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Hulu's anticipated biopic, Mike, dropped its final two episodes on Thursday, September 15, 2022, ending the tale of the legendary Mike Tyson and his brilliant and controversial career. Despite the hype surrounding the show and the involvement of some fantastic cast and crew members, the show was extremely shaky and inconsistent at times, failing to live up to its content.
The show, which struggled with Tyson's authorization, created a fairly compelling image of Mike (Trevante Rhodes), who was frequently depicted with a sympathetic gaze. The final episode appeared to be crammed with details from Tyson's life following his infamous ear-biting incident in 1997.
The final episode touched on everything from Tyson's bankruptcy to the death of his daughter, Exodus, before settling on his self-acceptance.
Read on to decipher what happened at the end of the show's episode 8.
Mike episode 8 ending: A beauty and the beast tale
The final episode covered far too much in a near 20-minute runtime for anyone to follow concretely. The first half of the episode focused on Tyson's life after retiring from professional boxing. It was engaging, but more knowledge-based. The second half of the episode, on the other hand, took a complete 180-degree turn to delve deeper into Tyson's life.
This transformation began with the arrival of Kiki, who drastically altered his life. This change of pace occurred in the episode when Tyson went to therapy with Marilyn. As she intricately explored the issues that plagued Tyson from a very young age, Marilyn was able to access a side of Mike that he had forgotten.
Marilyn carefully pointed out how his mother did not create a hateful person out of him. Cus D'Amato (Harvey Keitel) was the one who turned a fourteen-year-old boy into a monster. Though Tyson was enraged by the therapist's comments, they helped him gradually change and accept himself as a person.
Another heartbreaking event was the death of his daughter, Exodus, in a treadmill-related accident in 2009. It crushed the former boxer's spirit and nearly drove him to self-destruction, prompting him to turn to drugs. Kiki eventually convinced him to leave the limbo with her love, and they married shortly afterwards.
From here on, the rest of the episode saw Tyson narrate how he finally accepted the love that he now thinks he deserves, also commenting on how a monster should not have a happy ending, but he did.
The final scene sees Mike Tyson on the same stage as the first episode, finishing the story of his life and accepting his humble beginning, extravagant ending and everything in between.
The creators also commented on the various facets of humans through the last conversation between Kiki and Tyson. In the end, Mike accepted that people are more than one thing.
A single thing, action, or phase, nor a single personality trait, defines an individual. Tyson was portrayed as both an animal and a loving father, highlighting people's various realities.
All eight episodes of the limited series are now streaming on Hulu. Stay tuned for more updates.
