What Finally Ends Tully and Kate’s Bond?

Netflix may have chosen to end season 1 of its smash drama Firefly Lane on a cliffhanger as to why the two protagonists suddenly stop being friends after 30 years of best friendship. But here are some theories for you about what could have forced Kate to tell her best friend Tully she never wants to see her again—read on to find out what they are.

In the season finale of the show, after the initial implication that Tully may have died, my fears were put to rest when Tully appears to attend the funeral herself.

However, this relief was short-lived when I saw the way Kate and Tully meet. Far from greeting each other warmly as I had come to expect from the BFFs, Kate is cold and unyielding. Tully looks upset too.

Kate asks Tully how she had the nerve to show up there (at this point, I was extremely taken aback at the usually kind Kate’s harshness). Tully asks her how long she’s going to continue punishing her, and Kate says in no uncertain terms that she never wants to see her again.

Apart from this exchange, the show doesn’t provide any clues as to what could have estranged these two women, who had been inseparable since they were girls.

1.Why Kate Stops Talking to Tully in the Book

However, fans of the novel the show is based upon have some insight to offer into what the reason could be behind Kate cutting Tully out from her life.

In the book, Kate does not talk to Tully for several years after a live airing of Tully’s show goes awry when Tully accuses Kate of being an overprotective mother.

Tully invites Kate and her daughter Marah to feature on her talk show, where they talk to a family therapist about some of their issues. However, during the show’s live airing, Tully reveals that the segment is actually about “overprotective mothers and the teenage daughters who hate them”.

Naturally, this incenses Kate, who angrily tells Tully she has no idea about motherhood or the difficult choices one must make as a mother. Kate says, “Your own mother didn’t love you, and you’d sell your soul for fame,” and walks off stage. Following this incident, the two characters in the book don’t speak for years.

The show might stay true to the book and follow this storyline, but unfortunately, there is no way to be sure since the show has already taken many liberties when it comes to departing from the details in the book.

2. Kate and Tully’s Ride-or-Die Friendship

Kate and Tully, the Firefly Lane girls, are inseparable from their teenage years all the way into their 40s and possess the kind of friendship we all dream of having; the ride-or-die kind.

The two of them share absolutely everything—to the point where Kate’s husband, Johnny, feels a little threatened by Tully’s enthusiasm and involvement in the process when they’re having a baby.

Over the years, their relationship manages to survive many ups and downs, including downs that might end many other friendships. As Tully effusively says to Kate when she tries to push her away after they have a spat over Tully going behind Kate’s back and getting her daughter Marah birth control pills: “You’re my soulmate, b****!”

3. Tully’s Trauma

Tully has been a lonely person ever since her teenage years. Her neglectful relationship with her drug addict mother, Cloud, and her rape at the hands of older jock Pat Richmond, both play a role in shaping her own dysfunctions as she grows into an adult.

Confident, ambitious, and successful though she may be, Tully suffers from trauma responses that lead her to push away those she cares most about, put her ego first, and sabotage her own happiness.

4. The Impact of Tully’s Flaws on Her Friendship with Kate

Even Kate, Tully’s best friend in the entire world, does not escape the line of fire when it comes to Tully’s lack of foresight and accountability.

In the 1980s, when they are 22-year-olds working together at their local news station, Kate develops a crush on their boss Johnny the moment she meets him and is open about this with Tully. Tully still cozies up to Johnny multiple times over the years and eventually even sleeps with him, knowing well that Kate is in love with him. Although Kate lets it go and keeps mum about it, it is obvious to the viewer that all of this bothers her.

Kate experiences a flashback to Tully cozying up to Johnny in the ’80s when she witnesses Tully doing the same with her PTA crush Travis in the 2000s. It is evident that somewhere in the back of her mind, Kate isn’t over what happened all those years ago.

Besides, we see that Kate repeatedly feels like she exists in Tully’s shadow, as Tully is always the more confident, physically attractive, and successful friend who turns heads, while Kate feels invisible. Even Kate’s own parents and brother seem to favor Tully over her.

5. Kate’s Resentment Towards Tully

It is only natural if Kate were to develop some level of resentment towards her best friend over the years, despite the love she bears for her.

When Kate and Tully come face-to-face in the season finale at Kate’s father Bud’s funeral, we see that whatever Tully did this time seems to have pushed Kate over an edge she never crossed before—Kate, unlike all the previous times Tully upset her, plainly tells her she never wants to see her again.

Perhaps Tully finally pushed Kate too far after all the resentment building up over the years. It seems plausible that Tully pulled something that Kate may have earlier forgiven her for, but this time it simply proves to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. After all, rarely do people put an end to 30-year-old friendships without a very compelling reason.

Although we have some ideas about what this compelling reason might have been, looks like we fans will have to wait for the second season to find out for sure what exactly it was!

6. About Firefly Lane

Firefly Lane is based on the eponymous novel by Kristin Hannah and has been adapted for Netflix by Maggie Friedman. The first season landed on the streaming platform in February 2021 and has quickly acquired a dedicated fanbase. While there is no official confirmation yet, Firefly Lane is all set to be renewed for another season.

The seies is a Netflix drama centered on the lives and friendship of two protagonists, Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey. The series follows their individual trials as well as the tests their friendship is put through right from their teenage years in the 1970s all the way up to their 40s.