The Season Ending Explained: Does Cola Free Her Father? Does She Get Her Revenge?

Created by Yalun Tu, Hulu’s ‘The Season’ dares to peek into the high society life of Hong Kong’s wealthiest people, who often come together to share their joys, woes, and hedonism in carefully arranged superyacht parties. However, for newcomer Coleen “Cola” Pierce, who is here for a brief internship, all of this proves to be too unfamiliar. Given only a single summer season to learn the ways of the rich and think like them, Cola unleashes a hidden plan of her own, one that connects to a traumatic past. As she carefully forges and disrupts connections on her way towards the perfect revenge story, this thriller drama series gears up for an ending that can only end with the complete fall of one party and the meteoric rise of another. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Season Plot Synopsis

‘The Season’ begins with Coleen “Cola” Pierce arriving for her first day of summer internship at Shen Financial, one of the leading financial companies in Hong Kong, and a personal favorite among its wealthy elite. It’s the start of their boating and yacht season, and surprisingly, Cola is invited alongside her boss, Carrie Shen, to a grand yacht party hosted by Christopher and Fiona Hext, arguably the two most powerful businesspeople on the island. She’s not alone in this party either, as wealthy people from all around are also here to mint deals and have fun. One of these people is David Ho, the recently divorced high-profile attorney whom Carrie has a hopeless crush on. However, before things develop on that front, both Carrie and Cola have to impress Fiona, the unmistakable star of the party.

Though Cola comes off as a rookie figure at first, it soon becomes clear that she has secret motives of her own. Later that night, she pays a visit to the Aberdeen Prison, reuniting with her father, Beni, who has been a prisoner there for decades. A series of flashbacks reveals that Beni once worked as the Hext family’s driver and hoped for his daughter to have the future that he never could. However, one night, Christopher accidentally hit a person with his car, killing them, and paid Beni to take the fall. For years, Beni has kept this detail a secret, leading Cola to believe that her father has been wronged and deserves an exoneration. On some level, this statement is absolutely true, and Cola slowly climbs the social ladder to earn the Hexts’ trust and learn their secrets.

Over the course of several high society parties, be it on yachts or theme parks, Cola also learns about the inner workings of the Hexts’ family and friend circle. Fiona’s estranged niece, Madeline, has had a sexual relationship with their friend, Andrew Fung, for quite some time, unbeknownst to his wife. When the truth does come out, however, their marriage falls apart, leaving both Madeline and Andrew in tricky positions. At the same time, Carrie and David end up together, but things take a turn when Cola approaches the former to fish for evidence against Christopher, and in the process, the two of them get high and have sex. Though Cola is later able to convince David to hand in the evidence, the Hexts eventually figure out her true identity, and their final yacht party together silently turns into a battleground.

The Season Ending: Does Cola Free Her Father From Prison? Does She Get Her Revenge?

‘The Season’ ends its first season with Cola outsmarting the Hexts and successfully getting her father out of prison. However, the journey up to this point is no easy feat, and has her trudging through the heart and underbelly of the Hong Kong high society, all the way until the final night of the yacht season. Though Cola’s plan is to slip in and out of The Season after getting the flash drive from David, things get too delayed, leaving her stranded on a ship full of enemies. The series of unfortunate events that follow does not make things any easier, and almost all hope seems lost when Carrie, still devastated that Cola and David slept together, throws the bottle containing the flash drive into the ocean. Ironically enough, though, what comes to Cola’s rescue is the destruction of the yacht itself.

After being backed into a corner by Christopher and Fiona, Cola risks it all on a bluff about the flash drive, just as David, high beyond recognition, takes control of the yacht and forces it to take a 180-degree turn back to the marina. Though his actions stem from a personal paranoia about never making it home, in the grand scheme of things, they are a culmination of what this clique of wealthy, but troubled people has been suppressing this entire time. Andrew highlights this same thought earlier, calling out his fellow high society members on their artifice and toxic coping mechanisms, and as the ship burns, all of this comes to light. Faced with a mortal crisis, Andrew, Carrie, and others ditch their superficial vendettas to save their lives and those of their friends.

Somewhere in the middle of the entire fire fiasco, Cola gets her chance at not only escaping Christopher’s grasp, but also miraculously reuniting with the flash drive drifting in the waters. As we skip forward in time from there, it becomes evident that she is able to reinvent her life for the better. Ultimately, what gets Beni out of prison is not the evidence that Cola hoped could exonerate him, but a mercy plea. Christopher’s earlier stunt of trying to beat up Beni backfires, as Cola now has proof that her father is unsafe behind bars and will have a better future outside. As he walks free after decades, Cola greets him with a brand new yacht of her own. This is a direct callback to Beni wishing for Cola to get a white car of her own, except this time, she has truly outdone herself.

Why is Cola Working With the Hexts? What Happens to the Flash Drive?

Though Cola’s goal this entire season has been to destroy the Hexts from the inside out, the conclusion she ultimately settles on almost feels counteractive at first. Instead of bringing them to the authorities, Cola strikes a deal to become their financial advisor, cashing in on the profits while creating and controlling new paper trails to hide their crimes. While this allows her to amass power and wealth, which she eventually uses to get her father out of prison, on some level, it is still a betrayal of the principles she started out with. Cola first comes up with the compromise when she is convinced she will never find the flash drive again. With no evidence at hand, all she can do at that moment is bluff her way out into extending the deal, and one way to do that is to become the Hext’s ally, in a rather twisted way.

After she finds the flash drive in the sea, however, retaining the same deal as before doesn’t make as much sense at first glance. The real reason Cola ties up with her sworn enemies, though, is that she is at last able to see beyond her immediate goals and deeper into the future. While she may be able to present the evidence in court, challenging the most powerful people in Hong Kong can very easily turn into a losing battle in court. As if that isn’t bad enough, Carrie subtly promises Cola a complete blacklisting from the financial industry, which means that, from this point onward, she might not even have an income source to sustain her fight.

After assessing both sides of the situation, Cola makes the difficult decision of adjusting to the real rules of the game. While we don’t get a second look at the flash drive, it’s likely that she still has it secured and in her possession, as it leaves her with a permanent bargaining chip that she can use to claim as many favors as she needs. However, at the same time, taking on this job is also an exercise in self-affirmation, as Cola can now show to the world that she, too, belongs to the world of the rich and powerful.

Will David Go to Jail? Does He End up With Cola or Carrie?

After almost singlehandedly bringing The Season down, David is left with a rather ambiguous fate by the end of the season. While he is able to relax at his high-rise in the following weeks, some small hints scattered throughout this final scene paint a picture of what is likely to happen. First off, Andrew mentions that David is wasting his time with therapy instead of enjoying life, which makes it likely that he’s been mandated by the court to take his substance abuse seriously. However, a clearer indication comes from David himself, who reminds Andrew that he has a court hearing next week. While this can mean that David has already been arrested and is currently on bail, we still don’t know whether he will be found guilty and punished or simply allowed to walk free with a tap on the wrist, as is often the case with the elite.

Perhaps the only thing going in his favor is the fact that no one died on the yacht, and most of the accident can be attributed to a drug-induced state of paranoia. However, an even bigger question that remains unanswered lies in the three-way dynamic between him, Cola, and Carrie. Though Cola truly regrets having sex with David and breaking Carrie’s heart, the latter’s retaliatory actions mean that peace is now out of the window. In the final moments of the show, Carrie and Cola are pitted directly against each other as two financial advisors, completely subverting the mentor-mentee dynamic they started out with. As things stand, David is unlikely to get back with Carrie either, and all that is left is a series of bitter interpersonal relationships between three people who started out as genuine friends.

What Happens to Andrew and Madeline?

While the fall of the superyacht brings a mixed bag of a resolution to Cola, David, and Carrie’s stories, things end on a surprisingly bright note for Andrew and Madeline. Though the duo is no longer together, their fates nonetheless get intertwined during the fire. No one gets to know that it is actually Andrew who started the fire by pure accident, and on the contrary, he is reported as a savior by the journalist on board, whom Andrew personally carried to safety. While his career has been going downhill for quite some time, this ends up becoming the push that he needed all along. With businesspeople flocking to his company, Andrew feels safe in going back to his party mode, even as his friend, David, seems to have his life in the air.

Madeline, on the other hand, gets her long-due piece of revenge against Fiona, both in terms of money and psychological catharsis. In the aftermath of the fire, Carrie begins representing Madeline, and together they strike a deal with the Hexts for one of their luxury hotels to go under Madeline’s name. While Cola is technically on the Hexts’ side, it is possible that it’s she who makes the deal actually happen. Regardless, with this, Madeline regains her footing in this world and is finally given a chance to escape the shadow of her husband’s death and the allegations that followed. Though the Hext couple manages to escape punishment for the life they took decades ago, Cola is here to make sure that their lives are slowly but surely turned into hell.