Summary
Looking for Alaska Season 1 Episode 8, “It’s Very Beautiful Over There” presents the character’s coming to terms with the tragedy by looking for answers.
This recap of Hulu Series Looking for Alaska Season 1 Episode 8, “It’s Very Beautiful Over There” contains significant spoilers. You can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.
With the discovery that she drove fast and straight in the last episode, the crew look into signs of suicide. The emotional stress placed on them to figure out the truth is evident. They are determined to find an answer.
They even speak to the cop who witnessed Alaska (Kristine Froseth) die — he explained she did not use the brakes, and there was no opportunity for any last words. Alaska died on impact.
And the pranks and mischief continue — Miles, The Colonel, and Takumi visit The Eagle in Episode 8. While distracting his new girlfriend, Takumi steals the breathalyzer. They plan to get The Colonel drunk to the same point as Alaska to try and determine how she felt at the time. The experiment failed, with The Colonel barely able to walk; an indication of how bad Alaska was.
And then a question comes to Miles — why did she leave with plastic daisies to her car? He rings Jake, and he explained when he met her for the first time near a bridge, she had a plastic daisy in her hair and she was drunk.
Miles and The Colonel figure out that it was the anniversary of her mother’s death, on the same day she met Jake, and when she realized she had forgotten, that is what drove her to drive out. But Takumi serves his friends a cold reality — no-one will ever truly know why Alaska died or why she acted in the way she did.
Over Christmas, Miles breaks down in front of his mother, declaring that he does not want it to get easier, that he does not want to forget Alaska. He rings The Colonel and lets him know that he is not going back to Culver Creek, as he can’t bear seeing Spring knowing Alaska will not witness it. Dr Hyde visits The Colonel, and helps him grieve — The Colonel lets it all out; tears, anger, everything.
Miles does return to Culver Creek, and there is a memorial for Alaska — the organization decides to honor her by providing a park bench in her name. The Colonel, Miles, Lara, and Takumi decide to do one last prank for Alaska — they ask the shop assistant to come in and pretend to be a professor and do a speech. The speech he delivers is about sexual attraction between men and women, and then Sara and Lara scream, “take off your clothes”. He starts stripping to music, and so does the entire audience. The Eagle secretly tells them that he was amused.
Looking for Alaska Season 1 Episode 8, “It’s Very Beautiful Over There” closes the story with Miles coming to terms with the loss of Alaska, narrating about forgiveness and never knowing what truly happened. Miles and The Colonel visit the place she died and hug it out.
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