Upamanyu Biswas
In Prime Video’s ‘We Were Liars,’ the head of the Sinclair family, Harris, owns two golden retriever dogs named Franklin and Eleanor that live a playful life on Beechwood Island. The dogs are a charming addition to the Island’s natural beauty and its palatial estates, especially as the entire Sinclair family gathers for their annual summer retreat at the privately owned Island. While their role in the narrative is often of a peripheral kind, bringing life and mirth to otherwise drab events, they occasionally enter the stage and steal the limelight from other human characters in the show. However, despite their bubbly and energetic attitude, they are faced with a terrible situation at the end of the story, one that puts their lives in the way of mortal danger. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Frank and Eleanor Become Tragic Victims of Unintended Consequences
At the end of ‘We Were Liars,’ we learn that Cadence and the Liars (Johnny, Mirren, and Gat) concocted a plan to burn down the Clairmont mansion where Harris lives. Viewing it as a symbol of all the in-fighting within their family, the group decides to destroy it and raze it to the ground. However, their plan to burn it goes completely off track when Cadence, Johnny, and Mirren mess up the timing of the fire, instead getting themselves trapped inside the house while smoke fills the halls. Eventually, only Cadence manages to get out alive, while all the others lose their lives. This traumatic incident is made all the worse by the fact that Franklin and Eleanor also ended up trapped inside the house as it was doused in flames. A distraught Cadence tried to save everyone but only ended up surviving by the skin of her teeth while humans and dogs perished in the blast.
The death of Frank and Eleanor, alongside the death of the Liars, compounds the tragedy of the final plan conceived by Cadence and her friends. Despite wishing to do something good and noble, their actions ended up having unforeseen consequences not just for themselves but also for two innocent animals that had nothing to do with the bickering, manipulation, jealousy, and petty fighting between the Sinclair family adults. The Liars’ mothers and Harris create a family dynamic that is so toxic that the kids see no other way to fix things other than to destroy a mansion to make their voices heard. None of the grown-ups take responsibility nor try to speak with their children in honest, supportive, and constructive ways, leading them down a path of destruction. As a result, Franklin and Eleanor lose their lives, among many others.
Earlier in the narrative, we see the two canines get along with Gat and Cadence during Tipper’s funeral. Gat is tasked with taking the dogs for a spin by Harris, who worries that the animals might be cooped inside for too long. However, while playing with the dogs on the beach, Gat and Cadence lose control over their reins, allowing them to slip past and head for the Clairmont mansion, where the funeral event is still ongoing. The dogs end up making a mess inside the hall, destroying a lot of emotional memorabilia meant for Tipper. When Harris finds out about it, he is apoplectic with Gat and Cadence for not taking care of the dogs properly, even though he refrains from saying so. Despite their owner’s domineering attitude, Franklin and Eleanor lead a good and fulfilling life on the Island. Tragically, it is not meant to last forever as they meet a sad end in the house fire.
Read More: Is We Were Liars a True Story?
