The Mother Ending Explained & 3 Ideas to Make It Better

Even the presence of the seasoned yet ageless Jennifer Lopez can’t save the ever-tapering energy of the narrative in The Mother. This dwindling energy leads to a relatively anticlimactic and underwhelming ending that doesn’t promise a sequel and doesn’t make you want to request one either…

** This review WILL contain spoilers. ** 

The Mother Movie Review & Plot Summary

An exciting introduction sucks viewers into a world of skilled snipers nearly finishing off a room of FBI agents in a matter of minutes. Ex-military skilled sniper, the Mother, uses her quick wit to narrowly escape the wrath of her ex-lover, ex-business partner, and ex-Marine colleague, Adrian, who she has chosen to betray. 

Two men who she worked with to sell weapons illegally started abusing their power and moving on to more sinister modes of commerce, child trafficking. Upon learning this, the Mother (who remains unnamed for the entirety of the movie) turns her partners in to the FBI but not without dire repercussions. 

Despite having been heart-droppingly stabbed in her 9-month pregnant belly by Adrian, The Mother manages to deliver a perfectly healthy baby girl. Before even getting to hold her child, the mother is forced to forgo her parental rights to ensure her daughter’s safety. 

She speaks with the only FBI agent who survived the sniper attack and asks for him to keep her up to date with her daughter’s whereabouts and safety yearly. 

Staying true to his promise, the FBI agent, named William, contacts the Mother 12 years later with a heads up that one of her dangerous ex-lovers is looking to kidnap the daughter, who was named Zoe by her foster parents.

The Mother doesn’t hesitate to jump into action. 

Although the first mission to kill her other lover, Hector the arms dealer, and retrieve her daughter goes almost without a hitch, as soon as Zoe, William, and the Mother attempt to return to a life of normalcy, her other lover, Adrian, shows up again. 

Here, William unfortunately dies and the rest of the movie never recovers from that loss. 

The Mother comes to Zoe’s rescue again using almost the same tactic of ingenuity to escape Adrian as she used at the beginning of the movie and then we venture into the most boring, dry, and useless mother-daughter camping retreat I’ve ever witnessed. 

The intensity and intrigue of the film deflate as we see a callous mother and a sensitive daughter frown and pout at each other.

We go from quick, lethal gun shows, high-tension, and high-stakes scenes to a really slow-paced, boring drag between two enigmatic strangers whose “bonding” moments feel inorganic.

The energy does little to recover as Adrian returns yet again to try to use Zoe as bait again except this time, Zoe is somewhat “equipped” with the survival skills and techniques that the Mother had been trying to teach her while in hiding. 

Every single one of Zoe’s feebly attempts to save herself and her mother falls hopelessly flat and in fact, makes the situation so much worse to the point where the Mother just comes in to save the day with a really well-timed sniper shot. 

The “climax” is underwhelming, to say the least. 

Now that both lovers are dead, the mother returns Zoe to her foster parents while continuing to monitor her safety from afar.

The Mother Ending Explained

Who is Zoe’s father?

When the mother is asked in the movie whether the child is Adrian’s or Hector’s, she replies:

She’s not Adrian’s, she’s not Hector’s, she’s mine.

The Mother

The Mother’s director, Niki Caro, further elaborates on the significance of this quote, emphasizing the fact that Zoe’s paternity is irrelevant to the story.

This movie’s intent is to focus on a mother’s natural instinct to protect her child. Especially in a situation where neither of the potential fathers has the capacity to value human life, particularly the life of a child. 

The Mother is saying that the father is not just some biological component, he’s a protector and since neither of them can protect her as she can, Zoe is her responsibility.

And considering the fact the mysterious mother has a decorated and largely unexplored past, we can’t rule out the possibility that the father could be someone else entirely.

This could potentially be a plot point that can drive a sequel if they choose to make one…

Another question that the ending of the movie poses is:

What is the relationship between the mother and Zoe now?

The end of the movie shows the Mother watching Zoe from what seems to be the penthouse of a large building overlooking a park that Zoe frequents. Zoe is totally aware of and comfortable with being watched as she smiles and waves at her mother from a distance. 

Zoe seems to perceive this surveillance as a positive thing like she knows her birth mother is always watching out for her and ensuring her safety.

In an interview with Netflix, the director also highlighted the “mom” bracelet that we see on the mother’s wrist in the final scene showing that the relationship the Mother and Zoe have is being built upon and growing. 

What is unclear is whether the foster parents are aware of and comfortable with this relationship. From the final scene, they seem oblivious to it.

What’s next for the Mother?

This is the big question mark at the end of the film. It’s left very open-ended. 

Both of the men gunning for the Mother’s life are dead so she doesn’t necessarily have to be in hiding anymore unless those men have friends coming for her. 

Also, she’s encroaching a bit on the family life that Zoe has already established for 12 years. 

Is she just planning on stalking Zoe for the rest of her life since that seems to be all that she lives for?

Or will she go back to her secluded life in Alaska?

William’s death cuts down on her options for intimate relationships a bit.

But again, the highlight of this film is definitely mother and daughter. Even if the mother-daughter relationship was as frigid as the Alaska weather they faced together. 

This movie eliminates all input from men to protect and focuses on the fierce love of a mother. 

Unfortunately, even good ol’ William gets the boot as a source of help and protection in the film. This one’s for the ladies William. Sorry. 

So, at the moment, the mother’s future looks lonely, with occasional moments of mother-daughter bonding.

3 Narrative Choices to Reconsider

The second half of the movie had some poorly considered plot and narrative choices that hurt the momentum of the film. 

There are several character choices in the script that I believe withheld this movie from being as good as it had the potential to be.  

1. Zoe’s Personality

Although it was an interesting choice to make Zoe, the daughter of two skilled killers, a non-violent, sensitive activist, I think giving her more of an edge and a natural inkling for combat would’ve upped the ante a bit. 

We only see her mirror the traits of her mother once with her nervous tick of tapping her chest to calm herself down. Besides that, she’s just your average agreeable-ish 12-year-old. 

Her being more like her mother would have helped her mother come out of her shell a little more. Both of them can grow and feel somewhat seen and understood by each other in ways they haven’t been before. 

2. Keeping William

Killing William was another choice that I think should have been reconsidered.

William is one of the only people who saw, appreciated, and looked out for the Mother.

She’s constantly having to look out for herself and they worked great as a team.

They could have built something together at the end rather than just have the mother have to love her daughter from afar while continuing to live a lonely, hidden life. 

Unfortunately, the mother is not afforded the opportunity to be human. She must always be a hard, defensive, killing machine, but keeping William around may have allowed her to take a break from constant battle and lean on someone when she inevitably has moments of weakness.

3. Naming The Mother

I also think that the mother should have had a name. The Mother becomes almost too enigmatic that it’s impossible to really know her, even as an audience. Yes, she can give everyone a fake name, it’s done in movies all the time, but giving her real name is a stamp of trust, of humanity. 

Leaving her nameless leaves her almost generic. She is just the symbol for all mama bears (or mama wolves) without having a complex inner life of her own. Her whole life just revolves around stalking Zoe and making sure she’s okay even though Zoe also has foster parents doing that as well. 

There’s too much mystery that’s never addressed and it creates a sense of disinterest. 

In Conclusion…

The Mother is a movie that starts off strong but the mystery loses its intrigue halfway through the film. 

The ending leaves a lot of questions but not the kinds of questions that you’re eager to answer. 

Without Lopez, this movie would unlikely be on the map at all. 

Rating: 5.8/10

What did you think of The Mother? Let me know in the comments below!

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Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

IMO