The Change

Nessa recalls a childhood memory of her grandmother’s friend and ally, a formidable woman named Miss Ella. She remembers that Miss Ella once murdered a child predator and fed him to an alligator, an act her grandmother defended as killing a monster. This memory informs her perspective as she and Jo meet with Josh Gibbon. Initially, Josh is hesitant to publicize their accusations against Spencer Harding for fear of a lawsuit, but Nessa shames him by questioning his motives and claiming that he profits from sensationalizing the stories of murdered girls. Josh agrees to help if they can provide more evidence. He suggests they look for the other two bodies Nessa has seen. Jo, who is scuba-certified and has her own gear, agreeing to dive for the bodies.

They return to find that Harriett has already arranged for Celeste to take them out on her boat. Celeste now knows the truth of what the other women are doing. That night, Jo confesses everything to her husband, Art, who offers his unconditional support, strengthening their relationship and her resolve. The next morning, as they leave to pick up her dive gear, Jo tells Nessa that she is prepared to do whatever it takes.

The narrative shifts to a flashback on Jo’s past. Three months after being fired, Jo pitched her business plan for Furious Fitness to a loan officer named Jeremy Aversano. Aversano was immediately condescending, and his comments revealed that he never read her documents. He dismissed her market research, questioned the gym’s “angry” name, asked for her husband’s opinion, and patronizingly suggested that she hire an MBA to review her plan, unaware that she herself had an MBA. He then mentioned her termination from her last job and effectively denied the loan by requiring a cosigner. Enraged by his sexism, Jo experienced an intense internal heat, and the metal pen in her hand melted into a puddle on his desk. Realizing she had a strange new power, she laughed at the man and left. Outside, she decided to stop playing by the rules, so she called her financial advisor and liquidated her 401(k) to fund the gym herself. She then emailed Aversano’s wife, offering to invest in the woman’s own business idea.

In the present, Jo, Nessa, and Harriett take Josh Gibbon to a specific location offshore. Jo dives into the cold water equipped with a GoPro camera and soon discovers a massive pile of abandoned lobster traps. In two separate traps, she finds the skeletal remains of young women stuffed into black plastic bags. She films the gruesome evidence, confirming Nessa’s knowledge that a serial killer is active in Mattauk.

That evening, they record a live, unedited episode of Josh’s podcast, and Nessa and Jo detail their discoveries. Jo discusses the nude Polaroid of the first victim, which the late Rosamund Harding hid in a secret gym locker. She publicly accuses Spencer Harding of being the serial killer and states that he was also behind the recent break-in at her home, where her daughter was attacked. Josh ends the show by vowing to pursue the story until Harding is brought to justice.

The narrative flashes back to Mandy Welsh’s last day alive. While walking along a road to meet Rosamund Harding, Mandy Welsh was stopped by a man in a luxury car. The man introduced himself as Spencer Harding, Rosamund’s husband, and confirmed that he knew who she was and where she was going. He showed her his driver’s license, and despite her initial hesitation, Mandy was persuaded to accept a ride to the house to see Rosamund, who was eager to hire her. Later, she realized that Spencer meant her harm. Remembering her promise to her mother to be careful, she decided not to fight him, planning to keep the impending assault a secret so that her mother would not worry about her. The narrative states that this was not a decision she was ultimately able to make.

In the present, Jo wakes at Nessa’s house to find a reporter at the window. The woman informs her that Spencer Harding is presumed dead after his helicopter crashed. As news vans descend on the house, they watch a broadcast confirming that police have recovered the two lobster traps containing bodies off Danskammer Beach. Authorities speculate that Harding experienced a medical emergency just before the crash. Harriett arrives, warning them that although Harding is dead, his accomplices are still at large, and justice is not yet complete.

The chapter jumps to July for the funeral of Mandy Welsh, one of the recovered victims. Nessa gives a powerful eulogy, condemning the community’s inaction when Mandy went missing and vowing to protect other vulnerable girls. The man who broke into Jo’s home is out on bail, and the third victim remains unidentified. Jo and her husband agree to let Harriett punish those who are still free.

Jo, Nessa, and Harriett gather to watch a Newsnight special on the Danskammer Beach murders, which presents a completely fabricated narrative of the investigation. Police Chief Rocca appears on the show and takes credit for all the key discoveries, claiming that he suspected Spencer Harding from the start. Rocca’s official story portrays Harding as a serial predator who murdered his wife and assaulted numerous young women in a secret room that also contained a safe filled with thousands of Polaroids. These pictures depicted imprisoned women and girls. The chief claims that Harding’s bodyguard, Danill Chertov, confessed to everything after being pulled over by a Mattauk officer on June 8th. According to Rocca, a fisherman named Randall Duffy helped dispose of bodies at sea, but he died of a heroin overdose before making his final pickup, thus leaving the body open to discovery. Rocca publicly blames the women’s podcast interview for tipping off Harding, leading to his escape and subsequent death.

After the broadcast, Harriett states that Rocca is lying. She knows because Chertov broke into her house on June 7th. She killed him then, and his body has been in her compost pile ever since. Harriett concludes that Rocca was directly involved in the murders. Hearing this, Nessa and Jo realize that they cannot expose Rocca’s cover-up without implicating Harriett in murder.

In the aftermath of the Newsnight interview, the podcast episode is pulled, and Josh admits that he cannot publicly support them due to the backlash. Nessa, whose ghost-induced migraines are worsening, is approached by a desperate mother seeking help finding her missing daughter, reinforcing Nessa’s mission to identify Harding’s victims. Meanwhile, Harriett’s neighbor, Annette, discovers that Harriett is providing the means for angry women in town to punish the men who have wronged them.

Meanwhile, Claude approaches Jo and proposes to give her $20 million fund from her companion, Leonard, to start a national self-defense and empowerment program for girls. Jo, who has been struggling with rage and fear for her daughter Lucy, enthusiastically agrees to lead the project. That evening, Jo and Nessa share the news with Harriett. When Jo relays a request from Claude for help with invasive plants at Culling Pointe, Harriett agrees to meet someone there the next morning.

The narrative flashes back to the events that led to Harriett’s transformation. After being passed over for a partnership at work and discovering she has entered menopause, Harriett spent three weeks on a marijuana-fueled retreat in her home, letting her garden grow wild and studying botany, poisons, and herbal remedies. Her divorce lawyer, Colin Clarke, made an unannounced visit, expressing concern over her unkempt property and the neighbors’ complaints. He presented an offer from her ex-husband, Chase, to buy the house so she could move to an apartment and get “help.” Clarke belittled her garden, calling her carefully cultivated plants “weeds.” This confrontation led Harriett to a realize that she had spent her life accepting men’s judgments. She rejected his condescension, fired him, and asserted full control over her life and property. As he left, a large tick mysteriously appeared on his neck, and Harriett pointedly compared him to the parasite. That evening, a handsome deliveryman named Eric expressed admiration for Harriett’s plants, and the two spent the night together. The next morning, empowered, Harriett went to her job, intending for it to be her last day.

After spending a night with Celeste on her boat, Harriett is dropped off at Culling Pointe for a meeting with billionaire Leonard Shaw. He wants to hire her to eradicate an invasive Scotch broom infestation, a job for which a now-terrified Jackson Dunn has recommended her. At breakfast with Leonard and Claude, Harriett learns that Leonard leases all the lots on the Pointe and therefore has control over the residents. When her hosts are distracted, Harriett meets a domestic worker named Isabel, who recognizes Harriett as a fellow witch. Isabel reveals that Jackson Dunn was responsible for the disappearance of a young worker two years ago. She also tells Harriett that a police officer (Rocca) was at Spencer Harding’s house before Harding escaped, contradicting Rocca’s public statement. Harriett also learns that Leonard secretly records everything on the Pointe, and that Claude had the poisonous wolfsbane removed from Harding’s garden just after his death. Harriett invites Isabel to visit her, now armed with critical new information against her enemies.