Extrapolations (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8: Recap & Ending Explained – Does Nick Bolton get arrested for his crimes against the planet? 

Extrapolations (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8: Scott Z Burns’ climate change anthology series – ‘Extrapolations’ has finally reached its season finale. After spending its seven episodes tackling narratives of people affected by climate change, the finale is when it focuses on the need for retribution.

The capitalist at the centre of much of its conflict is now confronted with a conflict himself. The Alpha CEO Nicholas Bilton is on trial for crimes against the planet that he committed over decades of his career. While he struggles with that, the new Alpha CEO, Diane Lane has to make difficult decisions that impact her and the planet’s future. The Extrapolations season finale is now streaming on Apple TV+.

*Spoilers ahead*

Extrapolations (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8 Recap:

Episode 8: Ecocide

The episode begins with a singing performance by Tyrone Downs. Through his song, he talks about the regrettable state of Earth due to pollution. Decima (Lily Buchanan) is at this cosy concert and enjoys hearing that song. Suddenly, her father – Nicholas Bolton (Kit Harrington) comes there to bring her back to reality. Turns out, the concert was a simulation. Suddenly they get out of it, and he receives a letter about his court trial.

In London Alpha offices, Martha Russell (Diane Lane) sees a pre-recorded message through Nick’s hologram. Nick tells her that she will take his place as the Alpha CEO due to an unforeseen circumstance. Nick is arrested for an act of Ecocide (crimes against the planet) and his attorney – Ariel Turner (Murray Bartlett) announces her as the new CEO of Alpha.

During the case proceedings in The Hague, Prosecutor Lucy Adobo represents the International Criminal Court. Turns out, the anti-capitalist singer Tyrone was her partner who protested against Nick for exploiting workers’ rights. She fights against Nick’s decades-long strategy to profiteer from and proliferate climate change across the planet. At his home in Surrey, a maid is appointed, whose only job is to repeat how Mr. Bilton is a great humanitarian. She reminds Decima how he rescued her and provided a better life.

In the court, Alpha’s past employee, Dr Rebecca Shearer (Sienna Miller) appears as a witness against Nick. She shares her experience from 2046 when she was an archivist for Menagerie2100. Nick was interested in gathering genetic IPs of charismatic mega-fauna. Her project including whales was a part of the same project. He wanted to profit by recreating those species once they go extinct. But he did not care for the things those species need for survival and ended up damaging the environment in hindsight.

Rebecca also accuses Nick of increasing carbon levels so that he can keep profiting by providing solutions for increased problems. Then, Ariel makes a case about how not just Nick, but everyone is responsible for the increase in the atmospheric carbon level. He then maligns Rebecca’s credibility by mentioning how she & her son profited from Alpha’s medicines for years to speak against them only now. The next day, Rebecca is found dead after falling off from her apartment. Nick is accused of murdering her but he denies any such claim.

Martha is made to convince their investors that Nick will be exonerated of all the charges. She announced a new product offering from Alpha that can help with the problem of increased carbon levels – a problem Alpha is significantly responsible for. While she performs her bureaucratic duty, she finds this new offering a mistake.

Seven years ago, she talked with Nick about the success of LifePause, to escape the grim reality. She shares a childhood story that gave her this idea. Nick brags about having solved many of humanity’s issues in the past. Now, he thinks that Alpha should work on a way to grow a breathable atmosphere on Earth to provide an opportunity for humans to start over. At the time, Nick made her in charge of this project – named Newcomen.

Turns out, Jonathan Chopin (Edward Norton) was in charge of it earlier and was fired. It was a technology to take carbon out of the atmosphere in a scalable, affordable manner. But it never came to fruition because of one or the other issue. Jonathan and other sane minds realized that if you decouple carbon from the temperature, you’re going to rationalize ongoing pollution. Nick saw it as a way to make limitless money by customizing the stratosphere. So basically, Nick wanted to look humanitarian while also profiting from humanity’s pressing concerns.

Decima sees these proceedings from home and gets angry at all the accusations. She decides to testify about how good her father is. But Nick does not want that even if he claimed to have saved her from a refugee camp in Sydney. He wants Decima’s identity to remain a secret. Nick firmly believes that life is a transaction and wants people to consider it the same way. He told Martha to do the same, years ago.

Now, while Martha enters a simulation, a drone shares a letter about Rebecca’s autopsy records that shows irregularities in the medication provided by Alpha. She speaks with Ariel about it. He tells her to keep mum. Then, Martha speaks with Ms. Adobo through several avatars since she can’t directly talk against Nick’s verdict. Martha firmly believes that nothing can stop Nick from winning the case.

The next day, Lucy speaks with a witness about a scientist named Matafele Kabua. She had a degree in technology and wanted someone to finance her product. Furthermore, she claimed it to be the world’s first carbon-removal device. She wanted Nick’s help in developing so that it can make the entire planet carbon-neutral. But the power-holding businessmen mutually agreed on a carbon level that can help them gain profits instead of helping humanity survive. So, Matafele could never work the way she wanted.

Decima senses her relation to Matafele and asks Alpha’s virtual assistant for information about Matafele or her mother. Its records have neither of that information. Back in Alpha HQ, Martha announces Newcomen as the first scalable device that removes CO2 from the air around us and transforms it into useful by-products. While reading out her transcript, she finds an experience that she recalls telling Nick about. This startles her. Meanwhile, she recalls entering a room, blindfolded. It was filled with the wealthiest businessmen who agree upon a number for carbon level.

The next day, in court, Lucy makes a case against Nick for how he conveniently decided to launch a solution knowing his trial starts to go west. She says how he should be charged for not taking action when he could have saved the planet from further damage. Then, Nick makes a case for himself by blaming everyone besides himself for the issues related to carbon. His case is basically whining about the ‘they also did bad, then why am I only on trial’ argument. The verdict ultimately claims that he is not guilty.

Extrapolations (Season 1 Finale), Episode 8 Ending Explained:

Does Nick Bolton get arrested for his crimes against the planet?

Back at home, Decima goes through her drawers to find a contact detail. She recalls Martha gave it to her when she was fairly young. Martha felt bad that Decima had no friends beyond an AI. She shared her card so that she could call her if she ever needed a friend. While Decima calls Martha, Nick visits Lucy’s office to give the footage to prove that her ex was killed due to Martha Russell.

So, Lucy meets Martha with a warrant for arrest for conspiracy to commit murder. Martha says Alpha planted that story. Lucy says she is aware that Nick would have shared such a piece of evidence since he has something else to hide. So, Lucy wants Martha’s help to bring Nick to his knees. Martha shares a way through which Lucy can communicate with Nick’s daughter, Decima. Later, Nick returns home to find none of his systems working. Meanwhile, with Decima’s help, Lucy reopens the case to convict Nick. Decima testifies against Nick’s highly questionable acts.

Then, one year later, Decima and Lucy walk on a seashore with several windmills on the other side. Turns out, Nick was sentenced to a long prison term. Decima questions whether carbon in the air will be down to 350 parts per million by the time he gets out. Lucy believes it is up to humans since they are also the reason for the excessive increase in carbon levels in the past. However, Decima is still hopeful that humans will fix it now that they have seen the repercussions.

While the episode’s point is, as always, pertinent, Kit Harrington’s acting choices seem laughably odd. While playing his egoistic self-proclaimed God character, he seems to be mimicking someone else. On the other hand, Diane Lane gives a much more grounded performance as a woman left to clean Nick’s dirty deeds. Martha had to maintain silence about several topics despite being against Nick’s policies. Diane shows Martha’s frustration in a nuanced manner and is significantly persuasive.

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Extrapolations (Season 1 Finale) Episode 8 Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
Extrapolations (Season 1 Finale) Episode 8 Cast: Kit Harrington, Diane Lane, Sienna Miller, Edward Norton, and Ben Harper

Where to watch Extrapolations