Murder, mystery, Meadow Brook, Texas — these are the three M’s of The Hunting Wives Season 1, Netflix‘s newest and hottest drama.
In the eight-episode adaptation of May Cobb’s bestselling novel, Sophie (Brittany Snow) moves to Texas to be with her husband and son, only to immediately become trapped in a hellscape where she becomes the scapegoat for a massive conspiracy regarding the death of a teenage girl.
At the true center of that conspiracy is Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), a magnetic but secretive housewife with cash and bridges to burn. Throughout the series, Sophie and Margo play a dangerous cat and mouse game that leads to a showstopping finale, complete with guns and answers to major questions, including the one at the top of everyone’s mind: Who killed Abby Jackson (Madison Wolfe) and why?
Here’s a full breakdown of The Hunting Wives Season 1 finale, including an explanation of who killed Abby and how the truth is discovered.
At the end of Episode 7, “Shooting Star,” a shockingly apt title for the penultimate installment in this dramatic mystery, Margo and Callie (Jaime Ray Newman) walk into Jill’s (Katie Lowes) house to find Starr (Chrissy Metz) in a pool of blood on the floor. A very frazzled Jill tries to explain that Starr came over and confronted her about Abby and Brad (George Ferrier), threatening to expose Jill for doing something to Abby in order to protect her son.
In the heat of the moment, Jill pulled out her gun and tried to hold Callie and Margo hostage until they could work out a plan, only for Callie to pull out her own gun and shoot Jill three times in the chest. Episode 8, “Sophie’s Choice,” kicks off with Sophie finally being released from prison after the cops closed the case, having listed Jill as the murderer and Starr as collateral damage.
With Sophie finally out of prison and off the hook for killing Abby, she immediately attempts to resume her relationship with Margo, only to discover that she is still hiding something. After a hookup in Margo’s bedroom, Sophie discovers a box of tampons, which directly contradicts what Margo said the first time they met about not being able to use tampons. Realizing that women who have recently had an abortion are not allowed to use tampons, Sophie connects the dots and confronts Margo about the lies.
In the end, it was Margo who actually shot and killed Abby that night at the lake. Let me back up one step and explain. Earlier in the season, we learned that Brad had told Pastor Pete (Paul Teal) that his girlfriend had an abortion, not realizing the pastor would turn around and throw it in Abby’s face to make her feel bad. In that, Abby discovered not only was Brad cheating on her, but that he was doing it with a married and much older woman, who she planned to go talk to at the lake the night she died.
What she did not expect was that Margo would be ready to chase her and shoot her dead in the woods to stop all of their secrets from coming out. Sophie only realizes what Margo did after finding out that the doctor who previously provided an alibi for Kyle (Michael Aaron Milligan) and Margo the night of Abby’s murder is really their father. Upon threatening to tell the world what she did, Margo comes clean to Jed about all of her indiscretions, which is when he slaps her and kicks her out of the house, forcing her to move back in with Kyle.
Sophie, after sharing the details of her affair with Graham (Evan Jonigkeit), winds up calling Salazar (Karen Rodriguez) to share the story of what really happened to Abby. Before she can do that, however, she heads out to a liquor store, leaving Jack with a neighbor as Graham has taken off back to Boston to get away, and encounters Kyle, who nearly runs her off the road. In a rage, he attacks her and appears to be about to pull a gun on her when she hits the gas and runs him over. With several empty liquor bottles on her dashboard and a pedestrian in the road, the scene is almost a perfect recreation of her last vehicular homicide.
The season ends with Margo attempting to get in contact with Kyle and Sophie answering his phone as she drags his body into the wilderness. Sophie sits on the phone silently for a few seconds before pushing Kyle’s body off a ledge and into a lake.
Will Sophie get away with it? We will only find out in a second season, which has yet to get the greenlight from Netflix.
The Hunting Wives Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.
Netflix offers three subscription plans to fit your streaming needs. The plans start at $7.99/month for standard with ads and go up to $24.99/month for unlimited ad-free streaming in up to 4K UHD quality.