The Act
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The final episode ofThe Actis titled Free, and the irony is hard to miss.
The first is the flashback to 1997 that opens the episode.
By freeing them, Gypsy has unwittingly sentenced them to death.
A literal sentencing awaits, but thats not even the half of it.
She sleeps alone in her cell.
She sits alone in the cafeteria.
When her father comes to visit, theyre even all alone in the visiting room for some reason.
Nick, however, is just some doofus who did the deed because he was hot for her.
In the end hes led away, confused and saddened.
As for towers…well, now we come to it.
It doesnotshow the murder itself.
Thats kept offscreen, a decision that roots us in Gypsys experience of the crime, not Nicks.
Goodnight, Mom, Gypsy manages in response, one last time.
At this point Im not sure.
Soon after, Nick sir, in their BDSM-tinged text exchanges arrives under the hum of the orange-tinted streetlight.
Both her voice and her finger are shaking.
The long take builds and builds as Nick approaches the bedroom door.
He just stands there for a while, internally transforming into a person capable of murder.
Whatever was in him burns out fast.
And while the crime is committed, Gypsy hides in the bathroom.
After that, some of that awful, sick-making black comedy kicks in.
Soon they collect themselves and go about their preparations to leave.
(Gypsy, after its over: Did you…?
Nick: Basically.)
Welcome to the rest of your life!
But the old life never ends for Gypsy.
In the final scene of the season, shes brought to her cell where she finds Dee Dee waiting.
Theyre locked in there together.
I cried and cried and cried.
Im so grateful I saw it.
