The Woman In The House Ending Explained

Lisa’s killer is discovered in The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, and here’s how Kristen Bell’s Netflix series ends and sets up another season. Following a four-season run on The Good Place, Kristen Bell is back with a new TV show, albeit one that is very different. She stars as Anna, a forgetful woman with a tragic past and a fear of rain who sees her neighbor’s girlfriend get murdered – or did she? The murder mystery plot remains the focus all the way up to The Woman in the House‘s ending.

Released on Netflix in late January 2022, The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window is a dark comedy thriller meant to serve as a parody of the very serious thrillers that tackle a similar subject matter. The show was created by Rachel Ramras, Hugh Davidson, and Larry Dorf and received mixed reviews from critics upon its release. The Woman in the House begins with Bell’s Anna falling for her new neighbor, Neil (Tom Riley), only to discover he is dating a flight attendant named Lisa (Shelley Hennig). As Anna remains in her home one night, she happens to see Lisa standing in the window across the street with blood gushing from her neck. Kristen Bell’s character calls the cops to report a possible murder, only for everyone from the police to Neil to tell her that Lisa isn’t dead. The majority of The Woman in the House‘s season 1 story follows Anna as she tries to prove she isn’t crazy and investigates various suspects she believes may be responsible for killing Lisa.

Netflix’s 2022 thriller series ultimately sees Anna set her sights on everyone from Neil, her handyman Buell (Cameron Britton), and Lisa’s secret scam artist partner Rex (Benjamin Levy Aguilar). As all of this happens, Kristen Bell’s character also explores the trauma of her daughter’s death three years ago, her forgotten passion for painting, and her ombrophobia (fear of rain). To say that there are a lot of spinning plates by Netflix’s show’s ending is a bit of an understatement. Here’s an explanation of what happens during the final episode, including how it sets up The Woman in the House season 2.

Who Really Killed Lisa? Woman In The House’s Twist Explained

Throughout The Woman in the House‘s story, viewers were likely convinced that several different people were responsible for Lisa’s death – if she was killed at all. Anna sets her sights on Neil as the top suspect, especially as she finds out about all the women who have died in his past. The show even makes Buell look like a threat and arrests Rex momentarily for the murder. Anna doesn’t escape the crosshairs of the official investigation into what happened to Lisa either, as she’s framed to be Lisa’s killer. It isn’t until The Woman in the House episode 8 that the truth comes out, as the twist ending reveals the killer’s identity: Neil’s young daughter Emma (Samsara Leela Yett).

Viewers and Anna were both shocked that Emma killed Lisa. The reveal comes in a surprising fashion, when Anna sees Buell heading to the neighbor’s house with a hammer, which makes Anna think he is the real killer. However, once she makes it into Neil and Emma’s house, she finds Buell dying on the ground with a slit in his throat. Anna then finds Neil laying on the couch with a cut across his throat as well, with Emma standing nearby with the knife and blood splatter to confirm her serial killer ways. Emma comes clean about killing Lisa to Anna at this moment, saying she killed her dad’s new girlfriend because she refused to buy chocolate boxes for her school.

The Woman in the House‘s ending makes it known that Emma has been a killer for quite some time surprisingly. She killed her own mother in the past because her mom was pregnant with another child, and Emma wanted to remain an only child. Emma also killed one of her school teachers by pushing her off the top of a lighthouse after the teacher called Emma crazy. Her insane motivation to kill her mother and teacher line up with why she decided to kill again and murder Lisa. Emma even says that she ultimately killed Neil because his ventriloquist dummy routine sucks. While Emma planned to kill Anna too, it was Anna who ultimately killed the murderous child in self-defense. Luckily for Anna, her ex-husband Douglas (Michael Ealy) arrived in time to serve as a witness of Emma’s death, which helped clear Anna from being behind the deaths of Lisa and Neil too.

How Anna Overcame Her Fear of Rain

One of the positive notes included in The Woman in the House‘s ending came with Anna overcoming her fear of rain. The show reveals that this fear developed because it was raining the last time Anna saw her daughter alive. She immediately developed a severe case of ombrophobia, where she’ll pass out if she does get stuck in the rain. However, The Woman in the House‘s ending reveals that Anna has overcome this fear of rain. There isn’t a spelled-out explanation for her ombrophobia vanishing, but it seems to be tied to Anna’s courage to run through the rain when she thought Buell was going to kill Neil and Emma. It also probably helps that Anna stops drinking multiple bottles of wine every single day. Whatever the case may be, Anna found a way to push her tragic past aside and move forward without her fear of rain.

Anna’s Therapist’s Identity Revealed

There is also another surprise included in The Woman in the House‘s final episodes, as it is revealed Douglas is actually Anna’s therapist she’s routinely called throughout the season. For much of the series, it is unclear who Anna’s therapist is and even if Douglas was still alive or part of Anna’s life. The reveal that Douglas is Anna’s therapist doesn’t come as a surprise to her, as she’s known it the entire time, but The Woman in the House doesn’t make that fact known to viewers until episode 7. It recontextualizes their relationship quite a bit, as Douglas is revealed to be the one trying to help Anna work through her pain. Of course, it also raises some questions, such as why Anna’s phone shows “Therapist” as the caller ID name whenever she’s on the phone with him, but then her text messages with him say “Douglas.“

What Happens After Woman In The House’s Time Jump

Another element of The Woman in the House‘s ending that might be a bit surprising to viewers is the use of a time jump. The show moves Anna’s story one year into the future, where she and Douglas are not only back together, but they have had another kid. Douglas is at home with the baby, but whether or not Buell is still living in Anna’s attic is unclear. As far as Anna’s story goes, she is at the airport preparing to go to New York to visit her sister. She seems to be in a better place mentally, although she has some Xanax with her just in case. Anna also brings a new book along for the flight after finishing the mystery novel “The Woman Across the Lake,” as she’s moved on to its sequel it seems: “The Girl On The Cruise.”

How Woman In The House Sets Up Season 2

As a result of the time jump, The Woman in the House season 2 is directly set up for Netflix to continue. When Anna is sitting on the plane to New York, she discovers that she’s in the wrong seat when a passenger played by Glenn Close appears. After a brief chat and changing seats, The Woman in the House cuts to Anna waking up and not seeing Glenn Close’s cameo character anymore. When Anna goes to the bathroom though, she sees Close dead in the airplane stall. However, when Anna brings another flight attendant to the bathroom, Close’s body is gone and she’s told that no one has sat next to her on the flight. Worried that she’s having hallucinations again, Anna returns to her seat only to discover a mirror Close’s character used before. This seems to be proof that Close was on the plane and is now missing/dead, which could be the next mystery Anna solves in The Woman in the House season 2.

Why Is Anna So Forgetful?

One question that The Woman in the House never truly answers, though, is why Anna is so forgetful. Her mental lapses are quite significant at times. She repeatedly forgets to put on oven mitts while cooking. There are also the troubling moments where Anna completely forgets her daughter died three years ago and imagines that she is in the same room or even drives to school to drop her off. Whenever stuff like this happens, Anna’s default reaction is to ask why she keeps forgetting this. The only possible explanation given by The Woman in the House is that this is the result of Anna mixing her prescription medication with alcohol, which is said to cause hallucinations but not necessarily make people forget certain facts.

What Woman In The House’s Ending Really Means

Although The Woman in the House is a dark comedy and parody, some deeper meaning can still be pulled from its story, such as how traumatic events tied to the loss of a loved one can change an individual. Anna’s life is turned upside down when her daughter dies, and she clearly didn’t handle it very well, resorting to drinking heavily and shutting out Douglas. Meanwhile, Neil tried to do what he could to make up for his wife dying but still struggled with being alone. Even Lisa’s fake backstory included her losing someone close to her. While these themes may not have been as dramatic or central to the story The Woman in the House Across from the Woman in the Window, they still exist for viewers wanting to get a bit more out of the show than its crazy story.

About The Author

Cooper Hood
(5616 Articles Published)

Cooper Hood is a news and feature writer for Screen Rant. He joined Screen Rant in late 2016 following a year-long stint with MCU Exchange, which came after first developing an MCU blog of his own. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Public Communication, with a minor in Media Production. Cooper’s love for movies began by watching Toy Story and Lion King on repeat as a child, but it wasn’t until The Avengers that he took an invested interest in movies and the filmmaking process, leading him to discover the world of film journalism. Every year Cooper looks forward to seeing the latest blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, but also loves the rush to catch up on Oscar films near the end of the year. When he isn’t writing about or watching new releases, Cooper is a fantasy football obsessive and looking to expand his Blu-Ray collection – because physical media is still king! Follow Cooper on Twitter @MovieCooper.

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