After all the near-death experiences, hospital visits, phone taps, and complex oil deals, Blood & Oil finally came to an end. The finale wrapped things up nicely - almost too nicely - but I’ll get into that later.
After Jules dropped the news that she was pregnant in the penultimate episode, we see her gathering DNA from Hap and Wick to test the paternity of her baby. Like a good friend, Cody is right by her side. Sidenote: At this point in the episode I started to think that I misjudged Alex because he seemed like a genuinely nice person - how wrong was I! But more on that later. Carla pays someone off to bribe a nurse for Jules’ file. As if that would happen and they could actually get away with it! Anyways, Carla uses this information to confront Jules and offer her a lot of money to never tell Hap about her baby. Later on in the episode Jules gets some news from her doctor involving a rare thing that can happen with DNA results. My first guess was that she was having twins, one fathered by each of them, because that would just be the most ridiculous, dramatic scenario. However, after accepting Carla’s offer, Jules meets up with Wick to give him some exciting news - it’s his baby! They decide to run away together and even though she's a cheater, she’s still my favorite character and I’m happy that everything worked out between them.
Meanwhile, it seemed like Lacey was actually going to tell Hap about Wick’s involvement in the fire. I knew she was a wild card. I was never certain where her loyalties would lie and it seemed like she had chosen Hap over Wick and I was very disappointed. However, before she could tell Hap, AJ rushed in and shared that he thought the Saudi oil competitors had killed his son. Although it was nice to see this storyline wrapped up, if they wanted it to have more of an emotional impact than they probably should have given us more backstory. By listening to the background noises from AJ’s recording, Hap can figure out that they’re at one of his rigs and not in Saudi Arabia. Hap’s going to help find AJ’s son and it’s one of the only decent things I’ve seen Hap do on this show - I still don’t like him though! Everything ends up working out, they find his son and it’s an adorable father/son reunion!
Elsewhere, in the mess that has become Cody and Billy’s relationship, Cody confronted him about the kiss with Emma!! Of course his response is “She kissed me”, but he was definitely kissing her back! I was ready for that excuse and watching carefully! At least he seemed to recognize that this place has changed him for the worse and Cody offered to forgive him and go back to Florida. Cody was also given the opportunity to go with Alex on a Doctor’s Without Borders trip to Haiti, and I was surprised when I found myself actually wanting her to go with him and just do something for herself for once. Earlier in the episode, Alex’s mom had decided to not make a deal with Annie or Hap for the oil under her land, however, Alex ends up going to Billy and offering him the deal because he can “trust” him. He’s obviously just trying to get him out of the way so Cody will come with him to Haiti. At this point, I decided to take back what I said earlier - he’s not that genuine! However, when it comes down to him or Billy, I’m solidly Team Cody! I wanted her to just ditch them both and do her own thing with Jules! Their friendship was my favorite part of this show.
When Billy asks Emma and Wick what he should do, they don’t make things any easier for him. However, he finds out that Annie has brought in Hap as a partner and that finalizes his decision to leave. Without Billy, the deal won’t happen, so Hap has a heart to heart with Billy about following his dreams in an effort to get him to stay and secure the deal. Opening a laundromat was Billy’s original dream when they moved out there so he should really be fine with leaving, he can do that anywhere - with the added bonus of being a decent person and staying married! It’s a no brainer to me! But of course, Billy decides to stay because he’s selfish and greedy.
My thoughts at this point were that Annie had better be planning something to trick Hap because if this whole thing ends with them all teaming up and working together I’ll be furious. They all sign the paperwork and I’m thinking this has to be the part when one of them reveals their master plan and trickery - but still, nothing. Later, when Billy realizes he doesn't want this life without Cody, Hap tells him about Alex’s plan to break up their marriage and how Alex’s mother had given Hap the deal once she found this out. So Hap had the opportunity to screw them all over but instead, he decided to keep everyone a part of the deal and is even allowing Billy to remain involved from Florida. Honestly, this was one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen. It was too perfect and too out of character. I didn’t go through 10 hours of this for it to end all happiness and partnerships. Where is the drama??? Where is Hap and Carla getting what they deserve for everything they’ve done??
Anyways, Hap officially finds out from Lacey that Wick was involved the night of the fire and he gets his gun and puts in Wick’s face just to make a dramatic point - typical Hap. However, he quickly turns the tables and admits to being a terrible father and takes the blame on himself. I was equal parts shocked and nervous about Hap’s emotional reaction to Wick’s guilty admission. I didn’t trust him but he seemed so sincerely upset and sorry, it totally threw me off with my opinion of Hap and actually made me more okay with his happy ending.
The “drama” wasn’t over though. Lacey gets attacked by one of the people who kidnapped AJ’s son but luckily Billy comes to rescue. It wasn't looking too good for them but before the attacker had a chance to shoot Lacey, the sheriff shot him, which was so random because he came out of nowhere. Why was he even there? Billy ends up knocked out and misses his midnight meet up with Cody. When he calls her, she ignores him - he’s dug himself too deep into a hole and she isn't waiting around for him. When Billy rushes over to the bar, he thinks she left but (surprise!) it turns out she actually came back for him. Again with the super feel good ending. They don’t bother explaining how she got from leaving him behind to coming back and being totally okay with him.
The series fittingly ends with Hap and Carla looking over all their land and oil rigs as the sun sets in the distance. Everything is perfect. It’s such a let down. I guess everyone’s happy but sometimes that’s not a satisfying ending, especially when some of the characters definitely don't deserve it! I can be okay with Hap redeeming himself and getting his happy ending, but Carla - no. I really wanted that final scene to be them looking out at their empire and Hap dramatically dumping her after finding out about all the shady things she’s done behind his back. I wanted him to take it all away from her with her looking at everything she’s lost. That would have been satisfying. Instead, they both get to stay as happy as ever! Whatever, it’s over and it is what it is. I won’t be losing any sleep over it.
Overall, I think this show had so much wasted potential. The cast was great with an amazing chemistry right away, which is very hard to find. There were some great, sexy couples, who you wanted to root for, like Billy and Cody and AJ and Lacey. I would also say Wick and Jules but they obviously had to be a mess for the major dramatic storyline. Unfortunately, Blood & Oil just wasn’t very sexy, despite being promoted as such. It lacked a lot of drama at times and just moved a bit too slow. In the end, it was just another perfectly mediocre show that could never do quite enough to grab the audience’s attention.
What did you think of the finale? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!
About the Author - Kate Sidwell
Kate is a 24 year old, USA based, Psychology/Public Health Researcher - but that’s just her day job! In her spare time she is an avid TV watcher (some may even say addict!!). Some of her favorite shows are Jane the Virgin, Bates Motel, The Flash, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Rookie Blue, Silicon Valley, Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow, The 100, The Mindy Project, Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon a Time, The Royals, Orphan Black…so pretty much too many to count and a huge variety! She’ll give pretty much any show a chance! She also devotes a lot of time to her tumblr (
eat-sleep-breathe-tv.tumblr.com) where you can find her reviewing and commenting on most of these shows and just generally fangirling! She’s excited to be writing for SpoilerTV on Complications, Baby Daddy, Proof, Switched at Birth, Secrets and Lies, and Minority Report!
