We Were Liars (2025) s01e08 Episode Script
My Friends Are Lying in the Sun
1
[Cadence] Something terrible
happened last summer.
You didn't come to
the hospital or call.
Why did you forbid
everyone from talking to me
about my own fucking life?
You are doing this
to yourself, Cady.
It is your own broken brain
that is the enemy
you are raging against.
[birds chirping]
You're leaving?
Don't open it until your
birthday next week, OK?
You know, I thought
you might just reinstate
the no-boyfriends-on-Beechwood
rule.
Cadence will be just fine.
[Cadence]
You never liked them, did you?
Gat and Ed.
Are you saying I'm racist?
Watch yourself,
or you could get hurt.
I believe in who we are,
who we have been for centuries.
[Cadence] He's too far gone.
Look, he's been
revising his will.
I think he plans
to leave all of it
to one favored daughter
or grandchild.
What if we made
a mess so big,
only a Sinclair
could clean it up?
What if all the petty,
material things
that tore our family apart
were just gone?
We could tear it down,
teach Harris and the moms
the ultimate lesson.
I remember it now.
We burnt this place
to the ground.
[electronic chirping]
[Cadence] If you want to live
where people
aren't afraid of mice,
you must give up
living in palaces.
[fire crackling]
Or maybe, just maybe,
you burn the fucking palace
to the ground.
Could you imagine?
[laughs]
I could imagine
the moms' faces.
Guys, I mean it.
Clairmont is just
a pile of trophies.
Trophies won with a bullshit,
unfair advantage.
Yeah, it's basically
the seat of the patriarchy.
[Johnny] Yeah, with Harris
at the head of the table.
Right, so if it was all gone,
we'd have to start over.
Maybe they'd stop.
Maybe we'd be a family again.
It'd be like a purification.
I mean, things can't
get any worse, right?
Gat,
this is usually where you chime
in as the voice of reason.
It's the Sinclair house.
I don't get a say.
- Oh.
- Well, you guys know
I'm not even going to be
welcome here anymore.
Well, that's exactly why
we have to do something.
They're tearing each other
apart and us along with them.
Look, they need to learn.
[Mirren] Mm-mm,
they'll punish us and send us
to some boarding school
in the Swiss Alps.
No.
We are so sorry
that we overflowed
the dishwasher,
and we swiped the good whiskey.
Then we made s'mores,
and watched movies
at Cuddledown.
We watched "Ferris Bueller"
and "Sixth Sense" for Johnny,
and then we fell asleep.
And we smelled
the smoke too late.
And they wouldn't believe us,
but it wouldn't matter
Because
- People might talk, right?
- Yes!
They would ask questions like,
how did the Sinclair girls
screw up their kids so bad
that they burned
their house down?
OK, it's a genius plan, but
we don't know how to do arson.
[Cadence] OK, well,
we'll divide and conquer.
I mean, there's plenty
of fuel in the boathouse.
[Girl in Red:
"Doing It Again Baby"]
I'm on a new level ♪
Something's got me
feeling like ♪
I could be inflammable ♪
[Cadence]
We have to be thorough.
I'll do the downstairs.
[Mirren]
I'll do the east wing.
- [Cadence] Fuck yeah, Mirren!
- [laughter]
[Johnny] You just want to see
your mom's old room burn,
you fucking pyro.
OK, I'll cover the attic.
We work from the top down.
Gas it up, light the match,
and get the fuck out.
And me?
The boat is docked
at Windemere, right?
Bring the boat around and you
can be our getaway driver.
It'll be perfect.
I don't drive the boat.
You know that.
Yeah, but Gat
- What?
- Look.
You'll be able to say
you didn't see the fire start
and you got us all to safety,
and it won't even be a lie.
And once the things inside are
gone, their power will be gone,
and Harris will have
to give you
a big hero's welcome back
next summer.
Ed, too, even.
We can fix this.
I
fuck it, I want to help.
[all cheer]
Doing it again,
doing it again ♪
[Gat] OK, it's a big house.
We need it to spread fast
before the fire department
can get to us.
After I help with the arsenal,
I'll get the boat over.
No gas near the
main staircase, OK?
We need a safe way out.
And when the grandfather
clock strikes 12:00,
we light the match
and we run like hell.
No matter what.
No matter fucking what,
we run.
Liars forever, right?
Liars forever.
[Johnny] Liars forever.
Liars forever.
[tense music]
♪
Tonight ♪
[Fun.: "We Are Young"]
We are young ♪
So let's set the world
on fire ♪
We can burn brighter ♪
Than the sun ♪
[birds chirping]
Makes sense now.
I can't believe we did it.
The moms haven't been fighting,
and Gat was invited back.
It worked.
I mean, it
Mir, she remembers
the fire, is all.
Yeah.
Come on. Absolutely.
[chatter, laughter]
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
I'm missing something.
This still doesn't explain
how I ended up in the water.
[tense music]
Come on,
we should go get Gat.
Right.
It'll be better.
[groans]
[gasps]
Come on, Cady.
[Mirren] She's going
to remember the rest soon.
She's starting to piece
everything together.
I think I get it.
Did we swim off the boat
after the fire to celebrate?
I hit my head, and you
couldn't find me, right?
You were scared.
We were drunk.
We'd just committed a felony,
so you left.
- No, no, no.
- [Cadence] I understand.
I do.
I needed you to be
invited back, Gat.
And here you are,
so it's worth it to me.
Cady, stop, we don't know
how you got in the water.
OK, well
And we told you
the truth about that.
Well, you know something
that I don't.
Just a little bit.
And it's not like we can
just straight-up tell you.
Every time people do,
you just
Yeah, and then
you forget anyways.
Cady, we really
want to help you.
We do.
It's just that that's not
It's like every time that
I get close to the truth,
this pain dragon
crawls into my brain
and-and it shuts me down.
But when we're just
Liars being Liars,
the dragon gets distracted.
I have an idea.
- All right, ready?
- Mm-hmm.
Just a familiar,
non-triggering,
peaceful activity.
Choose your words carefully.
I prefer dirty word Scrabble
to trigger trauma Scrabble.
Don't wake the dragon.
Who's first?
["Lock & Key"]
It all depends ♪
[breathes deeply]
You move the needle ♪
With your white lies ♪
Your white lies ♪
You keep a secret ♪
With your forced smile ♪
[Cadence]
Cheers.
Molotov cocktails
from a summer
of the Sinclair sisters'
empties.
Poetic, kind of.
I'll see you in
a better world.
I remember.
You and I in the kitchen, right?
See you in a better world.
OK, we got this.
- Hey.
- Hey.
All right.
No, no, no, no.
Uh
Here's the gas.
I thought it'd be easier
to carry upstairs
than the big red one.
[Johnny] Genius.
Midnight, yeah?
It's a date, bro.
[chuckles]
It's ironic, isn't it, huh?
"The Boston Sentinel,"
the paper that started the
Sinclair publishing empire.
The thing that
paid for this house
is what will burn it down.
[foreboding music]
And I know I spelled it
right this time,
so redemption or whatever.
The plan was for you to
start in the attic, right?
[Johnny]
Yeah.
A lot of memories up there.
[tense music]
♪
[Mirren] I was so excited
to torch my mother's
childhood bedroom.
She was the worst of them all,
chasing the money,
coming for her sisters
with claws out.
Honestly,
that's the only reason why
I agreed to the plan at all.
I bet it felt good.
It was just a guest bedroom.
It's not like Gran kept
a shrine to her teen magazines
or expired nail polishes.
Well, maybe she never even
had that kind of mess.
Maybe she was just
always toxic positivity.
Perfection.
Anyways, Cady, I don't
is this really even helping
you at all right now?
- Yes, yes.
- OK.
[Cadence] I think so.
I remember some of it.
The smell,
I felt high off of it.
The gasoline.
The adrenaline.
[Yeah Yeah Yeahs:
"Burning"]
Into the sea,
out of the fire ♪
All that burning ♪
[Cadence]
I felt like a revolutionary.
Into the sea,
out of the fire ♪
All that burning ♪
[Cadence]
I tried talking to my mom,
to Harris,
but they didn't listen.
So they deserved this
for not seeing Gat,
or Ed,
or anyone but Sinclairs.
Baby ♪
Ooh, ooh ♪
As I go ♪
[Cadence] I had fallen
in love with someone
Harris Sinclair
deemed unworthy,
and I needed
to cleanse his hate.
Well, I'll release her ♪
From the bindings
of her teachers ♪
What they're hiding there
is broke ♪
[Cadence] I believed in my
soul that if we tore it down,
we'd be able to rebuild.
A fresh start for all of us.
What you gonna do when
you get to the water ♪
What you gonna do
when you get to the water ♪
What you gonna do
when you get to the ♪
Water ♪
[tense music]
♪
Midnight.
[clock ringing]
[flames whooshing]
[dramatic music]
[flames roaring]
♪
Smoke really stinks,
doesn't it?
[groans]
And I never realized
how loud fire can be.
[clock ticking]
[ticking slows, stops]
[dogs barking]
No!
The dogs.
[crashing]
No! No!
I'm coming!
I'm coming!
My mom had given them
their anxiety pills
so they'd be quiet
during dinner.
- No! No!
- [dogs barking]
No!
[somber music]
No, no, no.
♪
[dogs barking]
No. Not the dogs.
No, no, no.
[grunts, screams]
[banging, flames roaring]
No!
[groans]
[grunts]
No! No!
[groaning]
♪
[dogs barking]
[laughter]
Franklin, Eleanor, come on!
[emotional music]
♪
[water burbling]
[screams]
No!
♪
Once upon a time,
a princess thought
she could rid her kingdom
of its ugliness.
Drunk on spirits and folly,
she roared in on her dragon
and unleashed hell and fire.
In her arrogance,
she forgot the most
important lesson of all.
Revolution is bloody,
and too often,
it's the innocent who fall.
[birds cawing]
[Harris]
Franklin, Eleanor, quick!
There you go.
Good for you.
Give me that.
Oh, give me that.
Right, right.
Go get it.
- Granddad.
- Oh!
Oh, Cadence, the first.
Come, sit.
We didn't do the annual
sandcastle contest this year,
did we?
Someone ought to
have reminded me.
I just wanted to say
I'm sorry.
You've collected yourself, then?
Your memories?
[sighs]
Well, I do miss them,
at strange moments
inconvenient ones,
always, it seems.
And don't be sorry.
You were heroic.
A fine example.
It's just that faulty wiring
to blame, and that
that gas main.
Hey.
What do you think
about me and the Liars
coming to New Clairmont
to have dinner
with you tonight?
All of us, I mean.
Gat, too.
I think it's important
he knows he's welcome now.
Well
Your 18th birthday's coming.
Yep.
Three days.
Mm.
Yeah, time.
Hard to keep track of
in the summer, isn't it?
Yeah.
I've, um
I've been hanging on to these.
I'd rather not.
Oh, no,
it's your birthday gift.
You just open it
when you're ready.
[Cadence] Thanks.
[soft music]
♪
[wind blowing, waves lapping]
[birds cawing]
[ominous music]
♪
[clock ringing]
Here!
Over here!
[helicopter whirring]
Stay with me.
[radio chatter]
Hey, Cady.
What are you doing out here?
Hey, we saw you
talking to Harris.
We thought
we should check on you.
I think he knows something.
Or everything.
And he gave me these.
The family noose of love.
How did those even
survive the fire?
Cady?
[flames whooshing]
We tried to warn you, OK?
These aren't happy memories.
No.
Bet you're missing your amnesia
right about now.
No.
No!
I need to know.
Where were you when they
found me on the beach?
And why didn't you call?
Why didn't any of you call?
Hey, Cady.
- [Mirren] You're OK.
- [Johnny] Cady!
- Hey, you need to calm down.
- Panic attack.
[hyperventilating]
[chatter, fire crackling]
No!
[panting]
[birds chirping]
I'm strong enough
to know my own story.
Please.
OK.
Yes.
The plan was to
meet at midnight.
I was there at 11:56.
I was ready.
[Mirren] I was ready, too.
I was about to light up
my mom's old bedroom,
and then I found something.
[mysterious music]
♪
[emotional music]
♪
My mom tried.
I don't know why she
couldn't just say sorry,
but at least she was trying.
I suddenly felt so guilty,
but we had a plan.
[clock rings]
Light a match and get out.
♪
[breathing heavily]
[Johnny] I admit I got
a little distracted.
[tense music]
♪
[crashing]
[clock rings]
I almost didn't hear
the clock, but I did.
I heard it in time.
Didn't even light up
the mess that I made.
I just
I got the hell out of there.
But the smoke rose up
the turret so fast.
[coughs]
[frantic music]
[Gat] The clock struck 12:00.
The fire had started.
You were supposed to come out,
light the match, and get out.
♪
Fuck.
[flames whooshing]
[eerie music]
♪
[breathing heavily]
[coughs]
[flames roaring]
[grunts]
[Mirren]
There was so much fire.
Maybe I got turned around,
I don't know.
Johnny!
[coughing]
[Gat] I couldn't wait.
Cady!
I had to chase you, Cadence.
[banging, clattering]
[coughing]
I searched everywhere.
I guess I searched too long.
Cadence!
[Johnny]
It was the newspapers, maybe.
Too much kindling.
Johnny! Cady!
[Mirren] Too much accelerant.
Cadence! Mirren!
Where are you?
[Gat] We didn't even
think about the gas line.
Cady!
[Sugar Majo:
"end/new beginning"]
♪
For the first time ♪
I was calling ♪
[Johnny]
We all made mistakes,
and there were consequences.
No.
[Johnny] Turns out, we really
didn't know how to do arson.
[flames roaring]
Johnny!
Mirren!
Gat!
For the first time ♪
I was calling ♪
For the last time ♪
We'd been here before ♪
They found pictures
in the snow ♪
I could tell your eyes ♪
[Harris] We've confirmed that
Jonathan Sinclair Dennis,
Mirren Sinclair Sheffield,
and Gatwick Patil
perished in the recent house
fire near Martha's Vineyard.
The home of Harris Sinclair
and the late Mrs. Tipper Taft
Sinclair burned to the ground
before the
fire department arrived.
[Penny] Cadence!
I'm fine, Mom. Relax.
Why didn't you call?
That night fucked me up
as well, all right?
That's why I can't
fucking talk about it.
Ow!
Don't complain while
I'm trying to make you pretty.
She's already pretty.
- [bangs]
- Is this Johnny's phone?
Uh
Mom, why do you
have my phone?
Mom, just leave it alone.
Mom, please just give it back.
[sobs]
[Cadence] Yeah,
my parents took my phone.
The screens make
my migraines worse.
Nothing that I find out
will change
the way I feel about you, Gat.
Gat.
[gasping]
Cady, tell me a ghost story.
I'm fresh out.
Ask Mirren.
Hilarious.
[screams]
[sobbing]
♪
[birds cawing, waves lapping]
Cadence?
[Cadence sobbing]
Mommy. Mommy!
[sobbing]
♪
[birds cawing, waves lapping]
[Gat] Don't open it until
your birthday next week, OK?
[soft music]
♪
Cady, I wore these beads
close to my heart all summer.
I love you.
From Gat.
♪
[knocking]
How are you holding up?
I feel like my heart
is bleeding through
my shirt all the time.
Well, that is normal.
Sadness is always, uh, seeping.
And your migraines?
Um, I
I think I was taking
too many pills.
It's been hard
not to take them.
I think I might need some help
not taking them anymore.
Thank you for telling me.
Um, I'm going to
call the doctor
and your dad,
and we are going to get you
all the help you need
in Vermont.
Whatever happened to
"All ailments can be cured by
salt air and outdoor exercise"?
Turns out that law
doesn't apply
to losing the great
loves of your life.
Trust me, I
I checked the rule book,
over and over.
You're not talking about Dad,
are you?
No.
There was someone else, uh,
for a long time.
[sighs]
And I still blamed
your father for leaving,
because I wouldn't have.
It is not what Sinclairs do.
I
I hope that you don't hate me
for letting you blame him, too.
I think I was afraid that
if you had the option, that
you wouldn't choose this
um
choose, uh, me.
You should know that
you do have a choice.
I know being a Sinclair
is not easy,
but I would imagine
not being a Sinclair
is much, much harder.
But the choice
is yours to make.
[sniffles, exhales]
Lie with me ♪
Say you love me too ♪
Ooh ♪
Even when I wake up ♪
I can feel the last touch ♪
I just want to
feel it all again ♪
[Leslie Powell:
"Stay Inside This Dream"]
Now they feel like
memories to me ♪
♪
Say it's real ♪
'Cause I don't
want to leave ♪
I don't want to wake up ♪
I just want the last touch ♪
And I want to
feel it all again ♪
Hi.
Yo.
Where have you been?
Well, a tennis championship.
Actually, I won.
Yeah, and then I celebrated
on the party boat.
And then, um,
that led to an orgy,
which I also won.
[chuckles]
And yeah,
that's where I've been.
[Cadence] Hey, I mean it.
Where were you before
you showed up here just now?
Um, sleeping,
kind of.
It's like a
a soft nothing, in a way.
And then a pull,
and then I'm here.
I thought I'd never
see you again.
You thought we
might be figments
of your fucked up,
traumatized, weird imagination?
Why would you imagine
a dickhead version of me
who wouldn't say goodbye?
Right, because you've
never been a dickhead.
No.
[Sleeping At Last:
"Saturn"]
Look, um,
I'm sorry about this summer.
You just wanted
your memories back,
just to feel better,
and I fought so hard.
I didn't want you to remember
because I thought that
when you did,
I might go somewhere
that isn't such a soft nothing.
You can't believe in hell.
I mean, that's just, like,
a made-up threat.
There's got to be
some sort of punishment
for having everything
that I had
and doing nothing good with it.
I'm sorry I lied.
I just
I don't want to burn again.
Johnny,
if hell is real,
I'm fucked, too.
[laughs]
You are going to do
a million good things
with your life, Cady.
You feel so bad
about that night
that you're going to spend
the rest of your life
doing amazing things,
so amazing
that they'll have to build
a new tier in heaven for you.
Any heaven waiting for me
would have you in it.
The infinite ♪
How rare ♪
And beautiful ♪
It is to even exist ♪
I couldn't help but ask ♪
For you
to see it all again ♪
That the universe was made ♪
Just to be seen by my eyes ♪
I'd give anything
to hear ♪
[Carrie] He's slipping.
The legendary Harris Sinclair
wore two mismatching shoes
to dinner tonight.
I hate it when things are
funny and sad at the same time.
[Bonnie] I know, but like,
you don't have to rub it in.
Like, that's offensive.
It's rude.
- 128.
- How?
- 128?
- I win.
OK, you didn't have
to underline "last"
that many times.
But you lost.
You want to play?
Maybe later.
Hey, you guys OK?
It's too quiet here now.
Yeah.
I'm over Scrabble.
- I want to swim.
- Same.
- [Bonnie] Race you!
- [Will] No fair!
- [Bonnie] I'm winning.
- [Liberty] Bye, Cady.
[Will] You've got a head start!
[Bonnie] I'm winning!
[Mirren] Wish I'd been
a little kinder to them.
The Littles.
They always wanted me to teach
them how to braid their hair.
[sighs]
Make friendship bracelets.
[tiles clattering]
God, I never even talked
to them unless I had to.
Mirren.
Let me be the one to regret.
You should be light as air.
You should be
a fucking sunbeam.
[sobs] Turns out I suck
at being a ghost.
I wanted to be excellent at it.
[chuckles]
I wanted to be excellent
at everything
at my art, sex, grades,
and at being
Bess Sinclair's daughter.
Maybe that's where it all went
wrong between us, you know?
Maybe if we'd just let each
other be messy sometimes,
we could have actually
seen each other, you know?
[soft music]
♪
[voice breaking]
Oh, Cady.
[sobs]
I don't think anyone
ever really saw me.
[sobs]
And now no one ever will,
and
No. Look at me.
The Liars saw you, Mirren.
And I'll see you
for the rest of my life.
I'm so tired, Cady.
♪
I'm so tired.
[sniffling]
[sighs]
Cady.
[Cadence] Mm-hmm?
He'll come.
[breathes shakily]
[breathes deeply]
[waves lapping, birds chirping]
Thank you for the gift,
but I don't want these.
You should give them to someone
who actually wants them.
[Harris] Nonsense.
Who else?
You're the first
Sinclair granddaughter.
I don't want to be that.
The heir.
Oh, all right, then.
Who will you be?
Well, perhaps you could be, um,
an entitled child with a crush
who got mad at her family
and committed arson,
animal cruelty,
and involuntary manslaughter.
Now, you do love a story.
You get that from Tip,
of course,
who had a fondness
for fairy tale endings.
But I, too,
know of heroes and villains,
plot twists and tropes.
But most importantly,
I know how to sell a story
certainly to your aunts,
and your mother,
or the poor Littles
who've lost Johnny and Mirren.
Yes, it was an errant spark.
It was an ignorant worker
who improperly stored the fuel.
It was a cruel turn
of the wind.
And you nearly died
risking yourself
in an attempt
to save the others,
like any good Sinclair would.
Now, me,
I would tell that story.
When the reporter
comes on Saturday,
you keep that in mind.
A reporter?
On Beechwood?
Oh, another
Time magazine cover.
I'd like to put an end to the
nattering about a family curse
in my last significant profile.
I've decided to retire
from public life in my prime.
So it is time
that I pass the baton
to a worthy new face
of the family.
You will wear those.
♪
[yawns]
It's early.
It's one year ago today.
I know.
A year.
The Sound's Edge Gallery agreed
to display Mirren's art.
[Carrie] Oh, God,
she'd have loved that.
[Bess] They were very eager.
I just
I hope when people look at it,
they see her.
I want to make sure that
she's seen as more
than just a tragedy.
[emotional music]
♪
[laughs]
That's a really nice thing
that you did for her.
[sniffles]
Well,
it's too late to do things
for her, so
Mm.
[Bess] I thought I needed
exactly what Mom had.
I wanted the husband
from the good family,
the beautiful home,
three daughters.
And I would daydream about
what I would name them
and how I would dress them
and how I would raise them
to be just so perfect.
And then I
I think I was so busy
adjusting them that
I forgot to just love them.
Mirren knew that
you loved her.
[sobs]
[Carrie] She did.
[sighs]
Sometimes I think losing them
was our punishment.
Like that one tiny ember
was sent from God,
or the universe,
or Beechwood Island.
Punishment for what?
For what we did in Summer 16.
The summer
the summer I was 16.
Because then I think if
it was our punishment,
Penny wouldn't have
been spared, right?
Yeah.
♪
[birds chirping, waves lapping]
[person] What're we doing next?
Oh, come on.
[person] Thank you.
[giggles] Come on!
[door opens, creaks]
[Young Cadence] Are you real?
[Young Gat] I think so.
I'm Cadence.
[Young Gat] I'm Gat.
I've been lost
in the crowd ♪
Looking for a way out ♪
Just trying to
escape the noise ♪
Tag. You're it.
You were sorta new ♪
[laughter]
Back then, I trusted you ♪
But now I'd make
a different choice ♪
[Cloves: "No Us"]
Ooh ♪
It looks like we forgot ♪
Who the hell we are ♪
If I had my chance again ♪
I'd still leave you
with the scar ♪
I want to see it
make you hurt ♪
In the same way
I know it does ♪
If I had my chance again ♪
There'd be no us ♪
[laughs]
- I knew you'd chase me.
- Always.
Are you real?
I don't know.
I really don't know.
[camera clicking]
[reporter] Lovely.
American royalty, truly.
[Penny] It's nice of Brody
to join us today, Bess.
Loss really showed us how
strong our marriage truly is.
Uh-huh.
Do you mind standing
in birth order?
It's a condition of Dad
bailing him out financially.
A united, stable front
in the wake of it all.
[Carrie] So you're trapped.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, my God,
some things never change.
Oh, some things do, though.
[upbeat music]
Ed!
- Hey.
- [Harris] Oh, there he is.
Uh-huh.
Ah, you made it.
Ed, come on.
We should we should get
you in the photo, too.
Uh, no.
I'm all right, Harris.
Prefer to avoid the scrutiny.
Mm.
Uh, are we expecting Cadence?
She'll, uh
she'll be around.
Thank you.
Should we go get her?
No.
It's her choice.
[Gat] I wanted to believe
we were helping you,
keeping the secret.
I know now it was selfish.
I just wanted one more summer.
I didn't want to
make you sicker,
but I couldn't
stop wanting you.
Even when everything else about
me felt like it was fading,
I still loved you
as much as ever.
Well, there's something
you don't know
that might make you
love me less.
Right before midnight,
I looked out
and saw you at the boat.
I should have waited, but
I took too long.
I was downstairs.
I could have gotten out while
the clock was still chiming
[clock rings]
but I was looking
at the family photo.
The black pearls,
the ones the moms were so
obsessed with our whole lives.
They obsessed over them
who got to wear them
at Christmas, at Easter.
Who was the best?
Who was the most loved?
And I wanted them.
I can't even explain why.
That's why
you went inside, Gat.
That's why you died.
[tense music]
[muffled dogs barking]
No!
It was all my fault.
It's our fault.
No.
No, I'm the one
who got impatient
and didn't follow the plan.
I was as involved as you, Cady.
Truth is, I'd burnt
that place down to the ground
a million times
in my mind already.
I don't blame you.
Harris wants me to keep up
the big Sinclair lie,
like I'm a hero.
I don't want to be
that kind of liar,
but what about the moms
and the Littles?
Your mom.
Ed.
I mean, they all think
it was an accident.
How will they move on
if they know we meant it?
Maybe it's OK to
let them pretend then.
Look, you know the truth now,
so you get to decide
the rest of your story.
That's it.
That's what matters.
[sighs]
Besides, some fairy tales
aren't so bad.
I've been telling myself one
all summer.
You mean the one
where you and I become
king and queen
of Beechwood Island?
No.
The one where you and I pack up
and leave the mythical land
where it's always summer.
Out in the real world,
it gets cold.
The-the radiator in our
shitty college apartment
makes so much noise all night.
You write for the lit magazine.
I get a tattoo
you pretend to hate.
My mom comes to visit us and
teaches us how to make poha.
We fight over who forgot
to get rid of the,
uh, the dryer lint.
[laughs]
One semester we have
to do long distance, and
we write each other letters,
real ones, in the mail.
[soft music]
♪
When we're back in
our shitty apartment,
I start to save up to buy you a
ring even though you tell me
- I don't need one.
- You don't need one.
♪
Happily ever after.
In a better world.
In a better world.
[emotional music]
♪
Gat.
♪
[whistles, laughs]
[chuckles]
Come on, one last time.
[laughs]
[sweeping music]
♪
Cannonball!
♪
[music stops]
[gentle music]
♪
[Harris] No, it was really
it was all about
all about celebrating family.
- That's it.
- [Bess] I think I look great.
Mm.
Oh, there she is,
Cadence the first.
♪
Ed.
Hey.
I'm so glad you're here.
I'm glad you are, too.
[waves lapping]
♪
Cadence.
I would like to introduce you
to this young lady.
She's going to ask you
a few questions.
What kind of questions?
Oh, well, it's a piece
about your grandfather
as the patriarch,
but really about
your family's
strength of character.
♪
I don't think I can
help you with that.
Cadence.
♪
I'm just really not into
fairy tales anymore.
'Cause it was burning ♪
My whole world down ♪
Smoke was rising up ♪
High above the ground ♪
I couldn't breathe in ♪
I couldn't breathe out ♪
Out ♪
[exhales]
[Cadence]
My name is Cadence Eastman.
I once was sugar and effort,
reckless abandon, ambition,
and strong coffee.
But I was also weakness
and complicity.
[rousing music]
♪
I know the loss of
great loves now.
And I know the work
of rebuilding from ashes,
even in the shadow cast by
what used to stand tall.
♪
I was once a Sinclair,
and I suppose
I will always be a Liar.
Because Liars,
you should know, are forever.
Gonna breathe on my own ♪
♪
Ride into
the burning silence ♪
- [Ed] Carrie.
- [Carrie] Coming!
Oh.
[grunts] Sorry.
I'm just going to make sure
everything's locked up.
- I'll meet you at the dock.
- OK.
Come on, Will.
You got that?
[chuckles]
[coughing]
Oh.
I thought you'd left.
I don't think I can.
[tense music]
♪
[lively music]
Early evening sun ♪
Glistens in the ash
upon the sand ♪
♪
The secret came undone ♪
Spent the summer
slipping through my hands ♪
♪
The story goes ♪
When you know, you know ♪
Time will tell ♪
Yes, it will ♪
Tell me everything ♪
Time will tell ♪
Cast a spell
when the sparrows sing ♪
Time will tell ♪
Yes, it will ♪
Tell me everything I know ♪
Time will tell ♪
But I won't know ♪
[sweeping music]
♪
[Cadence] Something terrible
happened last summer.
You didn't come to
the hospital or call.
Why did you forbid
everyone from talking to me
about my own fucking life?
You are doing this
to yourself, Cady.
It is your own broken brain
that is the enemy
you are raging against.
[birds chirping]
You're leaving?
Don't open it until your
birthday next week, OK?
You know, I thought
you might just reinstate
the no-boyfriends-on-Beechwood
rule.
Cadence will be just fine.
[Cadence]
You never liked them, did you?
Gat and Ed.
Are you saying I'm racist?
Watch yourself,
or you could get hurt.
I believe in who we are,
who we have been for centuries.
[Cadence] He's too far gone.
Look, he's been
revising his will.
I think he plans
to leave all of it
to one favored daughter
or grandchild.
What if we made
a mess so big,
only a Sinclair
could clean it up?
What if all the petty,
material things
that tore our family apart
were just gone?
We could tear it down,
teach Harris and the moms
the ultimate lesson.
I remember it now.
We burnt this place
to the ground.
[electronic chirping]
[Cadence] If you want to live
where people
aren't afraid of mice,
you must give up
living in palaces.
[fire crackling]
Or maybe, just maybe,
you burn the fucking palace
to the ground.
Could you imagine?
[laughs]
I could imagine
the moms' faces.
Guys, I mean it.
Clairmont is just
a pile of trophies.
Trophies won with a bullshit,
unfair advantage.
Yeah, it's basically
the seat of the patriarchy.
[Johnny] Yeah, with Harris
at the head of the table.
Right, so if it was all gone,
we'd have to start over.
Maybe they'd stop.
Maybe we'd be a family again.
It'd be like a purification.
I mean, things can't
get any worse, right?
Gat,
this is usually where you chime
in as the voice of reason.
It's the Sinclair house.
I don't get a say.
- Oh.
- Well, you guys know
I'm not even going to be
welcome here anymore.
Well, that's exactly why
we have to do something.
They're tearing each other
apart and us along with them.
Look, they need to learn.
[Mirren] Mm-mm,
they'll punish us and send us
to some boarding school
in the Swiss Alps.
No.
We are so sorry
that we overflowed
the dishwasher,
and we swiped the good whiskey.
Then we made s'mores,
and watched movies
at Cuddledown.
We watched "Ferris Bueller"
and "Sixth Sense" for Johnny,
and then we fell asleep.
And we smelled
the smoke too late.
And they wouldn't believe us,
but it wouldn't matter
Because
- People might talk, right?
- Yes!
They would ask questions like,
how did the Sinclair girls
screw up their kids so bad
that they burned
their house down?
OK, it's a genius plan, but
we don't know how to do arson.
[Cadence] OK, well,
we'll divide and conquer.
I mean, there's plenty
of fuel in the boathouse.
[Girl in Red:
"Doing It Again Baby"]
I'm on a new level ♪
Something's got me
feeling like ♪
I could be inflammable ♪
[Cadence]
We have to be thorough.
I'll do the downstairs.
[Mirren]
I'll do the east wing.
- [Cadence] Fuck yeah, Mirren!
- [laughter]
[Johnny] You just want to see
your mom's old room burn,
you fucking pyro.
OK, I'll cover the attic.
We work from the top down.
Gas it up, light the match,
and get the fuck out.
And me?
The boat is docked
at Windemere, right?
Bring the boat around and you
can be our getaway driver.
It'll be perfect.
I don't drive the boat.
You know that.
Yeah, but Gat
- What?
- Look.
You'll be able to say
you didn't see the fire start
and you got us all to safety,
and it won't even be a lie.
And once the things inside are
gone, their power will be gone,
and Harris will have
to give you
a big hero's welcome back
next summer.
Ed, too, even.
We can fix this.
I
fuck it, I want to help.
[all cheer]
Doing it again,
doing it again ♪
[Gat] OK, it's a big house.
We need it to spread fast
before the fire department
can get to us.
After I help with the arsenal,
I'll get the boat over.
No gas near the
main staircase, OK?
We need a safe way out.
And when the grandfather
clock strikes 12:00,
we light the match
and we run like hell.
No matter what.
No matter fucking what,
we run.
Liars forever, right?
Liars forever.
[Johnny] Liars forever.
Liars forever.
[tense music]
♪
Tonight ♪
[Fun.: "We Are Young"]
We are young ♪
So let's set the world
on fire ♪
We can burn brighter ♪
Than the sun ♪
[birds chirping]
Makes sense now.
I can't believe we did it.
The moms haven't been fighting,
and Gat was invited back.
It worked.
I mean, it
Mir, she remembers
the fire, is all.
Yeah.
Come on. Absolutely.
[chatter, laughter]
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
I'm missing something.
This still doesn't explain
how I ended up in the water.
[tense music]
Come on,
we should go get Gat.
Right.
It'll be better.
[groans]
[gasps]
Come on, Cady.
[Mirren] She's going
to remember the rest soon.
She's starting to piece
everything together.
I think I get it.
Did we swim off the boat
after the fire to celebrate?
I hit my head, and you
couldn't find me, right?
You were scared.
We were drunk.
We'd just committed a felony,
so you left.
- No, no, no.
- [Cadence] I understand.
I do.
I needed you to be
invited back, Gat.
And here you are,
so it's worth it to me.
Cady, stop, we don't know
how you got in the water.
OK, well
And we told you
the truth about that.
Well, you know something
that I don't.
Just a little bit.
And it's not like we can
just straight-up tell you.
Every time people do,
you just
Yeah, and then
you forget anyways.
Cady, we really
want to help you.
We do.
It's just that that's not
It's like every time that
I get close to the truth,
this pain dragon
crawls into my brain
and-and it shuts me down.
But when we're just
Liars being Liars,
the dragon gets distracted.
I have an idea.
- All right, ready?
- Mm-hmm.
Just a familiar,
non-triggering,
peaceful activity.
Choose your words carefully.
I prefer dirty word Scrabble
to trigger trauma Scrabble.
Don't wake the dragon.
Who's first?
["Lock & Key"]
It all depends ♪
[breathes deeply]
You move the needle ♪
With your white lies ♪
Your white lies ♪
You keep a secret ♪
With your forced smile ♪
[Cadence]
Cheers.
Molotov cocktails
from a summer
of the Sinclair sisters'
empties.
Poetic, kind of.
I'll see you in
a better world.
I remember.
You and I in the kitchen, right?
See you in a better world.
OK, we got this.
- Hey.
- Hey.
All right.
No, no, no, no.
Uh
Here's the gas.
I thought it'd be easier
to carry upstairs
than the big red one.
[Johnny] Genius.
Midnight, yeah?
It's a date, bro.
[chuckles]
It's ironic, isn't it, huh?
"The Boston Sentinel,"
the paper that started the
Sinclair publishing empire.
The thing that
paid for this house
is what will burn it down.
[foreboding music]
And I know I spelled it
right this time,
so redemption or whatever.
The plan was for you to
start in the attic, right?
[Johnny]
Yeah.
A lot of memories up there.
[tense music]
♪
[Mirren] I was so excited
to torch my mother's
childhood bedroom.
She was the worst of them all,
chasing the money,
coming for her sisters
with claws out.
Honestly,
that's the only reason why
I agreed to the plan at all.
I bet it felt good.
It was just a guest bedroom.
It's not like Gran kept
a shrine to her teen magazines
or expired nail polishes.
Well, maybe she never even
had that kind of mess.
Maybe she was just
always toxic positivity.
Perfection.
Anyways, Cady, I don't
is this really even helping
you at all right now?
- Yes, yes.
- OK.
[Cadence] I think so.
I remember some of it.
The smell,
I felt high off of it.
The gasoline.
The adrenaline.
[Yeah Yeah Yeahs:
"Burning"]
Into the sea,
out of the fire ♪
All that burning ♪
[Cadence]
I felt like a revolutionary.
Into the sea,
out of the fire ♪
All that burning ♪
[Cadence]
I tried talking to my mom,
to Harris,
but they didn't listen.
So they deserved this
for not seeing Gat,
or Ed,
or anyone but Sinclairs.
Baby ♪
Ooh, ooh ♪
As I go ♪
[Cadence] I had fallen
in love with someone
Harris Sinclair
deemed unworthy,
and I needed
to cleanse his hate.
Well, I'll release her ♪
From the bindings
of her teachers ♪
What they're hiding there
is broke ♪
[Cadence] I believed in my
soul that if we tore it down,
we'd be able to rebuild.
A fresh start for all of us.
What you gonna do when
you get to the water ♪
What you gonna do
when you get to the water ♪
What you gonna do
when you get to the ♪
Water ♪
[tense music]
♪
Midnight.
[clock ringing]
[flames whooshing]
[dramatic music]
[flames roaring]
♪
Smoke really stinks,
doesn't it?
[groans]
And I never realized
how loud fire can be.
[clock ticking]
[ticking slows, stops]
[dogs barking]
No!
The dogs.
[crashing]
No! No!
I'm coming!
I'm coming!
My mom had given them
their anxiety pills
so they'd be quiet
during dinner.
- No! No!
- [dogs barking]
No!
[somber music]
No, no, no.
♪
[dogs barking]
No. Not the dogs.
No, no, no.
[grunts, screams]
[banging, flames roaring]
No!
[groans]
[grunts]
No! No!
[groaning]
♪
[dogs barking]
[laughter]
Franklin, Eleanor, come on!
[emotional music]
♪
[water burbling]
[screams]
No!
♪
Once upon a time,
a princess thought
she could rid her kingdom
of its ugliness.
Drunk on spirits and folly,
she roared in on her dragon
and unleashed hell and fire.
In her arrogance,
she forgot the most
important lesson of all.
Revolution is bloody,
and too often,
it's the innocent who fall.
[birds cawing]
[Harris]
Franklin, Eleanor, quick!
There you go.
Good for you.
Give me that.
Oh, give me that.
Right, right.
Go get it.
- Granddad.
- Oh!
Oh, Cadence, the first.
Come, sit.
We didn't do the annual
sandcastle contest this year,
did we?
Someone ought to
have reminded me.
I just wanted to say
I'm sorry.
You've collected yourself, then?
Your memories?
[sighs]
Well, I do miss them,
at strange moments
inconvenient ones,
always, it seems.
And don't be sorry.
You were heroic.
A fine example.
It's just that faulty wiring
to blame, and that
that gas main.
Hey.
What do you think
about me and the Liars
coming to New Clairmont
to have dinner
with you tonight?
All of us, I mean.
Gat, too.
I think it's important
he knows he's welcome now.
Well
Your 18th birthday's coming.
Yep.
Three days.
Mm.
Yeah, time.
Hard to keep track of
in the summer, isn't it?
Yeah.
I've, um
I've been hanging on to these.
I'd rather not.
Oh, no,
it's your birthday gift.
You just open it
when you're ready.
[Cadence] Thanks.
[soft music]
♪
[wind blowing, waves lapping]
[birds cawing]
[ominous music]
♪
[clock ringing]
Here!
Over here!
[helicopter whirring]
Stay with me.
[radio chatter]
Hey, Cady.
What are you doing out here?
Hey, we saw you
talking to Harris.
We thought
we should check on you.
I think he knows something.
Or everything.
And he gave me these.
The family noose of love.
How did those even
survive the fire?
Cady?
[flames whooshing]
We tried to warn you, OK?
These aren't happy memories.
No.
Bet you're missing your amnesia
right about now.
No.
No!
I need to know.
Where were you when they
found me on the beach?
And why didn't you call?
Why didn't any of you call?
Hey, Cady.
- [Mirren] You're OK.
- [Johnny] Cady!
- Hey, you need to calm down.
- Panic attack.
[hyperventilating]
[chatter, fire crackling]
No!
[panting]
[birds chirping]
I'm strong enough
to know my own story.
Please.
OK.
Yes.
The plan was to
meet at midnight.
I was there at 11:56.
I was ready.
[Mirren] I was ready, too.
I was about to light up
my mom's old bedroom,
and then I found something.
[mysterious music]
♪
[emotional music]
♪
My mom tried.
I don't know why she
couldn't just say sorry,
but at least she was trying.
I suddenly felt so guilty,
but we had a plan.
[clock rings]
Light a match and get out.
♪
[breathing heavily]
[Johnny] I admit I got
a little distracted.
[tense music]
♪
[crashing]
[clock rings]
I almost didn't hear
the clock, but I did.
I heard it in time.
Didn't even light up
the mess that I made.
I just
I got the hell out of there.
But the smoke rose up
the turret so fast.
[coughs]
[frantic music]
[Gat] The clock struck 12:00.
The fire had started.
You were supposed to come out,
light the match, and get out.
♪
Fuck.
[flames whooshing]
[eerie music]
♪
[breathing heavily]
[coughs]
[flames roaring]
[grunts]
[Mirren]
There was so much fire.
Maybe I got turned around,
I don't know.
Johnny!
[coughing]
[Gat] I couldn't wait.
Cady!
I had to chase you, Cadence.
[banging, clattering]
[coughing]
I searched everywhere.
I guess I searched too long.
Cadence!
[Johnny]
It was the newspapers, maybe.
Too much kindling.
Johnny! Cady!
[Mirren] Too much accelerant.
Cadence! Mirren!
Where are you?
[Gat] We didn't even
think about the gas line.
Cady!
[Sugar Majo:
"end/new beginning"]
♪
For the first time ♪
I was calling ♪
[Johnny]
We all made mistakes,
and there were consequences.
No.
[Johnny] Turns out, we really
didn't know how to do arson.
[flames roaring]
Johnny!
Mirren!
Gat!
For the first time ♪
I was calling ♪
For the last time ♪
We'd been here before ♪
They found pictures
in the snow ♪
I could tell your eyes ♪
[Harris] We've confirmed that
Jonathan Sinclair Dennis,
Mirren Sinclair Sheffield,
and Gatwick Patil
perished in the recent house
fire near Martha's Vineyard.
The home of Harris Sinclair
and the late Mrs. Tipper Taft
Sinclair burned to the ground
before the
fire department arrived.
[Penny] Cadence!
I'm fine, Mom. Relax.
Why didn't you call?
That night fucked me up
as well, all right?
That's why I can't
fucking talk about it.
Ow!
Don't complain while
I'm trying to make you pretty.
She's already pretty.
- [bangs]
- Is this Johnny's phone?
Uh
Mom, why do you
have my phone?
Mom, just leave it alone.
Mom, please just give it back.
[sobs]
[Cadence] Yeah,
my parents took my phone.
The screens make
my migraines worse.
Nothing that I find out
will change
the way I feel about you, Gat.
Gat.
[gasping]
Cady, tell me a ghost story.
I'm fresh out.
Ask Mirren.
Hilarious.
[screams]
[sobbing]
♪
[birds cawing, waves lapping]
Cadence?
[Cadence sobbing]
Mommy. Mommy!
[sobbing]
♪
[birds cawing, waves lapping]
[Gat] Don't open it until
your birthday next week, OK?
[soft music]
♪
Cady, I wore these beads
close to my heart all summer.
I love you.
From Gat.
♪
[knocking]
How are you holding up?
I feel like my heart
is bleeding through
my shirt all the time.
Well, that is normal.
Sadness is always, uh, seeping.
And your migraines?
Um, I
I think I was taking
too many pills.
It's been hard
not to take them.
I think I might need some help
not taking them anymore.
Thank you for telling me.
Um, I'm going to
call the doctor
and your dad,
and we are going to get you
all the help you need
in Vermont.
Whatever happened to
"All ailments can be cured by
salt air and outdoor exercise"?
Turns out that law
doesn't apply
to losing the great
loves of your life.
Trust me, I
I checked the rule book,
over and over.
You're not talking about Dad,
are you?
No.
There was someone else, uh,
for a long time.
[sighs]
And I still blamed
your father for leaving,
because I wouldn't have.
It is not what Sinclairs do.
I
I hope that you don't hate me
for letting you blame him, too.
I think I was afraid that
if you had the option, that
you wouldn't choose this
um
choose, uh, me.
You should know that
you do have a choice.
I know being a Sinclair
is not easy,
but I would imagine
not being a Sinclair
is much, much harder.
But the choice
is yours to make.
[sniffles, exhales]
Lie with me ♪
Say you love me too ♪
Ooh ♪
Even when I wake up ♪
I can feel the last touch ♪
I just want to
feel it all again ♪
[Leslie Powell:
"Stay Inside This Dream"]
Now they feel like
memories to me ♪
♪
Say it's real ♪
'Cause I don't
want to leave ♪
I don't want to wake up ♪
I just want the last touch ♪
And I want to
feel it all again ♪
Hi.
Yo.
Where have you been?
Well, a tennis championship.
Actually, I won.
Yeah, and then I celebrated
on the party boat.
And then, um,
that led to an orgy,
which I also won.
[chuckles]
And yeah,
that's where I've been.
[Cadence] Hey, I mean it.
Where were you before
you showed up here just now?
Um, sleeping,
kind of.
It's like a
a soft nothing, in a way.
And then a pull,
and then I'm here.
I thought I'd never
see you again.
You thought we
might be figments
of your fucked up,
traumatized, weird imagination?
Why would you imagine
a dickhead version of me
who wouldn't say goodbye?
Right, because you've
never been a dickhead.
No.
[Sleeping At Last:
"Saturn"]
Look, um,
I'm sorry about this summer.
You just wanted
your memories back,
just to feel better,
and I fought so hard.
I didn't want you to remember
because I thought that
when you did,
I might go somewhere
that isn't such a soft nothing.
You can't believe in hell.
I mean, that's just, like,
a made-up threat.
There's got to be
some sort of punishment
for having everything
that I had
and doing nothing good with it.
I'm sorry I lied.
I just
I don't want to burn again.
Johnny,
if hell is real,
I'm fucked, too.
[laughs]
You are going to do
a million good things
with your life, Cady.
You feel so bad
about that night
that you're going to spend
the rest of your life
doing amazing things,
so amazing
that they'll have to build
a new tier in heaven for you.
Any heaven waiting for me
would have you in it.
The infinite ♪
How rare ♪
And beautiful ♪
It is to even exist ♪
I couldn't help but ask ♪
For you
to see it all again ♪
That the universe was made ♪
Just to be seen by my eyes ♪
I'd give anything
to hear ♪
[Carrie] He's slipping.
The legendary Harris Sinclair
wore two mismatching shoes
to dinner tonight.
I hate it when things are
funny and sad at the same time.
[Bonnie] I know, but like,
you don't have to rub it in.
Like, that's offensive.
It's rude.
- 128.
- How?
- 128?
- I win.
OK, you didn't have
to underline "last"
that many times.
But you lost.
You want to play?
Maybe later.
Hey, you guys OK?
It's too quiet here now.
Yeah.
I'm over Scrabble.
- I want to swim.
- Same.
- [Bonnie] Race you!
- [Will] No fair!
- [Bonnie] I'm winning.
- [Liberty] Bye, Cady.
[Will] You've got a head start!
[Bonnie] I'm winning!
[Mirren] Wish I'd been
a little kinder to them.
The Littles.
They always wanted me to teach
them how to braid their hair.
[sighs]
Make friendship bracelets.
[tiles clattering]
God, I never even talked
to them unless I had to.
Mirren.
Let me be the one to regret.
You should be light as air.
You should be
a fucking sunbeam.
[sobs] Turns out I suck
at being a ghost.
I wanted to be excellent at it.
[chuckles]
I wanted to be excellent
at everything
at my art, sex, grades,
and at being
Bess Sinclair's daughter.
Maybe that's where it all went
wrong between us, you know?
Maybe if we'd just let each
other be messy sometimes,
we could have actually
seen each other, you know?
[soft music]
♪
[voice breaking]
Oh, Cady.
[sobs]
I don't think anyone
ever really saw me.
[sobs]
And now no one ever will,
and
No. Look at me.
The Liars saw you, Mirren.
And I'll see you
for the rest of my life.
I'm so tired, Cady.
♪
I'm so tired.
[sniffling]
[sighs]
Cady.
[Cadence] Mm-hmm?
He'll come.
[breathes shakily]
[breathes deeply]
[waves lapping, birds chirping]
Thank you for the gift,
but I don't want these.
You should give them to someone
who actually wants them.
[Harris] Nonsense.
Who else?
You're the first
Sinclair granddaughter.
I don't want to be that.
The heir.
Oh, all right, then.
Who will you be?
Well, perhaps you could be, um,
an entitled child with a crush
who got mad at her family
and committed arson,
animal cruelty,
and involuntary manslaughter.
Now, you do love a story.
You get that from Tip,
of course,
who had a fondness
for fairy tale endings.
But I, too,
know of heroes and villains,
plot twists and tropes.
But most importantly,
I know how to sell a story
certainly to your aunts,
and your mother,
or the poor Littles
who've lost Johnny and Mirren.
Yes, it was an errant spark.
It was an ignorant worker
who improperly stored the fuel.
It was a cruel turn
of the wind.
And you nearly died
risking yourself
in an attempt
to save the others,
like any good Sinclair would.
Now, me,
I would tell that story.
When the reporter
comes on Saturday,
you keep that in mind.
A reporter?
On Beechwood?
Oh, another
Time magazine cover.
I'd like to put an end to the
nattering about a family curse
in my last significant profile.
I've decided to retire
from public life in my prime.
So it is time
that I pass the baton
to a worthy new face
of the family.
You will wear those.
♪
[yawns]
It's early.
It's one year ago today.
I know.
A year.
The Sound's Edge Gallery agreed
to display Mirren's art.
[Carrie] Oh, God,
she'd have loved that.
[Bess] They were very eager.
I just
I hope when people look at it,
they see her.
I want to make sure that
she's seen as more
than just a tragedy.
[emotional music]
♪
[laughs]
That's a really nice thing
that you did for her.
[sniffles]
Well,
it's too late to do things
for her, so
Mm.
[Bess] I thought I needed
exactly what Mom had.
I wanted the husband
from the good family,
the beautiful home,
three daughters.
And I would daydream about
what I would name them
and how I would dress them
and how I would raise them
to be just so perfect.
And then I
I think I was so busy
adjusting them that
I forgot to just love them.
Mirren knew that
you loved her.
[sobs]
[Carrie] She did.
[sighs]
Sometimes I think losing them
was our punishment.
Like that one tiny ember
was sent from God,
or the universe,
or Beechwood Island.
Punishment for what?
For what we did in Summer 16.
The summer
the summer I was 16.
Because then I think if
it was our punishment,
Penny wouldn't have
been spared, right?
Yeah.
♪
[birds chirping, waves lapping]
[person] What're we doing next?
Oh, come on.
[person] Thank you.
[giggles] Come on!
[door opens, creaks]
[Young Cadence] Are you real?
[Young Gat] I think so.
I'm Cadence.
[Young Gat] I'm Gat.
I've been lost
in the crowd ♪
Looking for a way out ♪
Just trying to
escape the noise ♪
Tag. You're it.
You were sorta new ♪
[laughter]
Back then, I trusted you ♪
But now I'd make
a different choice ♪
[Cloves: "No Us"]
Ooh ♪
It looks like we forgot ♪
Who the hell we are ♪
If I had my chance again ♪
I'd still leave you
with the scar ♪
I want to see it
make you hurt ♪
In the same way
I know it does ♪
If I had my chance again ♪
There'd be no us ♪
[laughs]
- I knew you'd chase me.
- Always.
Are you real?
I don't know.
I really don't know.
[camera clicking]
[reporter] Lovely.
American royalty, truly.
[Penny] It's nice of Brody
to join us today, Bess.
Loss really showed us how
strong our marriage truly is.
Uh-huh.
Do you mind standing
in birth order?
It's a condition of Dad
bailing him out financially.
A united, stable front
in the wake of it all.
[Carrie] So you're trapped.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, my God,
some things never change.
Oh, some things do, though.
[upbeat music]
Ed!
- Hey.
- [Harris] Oh, there he is.
Uh-huh.
Ah, you made it.
Ed, come on.
We should we should get
you in the photo, too.
Uh, no.
I'm all right, Harris.
Prefer to avoid the scrutiny.
Mm.
Uh, are we expecting Cadence?
She'll, uh
she'll be around.
Thank you.
Should we go get her?
No.
It's her choice.
[Gat] I wanted to believe
we were helping you,
keeping the secret.
I know now it was selfish.
I just wanted one more summer.
I didn't want to
make you sicker,
but I couldn't
stop wanting you.
Even when everything else about
me felt like it was fading,
I still loved you
as much as ever.
Well, there's something
you don't know
that might make you
love me less.
Right before midnight,
I looked out
and saw you at the boat.
I should have waited, but
I took too long.
I was downstairs.
I could have gotten out while
the clock was still chiming
[clock rings]
but I was looking
at the family photo.
The black pearls,
the ones the moms were so
obsessed with our whole lives.
They obsessed over them
who got to wear them
at Christmas, at Easter.
Who was the best?
Who was the most loved?
And I wanted them.
I can't even explain why.
That's why
you went inside, Gat.
That's why you died.
[tense music]
[muffled dogs barking]
No!
It was all my fault.
It's our fault.
No.
No, I'm the one
who got impatient
and didn't follow the plan.
I was as involved as you, Cady.
Truth is, I'd burnt
that place down to the ground
a million times
in my mind already.
I don't blame you.
Harris wants me to keep up
the big Sinclair lie,
like I'm a hero.
I don't want to be
that kind of liar,
but what about the moms
and the Littles?
Your mom.
Ed.
I mean, they all think
it was an accident.
How will they move on
if they know we meant it?
Maybe it's OK to
let them pretend then.
Look, you know the truth now,
so you get to decide
the rest of your story.
That's it.
That's what matters.
[sighs]
Besides, some fairy tales
aren't so bad.
I've been telling myself one
all summer.
You mean the one
where you and I become
king and queen
of Beechwood Island?
No.
The one where you and I pack up
and leave the mythical land
where it's always summer.
Out in the real world,
it gets cold.
The-the radiator in our
shitty college apartment
makes so much noise all night.
You write for the lit magazine.
I get a tattoo
you pretend to hate.
My mom comes to visit us and
teaches us how to make poha.
We fight over who forgot
to get rid of the,
uh, the dryer lint.
[laughs]
One semester we have
to do long distance, and
we write each other letters,
real ones, in the mail.
[soft music]
♪
When we're back in
our shitty apartment,
I start to save up to buy you a
ring even though you tell me
- I don't need one.
- You don't need one.
♪
Happily ever after.
In a better world.
In a better world.
[emotional music]
♪
Gat.
♪
[whistles, laughs]
[chuckles]
Come on, one last time.
[laughs]
[sweeping music]
♪
Cannonball!
♪
[music stops]
[gentle music]
♪
[Harris] No, it was really
it was all about
all about celebrating family.
- That's it.
- [Bess] I think I look great.
Mm.
Oh, there she is,
Cadence the first.
♪
Ed.
Hey.
I'm so glad you're here.
I'm glad you are, too.
[waves lapping]
♪
Cadence.
I would like to introduce you
to this young lady.
She's going to ask you
a few questions.
What kind of questions?
Oh, well, it's a piece
about your grandfather
as the patriarch,
but really about
your family's
strength of character.
♪
I don't think I can
help you with that.
Cadence.
♪
I'm just really not into
fairy tales anymore.
'Cause it was burning ♪
My whole world down ♪
Smoke was rising up ♪
High above the ground ♪
I couldn't breathe in ♪
I couldn't breathe out ♪
Out ♪
[exhales]
[Cadence]
My name is Cadence Eastman.
I once was sugar and effort,
reckless abandon, ambition,
and strong coffee.
But I was also weakness
and complicity.
[rousing music]
♪
I know the loss of
great loves now.
And I know the work
of rebuilding from ashes,
even in the shadow cast by
what used to stand tall.
♪
I was once a Sinclair,
and I suppose
I will always be a Liar.
Because Liars,
you should know, are forever.
Gonna breathe on my own ♪
♪
Ride into
the burning silence ♪
- [Ed] Carrie.
- [Carrie] Coming!
Oh.
[grunts] Sorry.
I'm just going to make sure
everything's locked up.
- I'll meet you at the dock.
- OK.
Come on, Will.
You got that?
[chuckles]
[coughing]
Oh.
I thought you'd left.
I don't think I can.
[tense music]
♪
[lively music]
Early evening sun ♪
Glistens in the ash
upon the sand ♪
♪
The secret came undone ♪
Spent the summer
slipping through my hands ♪
♪
The story goes ♪
When you know, you know ♪
Time will tell ♪
Yes, it will ♪
Tell me everything ♪
Time will tell ♪
Cast a spell
when the sparrows sing ♪
Time will tell ♪
Yes, it will ♪
Tell me everything I know ♪
Time will tell ♪
But I won't know ♪
[sweeping music]
♪