Summary
The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2 ends as expected, with a weak and dopey finale that can’t resist a late sequel tease. Yuck.
There’s really only one big question swirling around the ending of The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2, which is who killed Kate. There are a couple of problems with this, though. One is that nobody really cares; we’ve never even met her. The other is that it’s blatantly obvious. There are only two candidates, and one is such a cartoonish dumbass that he could never have pulled it off.
With these two problems, Episode 8, “Souvenirs d’enfance”, is already a non-starter as far as finales go. There’s just nothing else to really worry about. Hannah and Owen’s wannabe spy adventures aren’t relevant anymore, since whether Teddy is able to get into bed with the syndicate is of no real importance, especially with Frank having been killed. We know who the bad guys are, even if one is subtler than the other. Bailey cannot stop being annoying, and Hannah and Owen’s relationship isn’t especially compelling. With nothing to latch onto, the climax is simply a case of going through the motions, which is probably fitting considering the entire season has felt like that, too.
Quinn Takes Charge
In case it wasn’t already obvious that Quinn was the only Campano with even a modicum of sense and competency, the early stages of this finale prove it. They’re also pulling double duty, establishing Quinn’s ruthlessness so we have something like a Big Bad for the run-in, but don’t worry about that too much, since it’s completely undermined by the direction the ending takes.
In the meantime, though, Quinn takes over the business that Teddy was haphazardly running. Her bank sale doesn’t go through, so instead she contacts a woman who we’re to understand is the key player in another criminal syndicate who is willing to offer the Campanos protection. The Syndicate will be willing to let the missing money slide rather than start a war. For all Teddy’s posturing, it took Quinn one phone call to sort everything out. She probably should have done that before their dad got gunned down, but everyone seems pretty willing just to let bygones be bygones.
The Counter Play
In the suitcase in Nicholas’s hotel room, Hannah and Owen discover a treasure trove of kompromat that implicates all of the Campanos and their associates, including Nicholas. The dilemma then becomes whether they use it to threaten Quinn, thus implicating Nicholas, or bide time to come up with another solution. Since Nicholas is being held captive by Teddy, they can’t ask him what he’d prefer, so they have to gamble.
That’s what they choose. Hannah contacts Delia Fisher in the U.S. Attorney’s office to tell her she can take down the Campanos, and they send Quinn half the stolen money via a courier, with a note explaining that if she wants the rest, she needs to meet Hannah at a designated place and time. However, Fisher takes this information to Maris at the U.S. Marshals office, so Quinn learns about the plan and the secret dark web server, stripping Hannah of her negotiating power.
Since the kompromat doesn’t implicate Quinn, and the missing money problem has already been solved, Hannah realises that she has nothing to bargain with. Her only option is to hand Owen over. Quinn still blames him for everything, including Kate’s death, and she’s implementing a new “no loose ends” policy in the family business. It’s take it or leave it.
Who Killed Kate?
Bailey has the bright, albeit naïve idea of trying to appeal to Quinn’s better nature, since she’s still convinced that they’re basically the best of friends. She’s also still struggling with hazy flashbacks that she believes might hold the key to what really happened to her mother. In this, at least, she’s kind of right.
When Hannah and Bailey go to see Quinn again, Hannah realises that Quinn isn’t covering for Teddy – she’s covering for herself. Bailey parses her memories and realises that Quinn was pushing her on a swing on the day that her mother was killed. Quinn was there because she had organised the hit on Kate. Or sort of, anyway. Kate had confided in her about her intention to turn rat, and Quinn had had to think of a solution. She instructed one of her father’s men to scare her. However, Bailey ran out into the road, causing him to swerve and hit Kate. Her death was an accident, but Quinn was responsible for it.
Feeling guilty at this sudden admission, Quinn agrees to let Owen and Bailey go. This is extremely weird and doesn’t at all mesh with the real ending of The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2, which finds Quinn in her father’s seat, making a call to tie up some of those loose ends after all. It’s like a happy ending, sharing space with a fervent need to panhandle for Season 3. I sincerely hope that we don’t get one.
