The Woman in the House Across the Street… – Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

The Killer Is Revealed

Is Buell the killer?

Episode 8 of The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window begins with Buell walking over to Neil’s house. With rain lashing down outside, Anna courageously charges outside. She does her best to fight off her phobias, fighting and clawing across the floor to make it across the street. With the memory of Massacre Mike and Elizabeth echoing in her mind, Anna makes it to Neil’s house.

When she enters, she finds Buell passed out on the floor, with a slit throat. As Anna looks down on him, he croaks that he only went over to deliver the mail. He’s not the real killer after all. As Anna suspects Neil next, she rushes into the living room… to find his throat slit too. The one wielding the knife happens to be Emma! She’s the one who killed Chastity. But why?!

Why did Emma kill Chastity? And what happened to her Mum?

Well, the night before Chastity left to go to the airport, Emma actually did stab her in the neck. Anna didn’t imagine seeing that at all. Apparently all of this was off the back of Chastity refusing to buy her chocolate bars. Emma pinned the murder on Anna, under the guise of selling chocolate at her house. While she was upstairs getting her chequebook, Emma snuck in and grabbed the palette knife.

Neil was upstairs in the bathroom practicing his ventriloquist act when Emma killed Chastity, giving her the perfect opportunity to kill and cover the murder up. She also killed her own mum too, on account of her falling pregnant. It was Emma who pushed her teacher off the top of the lighthouse. And lastly, Emma was also the one to leave the warning on her car.

A fight between the two inevitably breaks out, with Emma stabbing Anna and even shooting her in the shoulder with her dad’s gun. To finish things off, Emma smashes the casserole dish over Anna’s head. As Emma grabs a knife and prepares to end Anna forever, Douglas shows up just in time to see what’s happening. Momentarily distracted, Anna kills Emma.

Do Anna and Douglas get back together?

Thanks to Douglas’s testimony, Anna is let off the hook. Buell is also going to make it too as he’s in intensive care while Emma and Neil are both dead. After Douglas shows up, Carol does too. She apologizes to Anna for not believing her and drops off some flowers as a peace offering.

When Anna is discharged from the hospital, she heads up to the loft where Buell happens to be doing taxidermy, with some hilarious books that match the titles we saw earlier in the series regarding painting. Speaking of which, Anna shows up at the gallery with her latest piece after getting back in the saddle again and painting after all.

Douglas is there too with Claire, who happens to be a clinical psychologist he works with – not his lover. Douglas takes Anna aside and mentions how he’s bought her painting. As it begins to rain, Anna realizes that she’s not afraid anymore and like any cliched romantic moment, they kiss in the rain.

How does The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window end?

We then jump forward one year. Douglas is back with Anna and she’s heading off on a weekend break with Sloane. She’s also no longer drinking wine either… she’s moved onto vodka. The thing is, she’s still hallucinating and this time it comes from seeing a woman in the seat next to her. As the flight takes off, Anna wakes up to find the passenger gone and brutally murdered in the bathroom.

According to the flight attendant, there was never anyone next to her and when Anna shows him the bathroom, it’s completely empty. So did she imagine the whole thing? A gold makeup mirror on the seat next to her seems to prove otherwise. “Bingo.” Anna says, as the series comes to a close.

The Episode Review

So the case is wrapped up with a neat little bow, as we learn that Buell wasn’t the murderer after all, it was Emma. I must say, that was a lovely little twist and certainly one I didn’t see coming. Like many others, Buell seemed like the most likely suspect but alas, he was just a red herring.

However, the episode does well to keep things intriguing and the ending definitely hints that there could potentially be a second season if this is well received  from audiences. While the series could have done with perhaps 2 or 3 episodes less, there’s enough here to enjoy nonetheless.

Kristen Bell is great in this lead role too and she definitely helps to carry the mystery through some of the slower segments.

Either way though, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window wraps things up nicely.