‘Tell Me a Story’ Season 2 Ending Explained: Olivia alive and vengeful but it doesn't matter as the show was canned
Spoilers for ‘Tell Me a Story’ Season 2 Episode 10 ‘Ever After’
The CBS All Access American psychological thriller television anthology series, ‘Tell Me a Story’, created by Kevin Williamson, depicts iconic fairy tales reimagined as modern-day thrillers. And just like the fairy tales reimagined, the happily ever after here is a bit dark as well.
The show has too many problems in storytelling and the ending was underwhelming, to say the least. Too many characters make the ending chaotic and because not enough time can be devoted to each storyline properly, the endings for some stories felt rushed and improper. But let’s take a look at them one at a time.
The Ashley Rose story
As it turned out, the real villain behind the attempted murder of Ashley Rose (Natalie Alyn Lind) was no one we had suspected so far. It was a woman called (Audrey Corsa). Taylor, it was revealed, was the step-sister of Ashley Rose -- Taylor’s mother Donna (Karina Logue) and Ashley’s dead father had an affair, and she was the illegitimate child. Rebecca Pruitt (Carrie-Anne Moss) knew of her existence but did nothing to support her. So, she always begrudged the existence of the Pruitt children, growing up in poverty and pathetic conditions.
Of course, that does not explain why her animosity was directed only at Ashley Rose and none of the other children. In fact, Jackson (Matt Lauria) would have been an easier target. Or even Maddie (Odette Annable). Well, anyway, Taylor attempts to kill Ashley Rose once again. And this time, Beau (Eka Darville) manages to shoot and kill her. But not before he’s shot as well. But, he survives. And all ends well there.
The Simone story
Here, once again, the villain was someone related to the family again. It was Derek Garland (Christopher Meyer). He is the one who killed everyone. Starting from Simone’s (Ashley Madekwe) father, to Simone's godmother Cora (Julia Campbell), to his mother Veronica’s (Garcelle Beauvais) secret lover Clay Callaway (Matt Walton), to his own brother Ron (Caleb Castille).
It would seem that he felt neglected and unseen and wanted to protect both his mother and his step-sister -- he loved them both fiercely. And his love misguided him. Ultimately, he kidnapped Jackson to lure Simone to him. But things ended without any more deaths there once Veronica arrived to see what her son had done. She held him at gunpoint and handed him over to the cops. Once again, an ending that provided zero catharses.
The Tucker-Olivia-Maddie story
Finally, we arrive at the main story. The last time we saw them, Tucker, played by Paul Wesley, found himself being caught and chained by the woman he had imprisoned, Olivia Moon (Danielle Campbell). And it turned out Olivia was in many ways just as psychotic as Tucker. She got in touch with Tucker’s fiance Maddie under a false identity. But soon, she revealed herself.
While Maddie initially thought she was the one Tucker was having an affair with, Olivia cleared the air and more. She told her about Tucker’s true nature -- that he was obsessive and a stalker of women, capturing them, (and even murdering two of them). And she took Maddie down to the basement where Tucker was held captive. But, things took a turn for the worse when she attacked Maddie, knocked her out, and chained her just like her fiance.
As the two remained captured, a policeman came to investigate the disappearance of Brendan (Harry Shum Jr). Brendan was killed earlier by Tucker. When the police officer began suspecting something was off, Olivia shot and killed him as well.
This episode saw Olivia try to murder both Maddie and Tucker by lighting the house on fire. But they escape. And their struggle takes them into the river. Olivia is shown to drown and Maddie saves Tucker. But Tucker was now comatose. However, the show leaves us with an air of thrill when we see a bouquet of white roses by his bedside at the hospital. And it was signed by Anna (Tucker’s dead sister). We then see a woman drive away with a cat -- hinting that Olivia is still alive.
But there is no point to that. Because ‘Tell Me a Story’ was canceled by CBS earlier this year. And even if it weren’t, it was already an anthology series, so the story would remain open-ended, one way or the other.