All the Broken Places

The lunch with Eleanor and Caden continues. Gretel thinks Eleanor is a nurse, but she’s a heart surgeon, which impresses Gretel. She could never do a job like that. Caden agrees—his father helped him when he got hurt. Eleanor discusses what happens when she loses a patient: She feels guilt—like it’s her fault.

They discuss Gretel’s stints in France, Australia, and England. Upsetting his mother, Caden mentions Poland. For a school trip, Eleanor visited Poland and went to Auschwitz. The concentration camp scared her. She’s seen Holocaust movies and documentaries and read Holocaust books, but going there is different. Eleanor asks Gretel—whom she calls “Mrs. F.”—if she’s been to Auschwitz, and Gretel is silent. To her surprise, Caden says Edgar took him to see Auschwitz. Caden learns that his father never told his mother about their visit.

Eleanor inquires about where Gretel lived in Poland, and Gretel says it was a small town. Filling in the blanks, Caden says his grandfather got a job promotion: His mother, uncle, and grandmother had to move with him. Eleanor discovers that Gretel’s brother died years ago. Eleanor says a person never gets over something like that. Gretel snaps at her, but she learns that Eleanor’s brother was killed by a car when she was six and he was eight.

Eleanor asks about her brother’s name, but Gretel doesn’t reply. About not working as a mother, Eleanor asks Gretel what she would have done if she could have pursued a dream job. Gretel grabs Eleanor’s hand and says there’s nothing she could have done.

Gretel intentionally stumbles and cries against the fence outside Kotler’s house, and his wife, Cynthia, comes to her aid. Gretel blames the heat, and Cynthia offers her water. Her son, Hugo, plays war, and Gretel says her name is Maria. Cynthia is from Melbourne, and her husband (Kotler) is from Germany, but due to the anti-German atmosphere, they say he’s Czech. Cynthia thinks people need to move and stop harboring grudges.

Cynthia says Kotler told her he was from Prague, but then she saw his passport. He then told Cynthia he was a conscientious objector and moved to England before World War II started. Kotler says he loathed Hitler and the Nazis. Cynthia thinks Hitler is still alive.

Cynthia has to use the bathroom and then put the chicken in the oven, so she leaves Gretel and Hugo alone. Hugo says she saw Gretel watching him last week. Gretel says she wasn’t. Hugo says maybe she was watching his father. His father is nice, but Gretel says some people are kind on the outside but monsters inside. Hugo doesn’t think his father is a monster.

Gretel takes out a note and puts it on the swing, weighing it down with a stone. She then grabs Hugo’s hand and tells him they’re going on a “great adventure.”

To thank Gretel for picking up Henry, Madelyn gives her a box of fancy chocolates. She tells Gretel she made a terrible mistake and scolds her for telling Alex—though Gretel made it clear the teacher called Alex. Madelyn suggests they have some wine, but Gretel hasn’t even had lunch yet.

Madelyn explains her mistake to Gretel. She ran into an ex-boyfriend, Jerome. Madelyn cheated on Jerome, and Madelyn tells Gretel that Alex says she used to be “a slut.” Jerome used to direct plays, but now he directs movies, and he wants to cast her in a role. The audition goes well, but Alex finds out and convinces her to turn down the project—she’ll look like an “elephant” on the screen.

As Madelyn leaves Gretel, Heidi appears from her flat and notices a bruise on Madelyn’s arm.

Gretel brings Hugo on the ferry and tells him that his father is taking his mother out to dinner, so they asked her to look after him. Gretel says she and Cynthia are old friends. Hugo remembers Gretel and Cynthia exchanging names outside his house—they didn’t know each other. Gretel corrects herself: She and his father are old friends.

Gretel tells Hugo to pretend he’s Captain Cook (James Cook, the 18th-century English navigator who led an expedition to Australia), and Hugo says he wants to be an explorer. Gretel said her brother wanted to be an explorer, but he died.

Hugo asks when they’ll go home, and Gretel says he’s staying with her overnight. Hugo has never spent the night away from home, and Gretel tells him to think of the sleepover as a “special treat.”

Cait is still at home when Gretel and Hugo arrive. Gretel says the kid belongs to a mother at the shop who’s having trouble with her husband. Gretel believes Cait will be the first person to discover Hugo’s body.

Gretel tells Hugo to play with the young girl and her dog across the street. Using masking tape, she seals the windows and the ventilation shaft. Knowing she’s about to die, she feels a sense of freedom, but then the phone rings. On the envelope on the swing, Gretel had written Kurt’s real last name (Kotler), and inside the envelope, there was not a note or a letter, but a phone number.

Eleanor invites Gretel to Fortnum & Mason. She compliments Gretel’s looks and suggests an outfit supposedly meant for a woman in her thirties or forties. They talk about Caden, and Gretel admits motherhood didn’t suit her. She also confesses to kidnapping a child and planning to kill him and herself.

The information doesn’t faze Eleanor, but Eleanor wonders why Gretel chose her as a confidant. Gretel wants Eleanor to understand that she’s been a bad mother, and maybe that’s why Caden is about to marry for a fourth time. Eleanor says Caden is kind and jovial. He’s genuinely interested in her life, and though he’s bad with money, he works hard. Eleanor doesn’t think Gretel was a bad mother: She helped create a decent man.

Eleanor asks what happened with Hugo. Over a glass of wine, Gretel tells her.

Gretel can’t kill Hugo or herself. If she had that type of “courage,” she would have hanged herself in Paris. Instead, she meets Kurt at a cafe nearby. She looks like she’s going on a date, which further confuses Cait. Gretel promises to explain later.

Kurt speaks in German, but Gretel insists on English. They discuss Gretel’s brother and how he called the camp “Out-With.” Gretel calls Kurt “Lieutenant Kotler,” and Kurt says that person doesn’t exist. He’s Kurt Kozel now.

Gretel assures Kurt that Hugo is fine and that she doesn’t want his money. She asks why he drew a fence. He sees it as an apt “symbol” for that period. She asks how he stopped Cynthia from calling the cops, and he responds with an odious smile. Like Gretel’s father, Kurt believes the husband rules the house. Gretel says Kurt has nothing in common with her father. Kurt agrees. Her father was a “monster,” but he was only the “monster’s apprentice.”

Gretel remembers Kurt kicking Pavel, the imprisoned Jewish domestic worker, to death after he spilled wine on the table. Kurt doubts Gretel’s memory. Gretel also remembers crying after her father sent him to the front when Kurt revealed that his father didn’t support the Third Reich. The front was a death sentence, and Kurt was indeed shot, but he didn’t die.

In Berlin, Kurt got a desk job, and Hitler frequently visited the building where he worked. His presence was “otherworldly.” One day, as the Allies were about to take over Berlin, Kurt had to bring Hitler his glasses—instead, he ran.

Gretel and Kurt discuss Nazi hunters, and Kurt says they’d be more interested in her than him. Her father was the leader of the most notorious concentration camp. She chose not to identify herself to the authorities. Gretel says that was her mother’s choice, not hers. Kurt thinks Gretel is making excuses: She’s as guilty as him. Gretel thinks he’s right.

Kurt touches Gretel’s cheek and takes out Hitler’s glasses. He persuades Gretel to wear them. She says she feels appalled. Kurt tells her to speak truthfully. Gretel says she feels excited. He takes the glasses back and dares Gretel to say that she didn’t want Hitler and the Nazis to win the war.

No one comes to pick Henry up from school, so he walks home alone, and Gretel sees him reading Ian Fleming’s novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1964). She offers him milk and a biscuit, but Henry refuses.

Oberon arrives and scolds Gretel for discouraging Heidi from going to Australia. Gretel didn’t want to lie to Heidi, and she compares Oberon to the man falsely claiming to be from the gas board. Oberon claims he’s not after his grandmother’s money, but Gretel doesn’t believe him, and she asks him to leave.

After an hour, she opens her door, and Henry is still on the stairs. Henry knocked on his door, but no one answered. He has a bandage on his hand, and he claims the oven burned him. Heidi comes downstairs and finds the extra key Mr. Richardson, the former tenant, kept under the plant outside the door. The trio enters the flat, and Heidi tells Gretel to call an ambulance.

Gretel tells Kurt that she met Hitler, and Kurt says he never spoke to him. Gretel tells him he could probably make a lot of money off Hitler’s glasses. Kurt says they could be his “pension.”

They discuss Gretel’s family. Gretel says her mother never recovered. Kurt says Gretel’s mother knew—all the adults were aware. They started “it,” and the next generation “paid.” Gretel wonders if Kurt thinks of himself as a victim. He doesn’t, but he can’t say that he consciously chose his path. Kurt asks about her brother, and when she tells him her brother died, he’s shocked. Kurt wants to know how her brother died. Gretel won’t tell him.

Gretel thinks Kurt needs to “pay” for the role he had in “it.” Kurt knocks Gretel for her abstract language. He’s specific: There were Jewish people, gas chambers, crematoriums, and murders. Kurt admits he had trouble at first, but over time, he forgot that they were people. He didn’t like killing Jews: He liked the power. He wanted the Axis powers to win and to continue with his military career.

Gretel remembers her brother giving a boy food and Kurt punching the boy. Kurt doesn’t remember. Gretel wonders how Kurt would feel if Hugo was on the trains. He tells her to “shut up.” He says it wouldn’t have mattered if one of them stood up and resisted. People hate—it’s human nature. Nazis found people to hate, and now people hate Nazis.

Gretel wants to do “something good.” She’s going to tell the police. Kurt says he’ll be another death on her mind. Two police officers come to the cafe and look at the menu. Kurt dares her to tell them. He’s interested in what will happen to her. She’ll become infamous and the subject of front-page newspaper articles and books—it’ll ruin her life.

They stand, and Kurt kisses her before leaving the coffee shop. Two days later, Gretel leaves Australia. She writes Cait an apology note and sends Cynthia a letter explaining her relationship with Cynthia’s husband. She realizes she could be anywhere—even on Mars—and her “scars” will come along.

In Poland, 1943, Gretel’s brother is upset. Her father, despite her mother’s objections, will show Gretel what he does for a living, but her brother can’t come. Gretel says he wouldn’t understand. Her brother says he knows some things, and he could tell her unbelievable stories about what happens on the other side of the fence. Gretel says it’s a farm, but her brother knows it’s not a farm—though he admits he doesn’t know what it is.

Kurt drives them to the camp. Gretel asks her if he likes it here. Kurt says it doesn’t matter if he likes it: It’s his duty. If he didn’t have to be here, he’d probably be in college, studying economics. Gretel remembers the conflict over Kurt’s father, and she recalls Kurt brutalizing Pavel, but she also fantasizes about marrying him.

Gretel’s father shows her where the train arrives, and he points out the gas chamber. A phone call from Berlin takes him away, and Gretel sees people in striped uniforms. They look lifeless and like they haven’t been able to clean themselves in a long time.

Gretel goes into the warehouse and meets a little boy. He wears a Jewish star and introduces himself as Shmuel. He’s nine, and he’s hiding. He senses that she lives on the “other side” with the boy who visits him. Gretel is confused. He says he came here with lots of people, but soldiers took them away. They didn’t take him because his small fingers can clean bullet shells. Soon, he’ll die. Gretel doesn’t believe someone would let a nine-year-old die.

Shmuel asks Gretel not to tell Kurt about his hiding spot. Gretel promises not to tell anyone. Shmuel asks her to tell the boy to visit him again. Gretel is still confused, but Shmuel says her brother’s name, then she understands.

Eventually, Gretel’s brother tells her about his visits with Shmuel. He says Shmuel’s father is missing, and Shmuel wants him to sneak under the fence and help him look for his father. Partly for revenge and partly as a joke, Gretel encourages him to go under the fence. A day later, her mother knocks on her bedroom door: She can’t find her brother.