Goliath Recap: A Perfectly Directed Finale Wonderful Storytelling
Summary
Goliath Season 3, Episode 8, “Joy Division”, marks the perfect end to a well-crafted season with all the story strands coming together wonderfully.
This recap of Amazon Series Goliath Season 3, Episode 8, “Joy Division” contains spoilers. You can read our recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.
There’s always a stand-out episode in Goliath. Last season it was the penultimate episode, “Diablo Verde”, that grew in tension as the chapter wore on. This season it’s the finale. It’s not the tension that’s the unique selling point in Episode 8; it’s how it weaves all the stories together to make a profound bow for Season 3. “Joy Division” is wonderful television and perfectly directed.
Episode 8 starts with Patty (Nina Arianda) and Britanny (Tania Raymonde) investigating Federal land after receiving a tip. They learn that the water routes set up by Diana go right through Federal land, which is illegal. While Patty and Britanny uncover the truth, Stephanie asks Diana where her father is. A flashback reveals Diana brutally murdered him for not complying with her business idea — Anton removes his thumb so Diana can get access to the casino.
Back on Federal Land and it’s just a coincidence that Billy has been flushed by the water route to where Britanny and Patty are. It was a great scene, with the camera panning on to the entrance to the water route, and as he lifts the lid, his two friends are in the background looking at a map. The trio concludes that the Blackwoods have stolen water from Federal lands. As they see the evidence, another coincidence occurs — a construction company blows up the water pipes.
With the tunnels dealt with, Wade frets and asks Diana if there are any loose ends on the tunnels. She mocks him, calling him weak, so Wade plays the toaster game where he plugs the toaster near the bath and makes some toast. Their sibling relationship in Season 3 has been nothing short of compelling. I don’t think it’s intended that audiences ever figure it out.
Billy and Patty take the Federal land evidence to Judge Boyd, but Wade’s Attorney Sumi claim the tunnels are linked to Fer-De-Lance — Diana’s business. Judge Boyd smugly rejects it as it is not his jurisdiction and it needs to be raised to Federal Courts. After, Billy sends Denise the documents linking Marisol to the state water deal and asks her to run with it.
Billy and Patty’s next move is speaking to Rochelle Purple, one of the plaintiffs who has ended up in the hospital severely injured — she is suffering the brunt of Diana’s backlash. Rochelle provides audio where Wade talks about Diana and the Federal land which places both brother and sister in a spot where they could both go to prison. Billy plays the audio, and rather than entertain a Federal case, he asks for more zeroes to be planted at the end of a deal. They take the deal to Judge Boyd who announces that it is a secret settlement. Billy and Patty’s clients are now millionaires. In the end, it was such a comfortable, sweet victory.
But that’s not all. Billy’s offspring continues the momentum — Denise leaks Marisol’s NDA agreement to a reporter, and she is forced to resign before it becomes a media investigation. Marisol immediately asks for her lawyer. Let’s hope this gives much-needed closure for Denise who was affected by the events of last season. Denise saddeningly saw Marisol as a role model.
In what was probably the most emotionally effective scene, Patty goes to meet Christina Lukin, her birth mother, in Episode 8, “Joy Division”. Patty goes to her house, and when she finally meets Christina, she acts as a realtor trying to persuade her to sell her house. It’s clear how they both look at each other that they know what is going on. It was subtly touching and added another dynamic to Patty, who wears her heart on her sleeve on specific subjects. Christina engages with Patty further, asking her to return to the house after Patty drives away.
Goliath Season 3, Episode 8, “Joy Division” ends with various strands of the story coming to completion; Billy goes to see Gene and lets him know that Wade will buy his property for $2 million whenever he’s ready. Billy may not have been able to get revenge for Bobbi’s death, but he at least gave her husband some peace. Wade kills himself, and as Billy walks of the bar, Diana shoots Billy with a shotgun. When Diana drives off, Stephanie rides alongside her on her motorbike and purposefully causes her to crash, which may have killed her.
The ending scene shows Billy trying to get up after Diana shot him. He looks at the puddle beneath him and sees a version of himself looking down on him. Billy looks up to the sky before placing his face back on the ground, and the camera zooms out bird’s-eye style.
I’m not sure if Billy is dead, but what an ending to the character that would be. All season he had discussed the possibility of his own death — predicting he would see himself before he died. Season 4 has not been renewed yet, but surely this is not it?
Drunken, Scrawly Notes
- Britanny didn’t get the job and wants a fresh start. She tells Billy to return to LA for Denise.
- Billy freaks out about Patty being pregnant. She will name her baby after him.
- Donald Cooperman fires Sumi, the lawyer who represented Wade.
You can read the season 1 review by clicking these words.
Daniel Hart is the Co-Founder of Ready Steady Cut and has operated as Editor-in-Chief since 2017.
Would be extremely disappointing if Cooperman is somehow alive and Billy dies. Certainly an improvement over Season 2. I hope there’s a 4th.
Thank You for the recap. I didn’t realize that Wade was poisoned. I would add that this season reminded me of Chinatown, one if my favorite films, which dealt with nefarious deals to divert water.
You referred to Rochelle Peoples as a plaintiff, Wasn’t she Diana’s financial advisor?
Rochelle turned on Diana after Diana tried to kill Rochelle with the tractor. I can’t remember why Diana got so mad
That tractor scene was so horrifying. I assumed Rochelle was dead. I must add that Patty is a wonderful character and the actress is marvelous, The earlier episode hallucination scenes were haunting..,the oversized moon and frenetic dance sequence,
Wade killed himself? I thought Diana got Joe’s heart-attack poison with the thumb and added it to Wade’s bourbon.
Ah good spot! I must have missed that.
The scene where Wade dies literally has the bottle of poison occupying the right third of the picture.
Yes Diana must have put that stuff she got at the casino with the thumb in his bourbon. I don’t see a character like Wade killing himself.
Yes, I had to make sure someone else caught that too!
So Diana gave Wade the poison because he asked for it or in case he wanted it? As a billionaire,
he could have found a way to leave the country and avoid
proscecution.
Diana put the poison in Wade’s bottle of Scotch or whatever it was. She killed her own brother.
@Harry Weiner
I think Wade had found a way to avoid prosecution in the Federal case by showing that he had no position in Fer de Lance, which was the only know operator in tunneling through Federal land.
He settled a CIVIL case with the residents of the county whom he and his board had deprived of water. It cost him only ¼ of his fortune, so he had no reason to kill himself.
He was not facing prosecution or imprisonment. Diana WAS, and rather that go to prison, she decided to kill herself in her automobile, but she also chose to take her brother, the Crow, and Billy with her so as not to lose the mutual war she and her brother declared on each other.
This season was so much better than season 2 and every bit as good as season 1. But this would be a terrible way to end the series. Please tell us Billy survives. And that it’s renewed for a 4th season!!
There is no news so far! But no news could be good news!
He lives because at first he sees his reflection in the rain puddle, and then it disappears — so since he can’t see himself he’s not going to die quite yet. Interesting about the bird’s eye view at that moment too, or should we say, crow’s eye view.
what is stopping silva from having her cartel brother kill denise
Hope there is a season 4 – love the show and the cast
Me too!
Rochelle wasn’t dead which was awesome
Wade offered $10 million not $2 million for Gene’s property. Love your recaps.
Good spot! And thank you, much appreciated!
Why no airbag deployment on Diana’s car? That bothered me for some reason
Bothered me too, unless Stephanie disabled it. Or maybe Little Crow chewed through the wiring…
What happened to wade and bobbi’s dog I hate loose ends!!
Crossword puzzle? It was something like “Hon, (speaking to the dead wife from the beginning of the show – and a Bobby Ex) what’s a (?6) letter word for Night Demon(?)” then she says, “I dunno. But you remember we’re dead, right?” Bobby, “It ends with an S if that helps?”
I think the answer – not remembering how many letters it was – is DREAMS?
It was a 7 letter word – incubus.
So with Wade dead, I guess poor Gene won’t be getting $10 million if he decides to sell.
If the terms of the sale were part of the settlement agreement, which they probably were, then the purchase would still go through with Wade’s estate. Hard to say where the chain of inheritance there is, though — didn’t see any younger relatives around.
I need a memory refresh. When and where was the subplot about Christina Lukin started? I have no recollection of anything in any of the three seasons leading up to the introduction of this character.
Diana, in an effort to either get on Patty’s good side or just play with her head, had a friend dig up the information about Patty’s birth mother. It was in a white envelope, which Patty rejected but later found on her doorstep. That’s how Patty knew to go to that address and ask for Christina Lukin by name.
Ahh… thanks. I failed to put 2 and 2 together on that one. I still can’t think of any logical reason why Diana would do that, though. Were we ever told that Patty doesn’t know who her birth mother is?
What was with the key that fell out of the owl when Billy broke it
I have the same question. And who gave him the owl?
I think they the owl was a gift left for him from the woman who died in the first episode. Her husband gave it to him. I was wondering what the group was smoking. Opium?
The owl was a posthumous gift from Bobbi, Gene’s wife and Billy’s ex-lover. She’s the woman who died by falling into the sinkhole. Gene had mentioned that Bobbi had been taking a ceramics class. The key is the key to Billy’s apartment back in college — when Bobbi left, she didn’t return the key; this was brought up in their flashback conversation. So it’s an emotional memento — it doesn’t unlock anything important any longer.
I thought that Wade was vulnerable to prosecution due to the State Attorney
General poised to investigate the Mayor and the secret summit deal.
And that Diana was run off the road, not a suicide.
Kinda difficult to run a large car off the road with a dirt bike.
Season 2 was so disappointing but Season 3 more than made up for it! Bringing in many of the characters from Seasons 1 and 2 was a great move. Can’t believe that a Season 4 won’t be made.
Who is The father of Pat’s baby?
Billy never made a mention of the fact that he found crow murdered by Diana and left in a water tunnel to anyone.
I don’t recall Billy addressing Joe’s apparent murder after having found him in the tunnel?