Those that have reached the conclusion of Brand New Cherry Flavor on Netflix may find themselves confused. Even though the show is surreal, it seemed to be leading up to a rather predictable finale, but what we got subverted expectations. Fortunately, there’s a pretty good explanation to the ending of Brand New Cherry Flavor that makes a lot of sense.
Why does Brand New Cherry Flavor end like it does?
At the conclusion of Brand New Cherry Flavor, Lisa escapes from her would-be assassin, Pierre, after discovering that the haunting figure chasing her throughout the series is actually her “mother” and was trying to protect her from Boro. She proceeds to the hotel to kill Lou Burke, but after speaking with him and finding out why he stole her movie, she finds him pitiful. She pulls the worm out of his eye that he snorted during his viewing party in episode 3, which blinds him.
After meeting with Lou, Lisa heads to Boro’s place to confront her. Pierre has followed her there, but he is quickly dispatched, and Lisa discovers Mary has been hanging out with Boro. After a quick argument, Lisa flees and asks Jonathan to meet her at Boro’s so she can borrow his gun before trying to confront her again.
After Jonathan and Lisa meet at Boro’s, things go south quickly. Lisa shows that she’s able to prevent Boro from taking more kittens from her. But, her victory is short-lived. Though Boro helps her by removing the bullet from her lung, she quickly turns on Lisa. Lisa discovers Code has been turned into a zombie, and Jonathan is decapitated. She’s able to break free, and run away, and manages to escape.
The next day, Lisa meets with Alvin Sendler, who wants to finance her movie. However, she cuts their meeting short, and after visiting Lou in the hospital, she’s shown getting on a plane to Brazil.
Boro, her plans to take over Lisa’s body foiled, is forced to take Mary up on her offer to take over hers instead. She is shown departing her house as well with her zombie in tow.
While this ending seems rather abrupt, it makes sense. While Lisa obviously has access to some sort of supernatural powers through her parentage, she’s unable to do much with them. All her friends are dead, and she couldn’t kill Boro with all her zombies around. So the only thing that could help her stop Boro is to learn how to use her powers.
Boro’s revitalized by inhabiting Mary’s body, but it’s evident that her endgame is to consolidate her powers with those of the White Jaguar. So, it’s likely she’ll end up pursuing Lisa (perhaps into a second season).
So, despite Lisa getting what she wanted all along, the ability to make her movie and be the director, she can’t do it with the threat of Boro hanging over her. This means the ending makes perfect sense, at least in the surreal world of Brand New Cherry Flavor.
