Lisey’s Story Episode 5 Recap and Ending, Explained

In psychological romance horror-thriller mashup miniseries ‘Lisey’s Story,’ the story is vast, immediate, and seldom predictable. Stephen King, by the visual luminescence of Pablo Larrain, plunges the viewer into the literal pool of our shared consciousness. The pool is potentially bottomless, and the viewer is left to gasp for air. The audience gets the feeling of being trusted with a piece of secrecy, and the climactic moment that reveals itself in ‘The Good Brother’ takes us to the root of the darkness that figures in Scott’s poetic vision. Some questions are brought to a close, while others keep popping up in the head. If you are still looking for those answers, let us guide you to the end. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Lisey’s Story Episode 5 Recap

Picking up from the visceral shock of the previous episode, the story opens with Lisey reflecting upon her situation while officer Dan stays stationed outside. Jim Dandy has a telephonic conversation with professor Dashmiel. Dooley does not say anything about the torture to Dashmiel, while Dashmiel tries to dissuade Jim from pursuing his plan. Lisey walks the ruins of memory and hits a wall. In the present, she sees Scott’s specter emerging from the darkened driveway.

She remembers a night of intimate conversation during her and Scott’s vacation at the Antler’s Inn. Scott goes back to his childhood and unearths a deep-seated secret. Lisey comes across Paul’s grave in the world of Booya Moon. In retrospect, we see Paul having an episode where he attacks Scott. In an attempt to save Scott, Andrew hits Paul on the head. But that is not punishment enough, and Paul is kept in chains at the barn, where he suffers for three weeks. Andrew cannot cut out the bad this time since the bad has apparently gone to Paul’s brain.

The bad, the gone, and the other place run in the bloodline of the Landons, but it’s a boon and a blessing. One can be consumed by the bad or use it as a source of inspiration. Andrew, we see, is a ketamine addict. He gives a heavy dose of ketamine mixed into a lump of crumbs to Paul. In Scott’s mind, Paul has, by then, turned into a monster. The infection has spread into Paul’s body and morphed his face. Andrew prepares a syringe of ketamine and asks Scott to inject it into Paul’s neck.

Scott is not able to inject the syringe as asked. In the meantime, Paul wakes up from slumber and gets hold of Scott. To save the good son, Andrew shoots Paul dead. Scott tells his father to pack the bags and takes Paul to the world of Booya Moon. Coming to the present, Lisey concludes that Amanda, and not Jim Dandy, is the dead space cowboy. Lisey remembers her previous adventure to Booya Moon to bring back Scott. Taking Scott’s advice, Lisey jumps into the water to go back to the hidden world of intrigue.

Lisey’s Story Episode 5 Ending: Why Does Lisey Take the Shovel into The Pool?

This episode is the penultimate moment of revelation that the story was destined for. We go back through Lisey’s memory to Scott, and the wonderous mind of Scott manifests only when Lisey traverses it. This episode reveals Paul’s tragic fate only when Lisey comes across the grave of Paul in the impressionistic world of Booya Moon. Lisey travels some more and reaches the shore of the pool to bring back Scott. This episode makes apparent the complex metaphor of the pool. The pool is a place of tranquil renunciation. The pool is also a visionary realm that has the power to heal.

The pool is a realm of the unsaid, from where words and realities are conjured. As Scott says, the pool is indeed a place to hide the trauma and hidden secrets, but it also doubles as a source of inspiration. In the end, Lisey makes her destined journey and finds a cure for her trauma by revisiting Scott’s trauma. Lisey remembers Scott saying that there is an association between water and the world of Booya Moon. Therefore, she jumps into the pool, which is understood.

But why does she take the shovel with her? Well, by now, we have come to understand the symbolic nature of the storytelling of Stephen King. For example, the maze of ‘The Shining’ doubles as the labyrinthine corridors of the human mind. A shovel is a tool used for digging, and Lisey has to dig out more from the past. The metaphor of the shovel is apt in a story that ultimately seeks to unearth the past. Maybe the shovel plays a crucial role in the future course of the story.

Who Are the Other People by The Pool?

This is a question that must have been popping up in your head. This episode, too, shows the other characters who sit by the pool in meditative silence. The ensemble includes a mother and her daughter, an African-American (who follows Scott but quite conveniently gets picked up by the long boy), Amanda, the hooded Scott, a woman in gowns, a few eerie-looking ghouls… the list is possibly endless. As they attempt to hush Lisey as she is talking to Scott, we understand they are a multitude.

Who are these people, you may be tempted to ask. These other people are perhaps characters from Scott’s books — the characters that Scott had conjured out of nothing. The author has given these spirits blood-and-soul (and some white shrouds), and they, in turn, are destined to live with him by the pool. All of his readers, especially the imaginative ones, and those who Scott calls “dead space cowboys,” are also destined for the pool. Maybe that is how the cult of the author is created – when people come together and gain access to a shared language.

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