‘Shining Girls’ Season 1 Episode 6 Recap: ‘Bright’

It’s all about Kirby’s (Elisabeth Moss) attacker, the serial killer who has everyone buzzing in Chicago, on Shining Girls. In the sixth episode of the Apple TV+ original series viewers finally learn his name, details about his past, and how he began time traveling. Ahead, get a recap of Shining Girls Season 1 Episode 6: “Bright.” Plus, find out about his first victim and how he met Kirby. 

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Shining Girls Season 1 Episode 6: “Bright”]

‘Shining Girls’ Season 1 Episode 6 recap: Kirby’s attacker finally has a name and a past 

Thus far in the series not much has been said about Kirby’s attacker aside from a few details. The man, played by Jamie Bell, lives in a run-down house in Chicago. He still hasn’t been identified by the police or the newspaper. 

Julia Madrigal (Karen Rodriguez), the woman who was found dead in the premiere April 29 episode, pegged him as a military man. And, as viewers learn in “Bright,” she’d been correct. 

“Bright,” which began streaming on May 20 according to Apple TV+, opens with Kirby’s attacker in Cantigny, France. It’s 1918 and he’s a soldier in World War I. Retreating from the battlefield because of gas, he meets Leo Jenkins (Christoper Denham). Leo helps him with his mask. Moments later, Kirby’s attacker takes a mask from a dying man. 

Later, Leo tells him he knows what he did. He knows he took personal items off the deceased soldiers in his company, including the mask. Viewers should recognize Leo as the man Kirby’s attacker (at this point in the episode his name still hasn’t been mentioned) visits. He’s the same man who gave Kirby and Dan (Wagner Moura) a mysterious videotape. 

Following the war, Kirby’s attacker is at a club. The same one Kirby used to go to with her mom. Except it’s 1920 and he’s there to see a childhood crush who didn’t respond to his letters. 

Played by Madeline Brewer of The Handmaid’s Tale, she calls Kirby’s attacker by his name, Harper. Together, they discover a mysterious watch snooping around a woman’s home. 

Harper discovers the house and time travel

Enamored with the watch, Harper uses violence to get the watch’s origins out of the woman. He and Leo go to the house in search of valuables. It’s filled with nice things, from a grandfather clock to a crystal chandelier. But things are slightly off. Leo discovers dollar bills he doesn’t recognize. 

Upstairs Harper discovers a 1973 almanac. Then he meets the man who lives there. Following a struggle, Harper holds the man at gunpoint. The man tries to send Harper away with money and a watch. But Harper wants more. He wants to know about time travel. “You will see you can only pass through here,” he says before making his escape. Harper and Leo follow but the man is hit by a car in the street. 

So, instead of hanging around outside an employment agency looking for work, they have somewhere to stay. Plus, a briefcase filled with cash. Harper brings Brewer’s character to the house and shows her why it’s special. They walk through the door and suddenly they’re in a different time. 

However, their field trip doesn’t sit well with Leo. He doesn’t like that Harper told someone else about the house and he tells him so. Curiously enough, the time travel element doesn’t work for Leo. 

‘Shining Girls’ Season 1 Episode 6 recap: Harper goes to a club in the future where he meets Kirby

Harper, Brewer’s character, and Leo go to the future for a fun night out. They go to a club, the same one where Brewer’s character performed in 1920. Kirby’s bartending. She strikes up a conversation. At one point, she and Brewer’s character head to the dancefloor. 

Back at the house, Harper videotapes Brewer’s character doing part of her act. In the process, he lets it slip this isn’t the first time he’s revisited this particular day. They get into an argument. She calls him small and Harper punches her in the face and drags her to the bed. 

Finally, it’s closing time at the club. Kirby serves Harper one last drink. This time, he asks about her earrings. He says he can guess where they came from if he can hold them. She obliges and Harper takes a guess. Kirby says no, she didn’t get them from a guy on a first date. They’re from the dollar store, she tells him.

Harper insists he’s right. Kirby teasingly says, “We’ll never know.” However, she’s unaware she already told Brewer’s character she did indeed get them on a first date during Harper’s last trip to this day. 

Meanwhile, back at the house, his bed is glowing from the rhodium Brewer’s character used as body make-up for her act.