Summary
A beautiful performance from Zoe Saldana, who gives the episode various emotions, along with some gigantic emotional heft and a heart-swelling release.
We recap Netflix’s From Scratch season 1, episode 8, “Aftertastes,” and the ending, so it will contain spoilers.
After an episode that can be considered the calm before the storm or the disaster itself, the From Scratch finale is the aftermath where Amy and her family try to put all the pieces back together. It’s a beautiful performance from Zoe Saldana, who gives the episode various emotions, along with some gigantic emotional heft and a heart-swelling release. So how does Amy find happiness after such emotional turmoil — the From Scratch ending gives us some idea.
From Scratch season 1, episode 8 recap – the ending explained: how does Amy find happiness?
Lino (played by Eugenio Mastrandrea) has finally succumbed to his seven-year fight with cancer. As you remember, when they had to beat cancer for the first time, the lovebirds didn’t want to wait to start a family. They would have to wait a few years if they wanted to do it naturally with IUI or IVF, so they decided to adopt. Seven years later, cancer spread to his lungs, and his liver started to fail. Before he died, he asked his wife Amy to take his questions back to Sicily.
At first, Amy is stuck in a phase of depression. She hasn’t left her room in weeks after Lino’s funeral and, as her sister points out, has not showered either. Amy is still hurting but manages to function, taking one step at a time. She has avoided returning his ashes home to his mother and sister but eventually relents. When Amy arrives with Idalia, Lino’s family is ready to mourn and grieve. A priest comes over, and the mother and sister begin to wail as his ashes sit on the table. The scene is so emotional; Amy has to take her daughter to the bedroom.
Meanwhile, Amy is the subject of gossip around town. Why? Because she is not the typical mourning widow. She is not wearing black, and she doesn’t look like them. However, they weren’t there to see her grieve in Los Angeles. Filomena is also putting pressure on Amy to stay longer and possibly move there. Or, at the very least, return annually. They begin to form a better relationship. Lino’s mother also offers her, as the family of her oldest son, the deed to the property and home. This wag, Amy, and Idalia have a home there as well.
Amy does not want to accept at first, and staying for Lino’s procession is starting to weigh her mind. When walking through the family fields, they come across a goat farmer. He tells them the story of how Lino’s father planted those trees and how he would play soccer with his friend even though he didn’t have the correct shoes. That’s right; they have met Tonino! The star of Lino’s childhood bedtime stories!
The show ends with Amy’s family and Lino’s friends arriving from America for the procession. They cook a family feast that Lino outlined in the journal from his beloved Amy. While eating, she tells her mother-in-law she accepts the property. (Something tells me Filomena will be upset once Amy sells the land to Starbucks or McDonalds). They return to the house, and the elder shows Amy where the clothes she wants to be buried are. Why? So both her daughters know where they are. Filomena follows up that sweet moment by telling Amy that the marriage to her son was, “you two were like two forks eating off the same plate.”
The ending
The series ends with Amy walking about the family land. She is overcome with emotion and finally feels not only at peace but appears to feel at home. Amy opens the locket that holds a tiny amount of Lino’s ashes in front of her lips. She gently blows the amount away as it dissipates all over the family property—ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
This is all while Amy looks back fondly at the memories together. In Florence, their marriage and the procession. She begins to become tearful and emotionally says, “You’re home.”
What did you think of the ending of From Scratch season 1, episode 8?
