'The Plot Against America' Ending Explained: Was America rescued from darkness or pushed further into the abyss?
Spoilers for 'The Plot Against America'
When it comes to politics, there can never be a clear-cut happily-ever-after. And HBO's 'The Plot Against America' seizes on this idea and delivers a finale with a rather ambiguous ending, which leaves you wondering — did America pull itself out from darkness or plunge further into the abyss?
The series, an adaptation of Philip Roth's book, shows an eerie what-if scenario where Nazi sympathizer Charles Lindbergh comes to power and dethrones Democrat President Franklin D Roosevelt. In the series, Lindbergh stirs up anti-Semitic fury and watches while crimes against Jews break out in the country.
The finale plunges into chaos from the start as radio personality Walter Winchell, who was very vocal about his views against Lindbergh, is assassinated. Evelyn Finkel (Winona Ryder) and Rabbi Lionel Bengeldorf (John Turturro) try to frantically convince everyone that Lindbergh condemns such actions. Bengeldorf plays the piper for his abject Lindbergh support and is arrested while Evelyn is left stranded. Bess (Zoe Kazan) refuses to shelter her and gives her a few parting stinging words as a goodbye. Events spiral out of control as Lindbergh's plane disappears and the Levins have to rush to the dangerous American heartland to save their neighbor's son. Yet the questions which arise are — what did Alvin (Anthony Boyle) have to do with the disappearance of Lindbergh's plane and what were the results of Election Day?
Pandemonium runs in the country after Lindbergh's plane vanishes. Remember in the third episode, Alvin learned about pulsed navigation and how to track planes in the sky? In the finale, Alvin is brought out in the middle of nowhere by mysterious men to man instruments in the projected flight path of Lindbergh's plane. He doesn't think anything has come of it, till he learns that Lindbergh's plane disappeared overnight. Thus, the Anti-Lindbergh group Alvin was involved with had successfully grounded the plane. This explains the fight with Herman at the dinner table later, when he's told that he did nothing to stand up to the presidency.
Due to the chaos in the country, there is a special election. There's a lot of cheer and joy as people stand in lines to vote. You want to believe that Franklin D Roosevelt will return to power again. However, the last few minutes do not imply that. We see ballot boxes being taken away and votes being burned. Bess and Herman hold hands when they listen to the radio, as the first results come from the counties that Lindbergh had swept through, two years ago. The announcer just says, there is a conflict in the results.
We will never know whether FDR won, or who destroyed the ballots. And perhaps, we would never know.