Dead To Me: Whatever Happened To Judy?

Netflix's comedy-drama, "Dead to Me", is a roller coaster from start to finish. The 3rd and final season takes it up another level, as Jen's (Christina Applegate) and Judy's (Linda Cardelleni) past crimes continue to catch up with them. At the end of the previous season, the girls were involved in a serious hit-and-run accident. The person behind the wheel is Ben (James Marsden), the twin brother of the murdered Steve, and Jen's lover.

While they are in the hospital, a scan reveals that Judy may have cancer, which is later confirmed. Despite her attempts to beat the disease, Judy accepts her fate, and she and Jen take one last trip to Mexico. During their vacation, Jen wakes up and finds a farewell note from Judy, who has taken the boat, where it is implied that she passes away.

Linda Cardellini spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the ending of "Dead to Me," which was bittersweet especially because she and Christina Applegate became friends in real life. "I was excited, but I was also sad about it. I kept sort of vying for like, 'Okay, maybe there's a time capsule buried so that if we ever wanna come back to this, you could see something.' We kept joking about this time capsule idea so that Judy could sort of live forever."

She also encouraged audiences to find ambiguity in the ending. She believes fans can create their own interpretations, or as she says, choose their own adventures when it comes to Judy's fate.

Linda Cardellini also went on to say that the sailboat represents much more than loss, but also Judy's freedom. Though she is optimistic, compared to the cynical Jen, she has experienced a lifetime of pain. She certainly is a free spirit, but miscarriages and abusive relationships do not allow her to find the freedom she craves. 

Though fans can certainly make up their own endings for Judy, creator Liz Feldman —who lost a friend to cancer— wanted to embody a theme of grief and loss, and this only makes Judy's death more plausible. "My experience with grief is, you don't know what happens," she told Variety. "That's why it's so long-lasting, why grief is so hard to work through. Because you don't know, you don't have the answers. You don't know where to put your feelings, you just have to feel them. I wanted people to feel their feelings, but also give a little sense of delight." 

Grief and loss are a constant in "Dead to Me," and as Judy and Jen become closer, the ending makes a lot of sense, and manages to stay true to the story Feldman was trying to tell.