Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 4 Reminds Anna That She Gets By with a Little Help from Her Friends

Critic’s Rating: 4.1 / 5.0

4.1

Do you know that discourse about whether women should choose the man or the bear? Well, switch “bear” out with “storm,” and the answer remains the same.

One simple camping trip out with friends can turn into something out of a horror movie if your man-picker is broken. Sheesh!

Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 4 had Anna battling the elements and the most toxic friendship group ever, but it also had her letting her walls down more and choosing her community, which is refreshing to see.

As far as cases go, this was a fun one for those of us Lifetime girlies who love a great thriller with twists, turns, and a whole lot of drama.

It’s ultimately an hour that puts a loner like Anna directly in the path of a messy batch of friends with such complicated dynamics that she couldn’t even figure out if they loved or hated each other.

She sure as heck couldn’t figure out which of them was trying to kill the other.

Anna was out of her element a bit, and the lesson in that was that maybe she wouldn’t have been if she had accepted help from Zoey rather than going at it alone.

So many of her issues these days stem from her choosing to go it alone rather than working with someone, accepting help, and embracing the fact that people genuinely care for her and that they thrive best as a community.

With a storm coming in, she wasn’t listening to either Miller or Zoey, and it resulted in her dealing with a murderer. But not without having to battle the elements, too.

Bless people who think hiking and camping is a great idea because pulling a cake out in the middle of the forest is not my jam. And having to deal with a bickering couple who are at each other’s throats the whole time isn’t either.

Lainey seemed like the ball-busting, emasculating type, and her husband was totally the guy who complains constantly about his wife to the point where you wonder if he even likes her.

It seems to be their way, and hell, maybe some foreplay, too, but I can totally see why being around them was exhausting, and Anna is someone who doesn’t “people” well, so she was as over it as I was.

But that’s also what made it apparent that someone was genuinely trying to come after Lainey. Cutting her stirrups was insane, and she could’ve ended up badly injured or even dead because of that alone.

However, Tom taking the extra step further to push Romy (thinking she was Lainey) while they were in the middle of trying to get shelter was absolutely insane!

Anna Pigeon is a different type of series because it doesn’t have the traditional types of cases, so the action tends to look a bit different. But it was easily one of the most action-packed hours we’ve had yet.

The intensity of her trying to save Romy after she slid down that bank and was headed toward the water got to me, and if Anna didn’t have that pack that Zoey sent her with, things could’ve been so much worse.

Then we got to the cabin where all hell was really breaking loose. Anna, I love her, couldn’t help herself and was openly accusing Lainey’s husband of trying to kill her before she realized in real time that it wasn’t him but Tom instead.

Working all of that out openly with a killer in the cabin is risky as hell, so when Tom escalated things, holding Romy captive and threatening the others, it wasn’t surprising.

Anna is so scrappy despite not being the traditional type who would be into crime-solving like this. Maybe that’s one of many reasons she’s so interesting as a character anyway.

She tends to feel out of her element, but she trudges through, blazing, to solve a problem regardless of that, and there is a fearless quality to her that’s admirable, considering it can often lead to trouble beyond her control.

Anna held her own against Tom, given the circumstances, but he did end up blinding her for a bit with that bear spray, and he also set the damn cabin on fire with them in it.

Sadistic much? It’s one thing to want to flee after exposure, but it’s another to leave four people, including the woman you were pretending to love and a park ranger, in a burning cabin.

As far as cases go, the twists and turns were nice enough. The truth of the matter is that Tom was someone who preyed on women, killed them, and stole their fortunes.

And that mysterious guy lying to everyone back at the station about being Lainey’s boyfriend wasn’t some guy she was having an affair with, but rather a P.I.

Because Lainey, as controlling and opinionated as she was, seemed to be great at reading people and knew Romy had a terrible knack for choosing the wrong guys.

Tom was the epitome of the wrong guy!

But what was great about the case was the two-fold manner in which it taught Anna the same lesson.

Not trusting Zoey, or rather being so gung-ho about going at it alone and embracing that she has a partner in her endeavors who’d like to help whenever she could, is how she wound up alone in the mountains in all that danger.

With two rangers, things likely wouldn’t have escalated out of control as they did. With Miller and Zoey’s backing and support, they were able to arrest Tom and save the rest of them from the cabin fire.

But she also learned from the people involved that there is something to Molly giving her all of this advice about letting people in, opening up, and learning to lean on others a bit more.

Those people who care about you can sometimes see things that you can’t, and they can protect you from harm’s way.

Lainey may have seemed like a controlling, overbearing, and opinionated friend who sometimes violated boundaries, but she loved Romy with everything she had and just wanted to protect her.

And she wasn’t wrong about Tom. It helps to have friends.

Contrary to the title, “Hell Is Other People,” it’s the people and the community that you form that can help you walk through hell sometimes. Goodness knows Anna has been through it all, but she has a circle if she’s willing to accept it.

Fortunately, she made some strides within the hour. By the end, we did see her forgoing a lunch in solitude and quite literally taking the steps toward simply having lunch with friends and enjoying nature.

While it totally seemed like she was potentially interfering with a moment for Christina and Frieda, it was just genuinely nice to have her there with the others.

It was also nice to see her go to Jesse and ask about his day. He’s been such a supportive partner, earnest about getting to know her and connecting with her on a much deeper level.

He’s putting in the work, even when she keeps her walls up sometimes, so her taking that step for him is pretty big for her, too.

Maybe he’ll officially be joining the Ranger’s Wives club with Bethany after all.

Which is honestly the cutest, and not just because I had the pleasure of speaking with an incredibly charming Cooper Levy recently, and he’ll make an Anna/Jesse shipper out of anyone when given the chance.

Stay tuned for that fun interview!

Bethany is such an unusual character, though. She seemed kind of sad sitting there talking to Jesse, and I wonder what else is going on with her and why she comes across as unhappy. I wonder if she’s still reeling from the events of Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 3.

On the back end, we didn’t get too much about Jeremiah, although we know he’s still plotting. He was blowing up Miller’s phone so much that he pushed through his last emergency cigarette.

He still wants Miller’s land, and he’s not letting up, which is certainly a reason to be concerned! I don’t trust Jeremiah one bit, and he’s such a snake who plots well and has way too much power.

We also didn’t have much to work with regarding the ongoing mystery of Zach’s death, but Anna did have some flashes from that night, and it seemed like she was drugged. Is that why she was crawling around the floor in the middle of the party?

What’s been strange to me is that she’s the one experiencing all of this strange stuff, and people around her seem none the wiser.

It has me wondering how someone could murder Zach and get away with it, with no clues anywhere?

It’s a part of the story I find increasingly more intriguing, and I cannot wait until they reveal more.

Over to you, Anna Pigeon Fanatics.

How did you feel about the latest case? Are you happy that Anna is finally warming up to those around her and letting people in?

What are your working theories about Zach’s murder? I need to know, so hit the comments below!