In the closing minutes of the series, “His & Hers” jumps forward by one year; the case of the Dahlonega murders seems to be long solved, with Lexy as the culprit and her husband Richard (Pablo Schreiber) as her accomplice, and Anna and Jack have rekindled their marriage after the harrowing events of the previous year. They now raise Jack’s adorable niece, Meg, as their own after Zoe’s death, and they’ve got another baby of their own on the way.
And when Anna, Jack, and Meg pay a weekend visit to Anna’s mother, Alice (Crystal Fox) — a woman we’ve been led to believe, all series long, has been struggling with symptoms of dementia — Anna finds and reads a letter from her mom that reveals Lexy Jones didn’t kill Rachel, Helen, and Zoe; it was Alice all along. (Gasp!)
Alice actually possesses quite a sharp mind, and she’s been pretending to struggle with memory loss and erratic behavior in order to throw everyone off her scent. (Fair warning: A description of sexual violence follows.) During the year that Anna was out of town following her baby’s death, Alice had stumbled across old tapes from Anna’s childhood camcorder, including a previously unseen one from Anna’s 16th birthday. Anna had been filming the party until those men began to force themselves on Catherine — and when Anna got up to intervene, she unknowingly left her camera running, and Alice watched in horror as those men ultimately assaulted Anna. Catherine ran away entirely, but Rachel, Zoe, and Helen watched as Anna was violated, singing “Happy Birthday” to her as it happened. Awful.
The discovery of that terrible tape led Alice to avenge her daughter. She killed Rachel, Helen, and Zoe, then planned to frame Catherine/Lexy for their murders so she’d spend her life in prison for bailing on Anna when she was getting assaulted. That last part of the plan didn’t quite work out, as Detective Patel (Sunita Mani) shot and killed Lexy as the investigation reached its crescendo — but Alice isn’t too upset about that.
“I’m writing this now, baby, because soon you’ll be a mother again,” Alice writes to Anna in her letter of confession. “Love my grandbabies as I’ve loved you. … Show them that a mother’s love never dims, never weakens. It’s constant. Continual. Relentless. All my love, my precious girl.” As a tearful Anna looks up from the letter and makes eye contact with her mom across the house, the two share a long, knowing smile.
If you’ve watched “His & Hers” in its entirety, what did you think? Book readers, how did the TV adaptation live up? Grade the limited series in our poll below, then hit the comments with your full reviews.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).