S01.E08: Faraway

[AnimeMania]

(Season Finale)

Emily learns the truth from Clive. All is revealed about what actually happened that fateful night on Faraway Cay.

Premiere Date: May 31, 2023    Hulu  

[sadie]

Well, that happened. 
 

I knew the end was gonna be terrible but even I couldn’t have imagined it would be this bad. So, at the end of the day Alison was just so distraught that she wasn’t the “star” and was only an “extra” and simply couldn’t bear not being the center of the world. So she has a tantrum about her non-centrality to the world, has anger sex, runs off for a I’ll advised swim and slips and dies.

Everyone we thought was evil were just fuzzy bunnies with entirely reasonable reasons they did shitty things but the one shitty thing none of them did was kill Allison. And I have to call bullshit on her death, I’ve watched enough crime tv to know that the ME can tell the difference between your head hitting something (the rock she fell on) and being hit in the head. Her death would have been deemed accidental, that is unless their theory was someone pushed her off that cliff. College boy didn’t appear to choke her hard enough to leave a mark.

And so now irritating sister Chloe is totally cool and no longer tortured that her sister is dead cuz being murdered and dead is way more tortuous than accidentally dead. Because it isn’t about her grief her sister is dead but how she dies that really mattered. Ugh. I want my 8 hours back.

[Snazzy Daisy]

So, what happened to Alison was entirely her fault. Blame it on her Narcissistic Personality Disorder and low self-esteem. Her needs for attention and to always feel special had ruined many lives. Gogo is right.

Don’t really care about Claire, Emily or whatever her name is. The time she spent on stalking and following Gogo around feels more like a plot device to stretch this story out than a grieving process. Her definition of moving on is to move back into her childhood home. Whatevs.

Edwin and Gogo’s reconciliation at the end is the only part that I like…

😭😭😭

Quote

“Maybe marrying Sara was the only way of him holding on to you, caring for the only parts of you he could. It is possible the most hurtful thing he did was his greatest act of devotion.”

Sorry Alycia Debnam-Carey. Josh Bonzie is the true MVP in this show.

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[KaveDweller]

I know I predicted her death being accidental last week, but I at least thought someone would have been there with her and knew what happened and didn't report it. Her just being dumb enough to swim out to Faraway Cay by herself in the middle of the night is just too much. All because she was upset the two guys she wanted to have a threesome had a connection without her? I know she was drunk, but really.

And Emily just forgot the last time she saw her sister? I know she was 7, but that seems like something you'd remember. 

I'm kind of sad Emily and her cute boyfriend didn't work out. She was awful to him, but he was nice and I hoped they'd work it out.

Edwin and GoGo reuniting at the end was sweet.

[gesundheit]

Well, I guess turnabout is fair play! In that the two most engagingly-written and well-acted characters were Gogo and Edwin while everyone else was a shallow, stereotypical mess. Fair enough.

Unbelievable that Claire was still such a selfish brat even at the end. Withholding the truth from her parents? About their child's death? Acting like she's all wise now but they can't handle the truth? What a deeply dreadful girl. The least she could've done is write to the island media or something to clear Edwin and Gogo's names, considering that was still their reputation. Easily would've been a Dateline special!

I also call foul on Ivy League Vacation Boyfriend's story tracking. He lied because his dad made him since it would've made him a murder suspect? No, he lied before anyone even knew she was dead.

Anyway, all that because someone got White Girl Wasted and slipped on a rock after realizing she's not important. (In fact, more like 'all that because stupid Claire and Ivy League Vacation Boyfriend lied.")

9 hours ago, sadie said:

And I have to call bullshit on her death, I’ve watched enough crime tv to know that the ME can tell the difference between your head hitting something (the rock she fell on) and being hit in the head. Her death would have been deemed accidental, that is unless their theory was someone pushed her off that cliff.

Her death was deemed accidental, though, that's why charges were never pressed. Right? That's how I remember it. It was the family (not trusting the Caribbean police) and the gossip mill (due to the drug charges against Gogo) that held onto the idea that it had to be Edwin and Gogo.

I did like that they were able to justify what we'd assumed was some knowledge about her death on Gogo/Edwin's part, due to our seeing Gogo back at the beginning saying that line about how they deserved everything that was coming to them. Definitely planted the seed that they at least knew what happened and didn't report it. But of course he was speaking from internalized homophobia. Probably the only successful fakeout/satisfactory "twist" of the many, many beats. I guess the horrific betrayal Clive was referring to from Edwin was letting him serve time for the drugs.

Anyway, Jayden Elijah and Josh Bonzie deserve all the kudos for their performances in this, and those were tough needles to thread with them having to carry so many red herrings. I hope this leads to some truly rewarding work for both of them. Absolute tour de force on both parts.

[gesundheit]

I just heard that Victoria Pedretti was originally cast as Emily? Interesting.

[KaveDweller]

2 hours ago, gesundheit said:

Her death was deemed accidental, though, that's why charges were never pressed. Right? That's how I remember it. It was the family (not trusting the Caribbean police) and the gossip mill (due to the drug charges against Gogo) that held onto the idea that it had to be Edwin and Gogo.

The chief of police thought Edwin and Gogo did it, but was pressured to call it accidental so it didn't hurt tourism. It isn't clear if the forensics actually supported that or not. 

[MamaMax]

I really thought we were going to find out that Claire did it, and repressed it, and the parents covered it up.

 

I also find it deeply unsatisfying that we still  don't KNOW what happened because  Alison was alone. I still think creepy "dad to be with a young girl fetish" might be guilty!

 

HA

 

[peachmangosteen]

This was truly terrible but I don’t regret watching simply because the actors playing Clive, Edwin, and even young Claire were fantastic. I hope they get some better jobs outta this.

[CrystalBlue]

So Claire/Emily/Back to Claire was obsessed and treated everyone like shit along the way.  We only know what really happened because of the drunken Allison flashback and not because Emily through her stalking of GoGo/Clive found the truth.

An unsatisfying ending.

[SunnyBeBe]

On 5/31/2023 at 11:25 PM, KaveDweller said:

The chief of police thought Edwin and Gogo did it, but was pressured to call it accidental so it didn't hurt tourism. It isn't clear if the forensics actually supported that or not. 

I watched portions of the series, since most of I what I read about it was pretty negative.  So, death by misadventure.  I did search for the part the authorities say it was accidental.  Anyone recall?  
 

 

[Craigcodybazhate]

Great show. They were trying to say that the college guys white privilege got him off. He could never be a suspect. When In fact his DNA Edwin and Clive’s should’ve been there cause they kissed and had some type of sexual interaction. That’s not how you handle a investigation. 
 

It was extremely sad that Edwin and Clive couldn’t be who they were. This felt like a Jamaican broke back mountain. Sad that Edwin  got sick. 
 

Powerful scenes Edwin packing to go to New York. only for his sister to tell him about the white girl. 
 

The gay black guy talking to him in the bathroom that was powerful. Showing the homophobia in Jamaica and black men culture. It’s tough seeing that. Being Jamaican you just want to see people be accepted and happy. I’m heterosexual and I enjoyed seeing Edwin and Clive tell each other who they are. 
 

Another thing the writer told us Allison being selfish wrecked alot of people. Like Clive said she fucked his stuff up. Now we know what he was talking about. We know what the letter was about. 
 

It was all about Allison not everybody else. She made choices and everybody paid for them. Edwin didn’t want to take her out. Clive didn’t want to go. 
 

Claire was supposed to chill with her sister eating candy and Allison didn’t want to do that because she wanted to have some experience two black guys. 
 

this was planted to her by Frenemie who acted like she liked her then hated her. So she has a role to. 
 

All Allison had to do was go home to the hotel. But if you listen to what she was saying all series. She was looking for something more always wanted something more. She shouldn’t have went Ivy League. Probably would’ve been better backpacking. 
 

But society says you’re supposed to be this. Her experience was in Jamaica. It’s probably not a good idea to go swimming in a bay late at night. 
 

Clive wanted to stop her but Edwin had him stay to stay with him. Maybe that was good. Cause that was probably the most time they would spend together. 
 

from a writing standpoint Leila Gerstein gave us a brilliant piece of art. 
 

yeah there are going to be tough watches with flashbacks. But I enjoyed it and was extremely sad at the end with Edwin. 
 

I think at the same time the main character we were focused on throughout the season with compassion we felt resentment towards the end. 

[Madding crowd]

Finally finished this and I think this was well made and better than the book. The book had many more characters and many more points of view. I also remember getting really annoyed at the author saying she had a particular dislike for tourists who sit on a beach and read. What's wrong with that? In my case, I have multiple spine fractures and can't walk much so sitting on a beach and reading is a vacation for me. I really liked the actors playing Edwin and Clive but found both Emily/Claire and Alison to be very annoying. It was especially annoying that it was a one week vacation and Alison expected deep relationships and acted like they had been there for months. Also didn't like the trope of the "plain" girl who was so jealous of the pretty one.