What happens at the end of Woman of the Hour? Anna Kendrick’s Netflix movie explained

Anna Kendrick tackles a heart-wrenching true crime case in her directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, with the ending staying true to life while maintaining its biting critique of systemic misogyny.

The new movie is a refreshing take on the true crime genre, especially after the criticism surrounding Monsters. As we said in our four-star review, “Kendrick isn’t inventing more than needs to be invented and recreating in gruesome detail – she’s committing to a feeling. Ryan Murphy, eat your heart out.”

Woman of the Hour’s plot centers on serial killer Rodney Alcala, but running in parallel is the story of Cheryl Bradshaw, the real-life woman who had a lucky escape when she appeared on The Dating Game in 1978. After choosing Alcala from the line-up of three bachelors, her instincts soon kicked in.

Alcala’s creepy vibes led her to canceling their date altogether. Through this true story, Kendrick and writer Ian McDonald present viewers with a world in which countless women’s voices went unheard, leading to dire consequences. Warning: spoilers ahead and some may find this content distressing.

Woman of the Hour ending explained

The ending of Woman of the Hour sees justice unfold (sort of) as Rodney Alcala is intercepted at a highway gas station and arrested by the police. This part of the story is very true to how it happened in real life. 

Prior to this, Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) picks up teenage runaway Amy (Autumn Best), using his passion as a photographer to convince her to travel with him to the mountains and take photos. 

During the photoshoot, Alcala attacks and rapes her, which happens off screen. She wakes up bound, covered in bruises and blood, with her pants at her ankles, while Alcala is beside her crying. 

They’re in a secluded area, so Amy bravely plays along like she consented to what happened. She asks if he’s okay, before saying, “I guess things got pretty crazy last night… Do you think that you could not tell anyone about this? I would just be so f**king embarrassed.”

Amy asks to go back to his place, and he obliges, which alludes to the fact that Alcala was a true sociopath. He simply didn’t have the emotional capacity or empathy to understand that Amy was not okay. 

After taking off in his car, he stops to take a leak, leaving Amy alone. She runs out and to a nearby diner, where she’s able to call the police. When Alcala comes out of the bathroom, he realizes Amy’s done a runner, at which point he hears the police sirens in the distance. 

This is similar to how events played out in real life. On February 14, 1979, the killer picked up 15-year-old hitchhiker Monique Hoyt in Riverside County, although he first sexually assaulted her at his apartment before taking her to the secluded area. 

At the very end of Woman of the Hour, text across the screen states that “a teenage runaway escaped Rodney Alcala by asking him to keep the encounter a secret.” 

What makes this even more shocking is that, even after she got him arrested and filed a police report about what happened, he was released on bail. 

The film further highlights the incompetence of the authorities, stating, “Once freed, he murdered a 21-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl.”

It wasn’t until later that year that he was rearrested, and police began to realize the scope of his crimes. Although he was charged with seven murders, some experts suggest the number of victims could be as high as 130. 

The final line presented in Woman of the Hour reads, “For over a decade, Alcala had been reported to law enforcement by survivors and private citizens without consequence.”

What happened to Cheryl Bradshaw?

After her lucky escape following her appearance on The Dating Game, Cheryl Bradshaw – played by Kendrick – is last seen in Woman of the Hour leaving LA and giving up of her dream of acting. 

The end of the new movie states that, in real life, she “left California to leave a private life and raise a family.” It’s for this reason Kendrick and McDonald had little to work with when it came to Bradshaw’s story.

But her experience is told in a respectful way, one that echoes the attitudes towards women at that time. In real life and in Woman of the Hour, Bradshaw did appear on the dating game show and she did opt for Alcala out of the three potential suitors. 

She also canceled her date with Alcala, explaining her reasoning in a rare interview for the Sydney Telegraph in 2012. Speaking about meeting with him, she told the outlet, “I started to feel ill. He was acting really creepy. I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again.”

Woman of the Hour extends Bradshaw’s story by portraying a fictitious interaction where she goes for a drink with Alcala straight after the show. 

His mood switches during their date, leaving her freaked out. After he catches her giving him a fake number, she is left with no choice but to be honest and say she won’t be going out with him again. Under his breath, he says, “You’re gonna get your f**king head bashed in.”

He then follows her to her car and squares up to her but backs away when a group of men emerge from the studio. 

Netflix

Criminal profiler Pat Brown later speculated whether Bradshaw’s rejection exacerbated Alcala’s urges, having gone on to murder at least three women after this encounter. “One wonders what that did in his mind,” Brown told CNN. 

“That is something he would not take too well. Psychopaths don’t understand the rejection. They think that something is wrong with that girl: ‘She played me. She played hard to get. She wanted to live.’”

That’s not to place blame on anyone but the perpetrator, but more to show that Alcala was a dangerous man and most likely a psychopath, one who had no room for empathy and should have been locked up years prior.

Woman of the Hour is streaming on Netflix now. For more true crime, check out the new documentaries coming to streaming this month. You can also read about the Sweet Bobby case, Worst Ex Ever’s most infuriating episode, and the details left out of the Menendez brothers documentary.