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**30** is the eighth and final episode of first season of the *Shining Girls* television series. It aired on the Apple TV+ streaming TV service on June 3, 2022.

## Synopsis

*As Kirby's reality spirals, she sets her sights on finally tracking down Harper.*

## Plot

At the Lake View area of Chicago in 1848, the old man who Harper and Leo previously found living in The House is working outside with a large group of people in the woods. During a break, the old man decides to pick some flowers and press them. While journeying into the woods, he hears a low vibration and rumble. He follows the noise to a clearing with a very familiar-looking house that has absolutely no business being there. Upon walking through the front door, the old man is shocked to see someone hanging by their neck in the entryway. The deceased person is also dressed in 1980’s era athletic gear, complete with a pair of vintage Air Jordans on his feet. The old man looks around and notices a bunch of items from the future, which don’t make any sense to him. He also sees a rock with a folded piece of paper under it. He picks it up and unfolds the paper to find a two-word message: "**ALL YOURS**". The old man decides to get rid of the body and take up residence inside The House.

Back in 1992, Harper returns to The House covered in Dan’s blood. After walking inside, he’s surprised to find a Pit Bull sitting in the hallway — specifically, Kirby’s Pit Bull named Grendel. The dog doesn’t charge, but he does grumble in the man’s general direction. Grendel allows Harper to walk around him to the back of The House. After reaching the back door, he opens it and encourages Grendel to fetch a shoe, which he throws outside. Grendel obliges, darting after the object and allowing Harper to close the door behind him.

Back at the Adler Planetarium, Jinny is understandably freaking out over the major shift in her reality. Kirby takes her wallet and explains that the information inside (where she lives and works) is her life now. After seeing that she has a much less prestigious job and lives where she used to during grad school, Jinny isn’t ready to accept that her former life is gone. Kirby replies that she has to; just like she’s done countless times before. Not going to work, calling the police, or trying to explain what happened will result in her getting committed to a psychiatric hospital. Kirby assures Jinny everything will be okay before heading over to Dan’s house. The door is answered by another man who’s lived there for years and has no idea who Dan is. She then goes to the Sun-Times office and calls her mom’s number. Once again, an unfamiliar man answers who knows nothing about the very familiar person Kirby expected to reach. Realizing that she has nowhere to stay, Kirby curls up at the back of the archives and goes to sleep.

The next morning, Kirby is awakened by an archivist who knows her name and who she is. After claiming to have fallen asleep after working late, she grabs a cart and heads up to the newsroom. The archivist chases Kirby down and profusely apologizes for not getting her the news clippings she requested in a more timely manner. He then hands Kirby a folder that lists her as a full-fledged reporter. She also has a desk smack dab in the middle of the newsroom, which is filled with other reporters who treat her as a colleague rather than a gopher. It’s disorienting, but a small part of Kirby is quietly excited. This brief glimmer of happiness dissipates when Bertie doesn’t know anything about the story Kirby was working on with Dan — or who Dan even is. He also reveals that Pawel Banik (the man originally suspected of killing Julia Madrigal) is going to plead guilty. No one knows or suspects anything about Harper’s killings being connected.

Kirby is then called into a staff meeting with Abby. As the editor reads through the previous night’s homicides, she’s shocked to find Dan Valesquez’s name. When a few reporters also express their disbelief, Abby explains that Dan used to work at the Sun-Times. She also says that most people in the meeting wouldn’t know him. Despite all the changes in reality that she’s fought through before, the news about Dan is too much for Kirby to bear. She storms out of the meeting, heads toward the elevators, and collapses to the floor just as Jinny arrives to speak with her. The pair head to Jinny’s new place of work to assess their current situation. Kirby reveals that Dan is dead, which is why Jinny didn’t die that evening like she was supposed to. Jinny explains that her new life was exactly the same as before until May 15, 1986 — the same day Kirby was assaulted by Harper. At that point, she dropped out of grad school and took a completely different path in life. Jinny then explains her astronomy-based theory about what has happened saying "Do you remember what I told you about particles? How sometimes they can become entangled — like there’s a thread running through them, connecting them?"When Kirby asks how they get off the thread, Jinny suggests this might be accomplished by removing one of the particles, allowing the rest to potentially break free. Neither woman knows what will happen if/when Harper is removed, but Kirby doesn’t care. She just wants the constant shifts in reality to stop.

Meanwhile, Harper visits Leo at the VA assisted living home on a day when he knows his friend will be relatively lucid. When he asks about the tape with Klara on it, however, Leo appears to have no idea what Harper is talking about. He could also be playing dumb, but Harper doesn’t care. He knows that at some point, Leo will give the tape to someone, which will in turn lead to people figuring out who he is and what he’s been doing. Harper begins tearing the room apart, but to no avail. Leo suggests they go back to The House so his mind can work properly again. Harper initially rejects this idea, but relents when his friend’s mental state proves to be an insurmountable roadblock.

When they enter The House, Leo immediately becomes lucid. He also stops seeing the lights that have constantly plagued his vision since being left behind. But instead of using his repaired mind to reveal the tape’s location, Leo asks to be taken back to his original time. When Harper refuses, Leo tries to do it himself only to find that The House still won’t work for him. This leads the pair into a physical altercation. As they tussle with each other, Leo brings up when they dumped Klara’s body. He also mentions how Harper claimed he killed her because she was going to tell everyone about The House — something he knew was a lie even back then. Leo then makes a revelation of his own. That he took the tape as potential leverage over his friend. Harper never noticed because he assumed it disappeared just like other things do inside The House.

Instead of giving in to his demands, however, Harper says he’ll just keep coming back to this day until Leo finally gives up the tape. Leo counters that he’ll see through him just like Klara did. That statement alone would be enough to send Harper over the edge, but Leo ratchets things up a notch by saying that he knows why Harper doesn’t want to go back to their original time. It’s because he has nothing there. The linear version of his life is pathetic and meaningless, which is why he’ll never leave The House. This brutal-yet-astute observation earns Leo a stomach slicing from Harper, causing him to bleed out and die on the floor. After cradling his friend’s body in his arms with a surprising tinge of sadness/regret. Harper then leaves The House and heads to a hotel, where he kills one of the maids.

Elsewhere, Kirby returns with Jinny to the Sun-Times to find that things have completely changed from just a few hours ago. The staff is now filled with people she doesn’t recognize. Kirby sits Jinny down at her desk (or at least what’s supposed to be her desk) and tells her to begin looking up records on the battalion Harper was in (the 28th Infantry Regiment), which she learned after getting a look at his tattoo back in episode 4. She then goes to look for Marcus to see if he can help her. She eventually finds him in the Sun-Times darkroom developing photos. He’s extremely kind/friendly with her, but not in the same way as before. He tells Kirby that there may be records about locals who fought with the 28th Regiment, but they would take a few days to find/pull.

Kirby then notices Marcus’ wedding ring and asks how his wife is doing. He responds that Vicky is great. As Kirby attempts to hide her pained reaction, there is a reality-shifting shudder. When she looks down, the picture of a house that Marcus had been developing before is now a portrait of Dan Velasquez. Kirby then looks around and notices that all the pictures in the darkroom are of Dan. When she asks Marcus about it, he tells her that she’d previously asked him to pull the negatives for a piece the paper was running about Dan’s murder. Kirby then asks if she’s the one covering it.When Marcus says she isn’t, Kirby realizes that this new reality has her working in the Sun-Times‘ archives again.

Back in the newsroom, a reporter (Lakshmi) asks Jinny what she’s doing at her desk. When Jinny says that Kirby told her to be there, Lakshmi doesn’t understand why someone who works in the archives would tell a seemingly random person to sit at a reporter’s desk. Meanwhile, Kirby finds someone who’s working on the story about Dan and asks what happened. According to the police report, the working theory is that he was murdered during a theft and/or drug deal that went bad. Dan was also allegedly the one who was doing the stealing.

While all this is happening, Harper goes to a park in what appears to be the 1940s and kills a woman. He hides her body before heading back to The House again, but not before taking a snack from the dead woman’s picnic basket to tide him over.

Back in 1992, reporters begin surrounding Jinny as she struggles to explain her presence in their newsroom. After she gets up to leave, a shudder of reality shifting before police officers show up out of nowhere and take her into custody is heard. A few minutes later, Kirby returns to the newsroom and sees that Jinny is gone. She spots Marcus talking to one of the reporters and asks what happened. He tells her that a woman came in off the street and had to be removed by the police. He then asks Kirby who she is. Reeling and desperate for answers, Kirby heads to the morgue to confirm Dan’s death. She’s greeted by the first medical examiner (Iris) she met back in episode 1. Iris kindly but firmly rebuffs Kirby’s request to see Dan, but is thrown off when Kirby correctly identifies the way he was cut open. When Iris asks how she could have that information, Kirby says it’s because she knows who killed him.

Iris encourages her to tell the police, but Kirby explains that she already has (technically true-ish). Unfortunately, no one would listen to her. She then asks if Iris can tell her what Dan stole from the man who attacked him. The medical examiner once again tries to gently turn her down. Kirby responds by asking if she really thinks Dan (who Iris was friends with) seemed like the type of person to steal from someone. If he’s the same man they both knew, then she knows he never kept anything for himself. He passed everything on by telling other people’s stories. Thus whatever he took from Harper, he meant for Kirby to have it.

Despite being moved by her words, Iris initially looks like she’s going to hold firm on not letting Kirby see Dan’s body or what he was found with. She then decides to “get some coffee,” leaving Kirby alone in the morgue. Kirby first goes through the evidence box, where she finds that Dan managed to steal Harper’s billfold. Inside, she finds the picture of Britta’s husband with The House’s address on the back. She then pulls the cover back from Dan and takes a moment to say goodbye to her friend. On her way out of the building, she bids farewell to Howard, who has shifted back into being the medical examiner.

Seeing Dan’s body caused Kirby to feel an incredibly strong emotion, which in turn caused her reality to shift in a relatively small way. Certainly not small for Iris and Howard, but nothing like what Kirby experienced when she came home and discovered she was married to Marcus. Kirby then goes to visit The House. After going around back, she hears a low rumbling similar to what Harper experienced when he and Leo first discovered the building. After not hearing any human/earthly noises, she decides to break in and explore The House. She quickly makes some disturbing discoveries, including a large bloodstain on the floor (where Leo was killed) and a bunch of wooden pegasuses similar to the one Harper gave her as a girl. Kirby then goes upstairs to the bedroom, where she finds even more time-displaced trinkets — including the earrings she gave Harper at Sid’s back in 1986. Kirby’s attention is eventually drawn to the strange light coming through the bedroom curtains. She walks over, opens the window, and stares in awe at whatever is on the other side.

That evening, Harper arrives home to find the tape of Klara playing on the television. He hears a sound, turns around, and gets tagged by Kirby with a baseball bat, causing him to drop his knife. Harper attempts to flee down the hall only for Kirby to appear in front of him and smash his head. Their fight continues like this for a while; Kirby using The House to brutalize Harper. At one point, he manages to knock her down and get a piece of rope around her neck. Seconds later, it turns into a string of pearls and snaps. Kirby eventually leads him upstairs to the bedroom. She uses The House to spring a trap, allowing her to stab Harper in the stomach and throw him against the window. The shutters break, causing the room to be bathed in otherworldly light. As Harper struggles to get back up, Kirby points her knife at him and growls: "It was never you. It was always this house!"

Harper manages to kick the knife away from Kirby before throwing her on the bed and beginning to choke her. As she struggles to breath, Harper growls at her that it’s “his f\*\*\*ing house.” Just when it appears he’s going to kill her, Kirby pulls a knife from her boot and thrusts it through Harper’s head.

In the 1920's at Klara’s show in Chicago specifically, Harper goes to visit her in the green room afterward, her first words to him are “You shouldn’t be here, Harper.” She then proceeds to be much colder and dismissive of him than the last time the pair reunited. When Harper tries to give her the “Parisian” handkerchief, Klara can say his words before he does. She also calls out the lies he’d planned to tell her about the item along with his time in Europe. As Kirby walks by (who he wouldn’t have met in this timeline yet), he asks Klara how she’s doing this. Her only response is a disgusted and determined stare until Harper finally leaves.

Later that evening, Harper goes to case Britta’s home by himself. This time, the woman sees Harper and gives him a pointed look before exiting her apartment. After Harper breaks in, he once again hears the sound of a digital watch beeping. This time, though, it’s been neatly laid on the bed in plain view. On the floor near his feet, Harper finds a Polaroid of himself at that exact same moment. He turns the photograph over and sees an address written down on the back.

The next day, Harper takes Leo with him to the address (which is where The House is located). Just like before, they walk around to the back and Leo picks the lock to get them inside. As Leo begins putting valuable items in his rucksack, Harper walks through the house looking for anything that could cause him harm. Moments after finding Kirby’s pegasus, she appears with a gun and shoots him in the shoulder. Kirby tells Leo to get lost (who obeys without resistance) and puts another bullet in the chamber. Harper tries to beg for his life, but she isn’t having it. He may not know who she is, but Kirby knows him all too well — and she’s been been doing a bit of additional research. While holding him at gunpoint, she reminds Harper that no one wanted him as a child — not his parents or the nuns, who are supposed to take everyone. Because of that, he began thinking that the world owed him. He could take whatever he wanted from anyone. But not The House. That belongs to her. Harper asks how Kirby knows so much about him when he doesn’t even know her. Kirby responds that he may not know her today, but she is always with him. She then instructs Harper to leave The House and never come or she’ll kill him — something she’s already done before.

Harper flees back to an L-Train overpass and rendezvous with Leo. While chastising his cowardly friend and writhing in pain, a reality-shifting shudder can be heard. When it’s over, Harper looks down to see that his WWI uniform has been replaced with civilian clothes. Harper asks Leo what happened, but his former battalion-mate has no idea what he’s talking about. In his version of events, the pair met at St. Alderberts. Harper never even made it over to Europe and he certainly wasn’t wearing a solder’s uniform before. Leo then asks what Harper managed to take when he was inside The House. When Harper removes the “wooden horse” from his pocket, Leo corrects him that it’s actually a pegasus, mirroring the conversation Harper had with Kirby/Sharon when she was little.

As Harper grudgingly accepts that his reality has completely changed, the women he will never get to kill get a new lease on life.

* Julia Madrigal stands on the same beach where she felt Harper stalking her as he took her picture. Now, however, a weight appears to lift as she smiles and runs to meet her father to do some fishing.
* Summer Francis and her partner enjoy their life together.
* Karen Polachek continues caring for her brother.
* Whereas Jinny gets to make her big presentation at the Adler Planetarium.

Kirby walks into a bar and sits down next to Dan, who is drunk, despondent, and has no idea who she is. When he rebuffs her efforts to talk, she makes him a bet: If she can guess what’s in his jacket pocket, he has to give her his drink.As expected, Kirby knows exactly what’s in there — Dan’s notebook. She takes Dan’s drink, downs the rest of it, and begins writing something. While she’s doing this, Dan hesitantly declares that he knows her. Kirby changes her attention back to Dan, hanging onto the fraction of a chance that part of his soul remembers their time together in a reality that doesn’t exist.Sadly, when she asks him where he knows her from, Dan is unable to answer. Kirby lets out a heavy sigh and finishes what she was writing. She then tells Dan that if he ever does remember, he knows where to find her.

Kirby returns to The House from the bar and hears a clattering at the backdoor. She opens it to find Grendel waiting to be let inside. He walks through and immediately goes to the couch. Kirby sits down beside Grendel and rubs his ears. The act provides the dog comfort, something that Kirby is in dire need of, as well.

## Cast

### Starring

* Elisabeth Moss as Kirby Mazrachi
* Wagner Moura as Dan Velazquez
* Phillipa Soo as Jin-Sook
* Chris Chalk as Marcus
* Amy Brenneman as Rachel
* Jamie Bell as Harper Curtis

### Guest Starring

* Erika Alexander as Abby
* Christopher Denham as Leo Jenkins
* Ulrich Thomsen as Bartek
* Alex Goodrich as Bertie
* Sadieh Rifai as Lakshmi Awad
* Karen Rodriguez as Julia Madrigal
* Juan Ramirez as Raymon (Julia's Father)
* Hanna Dworkin as Iris Laskaris
* Marc Grapey as Howard
* Jason Wells as Ben

### Co-Starring

* Jack Lancaster as Archival Assistant (Jack)
* Jimmy Carrane as Senior Reporter
* Christopher Meister as Clarence
* Madeline Baird as Summer Francis
* Shanessa Sweeney as Linda
* Tamsen Glaser as Karen Polachek
* Brian Laesch as Michael Polachek
* Bri Sudia as Hotel Maid (Natalie)
* Meighan Gerachis as Britta
* Charlie Newton as Sports Reporter
* Gregory Linington as Stranger at Dan's House
* John Norman Lasseter as Metro Reporter (John)
* Mike Geraghty as Police Officer #1 (Herbert)
* Andy McDermott as Police Officer #2 (Leslie)

## Images

### Cast Images

Kirby MazrachiDan VelazquezJin-SookMarcusRachelHarper CurtisKlara MeiserAbbyLeo JenkinsBartekJulia MadrigalSummer FrancisKaren Polachek