‘Harlan Coben’s Shelter’ Episode 5 Recap: “See Me Feel Me Touch Me Heal Me”

The driving force of Harlan Coben’s Shelter isn’t Mickey’s desire to find out the truth about his dad’s death (though that is obviously important to him), but rather his hero complex to save the day—especially when it comes to Ashley or his mom. Rachel finally points this out to him in “See Me Feel Me Touch Me Heal Me” (Season 1, Episode 5) in the direct aftermath of their run-in with OctoFace where, after Mickey races at OctoFace in Rachel’s backyard, she shoots the intruder and he flees over the fence and away from them. But after all that, Ashley isn’t in Rachel’s pool house where she’s been allegedly hiding. 

Hellbent on finding her, Mickey coerces Rachel to use Troy’s access to his dad’s police database to run the license plate of OctoFace’s vintage orange car, and the two of them track him down to an honestly gorgeous mansion with floor to ceiling windows. Staking out his place, Rachel holds onto the gun and they eventually tailgate him to a shady alleyway that looks like the grounds for an underground criminal meet-up (or the site of a shady poker game). Rachel spots the two men that tried to abduct Ashley standing guard at the door and Mickey, of course, wants to go in but Rachel, his voice of reason, refuses. 

Rachel’s burgeoning friendship with Mickey as well as the tangled relationship between his parents and Shira doesn’t sit well with her boyfriend Troy, and he takes out his anger on Mickey at the basketball tryouts. Mid-play, Troy delivers an elbow to Mickey’s face and amidst the flowing blood, Mickey retaliates and tries to start a fight. Ema and Spoon, who were supporting Mickey during tryouts from the stands, arrive to help break up the fight and Ema gives Mickey her shirt to help stop the bleeding. But as she walks away, she’s exposed: Mickey sees the butterfly tattoo on her shoulder. 

Troy and Mickey are the two best players on the team so they’re let off with a warning, but the Coach summons the adults for a stern talk and Hannah makes it clear that she doesn’t believe her son’s claim that the incident was an accident. She later confides in Shira about how unhappy she is and that she’s taking her life into her own hands, starting by finally making good on her dream of opening a restaurant. Shira is instantly supportive, though a little perplexed by her friend’s sudden change of heart, but her husband Ken is the complete opposite. He loses his cool during dinner when she announces she’s signed a lease, and she retaliates by saying that he doesn’t really see Troy or her. 

Meanwhile, Mickey tells Spoon about Ema’s butterfly tattoo and they decide to tail her after school. Leading them through a sparse forest, Ema walks home but confronts them when she arrives at an enormous mansion. She admits a few things: that the abeona butterfly tattoo was Agent’s idea and she hasn’t been able to scrub it off of her body yet despite him supposedly using temporary ink, and also that she lives in this mansion with her mom, the EGOT actress taking an interest in the school musical, Angelica Wyatt. Though they’re in awe at the revelation about her parentage, Mickey is fixated on something else she mentioned—Abeona was also the name of the organization that his parents worked for. 

Aiming to learn more about the butterflies, Spoon and Mickey head back to Agent’s tattoo parlor where Spoon convinces them to give him a temporary tattoo while Mickey pokes around in the back office. Spoon is outfitted with a bleeding heart with space for a name and contemplations on a loss he’s faced, while Mickey discovers photos of his dad’s lion tattoo and of Brad chumming it up with OctoFace. The photos throw Mickey into a tailspin, making him question how much he really knew about his father.

Now that Ema’s secret is known to her closest friends, she decides to also let her crush know about her wealthy home life. She confides in Whitney as the two have gotten closer and they even make out near the Hudson River (soundtracked perfectly to “Sidelines” by Phoebe Bridgers), but by episode’s end, Whitney has also told her bully of a twin brother Buck about it. It’s only a matter of time before the whole school finds out because we know Buck won’t keep that juicy information to himself, which is sad because I was really rooting for Ema and Whitney to be the school’s “it” couple. 

Ema later accompanies Spoon to the hospital to talk to Dr. Kent after he received intel that he recently woke up from his coma. Decked out in scrubs and legit-looking staff badges, the two don’t even get into the hospital before witnessing the doctor getting into a dark SUV—likely by the same people who abducted Ashley. There’s still a lot of mysteries centered on the Kent family and how they’re related to this whole ordeal, but it’s important to note that it doesn’t look like Dr. Kent was forced into the car; he seems to have willingly gotten out of his wheelchair and gone with these mysterious figures.

There’s no Bat Lady in this week’s episode, but we do learn a little bit more about Mrs. Friedman and Dylan Shakes. Mrs. Friedman, the former little league coach, fesses up to knowing that Dylan’s father was abusing him and was the first person to take him to the doctor, but she says she wasn’t the one who brought him in on the day he disappeared. Mrs. Friedman is definitely holding some information back and we see a flashback to a conversation that she had with Dylan’s father. “What should I do, give him to you? Over my dead body,” he snarls at her, which feels oddly pointed for a casual sports coach-parent relationship. 

In the present, she begins putting up flyers around town to memorialize Dylan. A gruff man approaches one of the flyers, still drinking from his flask. It’s Dylan’s father. Surprisingly, he doesn’t tear the flyer down, but rather just observes the work of Mrs. Friedman. One way or another, the mystery around Dylan’s disappearance is central to the entire series—and his father might hold more answers than we thought.

Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared on Paste Magazine, Teen Vogue, Vulture and more. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.