The ‘Too Much' Ending, Explained

Cosmopolitan

4 days ago

For all the lies, betrayals, family secrets, good friends and horrible people that Jessica and Felix experience in Too Much, the sexy and romantic new series from Lena Dunham on Netflix has a joyful, happy ending. What are the artistic choices and implications of the Too Much season 1 finale? Let's get into it! There are major major, major spoilers ahead!
Throughout the first season of Too Much, Jessica maintained a private Instagram where she recorded messages to her ex Zev's new girlfriend Wendy. There was lots of venting, crying, and real talk. In one video she accidentally set herself on fire. Towards the end of the season, she accidentally switched the entire account to public. All of a sudden, people including Wendy were watching and reposting her breakdown/healing journey. So embarrassing!
However, as Rita Ora playing herself predicted in the penultimate episode, the whole ordeal was actually not a big deal. The internet forgot. Jessica was viral for a day or two, but it didn't affect her job or relationship in the long term. It did not ruin her life. As a matter of fact, Jessica's 'gram gaff was the push she needed to get some closure about how her previous relationship ended. But first, tragedy strikes.
I am sorry to say that, yes, Jessica's dog Astrid dies in the Too Much season 1 finale. It's not an easy watch. It leads to another fight between Jessica and Felix. They were already broken up and then experienced something traumatic from different angles. Astrid was Jessica's best friend, but Felix was there when she died. It's so awful.
In the final episode, as she's folding up Astrid's clothes, she gets a simple text from an unknown number that changes everything: "Hey. It's Wendy. I'm in London for work. Let's meet?" Even though the conversation hasn't happened yet, it's like a weight lifts off of Jessica. She just knows she's finally going to able to let Zev go.
In a fantasy sequence, she floats back to New York and Taylor Swift's "Bigger Than The Whole Sky" plays. For absolutely no reason at all, I would like to point out that the producer on this song is Jack Antonoff. She sees Zev, alone in his bed reading, and says goodbye to him. A whole range emotions cross her face, from calm content to grief.
She meets Wendy at a café and they have a very real and uneasy but ultimately healing talk. Wendy asks if Zev was lying to her when he told her he and Jessica had been separated for six whole months when they first started dating. Jessica confirms her suspicion. They laugh together. The apologize to each other. They compliment each other. At the very end of the episode, Wendy sends back the shirt she inadvertently stole and wishes her well.
They sure did! In true romantic comedy fashion, Jessica rushes to meet Felix at an environmental protest. She tells him that she forgives him for cheating on him with the older woman. (To be fair, she hooked up with Andrew Scott's character in a previous episode. They're not perfect people!) She gives him a grand romantic speech. They're both pretty quick to acknowledge that they self-sabotaged their way out of a relationship that they both wanted. Jessica gets arrested, and Felix proposes! That, too, was quick. Is it a good idea that these two get married so impulsively? Thats a problem for season 2.
Guess not. She tells Felix that she's planning to, but the wedding appears to be in London. All of Jessica and Felix's real friends and family are there. Hannah and Elijah Nora and James are back together. Polly's coping. Kim and her coworker/love interest make up. Jess wears the tee shirt over her wedding dress. (In one final fantasy sequence, Jessica and Felix appear wearing costumes identical to the ones Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman wore in the wedding scene at the end of Sense and Sensibility.) All is well!
There is a little artsy bit at the end where Dunham, who not only plays Jessica's sister Nora but directed most of the episodes, steps out of character and yells "cut." The scene then blends into a BTS montage that also serves as wedding footage. It's cute. It's meta. There's no need to overthink it. I think it just means they had fun making this show, and it shows!