Lady in the Lake episode 5 ending explained: Is Maddie dead?

Lady in the Lake season 1 episode 5, titled Every Time Someone Turns up Dead in That Lake, It Does Seem to Lead To You, aired on Apple TV+ on August 9, 2024. In the previous episode, Stephan was arrested once again, and Cleo was killed by Reggie, who dropped her body in the lake.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Lady in the Lake episode 5.

This episode of Lady in the Lake is a short and fast-paced episode that doesn’t reveal much about Cleo’s death to the characters on the show. Meanwhile, Maddie is busy, trying to find a lead, build a connection, and write a story about Cleo’s death, interviewing many black people in the process. Maddie also assists the police in tracing down Cleo's body in the same lake where Tessie's body was found in episode one.

Later in the episode, when Maddie visits Stephan’s mother, Kasia, about her story, things do not fall into place, and Kasia stabs Maddie with a knife. However, Maddie survives the attack and calls for help while she bleeds.

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Lady in the Lake episode 5 ending explained

The divorce

The fifth episode of Lady in the Lake opens with a flashback of Maddie’s past and soon shifts to the present, where Milton arrives to tell Maddie that he wants a divorce. Milton also reveals his intentions to keep Seth with him so that he has a futile career and sees his father as his role model. Milton even agrees to fund the divorce and pay for both sides' lawyers.

Later in the episode, Maddie tries to write a story about Cleo’s death. However, the Baltimore Star fails to raise support, and even Bob tells her not to do it, as the whites would not be interested in reading a story about a black woman's death. But Maddie doesn’t give up and tries to follow every lead to learn more about the death of Cleo Johnson.

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Maddie goes desperate to build a story about Cleo's death

A still from Lady in the Lake (Image by Apple TV+)

Maddie first calls Stephan, who insists he had nothing to do with Cleo’s death. Even though viewers saw Reggie doing the deed, he has a clean slate in the eyes of Maddie and the cops.

Next, Maddie visits the morgue to see Cleo’s dead body. The medical examiner tells her that the cause of death cannot be determined as the body is in a very dilapidated state. However, in reality, Reggie killed her and dropped her body in the lake, though the method remains unclear. Maddie then goes to a black newspaper office to get a better idea about Cleo Johnson and her story.

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Maddie goes to the funeral and many other places

A still from Lady in the Lake: Maddie meets Gordon (Image by Apple TV+)

After the funeral, Maddie runs up to Slappy and tells him that she believes it was not him or Stephan but someone else who killed Cleo. In the same scene, Slappy reveals to Maddie about the numbers game and Cleo’s recent winnings, which could have been her cause of death. However, that is not enough for Maddie to build a story for the Star yet, and she needs to do better.

Later in the episode, Maddie visits Lucile, who doesn’t give her any leads and asks her to come next week for a new hairstyle. At night, when she goes to meet Gordon, she also encounters Reggie.

Maddie makes Reggie uncomfortable with a couple of questions hinting at the Durst girl's death and about Reggie’s leg. Reggie is seen limping in episode five of Lady in the Lake, but the cause of the injury is unclear. The closest guess can be that while he was trying to kill Cleo, she must have retaliated by giving him a leg injury before she died.

Maddie also sees a sea house in Gordon’s room and a couple of other fancy fish, sparking her suspicion that Reggie and Gordon are related to Tessie and Cleo's deaths.

Next, Maddie goes to interview the owner of the shop where Cleo used to work. During the conversation, Maddie comes to know that she had met Cleo previously and also bought a dress, which she was displaying in episode one of Lady in the Lake.

Later, Maddie returns home and wears the old dress while she tries to find a connection between Maddie, Tessie, Stephan, and herself. When Plat arrives, he tells Maddie that she should not play detective. However, Maddie is convinced that this story is connected to her in some way or another.

Later in the episode, Maddie goes to meet Stephan’s mother, Kasia, hoping to piece out another story and help her find the unidentified man at the fish store, which Maddie believes is Reggie.

However, the meeting goes wrong, as Kasia loses her calm when Maddie talks about how Stephan had come to meet her the night he escaped from prison and was again arrested. She even tells Kasia that boys don’t tell their mothers everything. Kaisa understands Maddie's selfish intentions, and the warm welcome turns into a meeting that goes wrong.

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Is Maddie dead?

In the final moments of episode five of Lady in the Lake, Kasia takes a knife from the table and stabs Maddie. Maddie tries to fight back, but Kasia hits her with a chair. Still, somehow, Maddie manages to get inside one of the rooms of the house. She then takes the knife out and sees a similar kind of blood mark on her dress, similar to the one seen in episode one.

Later, Maddie gathers enough courage to go to the phone and call for help. However, she finds Kasia dead in the kitchen.

Read more: Is Lady in the Lake based on a true story? Explained

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The episode ends on a brutal note, with Maddie now gravely injured and Kasia dead. This attack on Maddie would help her gain sympathy and write another story, making her the Baltimore star again in future episodes of Lady in the Lake.

However, it will be interesting to see how she stitches everything together and connects it to herself, as apart from all the fame that Maddie wants, she first needs to understand how she is linked to everybody found in the lake.

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Lady in the Lake is now streaming on Apple TV+.