‘Shining Girls’ Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: ‘Attribution’

Elisabeth Moss is back as Kirby Mazrachi in the mind-bending original series from Apple TV+. In Shining Girls Season 1 Episode 4: “Attribution,” Kirby comes face to face with her attacker. Meanwhile, Dan (Wagner Moura) rushes to get the story published. 

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Shining Girls Season 1 Episode 4 : “Attribution”]

‘Shining Girls’ Season 1 Episode 4 recap: Kirby and Marcus hear something weird on the tape

In “Attribution,” which began streaming on May 6, 2022, according to Apple TV+, Kirby gets more information about the tape. She and her husband, Marcus (Chris Chalk), listen closely to the first phone call Julia Madrigal (Karen Rodriguez) recorded of her killer. 

They notice an echo, which an audio expert says can be normal. But Kirby doesn’t write it off. She thinks he knows exactly what Julia’s going to say before she says it. “He’s playing a recording of her before he even says the words?” Marcus asks. 

Kirby realizes her attacker had been watching her closely for longer than she ever realized. She remembers a night with her mother at a music venue where someone, who she now realizes as her attacker (Jamie Bell), wrote the lyrics to a song she liked on the wall.

At the same time, Kirby’s attacker, the man who has been killing women for decades, is looking for her. He goes to her old apartment. But Kirby, who he knows as Sharon (she changed her name after being attacked), isn’t there.    

Dan rushes to get the story out

The Shining Girls episode recap continues with Dan going to print. He and the rest of the staff at the Chicago Sun-Times are getting the story out. And soon. Kirby, who has been gone for hours, returns to the office to find everyone scrambling to meet the deadline. 

Following some dead-end interviews, Dan finally connects the women. Back at the office he and Kirby go through photos of the items left inside the victims. What they realize is that the man is the one connecting the women. He takes an item from one, such as a pin, and puts it in another.

Another important development is that Kirby decides to be the face of the story. She supplies the newspaper with her hospital records, photos, and whatever else they need. “I’m the better story,” she says. So her face ends up on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Along the way, Kirby realizes she needs to tell Jin-Sook, played by Dopesick’s Phillipa Soo. But what she doesn’t realize is the man is watching her. He follows her to Jin-Sook’s apartment while Kirby advises her to stay with family and friends. What Kirby still can’t figure out is the mystery surrounding Jin-Sook’s key. However, she doesn’t think anything of it, and she heads to the Adler Planetarium.

Kirby comes faces to face with her attacker

Shining Girls, a book-to-TV adaptation, continues with Kirby returning to the laundromat that has the same address as a bar on the matchbook her attacker left inside her. As she previously told Dan, she looked up the Bee Happy Bar and no such business has ever been at this address. 

Kirby wanders the laundromat, which is under construction, where she finds stacks of Bee Happy Bar matchbooks. Suddenly, her attacker is there. He fires questions at Kirby: “When did you move?” “What’s wrong with your hair?” “Do you remember me from Eldridge Street?” 

Kirby does remember him. He gave her a pegasus figurine as a kid. But, as she points out, he looks exactly the same. Kirby pulls a knife, a struggle ensues, and something strange happens. The wall Kirby’s attacker has her up against changes. Then they fall through the wall crashing to the floor. 

Kirby gets up and runs outside with her attacker nowhere to be seen. Looking behind her she realizes she’s standing outside the Bee Happy Bar. 

A new episode of Shining Girls begins streaming on Apple TV+ every Friday.