just so important to the story that you see a little bit about why Hannah is so stayed and solemn and emotionally quiet, even in the middle of chaos: she had to raise herself. She did not have her mother, and there’s this little knot of anger and hurt and sadness inside of her, and it all really revolves around this woman.”
Owen’s return, via tracking device in the locket that Hannah suspected was important after she found it left in the pocket of her dress by a heavily bearded Owen at her Pacific Design Center gallery show, provides another layer to the episode’s title.
“I love these book[s]. I love these characters so much. I love Owen and Hannah’s love story, and I wanted her to run into his arms. I wanted that moment. I wanted that big, swell of music, but it wouldn’t have been honest,” Garner said. “The truth is, I think she wanted that too, but she just couldn’t do it. The betrayal had been too big, the damage had been too large. Who knows if these two are meant to be together or not?”
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