As Tom Petty (the real one this time) sings in the season finale of Bad Monkey, the good old days might not return. The rocks could melt. The sea might even burn. But all season long, even if he didn’t learn to fly – that would’ve come in handy, what with all the gallivanting between the Florida Keys and the Bahamas – Andrew Yancy did eventually learn to let go. Kind of. For a while. For at least as long as is required to savor some dark rum and enjoy the sea view from his turquoise abode. When it was all said and done, Yancy, badgeless again, sat with Rogelio and considered the joy of life. And just like back in Episode 1, Ro asked his friend to look at a particularly fucked up thing he had in his vehicle. The severed arm of a grifter? Who could say? Right now we don’t have a guarantee on another season of Bad Monkey. Only favorable winds. But a paperback copy of the 2016 novel Razor Girl, author Carl Hiassen’s spiritual sequel to Monkey, has always appeared in the show’s opening credits. And you know Yancy isn’t going to let Ro’s tantalizing prompt just drift out to sea. “What’s in the car, man?” And together, we can assume, they bolt for Season 2. 

Wait, badgeless again? How did it all play out? Well, to answer that we gotta run down all of the latest people to be hurt by Eve. You’ll recall that when the hurricane came, it unleashed a Dragon Queen restored. The fates would see that the island had its sacrifice. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t Eve. A lightning strike, a felled tree, and Dragon Queen herself was the one fatally impaled. Yet again, someone paid the cost who didn’t deserve it. But while Dragon Queen’s wrongful death was another infuriating gas-up of its criminal sociopath, Bad Monkey Episode 10 also honors her magic and personal journey with a sequence of graceful – Gracie-ful? – spiritual visitation. As Dragon Queen appears to Egg, Ya-Ya, and her grandmother’s young Obeah padawan, it’s with the understanding that she is now content. In life, she lost her way. But in death – “I hope you choke on your lies!” she told Eve with her last breath – all of Dragon Queen’s curses and wishes came true.

“Don’t make me feel like it’s all my fault, OK? You promised me you’d take care of me. How’re you gonna do that when you’re like this?” There is absolutely no possible way that Nick Stripling is a sympathetic character. This unapologetic asshole and low-level con man murdered his best friend Izzy O’Peele, among others, and married his fellow criminal Eve instead of reconciling with his troubled daughter Caitlin. With yellow spinal goo spurting from the wound on his back – nice one, Neville! – and his legs malfunctioning, Eve saw her opportunity to flip it back on him like he was the failure for not coddling her further. Nick sucked. No doubt. But Eve truly deserves all of the rage emojis. Let’s hear it for Meredith Hagner, whose portrayal of her made the character unnerving and hilarious all at once. That dismissive wave she gave Nick as drowned! A gold medal TV moment for awful people doing terrible things to other horrible people. 

So if even Dragon Queen’s formidable magic could not kill Eve, and Yancy and Neville didn’t get to her in time – in another nice touch, a waterlogged Yancy gripped the trailing mooring line of her escaping yacht, and really considered how many times all of his loved ones told him to just let it go – where was Eve’s reckoning? Was Bad Monkey gonna let her escape, leave us hanging, and hope to solve it in a potential second season? Nope! Having murdered her husband, collected all their hard cash, eluded all spiritual and legal authorities, and peaced out on a yacht, we rejoined Eve Stripling at a fancy resort in Portugal. Which is exactly where her gloating ended as she choked on a carrot and tumbled four stories to her death. Recall the words of a proud dying woman. (“I hope you choke on your lies!”) In the end, Eve was her own destruction.

Going to the Bahamas when the FBI tells you not to, and breaking lots of laws while there, even in the pursuit of a pair of international grifters – that’ll get your Key West detective badge re-confiscated. But with the Striplings dead and gone, Yancy is actually content to return to his restaurant inspection detail, settle in with a cocktail, and watch the Key deer frolic alongside his pier. He’s basically happy. He just doesn’t have anyone to share it with. Even Driggs the monkey returned to Neville. So what does Yancy have? 

Bonnie calls. She’s still on the loose, lounging somewhere in her green bikini. And Rosa stops by for some farewell sex. The former medical examiner needs to figure herself out, which means their adult relationship ended up being defined by its undefinedness. And while Natalie Martinez’s Rosa Campesino could easily return for a Bad Monkey Season 2 – actually, so could Michelle Monaghan as Bonnie, which would be awesome on both fronts – for now the seafoam Adirondack chair beside Yancy sits empty. In a way, he’s back where he started. It’s just that now, his nagging desire to be the cop of the world, and his force of nature ability to talk fast and improvise – these traits helped him be a catalyst for good in the lives of the people around him. And maybe that’s more of a victory than nabbing Nick and Eve could ever have been. Take the joy where you can. Talking about what it all means, well, that’s a tale for some other time.   

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.