‘Furious’ Finale Reveals the Truth About Isabel — and Alice’s Darkest Secret

Furious Episode 8 “Hart Island” brings Alice (Emmy Rossum), Catherine (Lola Petticrew), Danny (Scoot McNairy), and Nora (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) together at Jay Easton’s (Peter McRobbie) mansion, where the truth about Isabel’s death finally comes out. Warning: Spoilers ahead for the Furious Season 1 finale!

At the mansion, Catherine corners Easton’s daughter, Emma (Hope Davis), in the greenhouse. Emma ultimately gives Catherine a gun to kill her father, but things quickly spiral. By the time Alice gets inside, Emma is on her knees, Catherine has been shot, and Emma is trying to escape with a bag filled with evidence against her father. Outside, Greenwich PD keeps Nora and Danny from entering.

What happened the night that Isabel died?

The confrontation between Catherine, Emma, and Alice finally reveals what really happened to Isabel (Larissa Campos): Jay beat Isabel and left her bleeding. His daughter Emma found her and held her as she was dying, which allowed Isabel to scratch the back of Emma’s neck (explaining the Easton DNA found under Isabel’s nails). She said she had a baby and needed Catherine in that moment.

Teenage Catherine was with Oliver at the time, so Emma brought her to Isabel, who was slowly dying. Emma then called Hal (Campbell Scott); she was the one that Hal was trying to protect.

Disney/Sarah Shatz

Emma insists Catherine has spent all this time killing the wrong people, triggering Catherine’s memories of that night.

And then comes the devastating truth: Catherine killed Isabel.

Finally remembering what happened, Catherine explains it wasn’t a murder at the hands of her abusers, but a mercy killing delivered by the person who loved her most. Isabel was in tremendous pain and asked Catherine to end her suffering. To ease her pain, Catherine gave her a fatal dose of drugs.

Danny then busts into the vault.

Disney/Sarah Shatz

What happens at Jay Easton’s mansion?

Outside, Nora confronts Ed (Danny McCarthy) over everything he has done, but he dismisses the death at the center of the case as “just one dead girl.” Worse, he appears to be making calls to warn people before the evidence can reach them.

After police take control of the mansion, Alice goes upstairs and finds Jay Easton. He recognizes her from the video of her being abused on his laptop and tells her that her video was his favorite. The admission shocks Alice.

Soon afterward, Easton is dead. There are no hard drives and seemingly no evidence left to expose him or the people connected to him.

Danny receives a medal, but Nora wants the evidence she believes he took because she needs it to bring down Ed. Meanwhile, Alice has been suspended and, according to Danny, cut off contact with everyone.

Alice does make one important visit: Catherine in jail. Alice goes to tell her that Isabel’s body has finally been found. And it is here that Catherine tells Alice, “I know why you came. You have a secret…”

More on that later.

Temporarily suspended, Alice takes a little “me time.” Now in a relationship with Danny, the two are at the beach, where they find much-needed peace with each other. They kiss, they support each other, and Danny helps her heal. He stands by her, even waiting outside while she showers and making sure she feels safe. He tells Alice he is done with the NYPD and gives her the hard drive, leaving it up to her to decide what happens next.

At the cemetery to put Isabel to rest, Alice gives the hard drive to Nora and confesses that she is on it in a video she made when she was 14. Alice admits she still hasn’t watched what was done to her, but Nora tells her that if she wants to do this job, she needs to be able to face the horrors of it, including her own video.

Back at the FBI, Nora gives Alice the code to the room containing sensitive materials, a sign that Alice is finally being treated as a real agent. And she gives her an order: “Search Alice.” Alice finally watches her video.

Meanwhile, Nora has a much lighter moment in the elevator when she finds herself alone with Ed. She asks him why they “never f**ked.” “I think it would have been fun, and maybe a little weird,” she comments. And in a moment of perfect sarcasm and revenge, Nora promises, “Maybe I will f**k you one of these days.”

What was the secret?

In a flashback to Alice’s jailhouse visit, Catherine asks how Jay Easton died. Officially, it was respiratory failure, but Catherine knows better…

It is revealed in flashbacks that Alice killed Jay Easton.

Disney/Sarah Shatz

After Easton told Alice he loved the video of her being abused, she stepped on his breathing tube and held his mouth closed, preventing him from getting air, suffocating him to death.

Related

'Furious' Renewed for Season 2 at Hulu

Now in the FBI’s privacy room, Alice pulls a list of “known downloads” for her video, giving her a new list of predators and monsters to go after.

The last glimpse is of Catherine, asking Alice, “I said, did you like the way it felt?” Her response: A slight smile.

“I think it is interesting that Alice believes that she’s unable to get justice for herself throughout this whole story and is, in fact, on a collision course with this serial killer, which will, in a roundabout way, make her confront by proxy what was done to her — and the choices that she made because of what was done to her,” explained Emmy Rossum. “I mean, she’s living with a lot of secrets, and now, by the end of our show, she has even more.”

“I think that moment, for me, was more Catherine saying, ‘I understand it.’ I think, in the ending, people might not see it as just this — and it isn’t in many ways — but it certainly gives her a lot of peace,” explained Lola Petticrew. “For somebody who’s so disconnected from herself, her body, and her brain, and for whom every day is a bit of a battle, to be able to just breathe and sit in peace is probably a good thing. And I think, in that moment, she is the one saying, ‘I know you. You’re the same. I understand you.’”

Furious, Season 1, Now Streaming, Hulu