The Madness ending, explained

The Madness starring Colman Domingo is now streaming on Netflix! I watched all eight episodes of the Netflix original miniseries, and it's confusing! There are a lot of misdirections in this one, so I shared how exactly all the main storylines conclude in the season finale, "No More Madness."

The series from Stephen Belber begins when Muncie Daniels, played by Domingo, takes a break from his stressful life in Philadelphia as a TV host to write his book in the Poconos. There, Muncie witnesses a murder. Then, his life quickly begins to unravel as someone tries to pin the murder on him.

That's where things begin, but they do not stay there. It's quite the ride as Muncie tries to prove his innocence and get to the bottom of the mystery. Doing so, requires Muncie to find Mark Simon's killer and then convince the authorities to do something about it.

Spoilers ahead for The Madness on Netflix!

Who really killed Mark Simon?

That's the central question viewers asked themselves for about eight episodes in The Madness. We discover the truth about this earlier in the series, but it looms large in the finale. Rodney Kraintz, the billionaire sponsoring and profiting off the disinformation being spread around the world, had Mark killed because Mark and his far-right group, The Forge, were getting harder and harder to control. Mark was also building a case against and accumulating evidence against Rodney.

Muncie walked in on the murder, and then, Rodney, via Julia Jayne (Alison Wright), tried to frame him for the crime. That's what sparked this mess. FBI agent Franco Quinones (John Ortiz) was closing in on this part of the investigation, but he was slightly off. He was too focused on Stu Magnusson (Bradley Whitford), but it was actually Rodney's fixer, Julia, who was setting it all up.

So, Don Sloss Jr. and the dude that Muncie killed in the pond were the people who actually killed Mark Simon, but they did it for Rodney and Julia.

Then, as you'll recall Julia killed Stu and Don and tried to kill Muncie, but he jumped off a cliff to evade her, which brings us to where we are in episode 8. Muncie is still on the run, but he has evidence Julia is responsible for the crimes. Julia still has orders to kill Muncie or she's next.

I feel like that's important to recognize before we continue.

Does Elena die?

At the beginning of The Madness finale, Julia Jayne shoots up Isiah's cigar shop where Elena (Marsha Stephanie Blake) is hiding out. In the struggle, Isiah (Stephen McKinley Henderson) is shot, but he survives. Elena attacks Julia and kills her, but she gets shot in the process. She's rushed to the hospital, and they don't know if she's going to make it.

Eventually, Muncie, Demetrius ( Thaddeus J. Mixson), and the family learn that Elena is going to recover. So, no, she doesn't die, but it was a very close call.

Honestly, I'm so happy that the creative team chose to keep Elena alive. This series is dark enough, and if Muncie was responsible in any way for Elena's death, I don't know how I would have felt about that. I don't think I would have liked this series nearly as much.

Demetrius tries to kill Rodney Kraintz

After turning over the thumb drive with the incriminating information to the police and FBI implicating Rodney Kraintz, the billionaire behind all of this, Muncie goes on CNN to do one last story and talk about how he was framed. That doesn't sit well with Demetrius, who wants Rodney to pay for what he's done.

After Lucie (Tamsin Topolski) shares the address of Rodney's New York office, Demetrius takes his father's gun to finish the job and make him pay for the pain he caused the family, particularly Elena. Luckily, Muncie beats him to the office and takes the gun from him.

Instead of leaving, Muncie confronts Rodney and nearly kills him, but Muncie realizes the parallels between his story and his father's story. He decides not to kill Rodney.

That doesn't mean that Rodney gets out of this alive, though.

Rodney Kraintz is killed

After Lucie turns over more information to the FBI, The Forge members are arrested and charged for their crimes. Lucie wants them -- and herself -- to be held accountable.

And, speaking of accountability, Kraintz gets the charges against him cleared in Mark Simon's death, but after, he's shot and killed by an assassin. We don't know who killed Kraintz, but it doesn't matter because the wheel keeps turning.

Revitalize continues its operation funding congressmen and spreading disinformation.

Muncie reconnects with his family and gets his priorities right

In the final montage from The Madness, Muncie sets up a barbecue in the park with his two kids, Kallie (Gabrielle Graham) and Demetrius. This is what he was always supposed to be doing, not trying to make a name for himself and change the world on a cable news network. He's no longer on TV, but he's working as a teacher or professor now, helping give back to his community.

They aren't alone, though. Elena, alive and well, walks through the park to meet them. The madness? It's not anymore, not for Muncie anyway.

And, that's where the series ends!

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending of The Madness. There was a lot to like and not like about the Netflix miniseries, but overall, you probably won't see a more relevant series to what is happening in the United States and the world right now.