Losing Alice Season 1, Episode 4 recap: Alice imagines Sophie in the role of Eleanor

Losing Alice Episode 4 is titled “The Obsession,” which is very fitting considering the fact it feels like every single character in this show is obsessed with Sophie in one way or another.

It’s finally time to cast Room 209. Alice and Yael all already hooked on this one woman named Daniela. Losing Alice Episode 4 opens with her initial audition. She’s just as sultry as one might expect for the leading role of Eleanor, and she even looks a little bit like Sophie. Although it hasn’t officially been confirmed that the script is based on her, it is heavily implied.

Sophie interrupts the audition, and Alice asks her to wait until Daniela is done. Then she changes her mind and wants to invite Sophie in to observe, but too late, Sophie’s gone.

Once Daniela is wrapped, Alice and Yael are pretty much decided that she is their girl. They invite her back for a screen test the next day, and Alice shoots Sophie a few texts to say they’re impressed with Daniela. Sophie doesn’t respond.

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At home, Alice finds a midnight snack and gets the sh*t scared out of her by her mother-in-law, who is gliding through the house like a ghost clad in Alice’s lingerie. I’m still not entirely sure what the purpose her character serves for the show beyond serving as a babysitter for the girls.

She seems to pop up once an episode to give Alice a backhanded compliment and then drift off. As for the lingerie, David thinks his mom is trying to “mark her territory.”

Alice’s daughter, Nina, is missing her mother since she has been back at work and not home as much. Alice lays with her until she falls asleep, but throughout their bonding time, she’s heavily distracted by Sophie’s lack of response. Alice even starts stalking Sophie’s Instagram story again and notices that she’s out on the town enjoying drinks somewhere.

Losing Alice Episode 4 recap: Tamir says he spent a late night out with Sophie.

Meanwhile, David gets some exercise via a late-night run and stumbles upon Tamir getting home strangely late. The doctor and neighbor strike up a conversation about getting old and their respective ailments, David’s knee is acting up, and Tamir says he’s got back pain.

But the most interesting reveal from their relationship comes when David finds Tamir’s missing phone in his driver’s seat. He’s got a text (I don’t know what it says because, for some reason, none of the texts in this episode received subtitles) that we find out is from Sophie.

Tamir claims he met with Sophie to discuss a birthmark he thought she should get looked at. I’m not buying it, and it doesn’t look like David is either. Before parting, Tamir recommends David take magnesium for his knee. Then he adds that David “shouldn’t tell Alice.” David assumes he means about the magnesium, so Tamir goes along with it. In reality, I get the feeling Tamir doesn’t want Alice to know he was out with Sophie, in case it threatens their weird flirtationship.

Back inside, Alice finally gets tired of waiting for a text back and calls Sophie. Sophie answers, but it’s obvious she’s still out. Sophie acts like everything is fine, and she forgot to reply because her day was so “crazy.” That doesn’t explain why she bailed early from the auditions. She confirms she’ll be at the screen test!

After chatting with Sophie, David and Alice get hot and heavy in the bathroom. Alice is turned on by the idea of seeing David with someone else in the film. They’re discussing Daniela, but you get the vibe Alice is thinking of Sophie instead, especially since she just talked to her.

Losing Alice Episode 4 recap: Daniela’s screen test isn’t as successful as her audition.

Unfortunately, the screen test calls into question whether Daniela is actually the right girl for the job. It’s a bust. Gone is the seductive, entrancing girl from the audition. In her place is a rather awkward, shy woman who doesn’t seem to interpret the script’s beats accurately. Could it have to do with Sophie’s presence in the room?

Sophie subtly suggests that Daniela isn’t good or bad, just different. She didn’t act out the scene the way Sophie imagined it. Alice suggests that Sophie do it so they can get an idea of what she envisioned. Sophie pretends like she hasn’t considered doing just that and waits for more encouragement from Alice to jump into character.

On the car ride home, Alice gets a call from Yael, who has just chatted with Daniela. Daniela has asked for an emergency meeting with them — without Sophie — the following morning.

Losing Alice Episode 4 recap: Sophie manipulates Daniela & Tamir into a kinky, dangerous night out.

And here’s where things get really weird! Remember how Sophie was out the night before? Guess where she was? At the bar where Daniela works! Alice sent Sophie a picture of Alice, and after some web sleuthing, she tracked down her exact place of employment.

Tamir is also there — Sophie invited him. She manipulates Daniela into a hook-up and coaxes her into doing cocaine. Sophie tries to get Tamir involved in a threesome, but he politely declines. So, Tamir did lie to David, and I would wager Sophie’s interest in him because of what she knows about him and Alice.

As the evening’s events unfold, the episode flashes to the present, where we’ve skipped ahead to Daniela’s meeting with Alice and Yael. She’s deeply disturbed by what happened the night before and teary-eyed as she recounts the gory details.

Sophie carefully manipulated Daniela into coming home with her under the guise of a one-on-one hook-up or one night stand. Instead, she finds Sophie’s older friend, Ami, waiting for them. They play a game like the one in the script where Ami can’t touch Sophie, so he likes to watch. Plied with drugs and alcohol, Sophie tries to coerce Daniela into letting Ami have his way with her until she gets uncomfortable and rushes to the bathroom.

When she comes back, Sophie has stripped to the waist, and she and Ami are acting out a scene straight from the script. Daniela thinks she’s tripping. The explicit details aren’t laid out, but it feels very much like an assault has occurred. Sophie certainly plaid the part of the manipulator in this situation.

Losing Alice Episode 4 recap: Alice confronts Sophie about Daniela.

In the present, Alice is still in disbelief over what Daniela has revealed. Yet, she wants Daniela to come back and try her screen test again. Daniela says she’ll really have to think about that. On the other hand, Yael thinks Sophie is a “little b*tch” that needs to be taught a lesson, and she expects Alice to put her in her place.

Of course, Sophie doesn’t know why Daniela is so upset. She plays coy about the entire incident, claiming they were just having some fun. Alice points out the strange similarities between the script and reality, the main character in the script is even named Amir. She also demands that Sophie stay away from her and any other girl they audition. It’s the first time Alice has taken a real stand against Sophie, but it doesn’t feel sincere. You can tell she doesn’t want to ruin her relationship with her.

Losing Alice Episode 4 recap: Alice imagines Sophie in the role of Eleanor, playing against David.

Adding to that theory are the final moments of Losing Alice Episode 4. Alice leaves Sophie and heads to a restaurant where she sits down and imagines the audition scene with David as Amir and Sophie as Eleanor. It’s extremely provocative, steamy and just a little twisted, exactly the way Sophie imagined it playing out. And you get the idea that Alice might be seriously considering a recast — which I’m guessing is exactly what Sophie’s goal was all along.

The relationship between these two women is fascinating to watch and I think the primary reason why is reflected in this quote from writer, executive producer and director Sigil Avin about film noir. She recently chatted with Israeli newspaper Haaretz about the series.

“We see the male gaze on the femme fatale, and I really wanted to show the female gaze. I feel like the older I get, the older a woman gets … suddenly you start gazing at other women, and they become so much more interesting.”

Losing Alice airs Fridays on Apple TV+.