‘All Her Fault’: Michael Peña Breaks Down Detective Alcaras’ Unspoken Finale Decision

[Warning: This post contains MAJOR spoilers from All Her Fault.]

All Her Fault was filled with unexpected moments, but perhaps no twist was more shocking than Marissa Irvine (Sarah Snook) killing her husband, Peter (Jake Lacy), in the finale. After coming to terms with all of the horrible things Peter had done (including murdering multiple people and switching their dead newborn son with another child at the scene of a car accident), Marissa purposely ate something made with soy, which Peter is deathly allergic to, and kissed him so he would die from anaphylactic shock.

When Detective Alacaras (Michael Peña), the man who was investigating the kidnapping of Marissa and Peter’s son, Milo, figured out what Marissa had done and confronted her about it, she looked him in the eye and denied his allegations. But rather than pushing, Alcaras let it go and walked away, ultimately ruling Peter’s death as accidental.

“I remember when I was rehearsing it, I had such a hard time with [him] being like, ‘I’m OK with it,'” Peña tells TV Insider. “I’m like, ‘Is he?’ I really had to build a backstory and all that stuff out [and] the justification [for it]. What’s the greater good? And it’s like … that clearly is the greater good. So, yeah, I am OK with it. It’s for the greater good.”

Throughout the series, Peter’s true character was established, culminating in the reveal that he and Marissa were involved in a car accident with Milo’s kidnapper, Carrie (Sophia Lillis), five years earlier. When baby Milo was killed in the crash, Peter switched his dead baby out with Carrie’s newborn, who was alive in the backseat of her car. He and Marissa then raised that child as Milo, but Marissa had no idea what her husband had done.

Alcaras figured out Peter’s secret after learning that (present-day) Milo had synesthesia, a sensory condition “causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously.” Carrie was also diagnosed with synesthesia, which is genetic.

Sarah Enticknap/PEACOCK

Peña says he “loves” that Alcaras didn’t bring up the synesthesia connection to anyone else. “It’s like, what’s going to happen if he does? If he did what he was supposed to do, the kid would not be with his mom [who raised him] anymore,” Peña explains. “You clearly don’t want that ending. I love that [showrunner] Megan Gallagher supplied this guy with a lot of things to think about, and then, at the end of the day, he didn’t quite follow the law to keep it together.”

It wasn’t the only time Peña broke the law during the series. In fact, the entirety of Episode 4 was dedicated to Alcaras’ backstory, which included a special needs son, Sam, who he was hoping to enroll in a special school that only had one spot left. Alcaras placed a call to the dean to try and secure his son’s enrollment, and was told the spot would be Sam’s … under one condition. The dean asked Alcaras to help expunge a drug possession charge for a board member’s son, and the detective ultimately decided to swap the drugs in evidence with Tylenol so the teenager would be off the hook.

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He made the decision after a conversation with Marissa, who told him she’d do “anything possible” for her child. “I think her character kind of egged on my character to commit a not-so-great choice,” Peña admits. “But I thought it was cool because it sparks up a really cool debate: What would you really do for your kid? There’s some red tape that’s unnecessary, and then, also, justice comes into play. What would you really do? [Peter] would go away free if Marissa didn’t do what she needed to do.”

The Alcaras-centric episode was a departure from the book that inspired the Peacock series, as the detective in Andrea Mara’s novel did not have an individual backstory like Alcaras did in the show. “Megan has a special needs child, so that was kind of a courageous move to be like, ‘You know what, I’m going to put this in my show to show some of the struggles you have with certain special needs kids,'” Peña shares.

He also says it was an important addition made to humanize Alcaras. “I think [Megan] painted a picture of a guy that actually cares,” he explains. “He really cares about his child, so his motivation to try and find [Milo] is very honest, and it’s not just a case. … He’s actually out for the greater good, not necessarily what’s lawful.”

All Her Fault, Streaming Now, Peacock