Marissa Irvine was taken by surprise when she realized her son was missing from the playdate organized by one of the mothers at his school. Peacock’s new mystery thriller limited series, All Her Fault, captures the immense expectation and criticism that mothers are subjected to. When Milo went missing, Marissa’s husband, Peter, and even the public in general didn’t hesitate to accuse her of being a careless mother. Marissa found a friend in Jenny during this crisis. Jenny was one of the mothers from school, and the detectives had come to the conclusion that Jenny’s nanny, Carrie Finch, had likely abducted Milo. Jenny too was ridiculed for not doing enough background checks before hiring the nanny, but Marissa didn’t judge her; instead, she immediately forgave her. She knew a mother always wanted the best for their child, but then again, they were also humans who made mistakes.
Spoiler Alert
What was Peter’s secret?
Peter is perhaps the most complex character on the show. As a husband and a father, he was no different than the rest, who believed household chores weren’t meant to be divided equally. Well, his support was mostly limited to compliments, and there were times when all Marissa wanted was for him to actually take some responsibility. Marissa too was a working woman, and balancing home and work wasn’t easy, but almost by default she was expected to handle most of the tasks that involved Milo. When the cops deduced that Milo had been abducted, Peter didn’t hesitate to blame Marissa for not cross-checking Jenny’s phone number with the contact list provided by the school. Marissa had no idea that someone was after their child, and since she’d met Jenny before, a text from her wasn’t completely unexpected.
During All Her Fault’s ending, we discover that Peter had a sick desire to always feel needed. He liked it when his loved ones depended on him, even if it came at the cost of physically or emotionally destroying them. He did the same with his siblings, and we gradually discover that he made certain questionable decisions even when it came to Marissa and Milo. Peter and Marissa had met with an accident a day after their son was born. Unfortunately, their child didn’t survive the crash. Peter was the only one who wasn’t gravely injured. He was devastated when he realized that he’d lost his son. Deep down, he was aware that he was, in a way, responsible for the crash, since he didn’t have his eyes on the road. He came up with a dubious plan when he heard the cries of an infant. As it turned out, there was another child in the car that they’d crashed into. Peter assumed that the mother wasn’t well-off enough to look after her child, so he swapped his son with the child that survived.
Carrie Finch, aka Josephine, was Milo’s birth mother. She never really came to terms with the fact that her son didn’t survive in the accident, because she clearly remembered hearing him cry before she lost consciousness. The mother and son were destined to be briefly reunited, and perhaps that was why she unexpectedly crossed paths with Milo one day. When she spoke to him, it became evident that they were remarkably alike; they shared similar quirks, and their perspectives on the world were distinctly unique. The more information she found about Milo online (particularly his date of birth), the more she realized that there was a high probability that Milo was her son. She strongly believed that there was either a mix-up at the hospital or at the crash site, and she was certain that her son, Noah, was still alive. Meanwhile, Peter had assumed that Josephine had passed away; he probably kept a tab on her social media because deep down he knew he’d wronged her. Peter never felt the need to tell Marissa the truth, probably because he felt that he did the right thing, and he likely thought it was a heroic decision.
Did Marissa kill her husband?
Marissa was shocked when she discovered the truth about her husband. Josephine, aka Carrie, had realized that Milo was deeply attached to Marissa, and although she’d kidnapped him, he wasn’t really happy with her. Since the cops were searching for her and Milo, she’d decided to leave the country with Milo and her partner, Kyle, and she’d even arranged for fake passports. But Rob, her father and a bookie, didn’t believe in Josephine’s theory. He thought it was all in her head and Milo wasn’t really her child. So, instead of helping her, he decided to go behind her back and made an arrangement with Peter. Josephine had stepped out when Peter stopped by at the motel. Soon after handing over the bag of cash, Peter killed the man, likely because he assumed that Rob would continue to harass him to repeatedly extract money from him. Rob had threatened to tell the media about Josephine’s theory, and that was obviously something Peter didn’t want. He rescued Milo, covered his eyes, and sneaked him into the trunk of his car before abandoning him in the parking lot of a motel. Peter didn’t want the cops to find out that he had agreed to a deal without consulting them and, of course, the fact that he’d murdered a man. He wanted the madness to end because he feared that the cops might unravel the truth if they started to dig deep into Carrie’s motive.
Carrie had lost Kyle (her father shot him after his photograph was circulated by the cops), her father, and her child. She knew she couldn’t raise Milo/Noah, and she accepted that maybe he would be happier living a life of abundance with Marissa. But she didn’t trust Peter, and she thought it was important to warn Marissa that the man she was married to was a monster. So, she arrived at their house with a gun in her hand. She told Marissa about the swap, and just when she was about to play the recorded conversation between her father and Peter, Peter aggressively tackled her and shot her. Carrie had repeatedly stated that she didn’t wish to harm anyone, and Marissa knew that her husband shot Carrie only because he was afraid of her revealing the truth. She later played the recording and discovered that her husband had killed a man. Carrie was right; Peter was a dangerous man. Peter admitted that he’d messed up, and he expected Marissa to look past his every mistake. He felt the compulsive need to make his loved ones depend on him to feel important, and he did so by manipulating them. Deep down he knew that people would walk away from him if they ever discovered the secrets he’d been hiding.
Marissa was afraid of Peter; she thought she would be forever trapped in a loveless marriage and live in constant fear because there was no way he would let her leave. So, Marissa did what she had to to ensure her son’s well-being. Peter was allergic to soy, and she used it to her advantage. She replaced his EpiPen with an expired one and removed the emergency kit that Peter always had in his car. She consumed food with soy in it at Colin’s wake and kissed Peter. He immediately experienced an extreme allergic reaction, and to his surprise, the EpiPen shot didn’t work. Seeing how calm Marissa was, he figured that she’d planned his murder. But Peter was helpless; he couldn’t speak or move, and by the time the ambulance arrived, he’d passed away. Marissa wasn’t apologetic for taking such an extreme step. She knew Peter was dangerous, and she feared that one day he would hurt their son and find a way to ensure that Milo, just like everyone else, was forever dependent on him. If she’d told the cops the truth, they would’ve taken Milo away from her, and she refused to let that happen. Although she’d come to accept that she was not Milo’s birth mother, but he was her son, and she was ready to go to any length to protect him.
Why did Detective Alcaras close the case?
Peter and Marissa attempted to portray Josephine as just a crazy woman obsessed with their son. They hoped detectives Alcaras and Greco would believe that Peter shot Josephine in self-defense. Detective Alcaras couldn’t comprehend why someone with the motive to kill would ask Brian to comfort Milo and allow Lia to call the ambulance when she mistakenly pulled the trigger on Colin. If her intention had been to abduct Milo again, then she could’ve just done that, but instead she spoke to the family members about something that she must have thought was significant. He got all the more suspicious when he found out that there was a very direct connection between Peter, Marissa, and Josephine; they were survivors of a car crash that occurred when both parties were returning home from the hospital. Peter made it seem like Josephine was envious of them because their child survived and hers didn’t, and that was why she’d kidnapped Milo. When asked why he didn’t report his prior connection with Josephine, Peter stated that he hadn’t seen her face after the car crash and he was under the assumption that she was already dead. Marissa had supported Peter during the interrogation because she couldn’t afford to lose Milo.
Although the image that Peter and Marissa attempted to portray wasn’t unbelievable at all, Detective Alcaras wasn’t convinced; he had a hunch that there was a missing piece to the puzzle. Alcaras’ son was on the autism spectrum, and he’d recently been accepted into a reputed private special school. During a session with a psychiatrist, when he was asked to fill out a form, Alcaras noticed there was a question about whether his child saw shapes or heard certain words or sounds. Alcaras asked the psychiatrist what it meant, and he explained that for some individuals when they hear a certain word they taste food, or they associate colors with abstract concepts. Alcaras was immediately reminded of Milo because he’d noticed that Milo was very creative with his colors after he went through some of his drawings. The psychiatrist added that it was a rare phenomenon called synesthesia.
When Alcaras had spoken to Josephine’s mother, she’d mentioned that her daughter had her quirks and that she was mostly lost in her imaginary world. Later when he spoke to her guidance counselor in high school, she mentioned that Josephine would often get overwhelmed in the classroom because words, colors, and tastes would always get mixed up in her head. Alcaras finally joined the dots, and he figured out in the final episode that Milo was Josephine and Kyle’s son because synesthesia is a neurodivergent condition. Detective Alcaras confronted Marissa towards the end, but instead of arresting her, he chose to close the case. During his investigation, he’d discovered that Marissa wasn’t conscious after the accident, which meant that Peter had swapped the babies before they were taken to the hospital. Although there wasn’t any proof to suggest that Marissa had murdered her husband, Alcaras knew it was quite likely. She had been living a lie for six years before Josephine showed up and tried to make sense of what was going on. As someone who’d broken the law to get his son enrolled in a reputable school, Alcaras knew the lengths parents often went to for their child.
Previously, when Alcaras and Marissa discussed parenthood, Marissa had mentioned that as parents it was their duty to do their best for their children and that was all that mattered. Alcaras had taken that advice; he’d gulped down his pride and switched evidence just so that his son had a better chance at life. It wasn’t an easy decision; he could’ve lost his job and ended up behind bars, but he risked it all because he loved his son, and he realized that Marissa did the same. She loved Milo, so she killed Peter to protect him.
What does the future look like for Marissa and Jenny?
Marissa and Jenny were harassed and criticized for not being the perfect mothers, but in the end, they made radical decisions for the sake of their sanity and their children. They didn’t care about the occasional ‘you’re amazing’ compliments that their husband generously offered up just to compensate for their absence. Jenny’s husband refused to take responsibility and ridiculed her when she tried to get back into the publishing business. He never thought her job was important, and anytime she begged him to look after their son, Jacob, he was visibly irritated. Jenny had tried to adjust and compromise, but she realized that she would do a better job as a single mother than living with a partner who didn’t bother showing up.
Jenny had encouraged Marissa to do whatever was necessary to get rid of Peter and protect Milo. In the final scene, Marissa and Jenny are seen enjoying a drink while watching their sons bond and play together. As mothers, they ensured that their children didn’t grow up in a toxic environment. The title of the series addresses society’s unrealistic expectations of mothers and how it’s one’s first instinct to blame them when something happens to their children. Although it was ‘all his fault,’ considering Peter was the reason behind the abduction, the killing, and destroying lives in general, the series intentionally blames it on ‘her’ because that was the initial reaction when Milo went missing. Marissa’s only fault was trusting her husband, Jenny’s ‘mistake’ was expecting the bare minimum from her partner, and Josephine’s fault was in trusting her father, not realizing that he cared more about cash than her happiness.
In All Her Fault’s ending, the mothers triumphed; each character made a decision solely prioritizing the lives of their children. Marissa’s and Jenny’s relaxed expressions suggested that the worst was over. Jenny was already successful in her field of work; her conviction and dedication impressed her associates. Marissa had her own company, and hopefully she will succeed in finding a balance between her personal and professional life. Navigating life won’t be the same for them, but thankfully Jenny and Marissa had each other for support. Considering All Her Fault is a limited series and all the loose ends are tied, it will likely not return with a second season.
