Summary
Feedback subverts expectations by reworking the show’s central mystery as another facet of the character study, providing a brutal resolution to Marcin’s story.
The ending of Feedback Season 1 is a quietly brilliant thing. After four episodes of build-up surrounding what happened to Piotr, the son of a disgraced former rockstar and recovering alcoholic named Marcin, Episode 5 reveals the truth of what happened to him and, in so doing, reveals that the whole thing was really about Marcin himself. Despite masquerading as a typical thriller, Feedback is a character study, and a warts-and-all exploration of alcoholism that, here in the finale, isn’t afraid to be wincingly brutal.
Feedback Season 1 Episode 5 Recap
Things begin with Marcin still operating under the assumption that Piotr was murdered for what he knew about the tenants’ association, his death staged to look like a suicide. When he’s dragged away by Slawek and forced to drink, Marcin doubles down on his accusations towards Slawek, Barti, Wrona, and Tomeczek. He blames them for everything from assaulting Jadzia to hanging Piotr in the woods.
Who got Piotr the job?
Slawek, seemingly confused about Marcin’s outlandish accusations, reveals that it was Zbyszek who recommended Piotr for the job. Throughout Marcin’s entire life, Zbyszek has been profiting from him, never giving him credit for his contributions to the band’s music and sitting pretty on the royalties while Marcin’s life spiraled out of control. Now, it seems like he has shifted focus to Piotr as a way to punish Marcin even further.
While Slawek acknowledges that Piotr did turn against the organization and try to expose their various scams, he seems clueless about Piotr’s death. Marcin, now drunk, begins to believe that Zbyszek has been responsible for everything.
Why doesn’t Marcin kill Zbyszek?
After the interrogation, Marcin is dropped back with Asia, still very drunk. When he wakes up the next morning, though, he remembers everything, especially the revelations about Zbyszek. Even though Asia tries to talk him out of it, he heads to Zbyszek’s place and tries to force a confession out of him by tying him up and threatening him. Just as Marcin is about to stab Zbyszek to death, Cezary calls with news that Piotr’s phone has been found containing a message for Marcin.
Inadvertently, Cezary saved Zbyszek’s life by calling at that moment and presumably spared Marcin another trauma by preventing him from committing a crime that he would ultimately live to regret.
What happened to Piotr?
Piotr’s message lays out the particulars of what happened to him, interspersed with flashbacks so we can follow along with his story. He starts by recalling what happened at the restaurant and then leads us into the woods with him, where he ultimately takes his own life — an act which he explicitly blames his father for.
To be fair, in the flashbacks, it’s not hard to see why Piotr would be fed up with Marcin. He was wasted during their conversation in the restaurant, and in Piotr’s lowest moments, his father had no interest in listening to him or helping him. Since Piotr can’t get a word in edgewise, he reiterates to Marcin how he has made him feel over the years; how his alcoholism and the abuses stemming from it have ruined Piotr’s life. The conversation devolves into an argument, which is why the two are thrown out of the restaurant.
After being ejected, Marci tries to follow Piotr, but the son pushes his father away and leaves. Marcin follows, and in another scuffle, punches Piotr. Piotr pushes Marcin face-first into a shutter, causing the facial injuries he woke up with at the start of the season. Eventually, Piotr left on a train, where he started to record his final message, and while Marcin tried to follow, he was unable to.
Has Marcin been drunk the entire time?
Hearing the extent to which Piotr hated him, the depth of his disgust for everything he did and stood for, Marcin is devastated. So, he does what he always does. He goes for a drink. And it’s there that he suddenly remembers everything. He has been drunk the entire time.
This is the big twist of Feedback. Marcin has never been sober. In all the previous episodes, he was drunk. He was imagining his efforts at sobriety. He was imagining turning down drinks. He imagined half the plot, including Barti and Wrona, and it was him who assaulted Jadzia.
Marcin’s brain is so addled from the alcohol that he fused chunks of his memories to the present day, imagining people he once knew as present in his life, and papering over his continuing mistakes with fantasies. He drove his son to suicide, and now he has to live with that.
How does Feedback Season 1 end?
Feedback ends with Marcin returning to his support group and confessing to everyone that he has been lying the entire time about being sober. In so doing, he has violated their most essential tenets and made a mockery of the entire process.
The group takes a vote on whether Marcin will be allowed to stay, and he closes his eyes while they do so. When he opens them, the show ends, and we never find out how they voted.
What did you think of Feedback Season 1 Episode 5 and the ending? Let us know in the comments.
