The ending of We Were Liars is a twisted web of lies, just as the name of the show suggests, and will leave you wondering about a lot of things. Cady’s missing memories are finally addressed, and we get the full picture—what happened that fateful night she was found on the beach, and why? On the surface, the show appears to be your typical “eat-the-rich” teen mystery thriller with a bunch of pretty faces, but We Were Liars does have a story to tell, one that’s quite sad, too. Cadence’s story is a bitter pill to swallow because it begs for empathy, but we don’t have any for her. At the beginning of the show, Cady wakes up one day and doesn’t remember anything from the summer the year before. She finds herself questioning everything and everybody in her family, especially because they won’t answer her questions. Whatever Cady suffered back then is so traumatic that every time she’s remotely close to the answers, she ends up having a seizure. Why did her cousins and boyfriend not check on her? Why did she end up alone for so long? And how has everybody just accepted her at the end of the show? Let’s find out in We Were Liars‘ finale.
Spoiler Alert
How Did Johnny, Gat, and Mirren Die?
The biggest mystery of We Were Liars is what happened on the night of Cady’s accident. So the kids found themselves alone in Beechwood, and hence Clairmont. The house symbolizes the beginning of the feuding in the Sinclair family. Clairmont is what defines everything that the family is so proud of: the wealth, their power, and the family patriarch. So, in order to stop the feuding, the kids decide it’s best to burn down the thing that has the most value. It is a world of material things, and we just live in it. This idea is, of course, initiated by Cady, who happens to have her grandfather’s will, which mentions that the entirety of Beechwood will be left to her. It seems like Cady’s a rebel, and she knows that she’s privileged, but she’s working on it, but really, that also comes from selfish reasons. Cady wouldn’t have changed at all if it weren’t for Gat calling her and her family out. She thought she was already a “good person.” But had she not had feelings for Gat, she may have never changed her outlook on the world and felt like she needed to change and that her family was in the wrong. That is how she’s been raised.
Anyway, Cady’s biggest flex against Harris after he decided to give his entire estate, well, island to her, is that she doesn’t accept it as the oldest granddaughter. She doesn’t want him to feel powerful any longer, so she comes up with the plan to burn the will, but while doing it, it occurs to her that she can burn down the entire house in order to get everyone to realize it’s just material things and they don’t need the assets to be happy. This naive notion is further appreciated by the other kids because they’re kids and because they believe they’re doing something good. Even Gat thinks it’s a good idea, which I personally believe doesn’t entirely make sense, but anyway, the plan is to set the house on fire from top to bottom and then run out, where Gat is waiting on a boat. But each of the kids gets distracted before the clock strikes midnight, the time they’re meant to light the fire.
At midnight, Johnny is still on the top floor, destroying his grandfather’s old possessions, the things that he was probably proud of. He doesn’t even light the fire; he just tries to find a way to get out of the house. At the same time, Mirren is distracted by the painting that her mother saved. She tries to save the painting by throwing it out of the window, but unfortunately, she doesn’t consider jumping out of the same one. Now this painting shouldn’t have survived the fire either, because it was right by the house, and the whole thing blew up, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Gat’s exposure to the fire is the most tragic one. He was meant to be waiting in the boat, and he would’ve survived had Cadence not gone back and taken too long to come out. Now, Cady went back specifically because she forgot about the dogs. Like the one thing they should’ve paid attention to, the one lesson they were meant to learn in all of this, is to put the innocent first, but clearly that’s something they missed out on because Cady forgets that the dogs are sleeping in the burning mansion thanks to her mum drugging them. When she hears the dogs barking, she tries to go back, but it’s already too late; everything is on fire, and she can’t even open the door. When she tries to get out again, she gets hit in the head and then gets thrown off the beach when the gas line blows up, sending her straight into the ocean, dress flying off (she’d already taken most of it off because it was burning). Cady specifically says that they should set the house on fire from top to bottom, but then they all light the fire at the same time. They clearly have no idea what they’re doing, but she should’ve waited for them all to come down at least, no? Isn’t that the most logical thing to do? No, instead, she set the bottom floor on fire first, then went back for the pearls too, and then the dogs, leaving Gat worried. So, he went back to find her but died while she escaped.
Johnny, Gat, and Mirren tell Cady that they don’t blame her, and they seem to be happy she survived, even if they were somehow wronged in this whole situation. This to me makes it very clear that the “ghosts” Cady is seeing are definitely figments of her imagination. I think the whole arson thing just doesn’t make sense at all.
Will the Moms Be Okay?
Bess believes that she and Carrie may have lost their children because of a crime they committed when she was 16 years old. Now, we know that Rosemary is the dead sister, and through some of the dialogue throughout the show, it’s quite clear that the sisters had something to do with her death. Whether an accident or a murder, they expect to take this secret to the grave, but Bess believes Johnny and Mirren died because of what they did all those years ago. However, she also mentions that if that were the case, Penny wouldn’t have been spared. I think the deaths of their eldest kids, for Carrie, the eldest male son of the family, and for Bess, her eldest daughter, are the only things that could entirely change their perspective on life. The sisters never cared about anything except their inheritance. So, in some ways, the kids did manage to achieve their goal, ending the family feud by destroying the reward entirely. However, it is, of course, the loss of life that really opens their eyes.
For Penny, too, having to try and bring her daughter back to reality and keep her alive wouldn’t have been easy either. Especially knowing that she’s the only one who lives, and that is a different kind of burden. Johnny’s unfortunate death allows Carrie to go back to Ed and actually consider starting a life with him, just as she dreamed all those years ago. Plus, it’s pretty clear at this point that Cady would inherit everything anyway. Carrie and Ed’s relationship might pay the price, though, because she’s still taking drugs and, in turn, seeing Johnny’s ghost. At least Ed’s back, despite having lost Gat to this household in every way.
Penny tells Cady that she has the choice to either remain a Sinclair or choose her dad, and while Cady makes her choice very clear—she won’t be picking her grandfather—she also supports her mom, making it clear that she does still love her dearly. Cady chooses both, in my opinion, by getting away when the journalist tries to ask her about the family.
Why Did Harris Change Clairmont Entirely?
Cady’s been super angry since she woke up because she sees an entirely new home in the place of the one she found familiar. She believes that a familiar setting could trigger her memories, but what she goes back to is something entirely new. I think Harris chooses to build an entirely new place because it helps him forget the person he was. When Harris fell and hurt his head, he changed as a person. He saw death up close. I suppose anything resembling the old house would bring back old memories for him, too, which he clearly doesn’t want, seeing as he’s trying to move on from the deaths of his two dogs and two grandkids. Is Harris not going to be a racist anymore? Not a chance; even a head injury can’t fix that, but he just doesn’t care as much anymore.
We are all products of our parents’ love. In the case of the show, Harris was brought up in a competitive world, and he did the same to his daughters. He never treated them as kids; he treated them as trophies, and none of them lived up to his expectations. Harris must’ve competed with his own brother to get the island, and so he thinks it’s only fair there be competition among the next generation, but this ruins their relationships entirely.
What Does Gat’s Necklace Signify?
In We Were Liars’ ending, Cady chooses to wear Gat’s necklace instead of her grandmother’s on the day of the final Sinclair photoshoot. This is her telling the family that she’s no longer a proud Sinclair and that she’s going to leave the place and all of its traditions behind. This was the whole point of the fire: a fresh start, and she doesn’t just get it for herself but for the entire family. Penny may feel free to be open about her secret lover, Carrie is free to marry Ed, and maybe Bess will settle down with Salty Dan…nah, she’s still quite the capitalist. Wearing Gat’s necklace gives Cadence the power to leave and do her own thing. It allows her to show the Sinclairs that she’ll be fine being an Eastman and that she will maintain the legacy of the kids.
After Mirren dies, Bess realizes she wants people to see her. She herself didn’t see her daughter’s potential when she was alive. Bess even ruined Mirren’s best painting, all for some stupid secret she was obliged to keep for her mother. It’s not Mirren’s fault that her mother was having sex with some rando and she happened to see it. Anyway, in truth, I don’t think Mirren’s paintings would’ve gotten in a gallery if she weren’t dead, and this is the power of privilege. We all know this. But I suppose it’s a good gesture. However, what doesn’t make sense to me is that the one we see is the same painting that Mirren threw out of the window before the house blew up. Logically, the painting couldn’t have survived that massive fire, even if it was hidden by bushes, which we know it wasn’t. This just doesn’t make any sense. Guess we’ll just have to pretend there was some magic in that fabric that covered it or something. To be entirely honest, if the liars were ghosts, they’d have told Cady the truth right at the start. I think they’re a coping mechanism for Cady, who is heavily drugged thanks to her migraines and other treatments.
Why Does Carrie See Johnny’s Ghost?
For the most part, we’re made to believe that Cady is the only person who sees Johnny’s ghost. However, in the final few minutes of episode 8, we see Carrie interact with Johnny’s “ghost,” after she’s taken a pill. Johnny’s final conversation with his mom is about her going back to her addiction. In episode 7, we see how he learnt about the deal Carrie made with her dad: don’t marry Ed, and your debt will be paid. Harris is clearly a racist and doesn’t want Indian grandkids, as Cady points out later, before his big accident, but he also doesn’t care that his daughter is an addict. Instead of having a heart-to-heart with her son, Carrie feels too ashamed and needs to rush to the hospital, so she only listens to him being entirely honest and then leaves, telling him they’ll talk about the pills “tomorrow.” Little does she know that that tomorrow will never come. Johnny appears to Carrie in the final scene in the same outfit he was wearing during this final conversation, so the second she takes another pill, she sees Johnny again because she’s desperate for closure. Johnny called her too calm and still, and he wanted to hear her side of things. Maybe, if Carrie had spoken to Johnny then, and possibly told him why her relationship with her dad is so complicated, he might’ve disagreed with the arson plan. This entire situation of course leaves an opening for a We Were Liars season 2.
What Will Cady Do Next?
Cady’s first act of rebellion against the system is dyeing her hair black. Ironically, she doesn’t even remember anything when she does this, but it somehow feels right to her. Harris doesn’t even recognize his own granddaughter multiple times with her black hair. You could blame it on his medication, or you could realize that he just didn’t care as long as they looked picture perfect as Sinclairs, blonde-haired and blue-eyed. In the end, one could say that Harris is losing his mind slowly, but Cady is the opposite because she wants to stop taking the drugs, and she knows exactly what she did to the people she loved the most. The ghosts of her past may be gone, but they will always remain by her side because they clearly love her.
Now, as much as Cady would like to change her life and live as a non-Sinclair, her legacy is etched on her forehead, and wherever she goes, the Sinclair name will follow her. This will allow her great opportunities, and it’s up to her to make the best use of them. I suppose, having been with the ghost of an Indian boy, Cady might choose to do the right thing, eh? In their fairy tale, Gat tells Cady that they will get out into the real world where summer ends, and they have to face reality. This is him giving her a reality check in a way, too. Cady sailing off into the sunset symbolizes she’s leaving her summer dream behind for good, and she’s going to face reality, even if it’ll be super hard alone. Meanwhile, her mother and her sisters are closer than ever, so I suppose you could say she’s taken care of. I do think Penny believes Cady made the right choice, leaving her grandfather behind. Cady finally lives up to Gat’s ideals and doesn’t lose to the devil she knows, her grandfather.
