Other Birds

Zoey is woken up by Pigeon and discovers several police officers outside the building. They talk to Frasier and explore Lizbeth’s apartment.

Frasier tells Zoey that Lizbeth died after a falling bookshelf struck her. Charlotte arrives, learns what happened, seems disoriented, and goes back inside. In her apartment, Charlotte processes the events and considers the bohemian lifestyle that she wanted as a teenager. Her date from the previous night, Benny, has left. They are both artists frustrated by an increase in rent at their exhibition space, the Sugar Warehouse, and they planned to find a new space to rent together; however, when Charlotte opens her purse, she realizes that all her savings are now missing.

After the police leave, Frasier considers Lizbeth’s death. One of the dellawisps has fallen asleep in his hair. Frasier can perceive ghosts, and he feels Lizbeth hovering impatiently. He considers her relationship with her estranged son, Oliver. Lizbeth’s apartment was filled with paperwork, and she claimed to have a story she wanted to give to the author Roscoe Avanger. When Frasier found her, she was buried under hundreds of copies of Avanger’s novel Sweet Mallow.

Lizbeth wants Frasier to go find her missing story, which will reveal the truth about Lucy and bring Oliver home. Lucy was always their father’s favorite child, but she was troubled and a troublemaker. Lizbeth always tried to outshine her, defining herself by comparing herself to Lucy, even in motherhood.

There are two other ghosts nearby: One was a former resident of the Dellawisp, and another lived nearby. Lizbeth remembers the second ghost fondly—she used to give Lizbeth cornbread. The ghost is trying to tell Lizbeth something, but Lizbeth ignores her.

Zoey lies awake looking at her stepmother’s curated Instagram. She hears a noise outside and goes to the balcony; she sees a flashlight. Zoey goes downstairs to investigate and perceives someone in the darkness, but is unable to identify them. She returns to her apartment. When she looks outside again, she sees the spark and smoke of a cigarette coming from Lucy’s window.

The next day, Zoey tells Frasier that someone was trying to break into Lizbeth’s apartment. He disregards her concerns and instead offers her a job cleaning out Lizbeth’s apartment. When they go there, the door is unexpectedly unlocked. Inside, the apartment is overwhelmingly overflowing with boxes and papers. Roscoe Avanger, the executor of Lizbeth’s estate, wants to see if her story is hidden somewhere after all.

After Frasier leaves, Charlotte arrives and Zoey invites her in. Zoey tells her about her new job cleaning out Lizbeth’s things, and Charlotte is visibly upset. She leaves Zoey in the apartment alone.

Charlotte goes to the Sugar Warehouse to find Benny’s contact information. The warehouse is run by the owner’s son, Asher, who turned it onto an artist’s market and tourist attraction. Charlotte and Asher had an affair, despite him being married to a pregnant woman. Now, Asher toys with her as she tries to find Benny’s number. Asher’s mother, Margot, arrives, sends Asher away, and tells Charlotte that Benny is still at the warehouse. Charlotte finds Benny and accuses him of stealing her money, but he denies it. He reveals that Margot raised the rents to push Charlotte away, wanting to protect her newborn grandchild.

At home, Charlotte listens to Zoey’s music through the walls. When Lizbeth was alive, no one played music. Charlotte considers the witch balls she has hanging in her apartment, decorative glass orbs believed to deter ghosts. She remembers leaving her childhood home with a bag of stolen money and her diary. She looks through the diary, which features snapshots of her time with her childhood best friend, Pepper. They grew up together at a cult-like camp and dreamed of leaving. In the end, Charlotte was the only one who left.

The next day, Charlotte decides to apologize to Zoey for her rudeness. She joins Zoey in Lizbeth’s apartment and offers one of her witch balls as a gift. Charlotte was upset because Frasier didn’t offer her the job, but acknowledges that she was being irrational because Frasier couldn’t have known she needed it. Charlotte tells Zoey about her henna work, and Zoey tells Charlotte about her plans to go to college in the autumn. They discuss the mysterious figure Zoey saw at night trying to get into the apartment. Then, they watch through the window as Mac arrives home. Suddenly, Zoey’s new witch ball breaks; she blames Pigeon.