Alice and Steve starts out as an awkward age-gap relationship comedy and becomes, by the end, something far, far stranger. Sophie Goodhart’s deceptively sharp comedy show has a mother, Alice (Nicola Walker), finding out that her daughter, Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith), is sleeping with her (Alice’s) best friend, Steve (Jemaine Clement). The simple setup becomes a story of friendship and the terrifying realization that the people we love are ultimately beyond our control.
The finale, like the best finales, acts like a pressure cooker that blows a gasket as all the unresolved tension, unspoken truths, and unexpressed thoughts and feelings violently tumble out. There is a table conversation that would not be out of place in HBO’s The White Lotus. Steve and Izzy are preparing to get married, while Alice still has not come to terms with their relationship. Meanwhile, Alice’s own marriage is hanging by a thread. The series ends with a cliffhanger, which means season 2 may be in the works. Let’s dive into that Alice and Steve season 1 finale.
Here’s Alice and Steve summarized:
| Category | Details |
| Title | Alice and Steve |
| Platform | Hulu |
| Creator | Sophie Goodhart |
| Director | Tom Kingsley |
| Main Cast | Nicola Walker (Alice), Jemaine Clement (Steve), Yali Topol Margalith (Izzy), Joel Fry (Daniel) |
| Episodes | 6 |
| Premise | Alice’s life is turned upside down when her longtime friend Steve begins a romantic relationship with her 26-year-old daughter Izzy. |
What Happened at Steve and Izzy’s Wedding?
Before we go there, let’s rewind a little. Most of Alice and Steve has Alice spend her time wondering how to force either Steve or Izzy to break up their relationship, which she believes is destructive to everyone involved. It is another matter that she herself was trying to set Steve up with a young woman in a bar they were partying in.
Alice fears losing control over her friend, her daughter, and her family. We noted in our Alice and Steve review that Alice’s real conflict is not with Izzy but with the loss of control over her daughter and her closest friend. She does her best. She reveals a secret that destroys Steve’s career. Steve, you see, is a hairdresser for celebrities who is privy to many big secrets. He tells one of those secrets in confidence at a gathering at Alice’s, and Alice leaks it to the press. Steve, who was planning to break up with Izzy after Alice gave her an ultimatum, now becomes hostile as well. He too leaks the video of a drunken Alice that gets her fired. It’s war now.
But despite obstacles, Steve and Izzy’s relationship reaches the point of marriage after the latter becomes pregnant (the baby is not Steve’s, but he agrees to raise the child as his own). This is the last straw for Alice. At a rehearsal meal with their families and Izzy’s friends, she loses her cool, yelling that Izzy and Steve cannot marry as Steve is Izzy’s father. Everyone is shocked, because it is plausible, for Alice and Steve were an item back in the day. But Alice clarifies that it’s not true, but she does ask: Didn’t that lie give them a pause?
Alice also torments Steve by aiming a firearm meant to hunt birds at him when nobody is looking. He gets so frightened that even Izzy believes he is being paranoid. She also expresses that she has something approaching second thoughts. She texts her ex-boyfriend (and the father of her baby) that she is getting married. And he sees this as an indication that he and she can still be together.
At the property they are staying at, a raging fire erupts. Everyone gets to safety outside. Well, everyone except Steve. It is Alice who enters the conflagration to rescue him.
Why Does Alice Finally Save Steve?
The simple reason is that she still loves and cares for him as a friend. She doesn’t like the idea of him and Izzy being together one bit and will do anything she can to sabotage their relationship. But she certainly would not let Steve come to harm. So, despite everyone exhorting her to stay, she gets back inside the burning building.
Steve is listening to music on his earphones, completely oblivious to the fire. She uses an axe to break down the door, and Steve assumes she is there to kill him. But she convinces him, and they get out. But now, they are trapped, for the fire is particularly bad at the exit. So their only chance to escape is to jump 50 feet below, and somehow hope to survive. The two cry for help, but others are waiting for them at the building’s front, while they are in the back.
Alice and Steve are now resigned to their fate, for there may not be a way out there. Well, other than the 50-foot drop. They reconcile and call themselves stupid for making a big deal out of it all. Steve regrets his relationship with Izzy. Alice, on her part, says she thought she lost them both when they made their relationship public.
There is an adjacent building, but it is likely too far to jump. They decide to test their luck and jump. And that’s where Alice and Steve season 1 ends. So, we don’t know whether Steve and Alice survived the fire.
Will Alice Ever Forgive Steve?
It is not likely. Even if Steve has an amicable breakup with Izzy (who might rekindle her relationship with the father of her baby), there will always be that resentment in her. She, after all, sees their relationship as a betrayal by a friend. She is also upset with Izzy as she believes she is being stupid and reckless, but it is Steve who bears the brunt of her anger throughout the series.
If there is a season 2 of Alice and Steve (which certainly seems to be the plan, judging by the cliffhanger ending), the show will need conflict. And the testy friendship between Alice and Steve will likely be the source of that conflict.
What did you make of the Alice and Steve season 1 finale? Share your theories and thoughts in the comments below.
Alice and Steve season 1 is now streaming in its entirety on Hulu in the US.
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