Penelope Ending Explained: Did Penelope Know Her Parents Were Dead?

Penelope is a show in which absolutely nothing happens, so I didn’t expect to need to “explain” anything while watching it, whether it was the ending or anything else.

However, Episode 8 chose to end with a disclosure that raised a few potentially interesting concerns about the entire situation. Some of these may even show why Penelope bothered to embark on her survivalist self-discovery trip in the first place.

As it turns out, there is a point here. The show, by Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn and currently streaming on Netflix, appears to have been created exclusively for the festival circuit where it debuted.

It is based on the concept that no one, including Penelope, knows why our protagonist does what she does. Even in the end, we don’t know, but we are offered a recommendation, even though some facts contradict my theory. So, take the following with a grain of salt. It’s easy that way.

1. What Happens at the End of Netflix’s Penelope?

Following the cougar incident, Penelope returns to civilization in episode 8, this time in a hospital. She encounters an extremely accommodating social worker named Jen, who stresses that she does not have to pay her hospital bill and gives her what she requires.

Before long, Penelope is back on the road. It appears that despite the trauma and pain she endured in the forest, she wants to go back there and not return home.

2. Did Penelope Know Her Parents Were Dead?

As the series nears its conclusion, Penelope visits the local library and goes online. She reads the news and checks her emails before entering into social media.

There, she scrolls through the posts left by concerned friends and family members, urging her to reach out to them and come back. She then comes across a post on the deaths of her parents.

Penelope’s reaction to the news complicates everything and forces us to reconsider everything we’ve seen in the series up to that point.

There is no expression of anguish or shock, implying that she was aware of this beforehand. And her entire voyage was spent dealing with this enormous loss and the resulting anguish. However, Penelope did receive messages from her mother while on the road.  

Perhaps we never see her emotions explode because she is still processing the news by the time the series ends. Alternatively, it’s possible that the series retroactively alters certain aspects of the plot and makes us question whether Penelope got those messages from her mother.

3. What is the Meaning of Penelope’s Ending?

The ending of Penelope implies grief is a motivating factor.

Penelope reads the news, checks her emails, looks up information on religious hikes (we know what she’s doing there), and finally checks her social media. This is where the episode concludes, with Penelope scrolling through the urgent messages left for her urging her to return home, followed by, climactic, a picture of her parents with a message hinting that they had died.

Megan Stott’s performance makes it difficult to understand whether or not this is supposed to stun her. I suppose it might be anyway, but her reaction does not appear to be that of someone hearing the news for the first time but of being reminded of it.

And here’s my theory. I believe Penelope’s parents had already died before the episode began, and her voyage was about her coming to grips with her loss.

Let me stop you there. I know what you are thinking. We observed Penelope emailing her mother at the beginning of the season, and she responded. We saw Penelope leave her a voice message, which she would not have done if she knew her parents were not living to receive it.

However, in a show where Penelope has only encountered cartoon-friendly fauna and angelic strangers who want nothing more than to assist her, will we start making pleas for realism?

If this were true, I believe it would be the type of twist that would retroactively improve the entire show. I appreciate the idea that Penelope has been on a true spiritual trip, with the individuals she has encountered being the result of her trauma and fears.

I appreciate the idea that each stage of Penelope’s trip was designed to help her understand how to cope with loss, and it raises the possibility that some of it was wholly fake. The sanitized approach to the drama would make sense as the mentality of a girl attempting to create a nicer, more accommodating world than the one that has taken her parents away from her.

About Penelope

Penelope is a 2024 coming-of-age television series from Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn, and starring Megan Stott and Austin Abrams. It premiered on Netflix in the United States on September 24, 2024.

A sixteen-year-old girl leaves her home for a wilderness area due to her love of nature and a disconnect with the modern world.