Leave it to Tracy Spiradakos to spend most of her time in Anna Pigeon Season 1 Episode 5 “The Rope” by herself and do a phenomenal job conveying her character’s grief, heartache, and guilt. Because her role in this episode was a lot about survival, yes. But it was also about just taking the next step when you feel like you have no options left. And this one had a huge revelation at the end of it.
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What Getting Out of That Cave Actually Meant
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Anna went through every emotion in “The Rope.” She was confused, scared, sad, angry, hopeless, remorseful, and determined. And her time in that cave was necessary to get to what she’s been running from: her guilt. Because it goes deeper than just not knowing who killed her husband, leaving the door open for someone to possibly get in and commit said murder, or not noticing he was dead until the morning.
Our lead has reached a point where she wants to live. And that eats at her. Because she lost herself to her grief, rightfully so. And she escaped to the parks because she wanted to disappear because what she had with Zach in that apartment felt better than anything else in this world. Color her shocked and surprised then when she realized that the parks is exactly what she needed to heal.
Anna saying, “I don’t wanna disappear. I wanna live.” is finally saying the scary thing out loud when it comes to her journey through grief. It’s her saying that the grief is there and it’ll never go away. But she’s not done living, trying, fumbling, and maybe even one day experiencing what she did with Zach again. And it’s because of these parks.
The cave also acted as a way to face her husband, herself, and her future. She battled with all those parts of herself until only she emerged, the fight that happened staying firmly in that cave. And the woman that walked out is different. She’s lighter. Doesn’t mean that the problems are all gone and she’s going to be a new woman. But “The Rope” is another episode that chips away at what Anna was to reveal who she will be. And I love seeing that woman take form.
Anna’s Friends Realizing She’s Missing
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When people started noticing that Anna wasn’t around, I thought I knew what I was going to get. That’s especially true when it comes to Jesse. He’s the romantic interest. And when it comes to TV, even if they have a capable lead like Anna Pigeon, shows don’t miss out on sweeping moments where the brave male hero comes to rescue the maiden in trouble. This didn’t happen in Anna Pigeon.
Anna rescued herself. But the fact that people noticed her absence needs to be talked about. Maybe not celebrated because she did the hard work. But the entire friend group, which includes Jesse, noticing that Anna was missing goes to show you how her time in this park is different. She’s not just going through the paces and disconnected from people to the point where they won’t miss her when she’s gone.
People noticed when Anna was missing. And they started asking questions, putting two and two together, and pushing against those who were ready to brush off Anna’s disappearance as her just being hot-headed and taking some time. Even at the end, we saw Agent Frederick return from wherever he was to start on the search party to find Anna. And even though we only saw them reuniting with Anna at the end, I’m really excited for what happens after Anna realizes they noticed she was gone and did something about it.
Anna Pigeon airs new episodes Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network.
