Dear Edward season 1 episodes 1, 2, and 3 recap & review

Open Go TV / February 5, 2023 / Reviews

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Dear Edward follows a young boy named Edward after a life-altering plane crash. Edward is the only survivor and must now start a new life with his aunt and her husband. The first three episodes are now streaming on Apple TV+.

Episode 1 recap: Pilot

Edward and his older brother, Jordan, are spending their last day in New York, as their family is moving to LA for their mother’s job.

Edward and Jordan are homeschooled because Edward was bullied in second grade. In comparison to Jordan, Edward excels in academics as well as in other activities like playing the piano, even though he is three years younger than Jordan.

This bothers Jordan, who now wishes to live his own life. He decides to enroll in a public school after moving to LA.

The episode also introduces Zoe and her doting mother, Dee Dee; they have their birthday on the same day. They spend the day shopping, which is a gift from Zoe’s father, who could not be there with them for their birthdays because he is flying to LA.

Zoe is concerned about her mother because her father has been frequently going away for business trips, but her mother assures her that this is their plan. He will work hard and earn to save up for their retirement plans.

There is also Congresswoman Washington and her granddaughter, Adriana, who works for her. Washington wants her granddaughter to run for her seat one day. She believes that Adriana does not see her own worth.

When Adriana fails to get help for a man named Byron in time, she decides to quit her job because she feels like she has not been making a difference. Washington accepts her resignation but asks her to stop thinking that she cannot do this and that before boarding a plane to LA.

Edward’s aunt, Lacey, has problems conceiving. Her husband is worried about her because she has had multiple miscarriages. Their doctor wants them to think of other options like adoption, but Lacey is reluctant to give up.

Lacey has a complicated relationship with her sister, Jane, Edward’s mother, and she gets annoyed when she hears that her husband, John, contacted her sister because he did not know how to help her.

Then there is an aspiring actress, Amanda, and her daughter, Becks. Amanda’s brother, Kojo, wants her to come back home to Ghana and join the family business, but she wants to pursue her dreams. She is going to LA for a day to audition for a role.

The passengers board the flight, and Edward’s mother, who is being flown by the studio she is working for, has a seat in first class, away from her family. Soon, there is turbulence due to a storm.

Jordan decides to tell Edward about enrolling in a public school. Edward angrily goes to his mother’s seat despite the warnings from the air hostess. He realizes that his mother already knew about it and tells her that he hates her before being ushered to his seat.

As the turbulence gets worse, Jane tries to be with her family, but she is sent back to her seat. Various passengers start sending their last messages to their families to tell them that they love them.

The plane crashes, and rescue officers arrive at the sight to find nothing but wreckage. One of the officers finds an injured Edward, who is the only survivor. The families of the passengers find out about the crash.

Episode 2 recap: Food

Edward survives the crash, but he believes Jordan also survived. He starts seeing his brother everywhere and keeps talking to him. Edward moves in with Lacey and John. He also gets a lot of unwanted media attention as the sole survivor of the crash.

The families of the victims are grieving and learning to live without them. There is a support group for them, and they meet each other there for the first time.

Dee Dee comforts a pregnant woman, Linda. Her boyfriend, Gary, died in the crash, and she is pregnant with his child. She is not in touch with her family, and she does not know if Gary’s family even knows about her and the baby.

Adriana quits her job, as she had planned to, and starts taking classes at City College. Cora, the chief of staff to her grandmother, wants to run for her seat.

She asks Adriana to endorse her because her word, as the granddaughter of Congresswoman Washington, carries weight. Adriana agrees to endorse her, as she has decided that she is not going to be a politician.

Koko comes to the US to take care of Becks, but she does not talk to him or anyone. He goes to the support group, thinking they would help him with his material problems. Nevertheless, Adriana offers him solutions to all his problems.

Lacey thinks about the time when Jane suggested she should consider adoption and how she was so angry at Jane for doing that.

Lacey’s neighbor, Besa, comes to her house with her daughter, Shay, to offer her support. Later, Edward watches Shay rollerskating and strikes up a conversation with her about roller derby.

Dee Dee finds out that her husband lost his job a year and a half ago and that their family is in debt. She also discovers that he had a condo in LA that she did not know about. She calls that place, and a woman picks up the phone.

Edward’s doctor is concerned about his weight. She tells Lacey that they will have to admit him to the hospital again if he loses any more weight.

Lacey talks to Edward and admits that she cannot eat either. She promises him that she is not trying to replace his mother and that she will try her best to take care of him as his aunt.

Edward agrees to pick up whatever he wants to eat from the supermarket, but when a girl approaches him, hands him an object, and offers him condolence for his brother’s death, he realizes Jordan is not with him and loses consciousness.

Lacey shares with the support group that perhaps she failed to get pregnant because she does not know how to be a mother. The members of the group come together to comfort her.

Adriana approaches Koko and Becks. Surprisingly, Becks talks to her, which prompts Koko to invite her to have lunch with them. Cora’s claim of being the best person to take over her grandmother’s position bothers Adriana.

Koko advises her to keep aside her fear of losing her way because of politics and run for the seat. He tells her that her path chose her and that she will never be more ready than she is right now.

Lacey cooks corndogs and burgers to get Edward to eat. At night, when he cannot fall asleep, he goes to Shay’s house and asks her to let him sleep on the floor in her room. He also requests her to bid him goodnight the way his brother used to do.

Episode 3 recap: Stuff

Edward shows Shay the object that the mystery girl handed him in the supermarket. Shay thinks that it has a hidden meaning. Edward watches as his family’s belongings are brought to his aunt’s house, and he denies that he plays the piano when Shay asks him about it.

Adriana has decided to run for Congress, but she faces several difficulties. Koko and Becks get evicted from Amanda’s apartment. They move into Koko’s acquaintance’s apartment temporarily. They will move to Ghana once Becks gets her passport.

Lacey takes Edward to her factory, but she does not allow him to use the machines when another employee offers to teach him. While Edward’s mother went on to become a writer, Lacey took over the family business.

Linda goes to LA to meet Gary’s parents and tell them about her pregnancy. Gary never mentioned her to his parents, but they believe her story.

Shay finds out that the mystery object is a shrunken head that comes from The Museum of the Odd and Peculiar in Manhattan. She convinces Edward to lie to the adults and go there with her because she thinks it is a clue left by the mystery girl.

Koko calms a panicked Adriana down; among other things, she needs 1,300 signatures to get on the ballot. At Adriana’s house, Koko fixes her toilet for her, and Becks opens up to her about losing her mother.

Dee Dee comes to LA to sell her husband’s condo. She kept pondering over his last message, which he signed off with “Your lonely pilgrim”. She then goes to meet the woman, Noelle, who she assumes had an affair with her husband.

Noelle has a family of her own. She tells Dee Dee that she runs an LGBTQ youth center and that her husband was a volunteer. Dee Dee then finds a picture of her husband gazing lovingly at a man in his closet.

Shay and Edward spend the day at the museum. Shay leaves behind her contact number with one of the employees and asks them to give it to the mystery girl, whose face Edward draws on a paper, if they come across her.

Edward asks Shay about her father, who does not live with her, and Shay gets offended. She says that her father did not abandon her and that he just does not live with them because her mother is too much to handle.

Edward apologizes and takes her to his apartment building. He also takes her to the falafel truck he used to visit with Jordan. When the vendor inquires about Jordan, Edward makes up lies instead of telling him about his death.

Edward then has a nervous breakdown and runs away from Shay. He thinks that they should have never come here.

Gary’s parents ask Linda to live with them, as they want to be a part of the baby’s life and support her, but Linda rejects the offer because her life is in New York. She then goes to meet Dee Dee at her husband’s condo.

Dee Dee tells Linda about how she met her husband and how they supported each other. Dee Dee came from a poor family, but her husband soon became rich because they were always there for each other.

Koko and Becks help Adriana get the signatures and then have dinner with her. When Adriana sees the state of the apartment where they are staying, she takes them to her home and asks them to stay with her for as long as they need.

Lacey rebukes Edward for going to the city alone with Shay but then teaches an upset Edward how to handle the machines at the factory.

Dee Dee uses her husband’s pass and goes to a wreck room to let out her rage. Meanwhile, the mystery girl comes to Lacey’s house and leaves a letter for Edward. John puts the letter in a box with all the other letters that people have sent him.

Review

The first episode takes its time to introduce not only the victims but also their families. The dynamics, simple and complicated, that the victims share with their loved ones are depicted to familiarise the viewers with various characters.
Edward keeps avoiding the truth, consciously and unconsciously, in the next two episodes. He has still not faced the truth, which means he cannot heal just yet. His journey of recovery seems promising and would interest the viewers.
The episodes also hinted at the question of whether Edward as the sole survivor is lucky or not and the question of taking the support of religion in difficult times. These questions are not answered but left for the viewers to contemplate.
While Edward is the sole survivor, he is not going to be the only person whose story will be told. It seems like the show will bring together strangers and tell their stories that are now intertwined due to the tragedy.
Apart from depicting the loss of loved ones and going on with one’s life regardless of the loss, the show surprisingly has a little bit of mystery. The mystery girl and the shrunken head leave the viewers curious.
The cast has given an adequate performance, but Taylor Schilling and Colin O’Brien particularly stand out. Through their performance, they prove why they are the lead actors in the show.