His and Hers Recap Episode 5: The Fifth Girl

It happened early in the series, when Anna went to talk to Helen at St. Hilary’s, and Helen cattily alluded to five people knowing a secret. Four, Anna corrected her, because Rachel had died. But the yearbook photo only showed four girls with their handmade friendship bracelets – Rachel Hopkins, Helen Wang, Zoe Harper, and Anna Andrews. There were five, Zoe confirmed with Priya. Catherine Kelly, the fifth member of the group, was the one who took the photo. Twenty years later, and Catherine Kelly had lost a lot of weight and taken her husband’s last name. It was why, though they worked in the same building for a time, Anna never recognised her. Catherine Kelly, who told her husband to take Anna to her parents’ isolated lakehouse in the middle of the night, was now the news anchor Lexy Jones.

It was Priya’s theory, shared with the Sheriff and completely bypassing the furious Jack, that something happened with the girls that turned their friendship into a rivalry. When she first broached this theory, she did not yet know of Catherine. Her main suspect was Anna, who disappeared for a year, then came back to the station and insisted on covering the small town murder of Rachel Hopkins. There were no defensive wounds on Rachel and Helen, which meant they knew their killer. Anna claimed to have received an invitation from Helen to go to the school, which they now knew was false since the call came after Helen had already died. Anna’s career was revived because of these two murders.

With the Sheriff asking why Anna and not Zoe, and Jack faced with the idea of his wife and his sister being murder suspects, he stormed out of the meeting. The Sheriff gave Priya 48 hours, afterwards, he would call in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He also gave her permission to interview Anna.

The interview happened at Alice’s house, where Alice continued to show signs of dementia. Anna was calm as always, and she repeated her claim that she was not close to the girls. On the day that she found Helen’s body, she jimmied the double doors to get into the school. They – the four girls – all knew how to do it, according to Anna; they learned due to St. HIlary’s strict lateness policy, which had the school locking the main door to anyone who was late. When Priya asked if she recognised anyone else in the yearbook, Catherine’s photo was there, but Anna did not mention her. 

Jack, however, was still convinced Clyde Duffie was the killer. His theory, as he told Clyde on his driveway as he slowly lost his grip on his control, with the guilt of his lie by omission regarding Rachel, and his wife now a murder suspect, was this: Rachel violated Clyde's lover rules. She and Helen were also blackmailing Clyde – the ‘C’ in the text thread. Jack showed Clyde the video he got from Rachel’s phone. Jack thought Helen had a moment of decency, which was why she made an appointment to talk to the Sheriff, but Clyde killed her before she could talk.

Clyde could clearly see that Jack was the one who was losing it, and he kept his cool. He admitted to not liking his wife, he put up the reward money for PR, and that Rachel and Helen were blackmailers, but he was not the one they were blackmailing. He was not the only ‘C’ around. Clyde also figured out that Jack was the ‘J’ in Rachel’s texts, her lover; the video Jack showed him could only have come from Rachel’s phone. Clyde told Jack that he would go talk to the Sheriff and drove off.

Jack caught a break via Clyde’s reward offer; a man, another one of Rachel’s lovers, called and said he was with Rachel on May 18th. They stopped by Luxe 11 Apartments and whilst he remained in his truck, Rachel went in. When she got out, there was a handprint on her face, like she had been slapped. Jack got a list of people who owned apartments in the building and saw a familiar name – Richard Jones. 

Jack was so excited about this information that he left Zoe at the station without finishing their conversation. Zoe came to tell him that she was afraid she would be next. She alluded to something that happened at Anna’s 16th birthday, and was surprised that after all this time, Anna never told him. She put the blame on Rachel and Helen being bullies, and that she was not even certain what Anna remembered. She claimed that Anna was not who he thought she was. Jack had no time for his messed up sister’s story, not when he had a viable lead to chase. He told her nothing was going to happen to her, and that she should stay at the station but not talk to anyone.

Jack found Richard at the bar, and asked him about May 18th and Rachel. Richard claimed he has never met Rachel in his life, and that he was in Canada shooting a movie in May. Jack brought up his previous arrest record for assault and battery of a woman. Richard said Lexy had a stalker who attacked him, and he defended himself. Then Richard made the mistake of mentioning Jack’s wife, which led to Jack punching him and beating up on him on the floor.

Let’s pause here for a moment. Rachel and Helen were blackmailing a ‘C’. Rachel was seen leaving the home of Richard Jones at a time when he claimed he was not there, with a handprint of a slap on her face. Who else could be living in Richard’s apartment but his wife, Lexy Jones, who was also Catherine Kelly — ‘C’. Catherine/ Lexy had shown an intense dislike of Anna, who did not recognise her from high school. Rachel, Helen, and Zoe all participated in bullying Catherine as a teenager; Anna was there, too, and since it was Anna who asked Catherine to join their table, and the other girls made it seem as though it was Anna who invited Catherine to her birthday celebration, then Catherine had reason to be furious with Anna.

What happened on Anna's 16th birthday? We saw some of what happened. The five girls went to the woods dancing, with Anna taking footage with her video camera as she usually did. Then, three guys arrived. This looked to be another one of Rachel’s schemes; she called the guys her friends. Anna and Catherine looked surprised; the way Anna shook her head at Catherine, it looked like she was trying to tell her she had no idea these guys, who brought alcohol, were coming.

Anna drank willingly enough, but Catherine, who tried to refuse, was forced to drink a lot by Rachel. As they sat, Rachel showed one of the guys the polaroids she took of Anna and Catherine. The guy handed her a wad of cash. Another guy seated beside Catherine kept touching her. She was trying to get away from him when he pushed her to the ground. Another guy held her down. She screamed for Anna.

Now, Anna was trapped in Catherine’s parents’ lake house, unable to get a car. There were photographs on the wall that showed Catherine before she lost all that weight. The things that Richard bought from the grocery the day Jack saw him – the hammer, the duct tape – were laid out on a table. Too far away, Jack was dealing with his own tragedy.

Young Meg was at a sleepover so Zoe was alone in the house. She made sure the door was locked before she went upstairs to take a bath. Someone got in, however, and a shadow came over her. When Jack got home, after ignoring a call from Priya, he saw water leaking out of the ceiling. He went upstairs to scold Zoe, but the door to the bathroom was locked. He eventually kicked it down and found his sister bloody and dead in the bathtub.

Rating: B+

Strays

🌳From Anna’s voiceover: ‘They say anger only hurts the person holding on to it. But I disagree. Anger gets me up in the morning.’

🌳Jack suspected Anna of the murders and almost sent her a text to tell her she could trust him if there was anything she wanted to tell him. 

🌳Priya asked Zoe if she, too, knew how to jimmy the locks at St. Hilary’s, and Zoe had no idea. Did Anna lie about jimmying the lock? Or did Zoe simply not have minute concerns like being late to school?

🌳Anna talked Richard out of pressing charges against Jack by threatening to tell his wife about them. 

🌳The Sheriff scolded Jack about going after Clyde and punching Richard. He said he has called in the GBI, and that if Jack went near the case, he would have his badge.

🌳Priya was looking into Catherine Kelly when she received a call about Rachel’s phone records. Three numbers made up 60% of her total calls – Clyde Duffie, Helen Wang, and Jack Harper. 

🌳I get Anna agreeing to go with Richard to the lake house so they could continue their work through the night and drive back to Atlanta in the morning. What I didn’t get was why she would leave her car at the bed and breakfast parking lot instead of simply following him to the lake house.

Episode Writer: William Oldroyd and Tori Sampson

Episode Director: Anja Marquardt

Original Release Date: January 8, 2026

You can access Recap Lab’s coverage of His and Hers via this link.

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