That 'Ginny and Georgia' Ending, Explained

Spoilers ahead for Ginny and Georgia. Just finished the first season of Netflix's Ginny and Georgia? Feeling a little breathless at the sheer number of storylines that reached a climax and/or left us on a tantalizing cliffhanger in the space of an hour? Well, join the club! Let's call this club, I don't know, The Place Where We Talk At Length About What The Hell Just Happened? From Ginny and Austin driving off into the night (isn't that kidnapping?) to Georgia becoming Wellsbury's First Lady-to-be and simultaneously a two-time murder suspect, the show ends with a dizzying array of events.

Overall, Ginny and Georgia has received mixed reviews: praise for its handling of race and teenage dynamics; criticism over its multiple storylines, which intersect and overlap in oft-confusing ways. One thing's for sure: Everyone's obsessed with the newcomers that play the show's teenage cast, from Antonia Genry as Ginny to Sara Waisglass as Max and Mason Temple as Hunter. So let's dive into how things wrapped up and where we stand going into a potential season two, shall we?

Where are Ginny and Austin going?

I don't know how I expected this show to end, but Ginny and Austin driving off into the night on a motorcycle was not it. It makes sense that Ginny would want to cut ties with her mom, having found out that Georgia has murdered at least one person (fairly justifiably, one might argue, but that's a different conversation). But, I mean...where do a 16-year-old and her nine-year-old brother go? Austin is very much a minor, and Georgia is clearly his sole parent, so isn't that, um, kidnapping?

My best guess is that they're going to try and stay with Zion. Ginny idolizes her dad, and Zion and Austin seem close as well—but Georgia clearly has primary custody of them both, and Ginny must know that if she goes to Zion's, that's the first place Georgia will look. Also, Ginny speaks in the final voiceover about going on the run, just like Georgia did, and going to her dad's is...not going on the run.

Gentry seemingly confirmed my theory in an interview with TV Line: "I don’t know if you notice, but when she’s packing her bag, she grabs the book that Zion gives her, and if you were paying attention, when Zion arrives and is giving her the book, you know that he included an address. He has that secret coded message in it, and she finds out that it’s his address to his Boston apartment. So I’m thinking it’s pretty reasonable to assume that Ginny might be headed toward Zion."

Will Max and the rest of MANG forgive Ginny?

I know the heart of this series is meant to be the relationship between Ginny and Georgia, but I found the MANG dynamic by far the most tender. It was devastating to see the breakdown of MANG in the aftermath of Max finding out that Ginny had had sex with Marcus—it seems like not only is Ginny now estranged from the group, but Abby is too. (And Abby is going through enough, people!)

The season ends with Max and Norah distancing themselves from Abby and Ginny, even though the four of them need each other more than ever in light of the Sophie-Max breakup and Abby's parents' divorce. In case you can't tell, I am very invested in MANG.

Will Georgia be charged with murder?

We know that Georgia has killed at least two people: her first husband, who she was forced to marry to regain custody of Ginny; and Kenny, her second husband, who was inappropriately touching Ginny (and possibly worse). The first season ends with Georgia becoming the to-be First Lady of Wellsbury, and the extremely hot private investigator, Cordova, revealing to Ginny that he knows Georgia killed Kenny, not to mention personally exhumed Kenny's body to cover it up.

But it seems like there's a good chance Cordova can't prove it. For one thing, Ginny and Austin burned the plant that would have served as evidence. (I can't imagine you should burn fatally poisonous plants, but I digress.) Second, Georgia somehow manages to put what's left of Kenny's remains into, um, the fireworks that celebrate Paul's re-election as mayor, or at least that's what she tells Cordova. So there isn't any evidence to be found there, either.

What's going on with Austin's dad?

This is a season two setup if ever I saw one. When Austin finds out that he's been writing letters to his mom all along, thinking that he was writing to his father in Azkaban, Ginny loses it and mails all the letters to Austin's actual dad. Who is in prison, by the way, serving time for crimes that it's hinted that Georgia committed. When Ginny tells Georgia that she mailed Austin's letters, the dramatic music plays, and Georgia looks horrified: "Did you put our return address on?" she asks in horror.

My guess? Austin's dad is close to getting out of prison, and in season two he'll come back for his son—and to punish Georgia for making him pay for her crime.

Does Ginny end up with Marcus?

The first season ends with Ginny and Marcus in a weird spot. On one hand, the will-they-won't-they is over: They've said "I love you" to each other; Marcus has recovered from his motorcycle accident; and Ginny and Hunter are no more. On the other hand, Marcus royally messed things up by telling Max that his relationship with Ginny was no big deal (though I get where he was coming from; who expects to be confronted on their way to the bathroom at your sister's musical?). And Hunter has a point in that final scene in the hallway, when he tells Ginny that he treated her the way she deserves—tap dancing and all—and smirks at the idea that Marcus could give her the same. Marcus, after all, Doesn't Do Relationships.

If Ginny stays in Wellsbury, you'd assume that she and Marcus would work things out in season two—but if she does leave Wellsbury to go live with Zion, then...maybe not.

Said Gentry in an interview with TV Line: "She really needs a friend right now, and if we ever see their stories continue, I hope that maybe he could be that friend for her, to be there for her."

So Joe loves Georgia, huh?

As I said, there's a lot going on in the finale. We learn that Cynthia is caring for her disabled husband; Ellen and Georgia have a blowout fight that ends with Ellen calling Georgia a bad mom...and Joe finally realizes that he actually met Georgia when they were kids, and that he isn't imagining their connection. He wants to tell her he loves her, too (which makes three love interests for Georgia), but holds back. Because, you know, she's marrying the mayor. (And he doesn't even know yet that she's under suspicion for murder.)

But Ginny and Georgia has made no secret of its spiritual sister show Gilmore Girls, and we can assume that Luke and Joe are one and the same: grumpy, hot, and often clad in plaid. And, well, we all know how that turned out?

Gentry agrees. When asked who she thinks her onscreen mom should end up with, she told TV Line: "Man, for Ginny’s sake, I say Zion, all the way. But for my sake, as an audience member, Joe, for sure. He’s just such a sweetheart."

Whew! Okay, well, thanks for joining my club. Here's hoping that season two comes soon, because I need more of all of this, even though there's... a lot of it!

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