High Desert season 1 episode 8 recap, review & ending explained: I Need a Hero

In the season finale of High Desert, the walls close in on Peggy as she finally figures out the mystery behind Donna Scarborough’s death. The episode is streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

Heather and Arman are driving on the highway when they are pulled over by a cop because Peggy told Bruce to implicate their vehicle in the shooting incident at his office.

They are very defensive and the cop calls for back up but Heather gets down and kills the cop. However, a stray bullet is fired that ends up going through Arman’s head and kills him.

Carol goes to Peggy’s place but can’t find her so she wakes up Denny who is sleeping in the back. He calls Carol by her real name, Nia, and she tells him that Cooper can’t hear that name.

They find Peggy’s phone and the house unlocked and assume that she’s been kidnapped. Carol tells Denny it could have been Guru Bob or the Gatchis so she rushes out to get help.

Denny calls people from Peggy’s phone to find out if they know where she is and he ends up calling Ethan and telling him that his mother loves him so he shouldn’t give up on her so easily.

Heather shows up at Peggy’s place and trashes everything in anger while Denny hides outside. She then drives off in Peggy’s buggy.

Carol goes to Bruce’s office to tell him that Peggy has gone missing. Peggy is in the trunk of Nick and Leo’s car and they grab Guru Bob from his house and dump him in the trunk as well.

They drive them out to the middle of nowhere and hand them some shovels to dig their own graves. They accuse Bob and Peggy of murdering Donna together but Bob says that it was a freak accident.

He then explains how he walked in on her getting ready to leave him and they got into a minor scuffle where she fell down the stairs before getting impaled by his television award that she had thrown down moments earlier.

Peggy tries to talk herself out of this situation by claiming that she has a buyer for the fake paintings that will make them rich. Nick is open to the idea but Leo wants to kill them so they use this conflict to their advantage.

They pit Nick and Leo against each other which ends up with both of them dead. Peggy gets into their car and tells Bob that they need to go to Pioneer Town to meet with Katchel.

High Desert ending explained in detail:

Who exactly is Carol?

Denny is completely shocked when he sees Carol again and keeps calling her by her real name but she tries to keep it under wraps. When they’re inside the house he asks her how she ended up there.

Carol explains that she needed some medical help and Peggy set it up. Carol ended up staying with the doctor and Cooper is his daughter.

Bruce and Carol go to examine Donna’s body and as they are leaving, Cooper asks Carol about her truth while holding her driver’s license with her real name on it that she found while digging into her stuff.

What is Peggy’s plan?

Peggy calls Bruce and pretends that it’s Katchel since she’s on speaker with Bob listening in. When she gets off speaker, she tells Bruce that she’s headed to Pioneer Town so he should get there with help.

She then calls Diane and tells her to bring the fake painting that she stole from the Gatchis’ salon and bring it to her or else she’s going to die.

They arrive at Pioneer Town with Bob holding a gun on her and a crowd gathered for the holiday. Owen is desperate to find Peggy because she promised to be shot out of the cannon and put them on the map.

What happens to Peggy?

Denny shows up at Pioneer Town and meets Roger. They connect over their shared affection for Peggy and he loops him in on what’s going on.

Diane eventually arrives with the painting as Denny tells Peggy and Bob that Katchel has the money in his car. He points to Roger and implies that he’s Katchel.

Bob walks with Denny and Roger, and Roger grabs the gun. Denny threatens Bob who then runs out into the desert. Peggy gets a lecture from Owen about always being a disappointment and Diane stands up for her.

Peggy says that she doesn’t deserve to be forgiven and tells Diane how she got high during their mother’s final moments and blames herself for not being “present” when Rosalyn died.

She then agrees to be shot out of the cannon and gets into it as Owen begins the countdown.

Review

• Rather than serve up a suitable conclusion to this season of High Desert, the finale leaves far too many loose ends in anticipation of a second season that hasn’t even been confirmed yet.
• There’s an air of a Guy Ritchie film with this episode as multiple antagonists meet a chaotic yet convenient end leaving Peggy miraculously alive after it all.
• Peggy’s addiction comes into focus only when it is essential to the narrative which is very inconsistent but it does play a huge role in Peggy’s revelation about her mother’s final moments. It would have had a better impact if the director chose to flesh out that part of her character more thoroughly.

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Also Read: High Desert season 1 episode 7 recap & review: This Doesn’t Have to Be a Tragedy