This article contains spoilers for the Japanese Netflix series Burn the House Down Season 1 Episode 8. It also contains spoilers for the ending of Burn the House Down Season 1.
Burn the House Down is a Japanese Netflix drama focusing on a very common theme – revenge.
Anzu (Mei Nagano, charming and enigmatic) watched her family home go up in flames when she was young. Her mother, Satsuki, apparently left the stove on. All her material possessions were lost and, soon afterward, her family broke apart. Satsuki developed generalized amnesia, and her husband, Osamu, married her former best friend Makiko. The two of them now live in the same house, which has been restored.
Working with her sister Yuzu, Anzu adopts the identity of Shizuka Yamauchi and gets a job as Makiko’s housekeeper.
Across the show’s eight episodes, many developments follow, with Anzu conducting a personal investigation into the circumstances of the fire, which she’s convinced Makiko had a hand in. The events come to a head in the eighth and final episode, so let’s unpack the who’s, what’s, why’s, when’s and how’s of the show’s most essential mysteries.
Burn the House Down Season 1 Ending Explained
Who is arrested for starting the fire?
One of the most vital relationships in the series is the one between Anzu and Makiko’s reclusive son Kiichi.
With the extent of Makiko’s deception now exposed, her husband Osamu’s reputation is in tatters. He blames his wife and her sons for everything, proving once again that his own and his hospital’s public standing is more important to him than anything else.
Kiichi is understandably pushed towards Anzu, with whom he has a close connection and has since childhood. He moves in with her, and later takes her on a date that echoes their time spent together while younger, staring up at he stars.
However, after Osamu reports Makiko’s crime to the police and the case is reopened, Kiichi turns himself in and is arrested for the crime despite Makiko’s confession.
Who really started the fire?
This, needless to say, is the biggest question swirling around Burn the House Down.
All throughout the season Anzu, and thus the audience, have suspected Makiko in the arson that destroyed Anzu’s family and home, and there has been plenty of evidence to support that theory – particularly a very specific cardigan that Makiko stole from Satsuki.
It was this stealing, this desire for a “better” life, that was at the root of everything in the first place. Before Makiko could atone for what she had done by returning the things she stole, the cardigan included, the house had already burned down.
Makiko believed that Kiichi had committed arson to cover up her theft, so she protected him in return. However, as we’ve seen, his isolation hardly constitutes being protected on any level.
However, it subsequently emerges that it wasn’t Kiichi who started the fire, but his brother, Shinji, who had returned to the Mitarai house to return Satsuki’s cardigan and ended up starting the fire by accident. He fled and never told anyone what happened, but Kiichi, having figured it out, took the blame to protect him.
What happens to Shinji at the end of Burn the House Down?
Shinji is repentant after his confession. He apologizes to Anzu and Yuzu, and subsequently to Satsuki, who promises not to hold a grudge against him.
Since Shinji was a minor at the time, he can’t be legally punished, though his confession exonerates Kiichi, who is released by the police.
Ultimately, Shinji gets a second chance to work with Osamu at the hospital, which is still light on staff after the scandal.
Do Anzu and Kiichi end up together?
There are happy endings for virtually all of the characters.
Satsuki returns home with her memory intact. Yuzu gets a job, and Makiko even begins to repair her damaged public reputation (though can’t preserve her marriage.)
However, of particular concern is the fate of Anzu and Kiichi. With their love for each other confessed and reciprocated, they move in together, and three months later remain together in a much better place.
You can stream Burn the House Down Season 1 Episode 8 exclusively on Netflix. What did you think of the ending of Burn the House Down Season 1? Let us know in the comments.
