‘Losing Alice’ Recap: ‘The End’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season one finale of ‘Losing Alice’.
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It is definitely safe to say that the AppleTV+ series, Losing Alice, has offered audiences everywhere, a fascinating dissection on the nature and the power of obsession. For its slow burn approach and step-by-step examination has left no stone unturned in regard to the genesis and the impact that obsession can have upon an individual, to the point where the story has engendered great worry in relation to the concluding episode in this tale. Because the endgame to any heavy measure of obsession is destruction and strife and that is something that no viewer is ever prepared to watch unfold. But as it turns out… the season one finale of this fascinating and powerful series did indeed give us just that, but with quite the twist. One that helped us to understand that the obsession in question in this particular tale, was actually something far different than expected and that made ‘The End’ quite the fascinating watch.

For this finale wasted zero time in making it clear that Sophie didn’t make it to the end of principal photography for Room 209. Nor was she involved in its festival premiere. Which truly made it seem as though, the crossing of the line that happened in the penultimate episode led to some kind falling out between Alice and Sophie, and understandably so. After all, a violated marriage tends to create all kinds of problems for those involved, especially one that was damaged by way of obsession. But as this episode continued along, it became clear that other factors came into play here. Such as the fact that Alice paid no mind to the fact that Naomi’s mother showed up to hassle Sophie at the end of shooting, a decision that led to utter disaster when a gunshot rang out. For that bullet struck true and put Sophie into a coma and well, the fallout from this stunning moment led to the surprise twist in question.

Because Alice was able to learn at the hospital from Sophie’s parents, that they more or less adopted Naomi back in the day, to keep her safe from an unstable mother, meaning that everything Alice thought she knew about Sophie… was a lie. Sure, she might have a bit of a wild lifestyle in adulthood, but her past and her motivations… were all a mystery to Alice because she assumed and believed that the story reflected her life to a tee and even that, was an incorrect assumption. For eventually, she met Naomi, and her daughter… one that was brought into this world exactly as Sophie wrote about in Room 209 and well, that shocking revelation made it inherently clear… that this was never a story about obsession about a person. No instead, Losing Alice is a series that was designed to show us the danger that can come about from obsessing over a fantasy world and refusing to separate the fantasy from reality.

Which means that Alice was so lost in life and so distraught over her career sliding into oblivion that she created a world where Sophie was someone else. Someone dark and brooding and thrilling, the kind of person that would suck Alice into her world so that she could live vicariously through her and she used that concept of darkness to bring to life a script that she firmly believed it was more than it appeared to be. A belief that allowed for her to make it her own and give it a voice that would help to express and explore her darkest beliefs and hopes, and of course… this whole desire to escape her life and create depth to a dark patch in Sophie and Naomi’s life, consumed her and destroyed her relationship with David and brought home the power of obsession in the most unique way imaginable and well, that makes this quite the powerful and incredible season finale when all is said and done.

Because that is a bold twist to inject into this story, one that leaves the viewer in a stunned place. For all of us, this reviewer included, bought into what Alice was selling and outright believed that Sophie was indeed some kind fiendish monster. But that allowed for us to be sucked into the lie that Alice was telling herself and it reminds us in a sober manner, to be wary of letting fantasy become our reality and to question everything when we have suspicion and well, it really is a shame this story has ended for the time being. Especially now that Sophie has awakened from her coma and well, hopefully we get a second season of this story sooner rather than later. So, we can explore the true fallout of obsession. But while we wait for that to be announced, this first season likely deserves a rewatch so we can see it in a brand-new light now that we know it’s true meaning.  

‘Losing Alice’ is available to stream now, on AppleTV+.

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