CBS’s Tell Me a Story
Chapter 2: “Loss”
Directed by Liz Friedlander
Written by Eduardo Javier Canto & Ryan Maldonado

* For a recap & review of Chapter 1, “Hope” – click here
* For a recap & review of Chapter 3, “Greed” – click here
Jordan (James Wolk) is left reeling after the death of his fiancee following the fatal robbery. Cops swarm the jewellery shop surveying the carnage. Detective Renee Garcia (Zabryna Guevara) and Detective Olsen (James Martinez) are attempting to piece together what happened. Dt. Garcia speaks with Jordan, but the guy’s too traumatised to be of any use right now.
Elsewhere, Mitch (Michael Raymond-James), Sam (Dorian Missick), and Eddie (Paul Wesley) flee after their crime. Eddie’s not thrilled with the shooting, making Sam nervous about his behaviour. Things could get ugly between this crew.
At school, Kayla (Danielle Campbell) gets confronted by substitute teacher Nick (Billy Magnussen), who’s terrified of being “arrested and put in prison” for hooking up with his student, albeit without knowing she was underage after meeting at a club. A tricky situation. He’s rightfully worried about Laney (Paulina Singer) having seen them together.
Across town, Hannah (Dania Ramirez) and Gabe (Davi Santos) are figuring out who Dan was— seems he was into legal trouble for criminal business. Dan wasn’t a great guy. Still, Gabe’s mixed up in a bad situation. Not good for either sibling. Plus, Billy’s (Luke Guldan) in the wind. Gabe and Hannah head to the club and find him. The siblings are there to make sure Billy keeps his story straight. Hannah threatens him for extra measure.
At home, Kayla finds grandma Colleen (Kim Cattrall) in her room. They’re gradually building a relationship, in spite of the granddaughter’s reluctance to open up to anybody around her. Grandma also happens to see drawings in the girl’s sketchbook, impressed with her artistry.
Jordan, who previously didn’t see the world in such nihilistic terms as Beth, now sees the world clearly that way after losing her. He’s struggling to reconcile the world that was with the world that is, and it can’t be easy. His pal Tim (Sam Jaeger) comes to comfort him, knowing what it’s like to lose someone so close. The grieving widower tells him: “For now you just have to hurt your way through it.” But it’s not that easy, either. Not when Jordan’s haunted by the murder of his fiancee.
The cops go over security footage. Dt. Garcia got one piece of info from Jordan— one pig-masked robber had green eyes + appeared “manic,” like he was high. They scan the various angles on the areas around the protesters in pig masks, zooming in on a man without a mask, crouching near a car. Facial recognition software leads them to Eddie. He sits down with Dt. Garcia, denying he was involved with any jewellery store heist. She’s already got him and the robbery figured out. Yet the evidence itself isn’t there. The cops bring Jordan in to do a lineup, and he identifies Eddie.
Together in a hot tub, Kayla, Ethan (Rarmian Newton), and Laney are enjoying each other’s company with the place to themselves. Kayla excuses herself in the middle to let the other two keep going, though. She’s not that interested. She goes back home, where dad’s pissed with her for skipping school. Tim is worried about his daughter. She just rages at him, saying her father treated her mother terribly. The argument sends Kayla back out again.

“It’s your way of hiding in plain sight”

When Hannah gets back to her apartment she discovers her brother, overdosed on the couch. He took a bunch of her medication. She luckily breaks down the door and gets a few fingers in his throat before he dies. We get more backstory on the brother-sister pair, concerning their sick father, her enlisting and leaving the brother to care for dad, and their mother previously running away on them. Life’s not been easy for these two. On top of everything, Dan’s corpse has been found— in the river. That’s not where they left it. So, who’d move it?
At the precinct, there’s not enough to pin the shooting on Eddie, even with Jordan’s identification. Obviously he’s fed up. He wanted justice, did the right thing by doing the lineup, and gets nothing to show for his efforts. That night, Jordan goes to the club where Eddie’s working behind the bar. Is he plotting revenge?
Kayla goes to Nick’s apartment, surprising him. She wants to be with him “one more time.” He can tell she’s high on something, so he makes her a hot beverage to try and bring her down. Kayla tells him about her mother’s death— a car crash.
Eddie recognises Jordan, so he calls his brother Mitch later. Big brother says little bro is only being paranoid, trying to assure him everything will work out. Maybe they’ll have to take care of Jordan. Unless he takes care of them first. Again, Father Gore asks: is Jordan going to become the Big Bad Wolf of this Three Little Pigs scenario, hunting them down, huffing, puffing and blowing their house down? We’ll see.
Great follow-up to the first episode, as things start falling further into place. Excited to see how the fairy tales become clearer throughout the episodes, which is no doubt on the horizon. Chapter 3: “Greed” is next.