Netflix Echoes recap guide: All 7 episodes explained

Netflix Echoes episode 5 recap: Gina

Echoes episode 5 drops us right in the tense car ride with Gina and Dylan, as she speeds to get him help and he slowly succumbs to his stab wound. She tearfully attempts to keep him from pulling the knife out of his abdomen, but the episode cuts at the climax of the tension to shed some light on Gina’s side of the story, which we hadn’t been privy to just yet.

Gina explains that their mother was the only person in their lives who could truly tell them apart, but when she passed, Leni changed and emotionally closed herself off from Gina and everyone. She also reveals that Leni pushed and hurt Claudia, but switching places got her in trouble.

They started switching places more and more as teenagers in high school, and even though they shared Jack as a friend (and eventually more), Gina’s jealousy drove her to get closer to Dylan. He treats Gina like her own person, which is attractive to her but somehow threatening to Leni.

After getting bits and pieces about the night of the church fire, we finally start to see Gina’s truth about what happened on that fateful Halloween. Gina and Dylan hook up in the church when she hears a noise in the distance. As Dylan checks it out, he notices a man on the balcony as the church becomes engulfed in flames. He’s later wanted for the man’s murder, and Leni convinces her of as much, though Gina knows he couldn’t have done it.

Gina then hits fast forward on the story to Leni and Jack’s wedding day, where she sports a maroon bridesmaid dress and a matching bold lip. Following the marriage, Gina attends UCLA on a scholarship, and though she felt free of her Mt. Echo reputation, she suffers a breakdown during her sophomore year that leads her to see a therapist: Charlie.

Her sessions with Charlie helped her open up and her senior thesis resulted in the publishing of her first book, titled Echoes, about her journey as a twin. Later on, Gina and Charlie marry and get pregnant… at the same time as Leni and Jack. Unfortunately, Gina suffers a miscarriage.

Gina returns home to Mt. Echo when Leni has Mattie to help out for a few days. Leni is going through postpartum depression and nearly lets Mattie drown in the sink. Once again, she remembers a distant memory of witnessing something involving water. Gina hurries to save Mattie from the water since Leni freezes. This incident gives Leni the idea for the twins to reinstate switching places, which becomes an annual deal.

Although Leni relishes in annually switching lives, Gina starts to feel guilt. Once she returns to her real life in LA, Gina discovers Leni has been putting more control over her reality: pitching stories, watching her interact with Charlie via hidden cameras, and keeping tabs of her every move. All of this inspires Gina to start making plans to set herself free. Upon her search to pocket some money Charlie wouldn’t know was gone, she discovers in his journals that he knew she and Leni were switching. All the more reason to break free.

It’s Gina’s turn to be Leni in Mt. Echo, and she begins asking around for diving lessons for a “vacation.” Gina-as-Leni reunites with Dylan James, who now teaches children swimming lessons. Before they get together, Gina-as-Leni confronts Jack about the new foal’s missing paperwork and his prideful insistence to not accept money from Charlie and Gina.

Even though Gina-as-Leni and Dylan begin to get closer, he rebuffs her physical touch and calls her out on the role she played on the night of the church fire. He blames Leni for ruining both his relationship with Gina and his life in general. (He’s right, to be honest.) Gina proves that she’s not Leni by describing their first kiss and taking the chance to kiss him.

The morning after they have sex, Dylan gives Gina a flower that means true love. Gina-as-Leni continues to spend less time at home and more time with Dylan (in spite of Meg’s protests). She asks him to come with her on her escape, which becomes a reality when she discovers she’s pregnant. What about Jack and Mattie? Gina says, “I love them, but lies aren’t the answer, no matter how long I’ve been living them.”

Gina sets the plan in motion ahead of the birthday trip. She releases the horses, leaves the clothes and other mementos in the cave for Leni to find, and shoots the hurt horse. When she returns from her wilderness excursion, she finds Leni (as herself), getting into Dylan’s truck with him. Gina and Dylan reunite at Georgia’s house, and she delivers the bad news that Leni stole the passports and tickets from the cabin. Still, she plans to leave town after the birthday party.

Previously, we had been led to believe Gina’s appearance at the birthday party was villainous and she was kidnapping Mattie (which we found out wasn’t true). We see the heartfelt goodbye between them before Gina returns to Georgia’s house. She realizes Leni found out about the plan, changed said plan as Gina, and stabbed Dylan at the cabin.

Quickly, she puts Dylan in his truck and races him to the hospital. She pulls the truck over after Dylan pulls the knife out of his abdomen and dies from his injury. Devastated, she finds the same flower he gave her and places it in his hand as she lights the truck on fire and walks away.

Written by Reed Gaudens