The Idol ending explained: Jocelyn and Mauricio Jackson
HBOThe Idol, Sam Levinson’s controversy-soaked HBO drama, has reached its merciful ending – so, here’s a breakdown of what happens.
The show began with Jocelyn, a pop starlet, ready to relaunch her career after a mental breakdown seemingly derailed her last tour. Frustrated with her management’s attitude, she goes out to a club and meets Tedros, an icky cult leader who quickly worms his way into her life.
The trajectory from there to here has been messy, filled with sex, and a bit boring, but these are the salient facts: he got her to open her home to his followers, he became her de facto producer, and in the previous episode, he orchestrated a scandal against her ex-boyfriend out of jealousy.
Episode 5, which is the final instalment despite its earlier reported six-episode run, turns the tables on Tedros and gives all of the control back to Jocelyn in a surprising, bamboozling twist – here’s what you need to know. The Idol spoilers to follow…
The Idol ending explained: What happens in the finale?
The finale opens with Jocelyn and Tedros at odds with each other. Despite hanging around like a limpet, he’s no longer in the inner circle, lingering over her and barking orders and feedback that nobody follows or asks for. She’s openly hostile towards him, telling him to “shut the f*ck up” and calling him a “f*cking conman and a fraud” in front of everyone and threatening to call the police, but he says he’ll hold her hostage and kill her before they can shoot him.
After rape allegations against Rob emerge online, which were completely fabricated on Tedros’ say-so, Jocelyn tells Chaim to pay him off and get him out of her life. He eventually accepts a fat pay check, but her team goes one step further: with the help of Vanity Fair’s Talia, they completely ruin him. His criminal past is exposed, with sex workers whom he used to “pimp out” coming forward.
And poor Dyanne. She was signed by Nikki after impressing her in the first episode, but her burgeoning career is cut short when a legal issue blocks the release of ‘World Class Sinner.’ As she leaves, she asks Nikki: “It was Jocelyn, wasn’t it?”
HBOWhen we flash forward, Tedros’ crew is preparing to open for Jocelyn at her concert. Leia has since left her, not wishing to be part of her entourage after all the depravity, manipulation, and abuse of the past few weeks. Chaim, Nikki, and Finkelstein laugh about wrecking Tedros’ life, but he turns up at the venue asking for an artist’s pass. He’s given one, but it’s under his real name: Mauricio Jackson.
He meets Destiny, who threatens to kill him if he hurts Jocelyn. After she leaves, Jocelyn and Tedros embrace, saying how they missed each other. Tedros notices the hairbrush that Jocelyn’s mother once hit her with, but he also realizes it’s brand-new. Jocelyn just smiles at him – her abused past was a lie.
When she steps onto the stage and greets her fans, she introduces the “love of her life” and brings Tedros up. We see glimpses of Chaim, Nikki, and Fikelstein apoplectic with rage, while Jocelyn whispers: “You’re mine… forever. Now go stand over there.”
The TL;DR version: Jocelyn was in control the whole time, and she essentially usurped Tedros as the leader of his little cult. She’s back on top with a formidable group of supporting acts, and a lapdog of a partner who’s lost everything.
The Idol ending: Tedros is “the victim”
According to Sam Levinson, Tedros unwittingly becomes “the victim” of The Idol.
“Throughout the season, Jocelyn has been searching for inspiration. She’s looking to go to an uncomfortable place, and it’s just ultimately looking for that next song, that next album. Tedros becomes the conduit for that creative unlocking,” he said in the ‘Inside Episode 5’ featurette.
For Jocelyn to “feel like she has something to say”, she “needs to devour those around her”, with Tedros apparently becoming the victim of her manipulation, rather than the other way around.
Depp also said: “Jocelyn is a very calculated and strategic person. She knows exactly what she wants and she’ll stop at nothing to get it. Tedros was her muse and that she got what she needed out of him.
“I think a lot of the audience will watch maybe the first few episodes and think that this guy is taking advantage of her. By the end he realizes that she knows exactly what he’s doing and she knows exactly what she’s doing.”
The Idol Episodes 1-5 are available to stream on Max now. Check out our other coverage below: