A strange thing happens in the November 19 finale of Hulu\u2019s limited series Murdaugh: Death In The Family. For seven episodes, audiences have watched as the Southern dynasty of the Murdaugh family, led by charismatic-to-a-fault lawyer Alex (Jason Clarke), has crumbled under the weight of one tragedy after another\u2014almost all of them at his own hands.<\/p>\n
Constantly, as the Murdaughs unravel, you are told of the myriad ways Alex has failed his family, his community, and himself. He\u2019s addicted to opiates, he\u2019s stealing money from his law firm and the clients he claims to care about, he\u2019s had affairs, and he\u2019s drinking himself into a stupor. It all culminates in the murder of his wife Maggie (Patricia Arquette) and their son Paul (Johnny Berchtold) on June 7, 2021. He was convicted of these acts in 2023, and they are believed to be his means of distracting the encroaching debts, lawsuits, and authorities at his doorstep.<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019ve followed this case since it first made headlines in 2019, when Paul\u2019s reckless actions behind the wheel of a boat caused the death of teenager Mallory Beach, none of these revelations should be shocking. They were dug up and turned into bold-faced headlines in the lead-up to Alex\u2019s trial. And yet, the finale will likely shake even the most well-researched viewer by doing something no other rendering of the Murdaugh saga has done: It finally puts the gun in Alex\u2019s hand and, by doing so, puts this story to rest.<\/p>\n
As the series, from co-creators Michael D. Fuller and Erin Lee Carr, comes to a close, Alex lies in his new forever home in prison and thinks back to the night of Maggie and Paul\u2019s deaths. It is a scene the audience already watched play out in episode six. Maggie has come back to town after separating from Alex to be a support system as his father\u2019s health fails. Slowly grappling with the guilt he feels for his role in Mallory\u2019s death, Paul is trying to make good on his new turned leaf, while also realizing he is quickly becoming a mirror image of his father\u2019s own recklessness. Mother and son go down to the dog kennels on a rather mundane chore that night and walk into a killer\u2019s path. Originally, the person holding the gun isn\u2019t seen, but when the finale returns to this moment, it plays out as prosecutors said it did: Alex was with his wife and son at the kennels when he stepped away, slipped on what was essentially a murder poncho, and pulled out two guns. First, he shot Paul, in the stomach and again in the head. Then, he shot Maggie in the leg, the arm, and put two bullets in her head. He strips off his blood-splattered covering and hides it in the woods, changes clothes, visits his dementia-riddled mother as an alibi, and then returns to the scene of the crime as if discovering it for the first time.<\/p>\n