Ed Gein as a tragic hero or a morbid legend? The last episode of The Ed Gein Story cleverly blurs the lines between facts, fantasies and the killer’s murky legacy. Through a fragmented narrative, the Netflix series multiplies false leads and questions the public’s persistent fascination with these criminal figures.
In the final episode, Ed Gein lives out his final days in a Wisconsin psychiatric hospital. Far from the brutal image of the Plainfield butcher, he appears weakened, lucid, but haunted. Between real visits and hallucinations, the series paints an ambiguous portrait of a man whose crimes inspired the worst monsters… real and fictional.
FBI, serial killers and hallucinations: a disturbing cocktail
One of the finale’s most prominent narrative threads involves two other killers: Jerry Brudos And Richard Speckboth fascinated by Ed Gein. Brudos, detained in Salem, is asked by the FBI to help profile a murderer active in Florida. He brings nothing, but admits to admiring Gein, whom he considers a reference.
As for Speck, incarcerated in Illinois, he reportedly sent a letter to Ed Gein in which he thanked him for his influence. He evokes a young man named Ted, inspired in turn by their crimes. This “Ted”, soon identified as Ted Bundywould according to the series be arrested thanks to the intervention of Ed, who would have transmitted crucial information to the FBI.
But this sequence is deliberately vague. No official records mention Gein’s role in Bundy’s arrest. Only a signature in the hospital register suggests that the FBI agent came. The rest could just be a mental construct of a man consumed by his demons and in search of redemption.
Adeline Watkins: lover or illusion?
Another enigmatic visit: that ofAdeline Watkinspresented as Ed Gein’s youthful love. Also interned, she would visit him for one last strange and guilt-ridden conversation. But here again, reality is murky.
If some reports mention a woman named Adeline in Ed’s past, there is nothing to confirm the veracity of this meeting. The series suggests that she may just be a figment of Ed’s imagination, a romantic fantasy distorted by loneliness and mental illness.
A Monster’s Last Dream
The most striking scene undoubtedly remains that of the corridor where Ed, in a wheelchair, encounters the specters of killers like Charles Manson, Ed Kemper, Brudos And Speck. They seem to hail him as a mentor, in a macabre display of posthumous recognition. This sequence, obviously hallucinatory, shows how much Ed relished the idea of having left a mark.
The appearance of his mother, Augusta Geinconcludes the delirium on an even more disturbing note. She congratulates him for having brought the Gein name to posterity, beyond the crimes, as if he had accomplished a family mission. A fantasy of filial love taken to the extreme, and perhaps the heart of the entire series.
An epilogue between fiction and heritage
The series ends with a time jump to the early 2000s, when a group of teenagers steal Ed Gein’s tombstone. One of them then believes he sees visions of Norman Bates, Buffalo Bill And Leatherface — emblematic characters inspired by his crimes.
Finally, a mid-credits scene brings Ed back to his mother on the front steps of their house. Together, they drink lemonade in silence, united in a peaceful vision of the afterlife. This image clearly illustrates the final fantasy of a killer who, even in death, never wanted to leave the maternal lap.