Firefly Lane series finale says a poignant, heart-wrenching goodbye to Kate, as her loved ones cope with her mortality and try their best to make peace with it.
Kate and Tully’s lifelong friendship weathers many rough storms. From their early teen years to adulthood, they fight many times and even part ways temporarily.
They both eventually come together, though, everytime without fail. However, when they finally reconcile after their worst fight and separation, they must brace for the ultimate parting of ways, one that will not be reversed like the many times in the past.
Cancer and a continent far away
When Kate learns she has cancer, she’s in a rather vulnerable point in her life. Her decades-long solid and unshakable friendship with Tully has recently suffered a major rift and as a result they’ve separated.
Tully tries her best to reconcile and even apologizes, probably for the first time in her life, because this time she really means it. Her mistake landed Maraj in the hospital and it’s an error that warrants an apology but Kate can’t accept her back in her life even if she’s forgiven her.
Tully takes on a crucial and daring gig that lands her in the middle of Antarctica’s nowhere. A lack of towers on her phone means no communication with the outside world for months. When she returns to civilization to move to another gig, she sees the dozens of voicemails from Kate.
She rushes off to her and sees a bald Kate, which shocks her but she keeps her composure, tears welling in her eyes as she puts two and two together — her best friend has cancer. Kate has witnessed a lot of changes by that point, with her hairloss and the several other health effects that have inflicted her ever since her diagnosis.
Remission & recurrence
Having her best friend back in her life gives Kate the comfort and strength she truly needed. The uncommon and dire circumstances have brought the two together again.
Kate goes through the routine with many struggles that come with having cancer, not just health-wise but also in terms of how others treat you. However, she can always rely on the familiar comfort that Tully provides her.
With the help of Tully, Marah, Johnny, and others, Kate braves through cancer and chemotherapy, successfully getting through it. Eveyone rejoices and is thankful that Kate’s in remission, and later, she and Johnny get to marry each other for the second time.
However, shortly before their wedding day, Kate is told by her doctor that the cancer has returned. She tries her best to hide the flaring symptoms by taking medicine in private. At their wedding day, though, Johnny catches her squealing with pain as she falls on the floor, soon learning that the disease has made a return.
Tully, and then others also learn about the tragic news soon. The recurrence is even more devastating as her cancer has now spread to the bones and liver. This renders her incapable of moving freely and she has to use a wheelchair all the time.
The last days
Tully refuses to entertain the possibility of losing her friend, so she kicks left and right trying to pull some strings and get Kate in for an experimental treatment. However, when her contacts fail her, Danny appears with a good news from one of his contacts.
However, Tully is shattered to learn that Kate is no longer fit for going through any sort of treatment, as her cancer has spread through her brain, making it the most severe development she has gone through, and also the last. She now only has weeks, at best months, before she passes away.
Tully has to eventually accept that her best friend is soon going to part ways forever. She abandons everything and everyone, including Danny, to devote all her time taking care of Kate, spending most of her time at her home.
Kate advises her to let herself have a life and go make things right with Danny, also confessing her real feelings to him. Tully does the same and one day, tells her best friend all about it, hearing which makes her happy. Kate passes away moments after that, having made sure that her best friend is doing fine and has someone else to spend her life with in her absence.
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