What I’m Watching: The End (Season Finale)

The End: Season 1, Episode 10 “Picking Scabs” (B+)

I’m choosing to label this as a season finale rather than a series ender even though the more than a year that has passed since it first aired in Australia doesn’t give me too much hope. Showtime picking it up is a good sign, and so maybe there is a chance that a second season could be commissioned soon. The way this episode ended certainly left the door open for that, with yet another instance of the concoction Kate and Edie were selling being used in a way other than they intended, with potentially deadly implications. At first, I thought that Dawn was calling so that she would have evidence that she called the police while she was pretending to save Henry, but it appears that she wasn’t lying and was actually very much regretting having poisoned him. I don’t think that development casts the best light on the real-life nature of death with dignity, though I’m sure there are abuses and accidents that do happen. The penultimate scene with all the dead people walking naked on the beach was an interesting choice, one that suggested perhaps a relief from suffering. This episode had plenty to say about familiar relationships, like the one between Kate and Edie and even between Kate and Christopher, who tried to recall a nice memory about Persephone and ended up telling one that Oberon knew was about him instead. This show really does have fantastic characters, and I would very much like to see more of it.

Season grade: A-
Season MVP: Harriet Walter as Edie