2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
The Ending of 'Americana', Explained
A valuable antique Lakota Native American ghost shirt is at the center of the crime thriller Americana as various South Dakotans are all after the garment for their own reasons. There's new couple Penny Jo (Sydney Sweeney) and Lefty (Paul Walter Hauser), who want to sell the ghost shirt—said to be worth $500,000 to $1 million—so they can move to Nashville for Penny Jo's music career. There's Mandy (Halsey), who wants to use the money to flee an abusive relationship along with her son, Cal (Gavin Maddox Bergman). There's Roy Lee Dean (Simon Rex), who wants the ghost shirt for his museum of Native American artifacts. And then there's a group of Lakota people, called the Red Thunder Society, lead by Ghost Eye (Zahn McClarnon). They want the shirt back since it is rightfully theirs.
All of this leads to car chases and shoot-outs and looks at tough backstories for some of the characters. If you've already watched Americana and want to make sure you followed the ending, read on for a rundown of how it all shakes out. Spoilers, obviously, ahead.
Mandy ends up with the ghost shirt when she steals her partner Dillon's (Eric Dane) car after she runs away from their home. Dillon had stolen it from a wealthy art collector (Toby Huss) on behalf of Roy Lee Dean.
Mandy drives to her parents' home in Wyoming—a cult controlled by her father that she had escaped from years earlier—because it's heavily guarded and she feels she won't be found there. Of course, all of the other characters are still able to make their way there. Mandy strikes a deal with Roy Lee Dean to sell him the shirt for $100,000, but this doesn't go to plan when the Red Thunder Society and Penny Jo start a gun and crossbow fight.
Yadda, yadda, yadda. Bang, bang, bang. Violence, violence, violence. Mandy is injured, but does not die. She, her sisters, and her mother flee the scene and take Mandy to the hospital. After getting bandaged up, she escapes out of a window and goes to find her young son, Cal. Cal, for the entire movie, has claimed to be the reincarnation of Sitting Bull, which caused problems for pretty much everyone as he wasn't very willing to help anyone out. At the end, Cal removes the beaded headband he's been wearing and embraces his mother.
Next up: Hopeful country star Penny Jo and her new boyfriend, Lefty, who doesn't even want the money, but just wants her love. Penny and Lefty stalk Mandy to her parents creepy cult house in pursuit of the ghost shirt. It doesn't go well: Penny Jo ends up with her hands tied behind her back and Lefty nearly dead. Eventually, Penny Jo is able to fire her gun and set off the main fight. Penny Jo survives the whole thing and leaves in Mandy's car with the ghost shirt, bags of cash that belonged to Roy Lee Dean, a barely hanging on Lefty, and Cal.
Penny lets Cal take the ghost shirt to return to the Red Thunder Society. (He's already dropped it off when he reunites with his mom. People really let this, like, 10-year-old boy be in the middle of nowhere by himself a lot.) Lefty proposes to Penny, but then immediately dies of his gun woulds. Penny Jo leaves him propped up in a random field next to a six-pack of beer, and sets off on her trip to Nashville with her bags of cash.
Well, obviously he doesn't end up with the ghost shirt. Roy Lee is killed in the fight by Ghost Eye, meaning all of the cash he brought with him is up for grabs. It ends up mostly with Penny Jo, but the cult escapees get some, too.
Ghost Eye describes his group, the Red Thunder Society, as being like the Black Panthers. Many members of the group show up to the final battle to fight to get the ghost shirt back for themselves. Some are killed or injured while others survive, including Ghost Eye, who kills Roy Lee. He also is the one who finds Cal and gets the shirt from him.
The last scene shows Penny Jo driving off and singing the very apt "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" by her idol Dolly Parton. Guess Penny will have a lot to write about herself after all she's been through! Those will be some pretty dark songs.
