His and Hers Recap Episode 1: Dahlonega

‘There are at least two sides to every story’, Anna Andrews, a news anchor who has been away for a year, intoned, soon after the first episode laid out how she could be involved in the brutal murder of her high school friend, Rachel Hopkins. ‘Yours and mine. Ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying.’

It also means that we begin this mystery thriller, starring Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson, based on the 2020 Alice Feeney novel, cautiously exploring how this estranged husband and wife tried to navigate their secrets as a full on murder investigation began.

One rainy night, a woman laid dying on the hood of her spiffy red car that was parked inside the Chattahoochee National Forest. Moments before, she had been in a different vehicle, a pickup truck, having sex with a man who was not her husband. Outside the pickup, a hooded figure watched, who just happened to be the man’s wife. 

Anna Andrews (Ms Thompson) was the face of WSK-TV news. She was a local celebrity who suddenly disappeared for a year because of something tragic involving her child that has not been revealed yet. In her absence, she was replaced by a rising star, Lexy Jones. What prompted her to return that very day to work, her cheek still swollen from novocaine due to an infected tooth?. When her boss refused to give her her job back, she bargained – send her to Dahlonega as a field reporter, on a field reporter’s salary, to cover the murder of a local woman. She told Jim she was born there, people would talk to her. Her one request was that Richard Jones, Lexy’s husband, serve as her cameraman.

How did Anna know it was a murder? What was she doing in the woods that night? She drove alone and met Richard in the forest, where a gaggle of reporters had already gathered. This was a small town where violent crime did not happen often, and the large police presence alerted the press that something big happened here. After Detective Jack Harper (Mr. Bernthal) addressed the press to try and move them further away from the crime scene – he refused to identify the deceased pending notification to her family – Anna stepped out of the crowd and loudly asked if it were true that he knew her. 

Jack was careful not to let his partner and mentee Priya, whom he called Boston, know that the woman who just painted a press target on his back was his own wife. But he made a vague excuse to leave the crime scene so he could watch Anna and Richard have lunch and later, pound on the door of her hotel room as Anna and the husband of the woman who replaced her at her job had sex inside. 

Jack was happy. He lived with his niece Meg, whom he doted on, and his sister Zoe, who questioned him about being out late and mentioned how good he smelled. When he left his sister’s house that fateful morning, his phone dead because he couldn’t find his charger, he had no idea that he would have to investigate the murder of his own lover. 

Though Detective Priya Patel was young and had never seen a dead body before, she was sharp and inquisitive, and could clearly note when her boss and partner behaved strangely. She noticed when Jack tried to brush off the boot print forensics found, and when she pointed out it was surrounded by the victim’s bare footprints, he assigned her to collar the press instead of following up on it. She noticed when Jack went to handle the press himself, which he could have done in the first place so why send her? She was curious why the female reporter assumed Jack knew the victim. 

Brisk and brusque, Jack gave Priya no chance to question him further as he left to follow Anna to the hotel, then to her mother’s house. Alice looked emotional when she was woken from her nap by her daughter; they had not seen each other in so long. Jack, on the other hand, appeared to be a regular at his mother in law’s place; when he arrived he went straight to clearing her garbage. 

Jack was furious with Anna about what she asked him at the crime scene; he told her firmly that she could not cover this story. Though Jack resisted at first, Anna’s persistence got him to admit that the murder victim was Anna’s friend from high school, Rachel, and that she was stabbed to death. Jack immediately noticed that Anna had no reaction to Rachel’s death; Anna flippantly said they were not close. Jack sternly warned her that she needed to keep what he told her to herself as they had not yet notified her husband. Their bickering was interrupted by Alice, whom Anna realised was suffering from dementia. Jack said they were doing their best to take care of Alice, but that she had refused to get evaluated by a doctor. 

Inside her old room, Anna found a box of things from her teenage years — tapes, a video camera. Contrary to what she told Jack, the video of Anna, Rachel, and a few other girls during Anna's birthday seemed to indicate that they had a close friendship back then. Anna also found a friendship bracelet in the box, a bracelet that resembled the one that Dr. Turner later found stuffed inside Rachel’s mouth.

At the autopsy, Dr. Turner determined that Rachel was stabbed 40 times using a short blade, like a paring knife. Her fingernails were cut postmortem; Jack had earlier noted that the killer had etched ‘two-faced’ on her nail polish. There were no defensive wounds, which meant she probably knew her killer. There was fresh semen; Dr. Turner zeroed in on Rachel’s final lover as her killer. 

It was likely why, when Dr. Turner asked Jack and Priya for their DNA for exclusion, Jack hurried out of there, making a quick excuse that they needed to go notify the victim’s husband. When they reached the mansion of Rachel’s wealthy businessman husband Clyde, someone watched them through a window, but no one came to the door. Rachel was killed the night before but her husband has not reported her missing. 

When Jack got home, having broken his promise to young Meg about taking her to her soccer practice, his sister Zoe was busy drinking and watching the news. Anna was there, reporting on exactly what Jack asked her not to – Rachel’s name, and her manner of death. 

This is a strong first episode whose emotional core was Tessa Thompson’s damaged, determined Anna. It was Crystal Fox’s Alice, however, who moved me the most. When she opened her eyes from a midday nap, when she gazed at her beautiful daughter again for the first time in a very long time, her fierce love was etched on her face and the trembling of her voice as she tearfully murmured, ‘You’re back’. It is profoundly heartbreaking to watch our parents age, and in the middle of a slick mystery thriller, His and Hers found its beating heart.

Rating: A

Strays

🌳That infection on Anna’s tooth looked pretty bad. How on earth did a local celebrity allow her tooth to get that bad?

🌳An anonymous call led the police to Rachel’s body. 

🌳Jack told the troops he wanted Rachel’s cell phone found. Once they found it, they were not to touch it, they ought to bring it straight to Jack. 

🌳Anna told Richard that she spent the year away writing a book. 

🌳His wife was back in town, his lover died soon after their tryst, he could become a murder suspect, yet Jack still found time to flirt with hotel receptionist Jeannine Wilcox. Jon Bernthal is so charming. 

🌳Jack had a background check ran on Richard Jones. 

🌳Jack told Anna that Alice was getting worse. She was found walking in the middle of the road naked at two or three in the morning. 

🌳Jack left Atlanta because he was fired from his job for looking for Anna. 

Episode Writer: William Oldroyd

Episode Director: William Oldroyd

Original Release Date: January 8, 2026