Last Seen: Is Jenna Dead?

Apple TV’s ‘Last Seen‘ begins with Ian Ridley discovering that his daughter, who disappeared 11 years ago, is not only alive, but might also be closer than he imagined. For the past decade, while everyone seemed to have given up on finding her, he kept the hope alive, and just when he is about to give up, a phone call unravels everything. From here, it doesn’t take long for him to find out who is connected to his daughter’s disappearance, but getting her back is another thing entirely, especially when the kidnappers, Jenna and Henry, who raised her as their own, are not willing to back down. At least one of them isn’t. Jenna has different thoughts on the whole matter, but she doesn’t survive long enough to see what choice her husband makes. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Henry’s Selfish Choices Lead to Jenna’s Death

The actions of different characters in ‘Last Seen’ start a circle of grief that is passed on from one person to the next. When Henry and Jenna’s biological daughter, Sarah, dies, Jenna falls so deeply into her grief that the only way Henry can bring her back is by getting her a new daughter. He doesn’t care if he is robbing someone else of their child in the process. When Mags, renamed Sarah, is brought to her, Jenna sees it as a second chance to be a mother. However, years later, the guilt of throwing the Ridleys in a similar cycle of pain and loss starts to haunt her. When she discovers that Ian has started looking for his daughter again, she visits Deb to see how she is faring and is shocked to learn that Deb has found the strength to process her grief and move on.

Eventually, when Ian comes knocking at their door with Bill, Jenna seems ready to hand Sarah over because she knows she’s not really her daughter. She would have told Sarah the truth and would likely have voluntarily given her up so she could be reunited with her family. She would have done this if the cops had come around while she was at the house, which is perhaps why Henry was glad she was nowhere to be found at the time. He, despite his wife’s wishes, refuses to let go of Sarah, which prompts him to fire at Bill and Ian, and when they fire back, a bullet hits Jenna. In such a situation, the most obvious course of action should have been to take her to the hospital. However, Henry cannot do that because now his secret is out.

His bullet has killed a police officer, which means the law has every reason to catch him now. In this moment of crisis, the only thing he can think of is running back to his father, whose teachings are another reason why Henry doesn’t like going to hospitals. Gareth had created a compound where he fostered ecological living, so removed from society that his flock wasn’t allowed access to the medical facilities that could have saved them. Since Henry grew up believing that there is a cure for everything in nature and that the power of prayer can work miracles, he decided that his father’s church was the best place to take his injured wife. In between this, Sarah keeps begging him to go to a hospital, but he convinces her that this is the best course of action.

By the time they reach there, Jenna has already lost a lot of blood. Her situation had been getting worse with every minute, but somehow, she had enough strength to tell Sarah to run away when she had the chance. The girl, who had known no one else in her life, couldn’t leave her dying mother behind. Unfortunately, she stuck around long enough to find the only mom she’d ever known dead in the backseat. Jenna, however, seemed to know what was coming for her, which is why, when she is barely hanging by a thread, she apologizes to Sarah for robbing her of the life she could have had as Mags.

Read More: Is Last Seen Based on a True Story?