In 56 Days season 1, Ciara and Oliver’s pasts being intertwined is what makes their story addicting and fascinating. Finding out what drove Ciara to change her name and hunt down Oliver made her seem as crazy as Oliver running from his past and changing his name every so often. They’re both conning the people around them. It was beautiful and powerful when they finally came clean to each other about not only who they were but also who they became. They fell in love through all the lies and truths surrounding them.
Although this is Ciara and Oliver’s story, we also have to consider the other characters. Everyone that comes in contact with them either ends up dead or broken inside. No one is unharmed in this case. Everyone has secrets that tear them up inside. But, that’s what makes 56 Days so interesting. Not only are the main characters full of secrets, lies, and mysteries, but so are the side characters that they meet along the way.
Every clue has led us to this final episode. Who’s the skeleton in the tub? Who killed them? What happened to Oliver and Ciara? Lastly, are Lee and Karl okay after their run-in with a shooter in episode 7? For all of our sakes, I hope these questions are answered because we need to know.
56 Days episode 8 reveals Ciara’s plan
As Shayla and Kristi are fighting about the house foreclosure notice, Megan scrolls sightings of Oliver. She discovers he was spotted in Boston with his work logo in one of the photos. Sitting in Shane’s bedroom, she finds his yearbook with pictures of Oliver in school clubs.
Then, she’s in Boston, down the sidewalk from Oliver and Elliot chatting. 137 days ago, she set her new identity in motion as she moved into her apartment, made her Ciara ID badge, and settled into her fake life. A montage of their whirlwind relationship plays out until the bread molded, flowers died, and someone ended up murdered.
On day 34, Dan parks in front of Oliver’s apartment building and runs in, while Oliver is wondering if he needs to call Ciara by Megan or not. She feels more like a Ciara now. He tells her about remembering her from when they were younger. Again, they seem like a normal couple until Dan starts banging on the door, ruining the quiet moment.
Oliver defends Ciara being his girlfriend and lives here when Dan blunting groans at her being there. He tries to be polite, but his anger and hatred toward the Martin’s family isn’t going anywhere. Oliver continues to defend her to Dan even though he doesn’t agree with Ciara coming into his life. After all this time, he’s still manipulating the situation.
Ciara leaves the room so Dan can talk to his client alone even though Oliver said she could hear it. Honestly, I agree that she’s heard enough. I’d want to escape Dan’s toxic approach as fast as possible. Oliver bravely stands up to Dan for isolating him and doesn’t want to be his client anymore.
Being a jerk, Dan pulls out the letter Oliver wrote about confessing to his crime. He finally finds out that he never sent it to Shane. Dan manipulated every move between all of them, and continues to threaten all the evidence he has collected. When Oliver snatches the letter, Dan smugly reveals he has a copy. Dan continues to try to manipulate Oliver into all the trust he put into him. As he’s yelling at Oliver, Ciara comes up behind him and hits him in the head, saying they can’t trust him. He bleeds out and foams out of his mouth on the apartment floor.
The skeleton’s identity is confirmed in present day
Karl and Lee are okay as they stand outside of their car next to an ambulance. Lee is convinced it was Finch who shot at them. This isn’t about their current case; it’s about Lee wanting to get away from Finch. They can’t think about that now as Lee answers a call from the Medical Examiner that the autopsy report will be ready at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. Karl sets Lee up with protection as they part ways for the night.
Karl and Lee meet with the Medical Examiner and find out the cause of death was blunt force trauma causing a hemorrhage. The decomposition was the heat, but the death being a few weeks caused it to be pushed even further. Dan’s DNA was in the database so even the decomposition couldn’t get rid of his identity. He has a criminal record and he had lost his license to practice two years prior, making him seeing Oliver as a client even worse.
Russo comes by their office to tell them she’s glad they're okay. But, her visit leaves Lee stressed as she wants the downlow on Lee’s secret. Then, Karl makes it worse by showing Lee the necklace he grabbed off Finch during their fight.
Oliver and Ciara’s escape plan explained
Ciara and Oliver sit on the couch staring at Dan’s body. They both say they have someone that can clean up their mess. She calls her sister, who’s in the middle of a makeout session. Shayla tells her about a case from five years ago where the body was melted down to the bone. Oliver and Ciara use a blanket and drag Dan’s body to the bathtub and get all the supplies. They follow those case details: discretely buying the supplies, grabbing the heater from Ciara’s apartment, and laying out all their stuff around the apartment that only belongs to them and not Dan. That killer ran away and disappeared, never to be seen again. Shayla tells her to never use her phone again, get a burner, and never come home.
After Ciara has a mini breakdown, they get a suitcase and start packing. She finally finds out the safe code when he needs everything out of it. Oliver calls his guy while she grabs the stuff and packs it. They plan to meet up later after Ciara meets with her sister to say goodbye. She sounds so young and scared when she questions being able to say goodbye to Shayla, although we all know how strong she is from everything she’s done up until this point. Showing all they’ve been through, he’s trusting her with his bag.
Ciara and Megan meet up in a public location unsure of how to say goodbye. She promises to let Shayla know when they find where they’re going. They talk about how Dan deserved what was coming to him from what happened in the past. Ciara tells her about the letter and how he wanted to take responsibility but Dan wouldn’t let that happen. Now, she doesn’t hate him because she understands what he’s done. The last thing their family wants is for Ciara to go to prison like Shane. She’s sad to say goodbye to Megan even though Ciara needs to go. So, she says they could run away together, but Shayla turns her down. They promise to see each other again one day.
Oliver meets up with Elliot, who’s not doing all that great. He thanks him for everything and treating him like family. Although it’s probably a little late, he apologizes for putting tension on his marriage. The way Oliver is speaking concerns Elliot, but their conversation fades out. I can only assume he’s telling him what happened and that this is goodbye.
Elliot and Oliver park in front of the Boston Police Station. Oliver wants to go down the crime so Ciara can go back to her life. But, Elliot doesn’t want him to, but Oliver thanks him for everything and says goodbye as he walks into the station. Meanwhile, Ciara waits at the meetup place and the person there says he’s running late and offers for her to board the plane.
She declines, wanting to wait for Oliver to call her. She finds out where the plane is taking them and then sips some champagne. Oliver finally arrives after he worried her a bit even though she knew he’d show up. Surprisingly, she turns down Oliver’s fancy hideaway, so he wants to know where she’d rather go.
Karl and Lee handover the case to Flynn
Karl and Kevin view the surveillance footage from the day of the crime while Kevin’s yapping annoys Karl. They pass the time with Karl telling his story about not always wanting to be a detective, but Lee did. Karl shows Kevin an image of Finch and after a beat, Kevin says he gets his stuff from him and does see him around the building.
For once, they seem to be getting along as they pause the footage to show Dan in the elevator on the way up to Oliver’s apartment.
Karl visits the evidence room, while Lee meets with Russo as they discuss her hooking up with Finch. She confesses that she hoped he’d be scared, but now she is. After Russo agrees to keep people off Lee’s back, she requests for her and Karl to be taken off the Crossings’ case because Finch could be a suspect. It’s a conflict of interest if she knows someone on the case. Russo accepts and they part ways as Lee looks relieved, maybe, about her decision. Karl spends time looking at the sky with his son as Lee comes over.
They talk as Karl grills hot dogs. Russo is passing the Crossings case to Detective Flynn Shannon (Teefer Clow). They seem lighter as her secret is finally out and the case isn’t theirs anymore. Now, they can freely theorize what happened to Dan, Megan/Ciara, and Oliver. Then, they move into talking about if Karl is leaving the job or not, but vaguely answers in their inside joke style.
56 Days ending explained
Kristi gets a letter from Ciara, hoping she can forgive her like Ciara forgave Oliver. As Ciara reads the letter in a voiceover, we see Detective Flynn going through the Crossings’ evidence at the station.
We find out that Karl must have put Finch’s necklace in the evidence to steer the case towards him, maybe as a true-ish way to hand over the case. While Ciara is wondering if Oliver paid for her mistakes like she paid for his, Shayla finds a news article. The Boston Police arrested Finch for the murder of Dan. Ciara knows they all paid for years for what happened, but she hopes they are in a better place as her mom opens the check.
Lee and Karl enter a new crime scene. Ciara, now a blonde, sits on a beach as Oliver walks by the ocean in front of her. It shows the time jump as Ciara picks up their son, Shane. After so many dark twists, they got a happily ever after.
All episodes of 56 Days season 1 are now streaming on Prime Video.