Summary
The ending of Losing Alice raises the boundaries of art and what one must do to achieve their vision — “The End” ends the thrilling series on a high note, showing the trust cost of Alice’s film and what it truly meant to the character, bringing forth dark consequences.
This recap of Apple TV+ series Losing Alice season 1, episode 8, “The End” — ending explained — contains spoilers.
We suspected in the last episode that Alice had finally reached her peak — it was her director’s vision over everything; her marriage, children, friendship, and even her sanity. After that voyeuristic chapter, the ending of Losing Alice season 1 delves into the cost of a true director’s cut — “The End” merges reality with art. I can imagine some filmmakers watching this and experiencing a serious self-reflection.
“The End” opens with the following text:
“Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates life” – Oscar Wilde.
The first scene in “The End” shows a highly confident Alice putting on a gorgeous white dress. Sophie hugs her from behind. They are happy with how they got here. However, when Alice looks in the mirror again, Sophie is not there. She’s alone, and there’s a tinge of sadness on her face, foreshadowing what’s to come.
Was it worth it?
“The End” flits to the press conference at the Cannes film festival for film Room 209. David says that his wife got what she wanted, with no compromises, hinting that she took it to the very end. David also claims that they did not separate because of the film (we know that’s a lie). Answering a journalist, Alice states that to make a film, you need to sacrifice a part of yourself and that the film meant a lot to her. She gets emotional when she talks about the people she loves — “Sometimes the people you love get hurt on the way”. A journalist asks if it was worth it, and she smiles.
But that is the true question that will leave audiences pondering even after the end — was it worth it?
Finishing the production
The episode then flits to the production. The actress for Dana questions part of the script, but Sophie raises the importance of it. In the scene, Dana points the gun at her head, just like at the start of the series. There’s a lot of buzz in the room; there’s a feeling this is going to be a masterpiece. Alice is happy to cut out certain scenes with Eleanor at the amusement park with the budget running out.
The bathroom talk
And it’s cutting out the amusement park that tips Sophie over the edge — throughout the series, we’ve toiled who is the psychotic one, and episode 8 gives that answer.
In a club, Sophie and David dance with each other as Alice sits, drinks and watches. Alice walks away and heads into the bathroom — Sophie joins her. She confronts her about cutting out the amusement park scenes, but Alice says they had an executive decision due to the budget. Sophie believes she’s ruining it and raises how she supported her to make this film when no-one else would let her. She feels she is ruining it like a 5-year-old child with jealousy.
Alice then raises how she knows Sophie didn’t write the script and saw Naomi’s short film. She wonders where Naomi is, and Sophie gets angry and states she cannot wait to finish the film — she’s exhausted with all the accusations of murder and Alice’s paranoia. Alice screams back, claiming she cannot wait for it to be over either, screeching in Sophie’s face. As Sophie walks off, she says, “No wonder your husband enjoyed coming inside of me so much”. Ouch, that hit.
Mixing art with reality
Let’s segway a little before we get into the pivotal moment of the ending — we could theories that due to Sophie’s youth and freedom, Alice imagined the writer to be a monster, but only because she wanted that freedom and youth herself — hence why she was desperate to do the film. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but everything pieces together in these last two chapters. This really is Alice’s world.
In the hotel room, Alice tries to get comfortable. However, she hears a noise. Scenes then flit with Dana with balloons in the corridor from the film and approaches Room 209. The scene then flits to Sophie, hiding in the corridor, breathing shakily as the scenes unfold. In reality, as Alice leaves her hotel room, a gunshot can be heard. The next scene shows a wounded body on the bed, and David is devastated, but part of the film. He asks Sophie why she didn’t stop what happened. Pnina is put in the back of a police car. The film and reality are merging.
What really happened is that, in real life, Pnina shot Sophie at the hotel; however, the scenes were diluted between the film and reality to signify how far this project had gone in Alice’s mind to the point she was lost for the sake of art, which led to Sophie getting hurt.
The hospital
In the next scene, Alice apologises for what happened to Sophie to her parents at the hospital. She tells the mother that they suspected that Pnina was in the hotel the day before. As Alice steps back, the mother is emotionally frustrated, stating they practically adopted Naomi because her mother was unstable. Alice can then see Sophie dancing with a hospital gown at the end of the corridor.
And the best director goes too…
And Alice gets all the success for putting her all into the film…
Episode 8 flits to the premiere of Room 209. And then to the photoshoots an award ceremony. Meanwhile, Sophie is in hospital in a critical state. On the television, Alice wins the best director for the film at an awards ceremony. Sophie’s boyfriend, Ami, is delighted for her while he speaks to her in a coma. A single tear rolls down her cheek. That is her work, and it was deemed her best writing, and she wasn’t even there to celebrate it.
Come home, Alice?
After the ceremony, David visits Alice in her hotel room. She asks him to come in and pours him a drink. They raise a whiskey at each as a toast. Alice hints that her award is in the sea, which is why she’s drenched. David raises how they’ve been through a lot and kneels next to her, and they kiss. As it gets intense, Alice backs off and begins to cry. She blames everything on her self.
David tells her that not everything is her fault, and things happen — “But that’s it. The movie is over. Can you come home now?”. Scenes flit to a happy family as both parents hug their kids. But then it returns to the hotel room, and there’s a slight sadness. We can assume that Alice never returned to her family, and she merely imagined what it could have been.
The ending
Losing Alice season 1, episode 8 ends with one more answer — did Sophie kill Naomi? At this point, we already know, but it’s important to understand Alice’s reaction when she finds out.
On the train, a woman speaks to Alice, who recognises her as a director — it feels exactly like when Sophie confronted her in episode 1. Alice also recognises the woman — it’s Naomi. Naomi says she watched the film and she’s amazed Sophie used the whole story. Alice asks about her short film that’s identical in the script. Naomi says it was Sophie’s idea, and she had to submit something, so she gave her a scene she’d written. Alice is in disbelief and can barely talk. It was Sophie’s script, and it was not stolen.
The scene flits to Sophie in a coma, in the hospital, with the medical machines beeping.
In the end, the film cost Alice everything, and yet, there’s still a sneaking suspicion that from her directorial perspective, it was worth it.
The ending of Losing Alice season 1 raises the boundaries of art and what one must do to achieve their vision — episode 8 ends the thrilling series on a high note, showing the trust cost of Alice’s film and what it truly meant to the character, bringing forth dark consequences.
