What a truly mindblowing (or should we say head-smashing) ending to Season 1 of Scarpetta.
Eight episodes, two timelines, and one twisty mystery later, we finally know who is responsible for the brutal murders of the women in the show and how Dr. Kay Scarpetta (Nicole Kidman) and Pete Marino (Bobby Cannavale) crack the whole case wide open.
As for Dorothy (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Lucy (Ariana Debose), we also get to see this mother-daughter pair finally begin to bury the hatchet and move on after Janet’s (Janet Montgomery) death and Lucy’s reliance on an AI version of her dead wife just to survive. But who unplugged Janet, taking Lucy’s dead wife — or at least the artificial version — from her permanently? That remains to be seen.
In the shocking Season 1 finale, while many questions are answered, even more are asked and left open-ended, including whether or not Benton (Simon Baker) and Scarpetta will stay together, who unplugged Janet, and who is at the door in the very final scene? So much suspense, we can hardly stand it!
Keep reading for a full breakdown of that Season 1 ending of Scarpetta…
Heading into Episode 8 of the Prime Video adaptation, which is based on the best-selling Patricia Cornwell book series, Scarpetta and Marino had yet to figure out who was responsible for the present-day murders that resembled the murders from 30 years prior. While Marino spent much of the first season tracking down Matt Petersen (Anson Mount) and roughing him up to try and find out if he’s responsible for the murders, it ultimately ends up being someone completely different who is going around and committing the murders.
In the last few minutes of Episode 8, Scarpetta discovers that it’s Officer Ryan (David Hornsby) who has been going around killing women. He was first turned on to sadomasochism after seeing the body of one of the earlier murderers’ killings as a young child, which led him to pursue that high as an adult and to kill Gwen Hainey and Cami Ramada.
In the earlier timeline, we find out that after piecing together the mystery and discovering it was a 911 operator, Roy McCorkle (Martin De Boer), who was responsible for the murders, Scarpetta races over to his home and is nearly killed herself. Luckily, before McCorkle can choke her to death, Scarpetta grabs a sharp-edged object and stabs him in the neck, slitting his throat and leading him to bleed out.
Even luckier, Pete arrives at the scene after Scarpetta gave him a call and told him to meet her at McCorkle’s house, and shoots the murderer in the neck twice, making it look like he killed McCorkle. The two are then able to sell a story that Pete arrived at the scene and heard a woman screaming, and rushed in to kill him.
In the last scene of Season 1, Dr. Kay Scarpetta is chased through her house by Officer Ryan who is revealed to be the copycat killer. He breaks into her home with the intention of killing her like he did the other two women, made easier now that Dorothy and Pete are at a hotel, Lucy is off of her own after Janet’s “death,” and Benton being separated from Scarpetta.
While running around the house and hiding from Officer Ryan, Scarpetta is able to locate a bat and jump out, surprising him and knocking him down. Officer Ryan falls down the stairs and Scarpetta proceeds to bludgeon him repeatedly, smashing in his head and adding another death to her record. In the final seconds, she looks up, horrified, as someone stands at the door and looks at her, bloody bat in hand and body underneath her.
Bad news, friends, we don’t know yet who is standing at the door. While it’s implied that it’s someone who could put Scarpetta in a bad situation, we’re thinking it’s likely that Pete or Benton is standing there and is going to help her clean up the body. We will just have to wait and see when they get around to filming Season 2.
The first season of Scarpetta is now streaming on Prime Video.
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