Obsession wanted to push the boundaries slightly. With it being pitched as a bit of a 50 Shades, I would have to say that hearing that set the bar low for me. However, this actually did have a bit of a story to it, and a score that would run in the background that would set the tone, mood, and scenes perfectly.
Following Doctor William Farrow and his lust affair turned into Obsession with his son, Jay’s fiancee, Anna. This four-episode limited series touched on intimacy, lust, and the detrimental effects that having an affair with your son’s significant other can have, with an Ending that did definitely shock me.
Let’s break down and do an Obsession Ending Explained and explain all that there was to take away from this show.
Obsession Finale Recap
As we embarked on to Obsession’s Ending, we saw that Jay was suspicious of his father’s activity due to him uttering the line, “You just need to learn to love the questions”. A phrase that Anna had said to Jay before, but also Will when they were together. So Jay had suspicions that his father had been spending time with his fiance.
We saw Jay follow his father to the location that he was going to, and it turned out to be none other than Peggy’s infamous apartment, where all of the meetings would take place between Will and Anna. As Jay opened the door, he got a sight that I don’t think anybody would ever want to see: his father being intimate with his soon-to-be wife.
Due to the shock that he felt, he took a few steps back and ultimately fell over the Bannister leading him to drop several floors until he ultimately met his demise. Meaning that the last thing that he saw was his father with Anna; that’s one sad last sight. With him falling to his death, we saw Will run down and cradle his son, and Anna walked off into the night, not to be seen for a little while.
The stairs in the apartment building were made a main focus throughout the entirety of the show. They were almost positioned as this barrier. Yet this thing would be building up to a main event. Hence why we always saw them in a particular shot when Will would go there.
And we also heard Peggy shout top floor to Jay when he first arrived, showing that they would come to be extremely important in the long run. And that the fact that the apartment was on the top floor, it meant that it would hold some weight to it.
Anna Keeping Her Distance From Will
Once the funeral for Jay had taken place, we saw that Will was still obsessing over Anna and hoping that she would return. So much so that he was detached from his family and the life that he sacrificed for his love affair. However, we saw that it didn’t phase him at all.
He just cared about being with Anna. He went to Peggy’s office to find out where she was in a flustered state. And he even traveled to where his son’s honeymoon was booked to track her down, which he did successfully do.
Once Will finds Anna, we see that he states that he wouldn’t change anything that happened and implies that his son dying doesn’t matter that much due to his thinking that he would still be with Anna.
However, she didn’t feel the same. We saw that she was still wearing her engagement ring, and she was truly mourning Jay and feeling a sense of responsibility for his death, despite not being the person who killed him. Hence, we saw that she wanted nothing to do with Will and told him she shouldn’t reach out to her anymore.
Jay was Anna’s sense of normality something that was of great importance to her. We heard her mention earlier on in the season that if she didn’t have permission to be with Jay, then she wouldn’t be with Will because they both came together. They each served different purposes in her life, and she felt fulfilled with both of them. Without one, there was a void, which we saw was apparent once Jay had died.
Obsession Ending Explained
Right at the End, we were led to believe that Anna had asked to meet with Will due to her sending a message saying, “Are you back? I need you”. This was something that she would often say to Will, and he would say to her. But in actual fact, this was a message to Peggy, her long-time friend, who she ended up moving out of the city with her.
As this was happening, it was intercut with Will arriving at the apartment building where his son fell to his death, and we saw that he was planning on buying Peggy’s old apartment showing just how obsessed with Anna he was. Anna left her diary, and he was reading through extracts from prior to his son’s death where she was mentioning how they were going to have a lifetime of being together in the situation that they were in.
With Anna being away from Will, the final thing that we saw was her in therapy and the therapist asking if it would help if there were some rules in place. Tying into the start of this series where she met with Will. The mindset that she had when it came to intimacy and the start of a potentially new messed up relationship. Showing that it was just going to go full circle. Most likely due to Obsession being in her life from when she was younger.
Let’s break down the rest of the Obsession Ending Explained by the main characters.
Anna
Anna was a very interesting character. For an individual that loved her fiance as much as she did, she didn’t have the slightest problem with being intimate with his father. Obsession was something that was always present throughout her life, even from a young age.
As we heard when her brother was obsessed with her and was extremely inappropriate. We saw that her mother, Elizabeth, knew what her brother was doing, but she failed to stop him from doing so.
Anna did care about Jay, as we saw with her wearing the wedding ring following his death. But her desire to surrender was something that I would argue outweighed the love that she held.
As it was something that she planned on doing for as long as she could, even throughout her married life. With her being with the therapist, I feel it was most certainly alluding to the fact that the cycle was going to be happening again.
Will
Will was a character that was on the verge of being considered crazy. He was somebody who led his fantasies to get the better of him, and it cost him everything, yet he didn’t care. He was fine for his son to die as long as it wasn’t for nothing, which was very strange. He was nothing like the individual that Ingrid spoke of when she gave her speech at the engagement party. He seemed a bit dead behind the eyes.
The scene wasn’t felt like Will had turned into a rabid animal and was sniffing all around the bed like a dog, it showed just how animalistic he was and that he was truly obsessed with Anna, hunting for the scent to give him some form of satisfaction and it was very strange.
The fact that he ended up in the apartment where all of his fantasies occurred, but also it being the location of where his son met his End, was a twisted conclusion to the character, and it showed just how insane he was.
Overall Review Of Obsession
I thought Obsession as a Show was OK. It was nothing special, but it was a lot better than what I expected. The way that it was being spoken about prior to its release, I expected a substanceless four episodes of just intimacy. But it wasn’t. It had a compelling half-gripping story that shocked me at the End.
One thing that I thought was really good in the show was the score that was behind the scenes. It was almost tense music that you would get building up in a horror movie, almost implying the dark undertones and the haunting nature of what was going to occur in the End. It was done really well, and that was something that definitely stuck in my mind.
It balanced the intimate scenes well and didn’t overdo it, which I thought it was going to do. So I’m glad that they allowed the actual story to cut through and be the main focus.
In terms of the performances, I thought all of the characters all performed extremely well. You felt the heartbreak from Ingrid when Jay was no more. The psychotic nature of will that was constantly present and his descent into a darker hole which was Obsession and the yearning for more that was always emitted by Anna.
It’s a show that I’ll probably never watch again. But whilst I was watching it I enjoyed the ride any more than four episodes would have definitely been too long. So I respect the fact that they made it concise and to the point. Because it most probably could have been easy for them to get carried away with it. So there you have it, Obsession Ending Explained.
Also Read: The Truman Show Ending Explained: The Dark Hidden Meaning Behind The Movie
