'The Cry' Ending Explained As Jenna Coleman Drama Reaches Its Emotional Finale

The episode proved the series was worth sticking with.
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It may have got off to a confusing start, but BBC One’s ‘The Cry’ came to a satisfying conclusion on Sunday night, as it neatly wrapped up the story of Joanna and Alistair Lindsay, and their “missing” son Noah. 

A series of revelations helped the psychological thriller deliver an emotional sucker punch of a final episode, as Jenna Coleman’s character finally found peace after four episodes of sheer trauma.

The biggest shock of all was also the cruelest, as the real truth about Noah’s death was finally exposed.

While we had been led to believe Joanna was responsible for accidentally killing her son by mixing up the medicines, a card from the lady they had travelled with on the plane to Melbourne prompted Joanna to come to the realisation Alistair had tended to Noah at the airport while she went and got coffee.

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BBC

When she confronted him about this, he eventually admitted to giving their son unchecked medicine, and was therefore the one who had actually caused the youngster’s death.

Realising her fiancé had fitted her up to carry the guilt of his mistake, Joanna then forced him to reveal he had also lied about the final resting place of their son. 

Feeling the ultimate sense of betrayal, Joanna sought to kill Alistair by purposely crashing their car - but not before she had undone his seatbelt to ensure he suffered the maximum impact. 

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BBC

Last week’s episode had already revealed Alistair was dead, with it later being confirmed he died in the car crash, for which Joanna was standing trial. 

In the court scenes, set months after Alistair’s death, we found out that the real story of Noah’s “disappearance” was still not public knowledge. When taking to the stand, there was a moment where Joanna seemed to be on the verge of telling all about the events that unfolded in Australia.

However, she instead made a pointed testament of how Alistair was the only one who knew the true extent of her pain, and she was later found not guilty of his murder and walked free. 

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In a flash forward, we then saw Joanna arriving back in Australia at the former show home she had previously viewed with Alistair when he was trying to convince her to stay in his home country.

Some may have questioned the significance of that scene. However, it served to reveal it was Noah’s final resting place. This became clear thanks to the seemingly unremarkable photo Alistair had taken of Joanna in the house during the viewing. 

A scene after Alistair’s death had seen Joanna discover he was using the photo as the background on his phone, and in the closing seconds of the episode, we then saw Joanna finally find peace as she laid her head against the show home floor. It was a moment that mirrored when Alistair took her to visit the tree beneath which he claimed to have buried Noah previously.  

The ending won a huge amount of praise on social media...

‘The Cry’ is available in its entirety to watch now on BBC iPlayer.