‘Tell Me a Story’ Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: “Rage”

Tell Me a Story Season 1 Episode 4 Recap
Billy Magnussen as Nick and Danielle Campbell as Kayla in ‘Tell Me a Story’ season 1 episode 4 (Photo by Michael Parmelee © 2018 CBS Interactive)

The dramatic anthology series Tell Me a Story season one episode three found Kayla and Nick continuing to meet secretly, Jordan stealing Eddie’s pig mask while the robber/bartender was passed out, and Hannah determined to hang on to $2 million in cold hard cash that’s definitely not hers.

Season one episode four opens with student Kayla (Danielle Campbell) and substitute teacher Nick (Billy Magnussen) asleep in bed. Kayla wakes with a start and realizes she’s in deep trouble with her grandmother, Colleen (Kim Cattrall), for being out all night. Before she takes off, Kayla assures Nick she’s not into fairy tales and doesn’t subscribe to the whole “damsel in distress that needs saving” trope.

Nick and Kayla admit they’re their own cautionary tale and that they can’t quit each other, wrong as this relationship might be.

At home, Colleen’s anxious but does her best to cover for Kayla with Kayla’s dad, Tim (Sam Jaeger). After sneaking back in, Kayla apologizes profusely to her grandmother. Colleen’s not having any of Kayla’s excuses and sends her off to school.

During class, Kayla and Nick get into a debate over Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship in Wuthering Heights. Kayla believes their relationship is unhealthy and pathetic, but Nick argues they’re in love. They have a healthy debate on the topic as the class listens in.

School ends and Ethan (Rarmian Newton) stalks Kayla down the sidewalk. She warns him to leave her alone, but he refuses. He tries to apologize, reminding her he didn’t tell the principal about her and Nick. He claims he just wants to be friends, drawing an imaginary “friend zone” around himself. He asks her to follow him, so that he can prove he’s not a jerk. She reluctantly agrees.

Ethan leads her to a rage room which he describes as therapy. The place is set up so that people can work out their anger issues by breaking stuff. The guy running the place has a variety of newly stocked items, including selfie sticks, yard gnomes, and a hoverboard, just ready to be trashed.

Ethan and Kayla suit up in protective gear and Kayla grabs a bat. It turns out she has a lot of anger to work out and she’s an expert at smashing things. As she goes to retrieve another bucket of items to smash, Nick sneaks up and grabs her, covering her mouth. Once she recognizes him, he explains he followed her when he saw Ethan. He’s worried about her being around Ethan because he did some checking and learned Ethan is truly a bad dude. He’s got a criminal record including an assault with a deadly weapon charge.

Kayla believes she can take care of herself, and Nick apologizes for worrying about her. (Ethan’s been watching from a distance and sees them kiss.) Nick warns her to be careful.

After they’re finished beating up stuff, Ethan walks Kayla home. He asks if he can please come in and use the bathroom and, once again, she reluctantly agrees. He’s impressed with the house and asks for a tour, starting with her bedroom. He demands a kiss and Kayla pushes him away, but he keeps after her. He admits he saw Nick and warns she better go along with him or else.

Fortunately, Connie’s at home and she’s a momma bear protecting her young. She grabs Ethan by the hair and tosses him from the house. She wants to call the police but Kayla screams at her not to. Connie refuses to continue this charade and wants the full story. Kayla runs off to her room, leaving Connie angry, hurt, and frustrated.

Before going to sleep, Kayla texts Nick to inform him he was right about Ethan. Nick’s worried about her safety, but she assures him she’s fine now. Nick puts down the phone and is about to go to sleep when he receives another text. This one’s from an unknown number and it contains a photo of him and Kayla kissing.

Ethan smiles after he sends the text. He’s hanging out with Laney (Paulina Singer), drinking wine, and about to have sex in a jacuzzi. She asks what he did that afternoon and, of course, he doesn’t tell her.

Gabe (Davi Santos) shows up at Terry’s place and his sister, Hannah (Dania Ramirez), is already there. (Terry’s a friend of Hannah’s from her time in the military.) Her face is pretty bruised up from the attack in her apartment. She’s not sure if the man who attacked her is dead, but that doesn’t matter as she managed to escape with the money.

Gabe’s still pretty messed up over finding Billy’s tortured dead body and he doesn’t think they’re going to get away with stealing the cash. Suddenly, Gabe suggests they seek help from someone named Richard in Virginia which sparks an immediate angry reaction from Hannah.

Hannah puts her foot down. They’re going to hide out in North Carolina.

Terry packs supplies and tries to make small talk with Gabe, but he’s in a rotten mood. Eddie then reveals Hannah saved his life so he owes her. Gabe checks on his sister and as she’s putting on her shirt, a massive burn scar on her back is revealed.

Tell Me a Story Season 1 Episode 4
Davi Santos as Gabe and Dania Ramirez as Hannah in ‘Tell Me a Story’ season 1 episode 4 (Photo by Michael Parmelee © 2018 CBS Interactive)

Terry runs down the list of what he’s packed which includes a burner phone and flashlight. He even hands over his gun and the way Hannah handles it reveals she’s very experienced with weapons. They load up Terry’s car and he promises he’s there if she needs anything.

As Hannah drives, Gabe wonders if Billy’s body has been found. Gabe confesses he knows nothing about Billy’s family, even though they lived together for over a year. The siblings get into an argument because Hannah’s fed up with his attitude which Gabe blames on everyone he loves leaving him. She reminds him she sent him every dime she made to keep him in dance class which he quit. He blames that on their dad’s illness, but she knows his drug problem affected his studies.

They stop for gas and snacks, and Gabe exits the store with bags full of treats. He bought his sister every flavor of protein bar plus a bunch of other snacks. Why? Because they’re now rich and ridiculous. He’s finally on board with her plan. Before they get back on the road, Gabe thinks it’s important for his sister to know he’s never taken money for sex.

Later that night, Hannah calls her friend Jose and leaves another message telling him she needs a place to crash. If he never answers, they’ll just live their lives in North Carolina. Gabe asks what she wants to do with the money, and she reveals she wants to open a gym for veterans injured in combat. “This country chews up our veterans and spits them out,” she says. “I figured I’d do what I can to help.”

Gabe works up the nerve to ask what happened to her back, admitting he saw the scars and knows she was badly injured. Hannah doesn’t want to talk about it but finally shares the basic details that she was on patrol and the Humvee exploded, splitting in two. Terry’s leg was blown off and he screamed for help. She crawled to him and there was a second explosion. She threw her body on top of Terry and the fire from the explosion blew right across her back. It was excruciatingly painful. She didn’t tell him this story before because he didn’t ask. He apologizes for not being there for her.

Hannah becomes emotional and says she went into the Army to help him. She didn’t abandon him, which is what he’s always believed she did.

Gabe takes over driving as Hannah sleeps. He wakes her up and asks her not to be mad. He drove them to Virginia to Richard’s place, and Hannah once again claims she doesn’t want Richard’s help. Gabe swears it will be okay.

They walk up to Richard’s door and he’s shocked to see them. Richard’s joined by a woman who’s equally surprised by her visitors. Gabe addresses the woman, saying, “Hi, mom.”

Moving on to Jordan and Eddie’s story, Jordan (James Wolk) arrives at the station with the pig mask which he confirms he found inside Eddie’s trailer. The officers can’t believe he entered Eddie’s trailer, but Jordan is obsessed with taking Eddie down. Detective Renee Garcia (Zabryna Guevara) tries to explain Eddie’s alibi is solid and that even his cell phone was pinging in a different location at the exact time of the robbery. She does, however, admit she hasn’t ruled Eddie out. Unfortunately, because Jordan stole the mask, they can’t use it as evidence.

Detective Garcia promises she’ll find the person who killed Beth. “Then get off your ass and start doing it,” says Jordan.

Jordan meets Tim in a restaurant and admits he took the pig mask from Eddie’s trailer. Jordan’s drinking too much and not really eating, and Tim suggests he needs to take care of himself. Jordan’s furious the police aren’t doing anything about Eddie and confirms he’s taking the matter into his own hands. Jordan reveals he’s going to follow Eddie around until he leads him to the person who killed Beth.

Angry over Tim’s lack of support, Jordan slams down another drink and gets ready to leave. A friend comes over for a hug but neither she nor Tim can convince him to stay and finish his meal.

Eddie wakes up after a hard night and attacks a woman who walks into his home uninvited. Fortunately, he realizes she’s his girlfriend before he shoots her. His face looks rough and he reveals Sam beat the crap out of him. In further bad news, Eddie’s girlfriend lets him know Detective Garcia is still checking out his alibi for the day of the jewelry store robbery.

As they’re talking, Eddie realizes his pig mask is missing.

Later, Eddie makes it to work and he’s busy tending bar when the music changes to Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.” He says, “Motherf*cker,” and races out from behind the bar. He makes it through the crowd and over to the bartender, and she tells him a guy paid her $1,000 to play the song. She points out Jordan and he begins walking toward him but loses him in the crowd.

Jordan grabs Eddie’s girlfriend and pulls her into a hallway. He demands to know why she’s covering for Jordan and reveals he’s figured out she had his cell and made calls to create an alibi for Eddie. He warns her that when Eddie goes down, she’ll go down too. She agrees to tell him who actually killed Beth if he meets her later in the alley after the bar closes.

A short while later, Jordan meets Eddie’s girlfriend in the rain outside the club. She doesn’t want to be involved, and he’s late to notice Eddie’s walked up behind them. Eddie punches him in the face, warning him to stay away. Eddie keeps hitting him but Jordan gets in a few punches before Eddie pins him on the ground. Eddie delivers a few kicks to Jordan’s ribs while he’s kneeling trying to get up and then, surprisingly, confesses, “I didn’t mean to do it. She wasn’t supposed to die.”

One final kick renders Jordan unable to rise, and Eddie walks away mumbling, “No one was supposed to die.”