“Bring Back Alice” deals with the disappearance of popular social media influencer Alicja Stec. She is found a year later and she isn’t the same anymore. Alicja seems to have been through a lot of trauma that has changed her behavior. She doesn’t remember anything clearly and has only visions or flashes of memories that scare her. Her school friends, with whom she was partying the night she disappeared, know something about it but don’t discuss it. What did happen on that fateful night? Only “bringing back Alice” to her normal self can answer that.
Spoilers Ahead
The Return Of Alicja
Alicja Stec goes missing while partying with her friends (Monica, Paula, Janek, Patryk, and Michael [Paula’s brother]) at a secret illegal rave on some ship. She remains missing for a whole year, after which she is found walking down a tunnel in the middle of the night by people who recognize her from her streams. Her friends find out about this, and they seem to be worried about something. Also, Monica, Alicja’s best friend, and Michael, Alicja’s boyfriend, are sleeping together. Weronica Bielecka is another woman who disappeared the same night. Her brother Tomek finds out from a guy who owed him money that Alicja Stec has been found. He decides to talk to Alicja and see if she can tell him anything about his sister. He believes that Alicja knows what happened to Weronica.
Alicja Stec is brought to the hospital by her parents. She remembers who she is, but she has no memory whatsoever of where she was for the past year. All Alicja can tell is that she was at a party. Tomek arrives at the hospital and questions Detective Marta Werner in charge of the investigation, who is there and seems to know Tomek, if Alicja knows anything about Weronica. The officer tells him not to interfere in the investigation or she will have him arrested. Tomek walks away, enraged but helpless. There are no signs of injury or physical or sexual abuse. The drug test also came out negative. However, it will take time—from hours to years—before Alicja comes to terms with the apparent traumatic episodes she went through the past year that she has now blocked out. The doctor tells Alicja’s parents that they should begin with psychological support. This is when a nurse walks into the room and informs them that Alicja is gone. Marta assumes that Tomek must have done something and finds and cuffs him. That’s when she is informed that Alicja has been found. She was hiding under her bed. Not willing to risk anything again, Marta sends him to jail for the night. Alicja’s parents decide to bring her home the next day. The same night, Paula finds Michael looking at a stream of Alicja with her best friend Monica. Michael appears sad and wretched.
The Secret
The next day, Monica, Paula, Janek, Patryk, and Michael meet at school and talk about what they should do, including whether they should meet Alicja or not. Janek thinks that Alicja might not remember what happened, while Patryk believes that she remembers everything and is just pretending to have lost her memory. The way they speak to each other makes it clear that they know what happened with Alicja. Tomek is released from jail and stalks Alicja on her 2 Instagram profile, where he comes across Paula. Paula buys drugs from Tomek’s friend Lucasz. He decides to meet her and talk to her. At 2 pm that afternoon, Tomek meets Paula, introducing himself as Lucasz’s replacement for the day. He tells her about his sister Weronica going missing the same night and asks if she can help him talk to Alicja about it. Paula clearly states that she isn’t helping him in any way and leaves.
Alicja comes home to piles of letters sent by her followers. But she cannot get over the visions that show her where she was for the last whole year and is scared of being left alone. Her parents decide to get her friends over to make her feel better. That night, Monica and Michael, who have been sleeping together, arrive at Alicja’s place. They are conscious of their equation in front of Alicja but try to keep their meeting casual. Alicja smiles and hugs them both. They ask her if she remembers. All that she remembers is dancing and laughing, and nothing more. Monica doesn’t seem to like Michael’s reassurances to Alicja, but she plays her part. This is when Alicja’s mother comes in and tells them that it’s time for Alicja to rest. Monica and Michael leave. Before walking out of his car in front of her house, Monica kisses Michael. However, something has been bugging Michael. She doesn’t tell him anything and just walks out of the car.
Tomek’s Source
Tomek arrives at another rave party that night where he knows Paula will be present. He finds her and offers to drink with her. Paula seems to know what Tomek is trying to do, but she agrees all the same. The two end up drinking, dancing, doing drugs, and getting laid.
The next day, Alicja wakes up to another terrifying vision in which she sees a man in the dark. She seemed to be in some kind of basement with a red light. She also saw a woman, probably dead, being dragged. Something bad must have happened wherever she was during the past year.
Tomek brings Paula breakfast in bed. Later on, as they are hanging out at the harbor, she tells him that she knows that the reason he got close to her was so that he could convince her to take him to Alicja. But she won’t do it. He tells her that he was with a girl when Weronica returned home. She wanted something from him, but they had an argument, and he told her to leave, thinking that she would come back later. But she didn’t. So it’s on Tomek that his sister is missing. On the other hand, no one seems to be talking about his sister, but only about Paula’s friend Alicja, and that’s because the latter is popular. Paula then tells him that he will find nothing by speaking to Alicja because she doesn’t remember anything.
‘Bring Back Alice’ Episode 1: Ending Explained – Does Alicja Stec Have Anything To Do With Weronica Bielecka?
Alicja finds her phone among the letters and turns it on. She receives two messages from an unknown person stating that he or she knows what happened to her and asking her to meet at the park. That night, Alicja sneaks out of her house. Somewhere else in the city, Tomek and Lucasz are escaping in a car after stealing it when Lucasz gets a text from Alicja to come to the park. So it was Tomek who texted Alicja. He drops Lucasz in the middle of the road and arrives at the spot. He meets Alicja, and while taking her to the spot where she was found, he shows her a picture of Weronica. She doesn’t know her. Tomek is speeding, and this sets a cop car after him. Alicja tells Tomek to pull over. Tomek thinks that this is where he might find some clues about his sister. But Alicja only did it so that she could escape. She kicks him between his legs and runs into the woods.
Within a few seconds, the cop car arrives, and an officer comes out of it and puts cuffs on Tomek. In the woods, Alicja has visions of a woman’s dead body lying on the ground. She returns home somehow in the middle of the night without her parents noticing. As she tries to take in everything that has been going on with her, she remembers something. There is a Black Panther figurine in her room. She turns it over and brings out a photo strip from under it. They are photographs of her kissing another woman. And the face of Weronica flashes in front of her eyes. So Tomek was right all along. Alicja does know at least something about his sister.
Alicja and Weronica were together on the night they both disappeared. But how are they related? Are they friends? Do Alicja’s friends (Monica, Paula, Janek, Patryk, and Michael) know about Weronica? From how they were speaking about Alicja in school, it does seem that they are hiding something. This also brings in the possibility that they know Weronica. Only “Bring Back Alice” Episode 2 can tell whether we are right.
