WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Last Thing He Told Me!
The first three episodes of Apple TV's The Last Thing He Told Me drop several clues hinting at the real reason behind Owen's sudden disappearance. Based on Laura Dave's book of the same name, The Last Thing He Told Me jumps straight into the action in its first episode by introducing a gripping overarching mystery: Hannah's husband has gone missing, and she must work with her stepdaughter to unravel the secrets of his past. In the first few of The Last Thing He Told Me, Hannah barely makes any progress in cracking her husband's mystery, but a few leads from her stepdaughter, Bailey, help her get closer to the truth.
With Bailey's vague memory of visiting Austin as a cue, The Last Thing He Told Me's Hannah and Bailey make their way to the Texan city. To help Bailey jog her memory, they even visit the stadium where she recalls watching a football match in 2011. While their investigation later reaches a dead end, The Last Thing He Told Me episode 3 closes with a shocking revelation that reveals much about Owen's disappearance and past. While the obvious conclusion suggests that Owen is on the run because of the fraud allegations against his company, episode 3's ending proves that there is more to his abrupt departure than meets the eye.
5 Hannah's Flashbacks Suggest Owen Knew Something She Didn't
The Last Thing He Told Me features many flashbacks in the first three episodes to highlight Hannah's relationship with Owen (played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of Game of Thrones fame). Although some flashbacks only emphasize how much he loved his daughter, others suggest that he had somehow foreseen his chaotic future. For instance, in a flashback in The Last Thing He Told Me episode 3, Owen assures Hannah that she is "going to be what's best for her" when she seems worried about Bailey's hostile behavior.
While this could just be Owen's way of affirming that she will be a good stepmother, it seems to hint that he was worried about something from his past and was confiding in Hannah to take on responsibility for his daughter if something was to happen to him. In another flashback, Owen plays around with a piggy bank in Bailey's room, where Jules later finds a mysterious key that Owen had hidden. The key's purpose is yet to be revealed, but it proves that Owen had started making provisions for his disappearance a long time ago.
4 The US Marshall Has Ties With Owen's Last Thing You Told Me Past
A U.S. Marshal shows up outside Hannah's home in The Last Thing He Told Me's episode 1 and asks her if she knows anything about her husband's whereabouts. When Hannah confirms that she knows nothing, he asks her to hire a lawyer and even gives her his number. The U.S. Marshal's involvement in her husband's case seems strange, considering how the Marshals' Office does not deal with financial fraud. The fact that FBI, too, does not know anything about his involvement in the case makes his appearance all the more suspicious.
The U.S. Marshal's calling card also becomes a useful clue when Hannah learns that his number has an Austin extension. When she aligns this information with Bailey's recollection of visiting the city with her father, she realizes that the Marshal has less to do with the fraud and more with her husband's shrouded past. Although the exact ties between the agent and Owen's past in Austin remain unknown, Owen was likely involved in a serious crime in Austin in 2011 and is on the run to protect his daughter from the consequential shock waves of their past.
3 Owen's Boss Covered Up For His Big Last Thing You Told Me Secret
In a conversation with Hannah in The Last Thing He Told Me episode 3, Owen's boss, Avett, claims that he helped Owen cover some dark incident from his past. He does not delve into the details of his history with Owen and only uses his claim as a weapon against Hannah. However, his statement confirms that Owen got tangled in something murky, perhaps inadvertently, long before the threat of his company's fraud loomed over him. Avett probably leveraged his wealth and power to help Owen cover up past mistakes but now feels scared that his disappearance could evoke suspicion among those investigating his company's alleged financial scandal.
2 No Official Records Confirm Owen & Bailey's Identity
In The Last Thing He Told Me episode 3's closing scene, Jake tells Hannah that his private investigator found no records of Bailey and Owen's past. This discovery — or rather, mystery — surrounding Owen and Bailey's past implies that Owen changed their identities to get away from a dangerous situation in Austin. He hoped to start a new life with a new identity but feared that his past would catch up with him someday.
Owing to this fear, he made arrangements for Hannah and Bailey to sustain themselves without him and disappeared when he realized that his company's fraud could expose the past he had tried to erase. Since he created a new identity for Bailey as well, she likely has some association with the incident Owen is running away from. However, he chose not to take her because he knew she would be safer with Hannah.
1 Bailey's Austin Trip With Owen Links To Her Mother's Accident
After Bailey recalls that she was at a wedding with her father before attending the football game in Austin, she and Hannah head to a nearby church. To their dismay, they learn that the church was closed for construction during the fall of 2011, which makes it nearly impossible for Bailey to be there for a wedding. While this brings an abrupt closure to their Austin investigation in The Last Thing You Told Me's episode 3, it makes some major revelations about Bailey and Owen's past.
Bailey is sixteen in the present timeline of The Last Thing He Told Me, which means she was four years old in 2011 when she visited Austin with her father. Considering how Bailey was the same age when her mother died in a hit-and-run accident, the accident could have something to do with Owen's disappearance and likely happened around the same time they attended the football game in Austin. The trauma from the incident and her sudden change of identity explains why Bailey has little to no memory of the time in The Last Thing Her Told Me.