Like Cain Did Abel
Why did Simone pretend to be Daphne?
Episode 7 of True Story Begins this final episode with Kid reeling over the revelation that his brother is dirty and he’s been played. Simone is Daphne, of course, and now Kid knows too. He waits outside her apartment and eventually approaches her, demanding answers. It turns out Carlton offered her a lucrative sum of money (a couple of grand to be precise) to play dead. Carlton then brought Ari in, as it seems he just wanted a big pay-out and to take advantage of Kid’s generosity. Upon learning this, Kid immediately organizes a meet with his brother at the hotel, promising a big surprise. When Kid leaves, Simone messages Carlton telling him to get in contact immediately. Carlton shows up at the hotel, where Kid plays his part and invites his brother out to a basketball game. They have an All-Access pass of course, which includes heading backstage and watching everything unfold from a lavish VIP box. As we’ve seen across this show, True Story is not shy about flaunting Kid’s wealth.
Why did Carlton try to con Kid?
Alone, Kid confronts Carlton about the truth, and how he knows he’s been played. Of course, killing Ari wasn’t part of the plan but this whole ordeal appears to have been staged by Carlton and Ari as a way of getting rich off a “whale”, that being Kid of course. We’ve heard before across this season that Carlton is a terrible businessman. His restaurant has been failing and his “shadow investors” obviously sunk money into this and want it to be successful. Carlton’s money woes eventually led him back to his brother, which explains why he was waiting at the Four Seasons for him. Throughout Kid’s life he’s been helping out Carlton, giving him money to get by. Through it all, Todd warned that Carlton will be Kid’s undoing and that much is especially true here. In the end though Carlton got greedy and tried to play his brother, slipping up. There’s definitely an element of jealousy in here too, given what transpired with Gene, but the deep-rooted resentment and the desire to take advantage of Kid’s hospitality eventually ends up his downfall. “You’re dead to me, man.” Kid eventually says to Carlton, as the latter struggles to keep his composure.
Do Savvas and Nikos get their revenge?
Savvas and Nikos eventually show up at the stadium, having followed a trail of clues, courtesy of the livestream video with Gene last episode and beating down Simone for answers. Before Savvas leaves her, he shoots Simone dead. Really dead this time. The Greek brothers arrive at the stadium and a big shootout ensues. Hersch is shot in the shoulder, Kid shoots Savvas and then turns and shoots Carlton dead too. Given Kid’s not wearing gloves here, he clumsily stages the whole event to make it look like Carlton has been shot dead by the Greeks. Earlier on in this skirmish the cameras are shot so there doesn’t seem to be any video evidence of this taking place.
How does True Story season 1 end?
We then jump forward 3 days later. Hersch is still alive, sporting a gunshot wound for his troubles. However, Hersch admits he heard everything that Carlton and K were talking about at the game. In order to keep quiet, Kid agrees to pay Hersch 6 million dollars. As the episode closes out, Kid decides to continue on with the show, doing his best to be there for his family given that’s “the only way to give my story a happy ending”.
The Episode Review
So True Story bows out with a conclusive chapter that closes everything down while rounding out this story with a final monologue to tie the start and end of this together. There are still some contrivances, like the whole incident at the stadium and what the result of the Ari investigation was, but largely this is a self-contained miniseries designed to be a one-and-done sort of deal. However, there is scope for a second season, especially if another eye-witness saw anything take place during that final shootout. The main takeaway here though is that fame comes at a cost. For all the flaunting of wealth and the lavish lifestyle Kid has enjoyed, it’s a struggle to maintain that level and it can be taken away in a second if you take your eye off the ball. In that respect, True Story does really well to keep things thematically relevant. This could easily have been a 2 hour movie though, especially with the lack of depth given to supporting characters that end up becoming pretty prominent and important late on, like Todd and Hersch. Despite those gripes, True Story has been an enjoyable watch, even if it’s not going to light up the small screen any time soon.
