Why Women Kill: 5 Ways The Finale Was Satisfying (& 5 Things Left ...

Summary

• Why Women Kill captivates viewers with thrilling storylines and strong female leads in different historical timelines.
• Season finales deliver justice and closure for main characters, leaving some open-ended questions for viewers.
• The show's style and fashion evolve with eras, maintaining audience interest despite ambiguous endings.

In two seasons, Why Women Kill showed multiple storylines across different timelines in the most thrilling way possible, but not everything about the Why Women Kill ending was loved. While the show may owe its success to these entrancing storylines, there's no doubt the female leads played a huge role in making the show a fan favorite. Similar to other popular psychological thrillers led by women, Why Women Kill kept viewers on the edges of their seats throughout the seasons. The depiction of each storyline in the same house at different times in history added to the entrancement of the show. The biggest mysteries of the first season were who was killed and why.

Each episode revealed something new about the characters and their stories, and though the second season didn't have exactly the same format, it still delivered on its mysteries and twists. The season finales delivered answers to many of the main questions in several scenes of cinematographic excellence while leaving a few things about the ending to the viewers' imaginations. There's an interesting balance between which parts of the Why Women Kill endings were definite and which were left open-ended.

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Why Women Kill's Satisfying Endings

Justice For Beth Ann

The 1963 storyline of Why Women Kill followed Beth Ann, the sweet, polite lady played by Ginnifer Goodwin, famous for her role as Snow White in Once Upon A Time. In "Murder Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry," Beth Ann discovered that her husband was having an affair. She approached his mistress to confront her but ended up befriending her instead, using a false name.

In the penultimate episode, "I Was Just Wondering What Makes Dames Like You So Deadly," she discovered that Rob had been cheating on her for years and his infidelity was the main reason their daughter had died. Before that, she thought she was to blame. Once she found out the truth, she sought revenge and found a way to kill him without getting her hands dirty. After all his cheating and lies, even the fans felt his death was justified. Viewerss might not have fully been able to hear what Beth Ann whispered to Ralph as he died, but they saw her get justice.

Karl's Last Moments With Simone

Simone, the elegant socialite from the 1984 timeline in Why Women Kill, was portrayed by Lucy Liu, famous for her role as Watson in Elemental, as well as the Kill Bill movies and Charlie's Angels. Simone's story began with the discovery of her husband's homosexuality. She accepted and supported Karl eventually, right until the bitter end. While their marriage hadn't worked out, Karl and Simone remained best friends who cared a lot about each other.

One example of this was when Simone found out Karl was diagnosed with AIDS a little while before her trip to Paris with her young lover, Tommy. Without hesitation, Simone canceled her trip to stay and support Karl. Karl and Simone's final moment was a tango in the living room, their last dance before Simone injected Karl with a drug that put him to sleep forever. It was one of a few entrancing dance scenes that fans loved in the show.

Eli Goes To Rehab

The 2019 storyline of Why Women Kill season 1 was perhaps that narrative arc that most viewers identified with since it was set in the present day. It was also the setting that dealt with the most contemporary issues, as it touched on feminism, bisexuality, polygamy, and drug addiction. Kirby Howell-Baptiste brought the role of Taylor to life as perfectly as she did with her previous roles as Simone in The Good Place and Elena in Killing Eve.

Eli's downward spiral at the hands of Jade was one of the most frustrating storylines of the first season of Why Women Kill. Even after Taylor revealed Eli's history of drug abuse to Jade, she continued to enable his habit until he got hooked again. It took an intervention by Taylor, with the help of Lamar, to get Eli to finally admit he had a problem and see Jade for the toxic, dangerous influence she was. After that, he agreed to go to rehab and get the help he needed to get better again.

Ralph's Death Sentence

Beth Ann's final moments weren't the only satisfying end for the 1963 portion of Why Women Kill. Beth Ann and her neighbor, Mary, managed to solve both their problems and get rid of Beth Ann's cheating husband by effectively using Mary's abusive one as a murder weapon. Just as Beth Ann and Mary had planned, Ralph read Mary's letter about leaving him for Rob and flew into a rage. As expected, Ralph stormed over to confront Rob, armed with a loaded shotgun. Their tussle ended when Ralph shot Rob three times in the chest before he ran off.

Thanks to a glimpse into the future in "Practically Lethal In Every Way," and something Beth Ann said in the finale, the audience found out that Ralph was executed for murdering Rob. Because of his abusive behavior towards his wife, no one sympathized with Ralph and his death was a welcome and satisfying Why Women Kill ending.

The Audience Finds Out Why Women Kill

The show has one of the most memorable titles of any recent TV series, but it's also one that poses a question to viewers — why do women kill? The season one finale answered this question spectacularly after a build-up of nine episodes, culminating in three deaths at the hands of the show's leading ladies, directly and indirectly. While the three kills weren't as brutal as those from shows like How To Get Away With Murder, they still had a thrilling factor to them.

Beth Ann's well-thought-out plan to get her husband killed was motivated by revenge. Simone's act was less murderous, motivated instead by her love for Karl. Taylor's reason for stabbing Jade was self-defense after Jade had stabbed Eli and tried to kill her too. That same style is used in the second season of the series as well as the season builds to the women at the center of the story deciding to kill the antagonists in their lives.

Why Women Kill Maintained Its Style Until The End

The show may have some incredibly satisfying twists and turns in its narratives, but excellent storytelling isn't the only reason creator Marc Cherry's 2019 series gained so much hype when it arrived on CBS. One of the aspects of Why Women Kill that the audience loved from start to finish was the style of the characters in the series. By setting the stories of the series in different eras, the series was allowed to not only reflect the evolving place of women in society but also their evolving fashion.

While there were plenty of audience members who didn’t like the open-ended nature of many of the stories in each of the season finales of the anthology series, the finales didn’t shy away from the same fashion sense established in the premieres. That’s especially true for Alma in the season 2 finale who gets a glamorous red dress that mirrors Rita’s from the season 2 premiere.

Open-Ended Why Women Kill Endings

Does April Remain Oblivious?

While Why Women Kill did a great job at wrapping up most of its various plot threads, it also left several unanswered questions. In the season 1 finale, "Kill Me As If It Were The Last Time," a pregnant April finally learns the truth about Beth Ann's deception. While she was confronting Beth Ann in front of Rob, Ralph showed up brandishing a letter that claimed Rob was having an affair with his wife, Mary.

While Rob tried to dispute this, April picked up the discarded letter and read it. Like Ralph, April believed it was true and Rob died before he could tell the truth. It's possible April never found out the truth and went on with her life, believing that Rob had cheated on her too. It would explain why April forgave Beth Ann for her deception so easily and let her help raise her child.

Did Simone And Tommy Get Back Together?

The 1984 arc of Why Women Kill also left some unanswered questions by the conclusion, especially when it came to Simone's relationship with Tommy. At the time of Karl's death, Tommy had already gone to Paris. The only time Simone mentioned Tommy again was when she was giving Taylor and Eli the keys to the mansion and Eli recognized a painting by Tommy, who was now a famous artist.

It's not too far-fetched to think Simone and Tommy might have spent some time together after Karl's death. The artwork she owned by him was a small hint that they at least remained friends and stayed in touch, and she supported his career. The Why Women Kill season 1 ending, however, only offers the hint, instead of making anything clear. This was one of the few areas that many viewers felt the show missed a trick by not exploring further, as having some kind of closure for Simone and Tommy would have been an incredibly appropriate ending for her story after Karl's death.

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Eli & Taylor Become Monogamous

Polyamory and open relationships were a key theme of the 2019 arc of Why Women Kill, as the open marriage between Taylor and Eli was a key foundation for the twist-filled story that followed. When they married, Taylor and Eli had agreed on having an open marriage and everything had worked well enough until the Jade fiasco. Making Jade a semi-permanent member of their relationship opened up the doorway to many problems.

By the end of the finale, Taylor told Eli she wanted them to focus on each other for a while and work on their relationship alone. Whether that worked out for them down the line or if they reverted to an open marriage later is anyone's guess. Much like the final fates of Simone and Tommy in 1984, there are many viewers who felt that offering some clarity on whether Taylor and Eli decided to give monogamy a try or not would have been a more fitting ending than the ambiguity that Why Women Kill ultimately delivered.

Whatever Happened To Mary?

Mary was one of the most tragic characters in Why Women Kill, not only in the 1963 arc but in the show overall. It's surprising then that the show did a relatively poor job of providing proper closure for her story after Ralph's arrest. Apart from a brief clip of Mary spitting on a grave in the sixth episode (which, at the time, fans didn't know belonged to Ralph), there was nothing else about her life after his death.

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Ralph's arrest and subsequent death sentence had left her free at last, but what did she do with her new-found freedom? Getting therapy to work on the trauma from years of abuse would have been a logical choice for Mary's Why Women Kill ending. She also might have moved out of the house for a fresh start elsewhere.

Catherine’s Fate Is Left Up In The Air

The last time the audience saw Catherine was actually not in the Why Women Kill series finale, but in the episode before. Catherine accidentally shoots Bertram and Scooter when she’s really targeting Rita, and then, she makes a run for it. The finale only mentions that she continued to run and left her father’s home locked up.

The fate of Catherine is perhaps the greatest omission by the end of Why Women Kill, and it's genuinely perplexing why the show didn't follow up on her and clarify exactly what happened after she fled. The audience is left wondering if Catherine got away with her actions, if she was ever caught, or if she had to live the rest of her life on the run. Everyone is also left to wonder if she learns of Rita’s death and how she would have reacted to it since she wanted Rita dead in the first place.

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Will Women Keep Killing?

Some of the last scenes of the Why Women Kill season 1 finale showed how each house was passed on from one woman to the other. Taylor's story ended when she handed the keys over to a new couple. The last scene showed the woman reading a message on her husband's phone containing a provocative picture from another woman. She retrieved a rifle from one of the boxes, then pointed it at her boyfriend when he came down the stairs.

The scene ended with a gunshot, just before the credits rolled, setting the show up for a new season. Why Women Kill season 2, however, didn't use the exact same format of the first season. It also left even more open-ended stories for its characters than the first season, leaving Why Women Kill questions unanswered. Originally, the series was renewed for a third season for Paramount+, but the third season was scrapped before it went into production.

Why Women Kill

10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed Drama Crime Comedy Release Date 2019 - 2020 Showrunner Marc Cherry Directors David Warren, David Grossman Writers Marc Cherry, Mary Elizabeth Hamilton

Cast

See All

• Jack Davenport
• Kirby Howell-Baptiste
• Matthew Daddario
• Reid Scott

Seasons 2 Streaming Service(s) Paramount Plus Genres Drama, Crime, Comedy Powered by

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