Abhiroop Das
The final episode of Netflix’s ‘Untamed,’ titled ‘All Trails Lead Here,’ moves away from high-octane action and gives way to a contemplative exploration of its characters’ minds. This results in a series of complex decisions, which play into each other and reveal a full picture that embodies moral greyness. While Kyle seemingly cracks the case of Lucy Cook’s death, the final lap of the investigation flips the entire narrative over its head. Meanwhile, Jill makes a confession that has been in the making for a long while, and it has far-reaching consequences. Shane’s decisions are revealed to have layers of reasoning behind them, and they clash with Kyle, who goes through one last metamorphosis. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Untamed Finale Plot Recap
Kyle retrieves Lucy Cook’s phone from her backpack and finds a host of pictures, one of which reveals her secret boyfriend to be none other than Shane Maguire. The protagonist then arms himself and makes his way to Shane’s hideout deep in the woods, but finds it empty. Just then, he is shot in the abdomen and realizes that the assassin is hunting him. A fierce cat-and-mouse chase ensues, ending with Kyle on the ground and Shane ready to kill him. Just then, Officer Vasquez comes to the rescue and shoots the culprit down before he has a chance to fight back. With this, the case appears to be almost solved, as all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, save one. After getting better, Kyle remembers that prior to her life in Yosemite Park, Lucy was raised at a Pastor’s house in Yelton, Nevada.
Kyle wishes to find closure and decides to make his way there in order to track down Lucy’s true father. Meanwhile, Jill decides to come clean about her past to her husband, Scott. She reveals that Caleb‘s killer was a man named Sean Sanderson, and he was caught due to the cameras Shane had installed to study bird migration patterns. Upon learning the truth, Kyle wanted a complete legal proceeding, but the idea of Sean having a chance to sit and speak out at a court filled Jill with rage and hatred, following which she tasked Shane with killing him, who did so by blackmailing the man to meet him in Yosemite Park, before ending his life. The reveal leaves Scott shaken, and Jill states that she would understand whatever decision he makes.
Elsewhere, Kyle’s journey leads him to an abandoned church, one that matches the photo he has of the place. A deeper inspection takes him to the Gibbs house, where he finds a locked basement that was once used to house children in inhumane conditions. Digging for more answers, Kyle contacts Faith Gibbs, the Pastor’s daughter, and learns of the real horrors Lucy had to endure. He is told that she eventually escaped on her own, and no information about her parentage ever got out. However, just when Kyle thinks he has reached a dead end, Faith returns with a final, ground-breaking piece of information: Often, while crying, Lucy would exclaim that her father would come to arrest Pastor Gibbs, revealing that the true father might be someone very close to home.
Untamed Ending: Who Shot Lucy Cook? How Does Kyle Catch Him?
Near the end of the finale, we learn that Lucy Cook was shot by none other than Paul Souter, the Chief Ranger of Yosemite National Park. The crime is not without context, as prior to this, we learn that Souter is Lucy’s actual father, and he had hidden this fact to save his normal, married life. Kyle figures out the truth upon learning from Faith Gibbs that Lucy’s father is a member of law enforcement. He narrows his search down and soon realizes that Souter held back his DNA records during the investigation. When confronted about the truth, the Ranger Chief caves in, revealing that Lucy only learned the truth prior to her mother’s death. Based on the flashback sequences interpersed throughout the episodes, we learn that the child took a liking to the man, and didn’t complain when he snuck her out of Rory Cook’s house.
While talking to Kyle, Souter explains that he presented Lucy’s disappearance as a murder and pinned it on Rory, whose reputation as an abusive man made the job all the easier. In reality, Souter took Lucy to Pastor Gibbs, whom he describes as a good man willing to keep his mouth shut for some extra money. While he claims ignorance of the manner in which Gibbs treated his foster children, the fact that Souter never checked up on his child makes him just as culpable. Furthermore, his failure to include her in the family upon returning is further proof of how he was an exploitative individual with no real love for his daughter. Initially, he lies to Kyle, claiming that his interaction with Lucy ended there. When Kyle asks for Souter’s rifles to be sent for examination, the latter tenses up before revealing the full truth.
According to Souter, things took a turn when Lucy reappeared at his house the previous year, asking for money. This soon became a recurring event, eventually bringing the father and daughter’s dynamic to a boiling point. When he learned that Lucy had taken Maddie, his granddaughter, out for a walk, he reached his tipping point and decided to force Lucy into submission. From here on, Souter’s narrative becomes quite unreliable; while he claims to have never intended to hurt his daughter, the fact that he took aim with his rifle and missed the shot before hitting her leg suggests a negative intent. Regardless, it is this shot that triggers her eventual death.
Souter’s actions are deplorable to the very end, as depicted by his eagerness to shut down the incident, all in favor of protecting the happy image of his existing family. Kyle counters this line of thinking, reminding the Chief that Lucy was his family as well. The protagonist then declares his plan to do right by her and sticks to it, even when Souter points a gun at him. Realizing that he is out of options, Souter decides to take his own life, closing the curtains on the mystery. Lucy is given a traditional native funeral, and her ashes are spread throughout the forest, taking her on a spiritual journey akin to what her mother described. Kyle himself begins an internal journey of his own, one that ends with him making a big decision.
Does Kyle Leave Yosemite National Park? Why?
In the final sequence of the show, Kyle packs up his bags and leaves Yosemite National Park in his car, marking the start of a new chapter in his life. While it marks the conclusion of the narrative, its seeds are planted in the very beginning. To begin with, Kyle was already planning on moving out of the Park, as indicated by the presence of a Meadowview Real Estate sticker at his premises. However, given that his entire house is packed in boxes, it is possible that he has been unsure of the decision for a long time. This indecision ties back to his desire to end his life, where he similarly has a hard time choosing and weighing the purpose of his life. In a prior conversation, the protagonist reveals that right before he was called in to investigate Lucy Cook’s death, he was planning on taking his own life by drowning in the lake. This detail makes its re-entry at the end, when the case is solved.
Kyle stands in front of the lake, ready to die, but suddenly realizes that he no longer wants to do it. The hallucination of Cabel by his side gives us some insight into his reasoning. Most likely, the guilt of not being able to protect his son and the yearning to be with him once again are the two main reasons that motivate his choices. However, solving Lucy Cook’s case offers a way out of that feeling. By figuring out what happened to her, Kyle redeems himself, and in a way, brings justice to a life. Furthermore, his loneliness throughout the narrative shows signs of change as his bond with his ex-wife, Jill, begins to heal. The presence of new and trustworthy allies in his life, such as Officer Vasquez and Jay Stewart, also suggests that he has found people worth sharing life with.
However, one of the largest driving factors might just be his interaction with Glory, the leader of the Squatters group inside the Park. When he asks her about her lack of sympathy for the deaths of two people, she responds by recounting her life, which bears a surprising resemblance to the protagonists. Both are characters who excelled at their jobs but were forced out of them, and both of them have death looming around them, be it a medical crisis, such as Glory’s cancer, or Kyle’s lifestyle. Nonetheless, Glory chooses to distance herself from the pretense of civilization, which brings her to the woods. As Kyle’s arc is an inverse of hers, wherein he grows to care more about the lives of others, it makes sense that his conclusion takes him out of the wilderness and returns him among people, where he can be a fuller individual.
Why Does Shane Attack Kyle?
While Kyle’s dangerous encounter with Shane happens early on in the finale, the exact reasons for Shane’s actions are never made clear, as before he can say his piece, Officer Vasquez has to kill him and save Kyle’s life. However, a deeper look into his past reveals two of his attachments to the protagonist, both of which take a sour conclusion, leading to his drastic steps. Primarily, Shane attacks Kyle to cover up his involvement in Lucy Cook’s life. Although he is not her killer, he is the one responsible for introducing her to drugs and the criminal lifestyle. The hunter himself has deep ties to the drug gang, and thus, his getting caught is likely to land him in prison, permanently derailing his life. To avoid this, he tries to bury his presence at every stage, but seeing that Kyle is always lingering around, he decides to remove the obstacle for good.
However, Lucy Cook is not the only connection Kyle has with Shane. After all, the latter is also the one who killed Sean Sanderson years ago, on Jill’s orders. As such, the fear of getting caught always looms over the assassin, which makes Kyle a security risk. The protagonist is not only a believer in policework over direct action, but also a person with a drinking problem, which makes him very vulnerable to even accidentally letting the secret out. Furthermore, the legal case against Kyle’s investigations into Sean’s disappearance means that it is only a matter of time before the truth comes out. Given these facts, it makes sense for him to hunt the protagonist, using the earlier context of one case to get rid of a loose end of another.
What Happens To Sean Sanderson’s Case?
With Shane dead and Kyle leaving Yosemite, the conclusion of the Sean Sanderson saga hangs in the balance. While the incident itself is marked by the tragedy at every point, the fact remains that Jill commissioned a hit on a person without any legal proceedings declaring him guilty. As such, the show navigates a particularly complicated scenario, one that ends with Kyle responding to the Sandersons’ lawyer, Esther Avalos, by accepting charges of Investigative negligence. He states that his mental state at that point was not fit for the task, and might have contributed to the case going cold under his supervision. The protagonist’s pseudo-confession is likely to have serious consequences. Given that he is already suspended, something like this can completely derail his career, and yet Kyle takes this head-on.
By the end of the narrative, the truth about Sean Sanderson’s case lies firmly buried, with Jill leading a normal life. However, her confession to her husband, Scott, opens up new grounds for her character’s reception of her past. Scott’s reaction to the truth is itself an uncertainty, but given his love for his wife, it is most probable that he will keep it a secret and instead work towards improving Jill’s mental health. Kyle realizes that while he cannot change the past, he still has the ability to define how his loved ones lead their future, one free of the obfuscation and lack of control embodied by the wilderness. Lastly, Sean Sanderson’s death means that he can no longer abuse or kill other children. As such, his death is an event colored in grey, with both positive and negative dimensions to it.
Read More: Is Untamed Based on a True Story?
