**Warning: spoilers ahead**
The Abandons is Netflix’s hit new Western drama, but does Lena Headey’s Fiona manage to save her children by the end? Find out below.
READ MORE: ‘The Abandons’ review: Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey’s families feud down on the range
The show was created by Kurt Sutter, best known as the brains behind The Shield and Sons Of Anarchy, and all seven episodes were released onto the streaming service on Thursday (December 4).
It stars Headey (Game Of Thrones) as Fiona Nolan, a devout Irish woman in the 1850s who tries to build a family by adopting four orphans, but soon finds herself struggling against European aristocrats who claim possession of her home in Oregon.
The show also stars Gillian Anderson as Constance Van Ness, the head of a wealthy family that dominate the frontier town. Check out the trailer for the show here:
Reports suggest that Sutter exited the show shortly before filming wrapped due to creative differences with Netflix, with Deadline reporting that the streamer felt his initial cut of the opening episode was too long and unwieldy.
In a three-star review of the show, NME wrote: “There’s still a lingering corniness that keeps it from feeling top-tier. The Abandons is the sort of show where an Irish priest arrives in town bearing a secret, barroom brawls are commonplace and Constance’s neglected daughter Trisha (Aisling Franciosi) forms a bond with Fiona’s adoptive son Elias (Nick Robinson) – it’s a Western West Side Story! When Headey’s Game Of Thrones co-star Michiel Huisman keeps popping up as Constance’s shadowy fixer Roache, you’re already primed for his slow and steady backstory.
“And despite some nauseatingly gory moments, The Abandons could use a little more grit. Some of these hardy mining folk don’t have enough dirt under their fingernails and the lavish sets look, well, like lavish sets. Fortunately, there’s enough dramatic meat in this period potboiler to keep it simmering along. Come for the family feud – and stay for it, too.”
The Abandons ending explained: does Fiona manage to save her family?
Going into the season finale, fans were left wondering whether Fiona’s attempts to compromise in order to protect her family, amid her ongoing and bloody conflict with the Van Ness clan.
In the final episode, she draws Constance into the Van Ness mansion, the symbol of the family’s wealth and power. In a climactic confrontation, Fiona creates the conditions for a blaze – loosening oil lamps, blocking exits and overturning fuel barrels – and when a lamp is knocked over, the oil ignites a catastrophic fire.
The desperate move has major consequences, though, as it is strongly suggested that Fiona is also unable to escape the mansion in time to survive the blaze, although she had already ensured that her children were safe.
In a moment of lingering uncertainty as the screen cuts to black, however, we see a silhouette of Constance through the smoke, implying that she may have survived, albeit with her power diminished by Fiona’s acts.
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