Aahana Swrup
Xavier Dolan’s Canadian-French drama show ‘The Night Logan Woke Up’ depicts the spectacle of a dysfunctional family’s taut journey to reconciliation. October of 1991 brings a dark night for the Larouches that forever changes the trajectory of siblings Julien and Mireille’s friendship with neighbor Logan Goodyear. As such, almost thirty years later, when matriarch Madeleine “Maddy” Larouche’s death brings Mireille to her small Quebec hometown, a tense unraveling of past secrets follows that threatens to change everything for the Larouches.
The tragic Larouche family reunion charts an intriguing and suspenseful tale of familial secrets, childhood traumas, and their long-lasting impacts. Meanwhile, the mystery of Logan Goodyear and his relationship with the Larouches simmers throughout the plot, blanketing the narrative with tense air. If you’re curious to know where the family’s overdue revelation of secrets leads them, here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘The Night Logan Woke Up.’ SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Night Logan Woke Up Plot Synopsis
A local family of Val-des-chutes, Quebec, The Larouches, undergo a great tragedy as sick and elderly Madeleine Larouche’s final moments creep nearer. Her middle son, a divorced father of two, Denis, remains the rock of the family. While overseeing home renovations in preparation for the ultimate sale, he helps his youngest brother, Elliot, get back on his feet following a premature exit from rehab. In contrast, Julien, the oldest and Maddy’s favorite finds comfort in shady motels having anonymous sex behind his wife, Chantal’s back.
The afternoon before Maddy dies, she gets a peculiar phone call that compels her to dig out memories from 1991, when a fraught night destroyed the Larouche family. Later that night, as a storm brews outside, Maddy dies in her family home, surrounded by her family. Yet, when Julien joins his mother, the woman uncharacteristically turns away from him before drawing her last breath.
Afterward, Denis hands Julien a red box the contractors found buried in the home’s yard. With aged memorabilia inside, Julien keeps the box hidden from his wife. The same night, Julien gets a call from the hospital informing him that his distant sister, Mireille, informed about the death by Chantal, has returned to embalm their mother’s body. The news of Mireille’s arrival brings nothing but unpleasantries for Julien, who seems to hold his sister in high contempt.
Twenty-eight years ago, in 1991, Mireille, plagued with the habit of walking into her neighbors’ houses in the middle of the night, found herself inside Logan Goodyear’s bedroom one October night. Logan was Mireille and Julien’s close friend, with rumors about the former sibling’s crush on him. The night was devastating for Mireille after Julien and the Goodyears found her tackled to the ground by Logan in a compromising position.
Soon, the entire town was filled with gossip about Mireille’s assault, sending her down a self-destructive path that led to her eventual distance from her family. In the present day, the town’s disposition toward Mireille remains the same, as she seeks out comfort and release through her unorthodox sexual fantasies. Likewise, the time leading up to Maddy’s funeral while her body gets embalmed brings difficult days for the rest of the siblings. Elliot relapses instantly and has to live under the watchful eye of Julien, who is 12 years sober himself, and although Denis tries to put on a good front, his life remains a literal mess. Worse yet, the siblings discover that moments before her death, Maddy modified her will to exclude all of them from her inheritance.
As such, a few days before their mother’s funeral, when the Larouche siblings learn about Maddy’s estate’s sole inheritor at Chantal’s birthday party, their lives spiral further down. A helmeted figure, decked in black, who has been following Julien around for some time, reveals himself to be Logan Goodyear, the man Maddy left her entire inheritance to before dying. In the end, the answer to the mystery behind Maddy’s actions lies in the night of October 1991 when Mireille was found in Logan’s bedroom.
The Night Logan Woke Up Ending: What Happened At Logan’s Bedroom in 1991?
The characters and the narrative impose clear implications about what happened to Mireille inside Logan’s bedroom in 1991. At 14, Mireille often hangs out with her brother, Julien, and his friends and is consequently close with Logan. Therefore, Julien and her family often tease her about her assumed attraction to Logan. Yet, after the Goodyears and Julien find Mireille in Logan’s room, the verdict remains that Logan had raped Mireille on that dreaded night.
Neither Mireille nor Logan ever outwardly contests this assertion. As a result, Mireille’s social life changes drastically, with everyone in the town looking down on her and calling her derogatory terms. Much of the town maintains that since Mireille was inexplicably in Logan’s room that night, she brought her fate upon herself. Although Mireille’s family, especially her mother, Maddy, tries to comfort Mireille and encourage her to overlook the gossip mill’s harmful chatter, the teenager continues to fall down a dark pit. Consequently, at 14, Mireille takes up drinking, smoking, and self-harming.
Likewise, Logan’s life worsens, making it impossible for him to stay in Val-des-chutes. Eventually, both Logan and Mireille have to leave town. Logan’s family relocates, and Mireille gets sent away to boarding school after a nasty family fight ends with her father dying of a heart attack. Nevertheless, through it all, Julien remains the most perplexing piece of the puzzle.
Ever since the night, Julien and Mireille’s close relationship sees a downfall, with the siblings unable to even stand in the same room without arguing. Julien becomes broodier and starts dabbling in hardcore drugs, sending himself down a path of life-threatening addiction. However, if his sister’s predicament causes Julien such anguish as the narrative suggests, why does he hold such contempt for her both in the past and present?
Mireille’s return to the town shepherds the reason behind the same: Logan never assaulted Mireille. In 1991, Julien and Logan weren’t only close friends. Instead, the teenage boys were in a secret relationship, stealing moments with each other and planning a future together. Due to the homophobic environment, both boys lived in, they kept their relationship a secret and met in the dark of the night to be together.
One such night, 14-year-old Mireille stumbled into Logan’s room, watching the boy sleep. However, when she heard noise outside the room, she hid herself in a closet, unwilling to be caught. As such, Mireille witnessed her brother, Julien, sneaking into Logan’s room and engaging in sexual activity. Therefore, when she barged out of the closet, causing a commotion, Logan held her down on the ground to prevent her from drawing his parents’ attention. Nevertheless, by then, it was too late.
When the Goodyears caught their son pining a young girl to the floor, the general assumption hung in the air, and Julien gave voice to it. Instead of admitting to his relationship with Logan, Julien lied about catching his friend assaulting his sister. The night forever changes the trajectory of Julien, Logan, and Mireille’s life as they are forced to live a lie of Julien’s fear’s creation.
Why Did Julien and Mireille Lie About Logan?
After learning the truth behind the unspeakable night at Logan Goodyear’s bedroom, a natural curiosity arises regarding the need for the trio to lie about the night’s events. Even though Julien and Logan’s relationship would have earned the pair some difficult times, a fabricated tale of rape seems like the worse alternative. Yet, in a moment of panic, Julien decided to choose his self-preservation over his care and affection for his sister and lover.
Julien ruins both Mireille’s and Logan’s lives by lying about what happened to them. The most stark example of the same comes at a high school Halloween dance. Even though Mireille has a tough time at school due to the unwanted attention, she manages to return to her old self a little and attends the Halloween dance. However, there, she discovers that a couple of Julien’s friends are planning to teach Logan a lesson by luring him out to a football field and taking revenge on him for violating Mireille.
Even though Julien knows Logan doesn’t deserve such treatment, he can’t speak against it without contradicting his own lie. As such, Julien partakes in Logan’s abuse, and Mireille is left to grieve over the aftermath after arriving too late to prevent the attack. Even though Logan doesn’t die, the interaction definitely leaves mental and physical scars on him.
Still, Logan and Mireille continue to uphold Julien’s awful lie simply because both individuals love Julien too much. The show opens with a scene of a young queer man left beaten under a burning pride flag by local gangsters. Though the scene seems irrelevant in the plot, it informs the core motivation behind Julien’s actions.
Julien is so terrified of people learning about his sexuality that he chooses to condemn his loved ones to a fraught reality in exchange. However, as he watches his actions ruin Mireille and Logan’s lives while they continue to bear it for him, it messes him up, leading to severe addiction. Likewise, Julien distances himself from Mireille, unable to live with himself with the constant reminder of his mistakes. Therefore, Julien grows up to marry Chantal but continues to have illicit affairs while still running away from his sexuality.
Meanwhile, Mireille suffers from the treatment she received from her peers at a young age and develops unhealthy sexual desires. Since Mireille was treated horribly for an act that never even happened, it becomes a fantasy for her. Perhaps this is a way for her to cope with her predicament. An incident that never happened led to her awful treatment, so by recreating that incident, maybe Mireille hopes to find a justification for her mistreatment. In any case, the incident and her decision to keep up Julien’s lie significantly influence Mireille’s future relationships, both romantic and sexual, leading to a complicated, unhappy life.
What Happens to Logan Goodyear?
Even after everything that happens, Logan never gives up on Julien. After keeping Julien’s secret for the price of his own reputation, Logan confesses his persisting love for Julien in a note before moving out of Val-des-chutes. Still, Julien only stows the note away with other memorabilia in a red box buried in his house’s backyard. Years later, Logan is brought back to the town after Maddy leaves her entire inheritance for him.
Before Maddy dies, Mireille learns about her sickness and calls her to divulge the truth about Logan and Julien to her. As a result, Maddy, tormented by her son’s actions and regretful of how they ruined Logan’s life, changes her will at the last moment, leaving everything to Logan’s name. After Mireille finishes her mother’s embalming, commencing her funeral, Denis and Julien begin to realize Mireille was involved in Maddy’s changed will. Even though Denis is still in the dark about the details, Julien figures out Mireille must have told their mother the truth.
Therefore, at Maddy’s funeral, Julien confronts Mireille, leading to a big argument between the two in the funeral home’s bathroom. Denis, Elliot, and Chantal overhear the entire thing and become even more confused about the past’s events. As a result, Elliot relapses again severely, overwhelmed by his familial issues and complicated romantic relationship with Stéfanie. Due to the age gap between Mireille, Julien, and their brother, neither Denis nor Elliot knows about Logan Goodyear and his influence over their family.
After Denis finds Elliot passed out in the middle of a road, he brings him to the hospital. Meanwhile, Julien remains AWOL, unable to come to terms with his life crashing down around him. Julien realizes he must tell his family the entire truth and eventually arrives at Elliot’s hospital room after the latter wakes up. Finally, Julien shares the truth about Logan with his family, prompting Chantal’s exit.
The family suffers from the truth behind Julien’s lie, but they also gain something from it. With a dark secret no longer tying them down, the Larouches can start to heal, even if the journey may be more difficult for some than others. In the end, Julien travels out into the woods, where Logan resides in a cabin. Although Logan acknowledges Julien’s presence, he leaves the other man alone as he breaks down at the pier. The show ends with an inconclusive predicament for Logan, whose relationship with Julien is sure to remain tainted by the latter’s actions.
Read More: Where is Netflix’s The Night Logan Woke Up Filmed?
