Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Am I Being Unreasonable’ is a dark comedy-drama that focuses on the friendship of two women going through a tough time. Nic and Jen bond over a shared dislike of a woman, but soon, they become familiar with each other’s secrets, ones they can’t tell anyone else about. Despite their intense bond, there are still a few things that Jen can’t really talk about. In the final episode, all of her secrets come to light, at least for the audience, revealing how much darker things had been all along. The shocking twist makes viewers reconsider everything they’d seen in the show. Here we break down the finale and make sense of what it means for Nic, Jen, and others in the show. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Am I Being Unreasonable Plot Synopsis
Nic lost the man that she loved. A year into the anniversary of his death, she is lonely and trapped in a marriage she’d been meaning to get out of. The death of her lover haunts her while she tries to keep her sanity intact in an increasingly irritating world. Sanity arrives in the form of Jen, who seems to be precisely the kind of friend Nic needs. One night, after getting drunk beyond her wits, Nic tells Jen about the affair and how she has never talked about it to anyone else.
Unbeknownst to Nic, Jen harbors secrets that could destroy their friendship if revealed. It turns out that Jen has a habit of fixating on women, especially those she believes need her help. When Jen discovers that Nic’s husband, Dan goes on Tinder dates with other women, she decides to expose him. However, in the process, she risks exposing her own truth.
Am I Being Unreasonable Ending: Did Nic Kill Alex?
In the first scene of the first episode, we meet Nic and Alex at a train station. It’s snowing, and the whole vibe is very romantic. They seem deeply in love, so much so that as Nic steps onto the train, Alex kisses her to the point that the doors start to close. He doesn’t step back in time, and his coat gets stuck in the door. They laugh it off at first, but then the train starts to move. Alex pulls the emergency plug, and the train comes to rest, but before anything can be done about Alex, another train passes by, killing him.
This scene is traumatic as is, and throughout the show, we find Nic haunted by the sight of Alex stuck on the train’s door. At first, it appears to be the trauma of seeing a loved one die in front of their eyes. But the final episode reveals that it was guilt that Nic was haunted by. That night, it wasn’t snowing, and there was no romance between Nic and Alex. They had been having an affair since the day Nic married Alex’s elder brother, Dan.
In the wedding speech, Alex playfully mentioned his jealousy of Dan, who excelled at everything, was the family’s favorite, and got the family business handed down to him. Dan was clearly in a much better financial position than Alex, which weighed heavy on him. He despised Dan and wanted to ruin at least one thing in his life. The easiest to target was his marriage. He had an affair with Nic because he wanted to hurt Dan. However, one day, he discovers that Dan is already cheating on Nic.
Dan shows Alex the picture of a young girl who he believes is 25 but is younger. He met her on Tinder and was going to sleep with her. Alex realizes that Dan has already ruined his marriage. No love is left between him and Nic, so he is going around on Tinder dates. Meanwhile, things have been going well for Alex and his wife, Suzie. They are planning to have a kid. When Nic discovers this, she is furious and heartbroken. Alex tells her they will run away soon, but then he ghosts her.
Nic confronts Alex at the train station, asking him when they will run away together. He tells her that he was never in love with her. He’d been fooling around with her all this time because he wanted to mess with his brother. He was done with all that and wanted to focus on his family. He wanted to have a kid with Suzie and dedicate himself to them. He didn’t want anything to do with Nic anymore.
While the conversation happens, Nic ends up on the train while Alex is outside. Just as the doors start to close, Nic takes hold of Alex’s coat, and they get stuck on the door. When the train begins to move, Nic is stunned by her action. She wonders if she should let things play out or pull the emergency plug to stop the train. By the time she makes up her mind, another train passes by, and Alex is killed. All that remains of him is part of his coat stuck inside the train. Nic grabs it and keeps it in her coat pocket, stroking it with her guilt about killing him.
Who are the Boy and the Girl Nic Hallucinates?
Besides having visions of Alex in his dying moments, Nic is also haunted by a young couple who appear everywhere. She sees them in the park, outside her house, in her wedding video, and in Alex’s memorial, but they don’t appear to anyone else. Nic wonders if she is haunted and if the young couple is ghosts. Ultimately, it turns out that she is indeed haunted, and the couple represents her guilt.
Traumatized by her actions that led to Alex’s death, Nic chooses to remember things in a different light. In the first scene, when we see her and Alex sharing moments of romance with each other, it’s not actually them. Alex did write Xmas on the snow; he didn’t almost get down on the rail line to pick a quarter. He didn’t invite Nic to come home with him and have a bath. It all happened between the young couple. They were the only ones there that night when Nic discovered that Alex didn’t love her. They were the only ones on the train who witnessed the whole incident.
The couple laughed when Nic got Alex’s coat stuck on the doors because they thought it was just a play between the adults. They didn’t expect things to turn dark when the train moved, and Nic did nothing. Their smiles immediately changed him, shocked and horrified glances aimed at Nic. Their looks haunted her. Despite having seen the whole thing, the couple didn’t report Nic. Or at least they didn’t reveal enough to have her arrested for murder. Nic was spared prison time, but she couldn’t escape her own guilt, which showed up from time to time in the form of the train couple who were the only ones who knew what really happened that night.
Will Nic and Dan get a Divorce?
Nic and Dan’s marriage had been over for a long time, but none was brave enough to say it to the other. Nic had been in love with Alex all this time and didn’t feel a shred of affection for her husband. Meanwhile, Dan had been looking for love and pleasure elsewhere too. Despite being a married man, he was on Tinder and would often go on dates with women, who were usually much younger than him. When Jen discovers this, she tries to tell Nic about it. But she doesn’t know that Nic already about it a very long time ago.
Nic knew her husband was on Tinder when he showed Alex the picture of a potential date. She kept quiet about it because she thought she would run away with Alex soon enough. There was no point in making a fuss about something that wouldn’t matter soon. But then, she discovered the truth about Alex’s feelings, and his death changed everything. Now, Nic was stuck in her marriage. She had nowhere else to go, and even if she wanted to run away by herself, she couldn’t leave behind her son.
In the end, Nic’s true feelings are revealed when Dan makes her choose between him and Jen. It’s the day before Alex’s memorial, and Dan is convinced that Jen is playing some sinister game with him and Nic. For his wife, however, things are different. Jen and Nic have set aside their differences; now, she is the only one Nic trusts enough to confide her deepest darkest secrets. She is more attached to Jen than to Dan, and when that becomes clear, he doesn’t see the point in staying with her either. By the final episode, Dan has moved to his mother’s house and relayed his deep unhappiness in his marriage. Considering everything, it doesn’t look like there is anything left to salvage in their relationship, and they will get a divorce.
Read More: Is Am I Being Unreasonable Based on a True Story?
