Summary
The Boroughs can’t resist ending with a Season 2 tease, but the finale still provides a satisfying and emotionally resonant conclusion.
With a bit of relief, I’m happy to tell you that the ending of The Boroughs sticks the landing. Sure, it can’t quite resist teasing Season 2, which we’ll get to down below, but it’s not done in such an obnoxious way that it suggests the finale only exists for that purpose. Instead, there’s a proper plot and emotional payoff, with virtually every loose end tied up and arc resolved, with the obvious exception of Sam’s… let’s say mysterious fate. But, again, more on that below.
Here, instead of a garden-variety “this is what happened” recap, I’ll instead endeavour to answer all of the obvious burning questions about how the show works and what its various plot elements entail. And, naturally, I’ll speculate on Season 2 anyway, since that’s clearly part of the intention given how Episode 8 leaves things. Onward!
Oh, Mother
When we first got a glimpse of Mother in the penultimate episode, we were surprised to see that she looked almost human. She’s not, of course, but the idea is that she has become human over time thanks to subsisting on a diet of brain fluid, in a mirror to how Blaine and Anneliese, at least in their “true” forms, have become slightly monstrous over the years (you can see this in the long, clawed hands and that sort of thing).
Importantly, it’s established very clearly that Mother isn’t a villain. She was kidnapped from her egg, which was discovered by Blaine, and used as a tool for nefarious purposes her entire life. But she has been reaching out to people telepathically for years in an effort to summon their help, and aside from Jack’s accidental death, nobody has actually been directly killed by her or her children.
In actual fact, Mother’s purpose in the finale is to die, which gives her an entirely different contour. For large parts of “Triple Audible”, she becomes a comic relief device as the gang, notably Wally, attempts to sneak her out through the Manor.
Assisted Suicide
Mother wants to die in the Cave of Wonders, which she communicates to Sam telepathically. This is the cave with the peach tree that Art discovered and is apparently where Mother was born. Her children have prepared the place for her arrival. It’s just up to Sam and the others to get her there.
To buy themselves time, Sam and Claire use the TV weapon – which Claire got working due to her engineering nous – to kill Anneliese and badly wound Blaine, although notably he survives and follows Sam to the cave. With Sam’s permission, even though the resultant explosion may kill him, Mother dies, turning into a wave of light that kills Blaine and, by rights, should have killed Sam.
However, as a thank-you, Mother allows Sam some time with his late wife, Lilly, in a kind of pocket dimension. This is difficult to explain, since it’s a memory that’s personal to Sam, but Lilly is also cognizant of what’s happening, meaning it isn’t just a redo of Lilly’s death scene, which we’ve seen several times. We already know that Mother perceives time differently, so she could have cast Sam and Lilly back to the same point temporarily, but she could just as easily be using her telepathy to show Sam what he wants to see and allow him to achieve some measure of closure.
What’s the Deal with the Tree in the Cave of Wonders?
While we’re in the cave, we might as well discuss the tree. This is where Art found the magical peach that gave him temporary youth, working in the exact same way as Mother’s blood. But the origins of the tree are never explained.
We can obviously infer that the tree and Mother are connected, given that both provide eternal life. She also claims to have been born there, though it’s unclear whether she predates the tree or vice versa. It also seems like the tree was withering at about the same rate that Mother herself was being drained of her life force due to her blood being siphoned off. That one remaining peach implied that Mother – and the tree – were close to the end of their respective lives. Once that was gone, the end was near.
Ultimately, though, we don’t have a concrete explanation for how the tree and its fruit actually work in relation to Mother.
Sam’s Reflection Glitching Sets Up Season 2
In the very final shot of the season, after everything else has been resolved, we see Sam hosting a barbecue in his home in the Boroughs. The ending opens the door for Season 2, though, by showing Sam’s reflection glitching in the mirror, suggesting that something is afoot following his experiences with Mother and the Cave of Wonders.
We’ve seen these glitches before, notably in Sam’s visions of Lilly, which we now know was Mother attempting to communicate. Sam’s glitching may indicate that Mother remains alive in some way and is attempting to communicate, but it might also indicate that he’s being projected as a kind of image to the others, in the same way that Lilly was to him. Perhaps he died in that cave after all.
Either way, you can virtually guarantee that this would form the building blocks of where the narrative might go in the event of Season 2.
Where Things Stand
On the subject of Season 2, there are still plenty of directions it might go in, given that all the characters survive and end up in pretty fruitful places.
Judy almost bought the bullet after being stabbed by Anneliese, but she was able to survive thanks to Mother’s intervention, and in the final scene of the finale, she’s alive and well. She and Art also seem to be back on the same page, which is nice. Wherever this cast goes next, Judy and Art will be going together.
Likewise, Renee and Paz now seem to be an official item, with the former finally taking what was earlier implied to be the latest in a string of relationships with much younger men unusually seriously. They’re even going on a trip to Italy, though whether they’ll be taking Wally with them is anyone’s guess.
Wally is the big red flag, since Mother’s demise means that he’s once again dying of cancer. However, this could quite easily be explained away by saying that drinking Mother’s blood caused the cancer to go into remission, or something along those lines. I feel sure that if The Boroughs returns for Season 2, Wally will need to be there.
Either way, the Boroughs is, by all accounts, still in business, though it’s impossible to tell whether someone is running it or it has become self-sufficient, operated entirely by the residents. Maybe that’ll come up in a second season, too. Until then, maybe it’s just better to enjoy ourselves while we can.
