Spoilers are ahead for Lady in the Lake episode 6.
Summary
Filled with symbolic visions,Lady in the Lake’s sixth episode picks up from the previous chapter’s shocking cliffhanger ending, in which Stephen Zawadzkie’s (Dylan Arnold) mother,Kasia (Masha Mashkova), stabbed Maddie (Natalie Portman) with a butter knife. At theend ofLady in the Lakeepisode 5, Maddie bleeds out on the floor of Kasia’s kitchen, clutching the rotary phone that she managed to dial. Although the way Kasia’s attack unfolds hasdifferences from theLady in the Lakebook, the outcome is similar: Maddie lands in the hospital. However, unlike the source material, Maddie’s plagued by telling visions.
While the episode does reveal exactlywhy Kasia attacks Maddie, that’s far from the most interesting element ofLady in the Lakeepisode 6. Directed and co-written by the show’s visionary creator Alma Har’el, the episode, fittingly titled"I know who killed Cleo Johnson," takes viewers on a captivating journey through Maddie’s subconscious. The episode sets the stage for the show’s finale by walking Maddie (and the audience) through Tessie and Cleo’s deaths one more time. However, Maddie’s visions, which are split into different scenes, are also punctuated by brief moments of lucidity and traumatic moments from Maddie’s past.
7Maddie Gives Birth To Her Story
Cleo Johnson Runs Away With Maddie’s Story
The episode opens with a flashback to a fundraiser party Maddie threw shortly after marrying Milton (Brett Gelman). When Allan Durst (David Corenswet) approaches Maddie to apologize, it becomes clear that the underwater-themed party was the night Seth (Noah Jupe) was conceived. In the next scene, Seth visits Maddie in the hospital, and all seems normal — until Allan arrives and puts his arm around his biological son. Suddenly,Maddie gives birth to a baby made out of newspaper pages — her story— and Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram), the delivering nurse, runs away with the child.
When Cleo runs away with her story, Maddie spends the rest of the episode chasing the lady in the lake.
The first in a series of symbolic dreams, Maddie’s initial vision is the easiest to interpret. Despite her injuries,Maddie can’t stop thinking about her next big story — the truth about who killed Cleo Johnson. Fueled by her insatiable ambition, Maddie has a story inside of her that’s waiting to be born into the world. Unfortunately, the aspiring journalist doesn’t have all the crucial information she needs aboutCleo’s death inLady in the Lakeepisode 6. When Cleo runs away with her story, Maddie spends the rest of the episode chasing the lady in the lake.
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6Maddie Walks Through A Flooded Hospital
Reggie & Cleo Both Appear In Different Hallways
When Maddie gets out of her bed, the scenery around her shifts, with the dream-hospital resembling a lake. With water-filled hallways, bloated plant life, and hedges made of reeds, the setting very clearly reflects Maddie’s need to know more about Cleo’s death. As she walks down the flooded halls with her IV drip,Maddie spots Cleo, dressed in a golden outfit and a crown, down a corridor. In another hallway, Reggie (Josiah Cross) wears a boxer’s robe and limps through the water. Even in Maddie’s subconscious, the two characters are linked, though Maddie hasn’t quite figured out how.
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5Lady In The Lake’s Dancing Cleo Johnsons, Explained
The Scene Hammers Home Maddie’s White Savior Complex
While Maddie’s dreams all circle the question ofwhat, exactly, happened to Cleo Johnson, some visions are more helpful than others. The third dream sequence sees Maddie donning a coat with a golden star pinned to its front and walking into a library. Almost immediately, Maddie is accosted by a group of Cleo Johnsons.All of the dream-Cleos look completely different, despite being dressed in Cleo’s blue coat.They dance and push Maddie, forcing her to one end of the lobby. High above the dancers, the “real” Cleo Johnson leaps off a ledge and dies.
Maddie takes on the role of white savior and, ultimately, tries to steal Cleo’s agency.
When Maddie approaches Cleo’s body, she screams and sees her own face. The whole scenario underscores the fact that Maddie — who wears Cleo’s coat and makeup — is trying on a story that isn’t hers to tell.Ambitious to a fault, Maddie convinces herself that she’s being a voice for someone— that she’s doing something righteous. In reality, Maddie just wants to be seen and remembered as a great writer. Through her selfishness, Maddie takes on the role of white savior and, ultimately, tries to steal Cleo’s agency, whether intentionally or not.
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4Maddie Speaks With Tessie Durst In A Morgue
Maddie Confronts The Nature Of Her Own Ambition
In Maddie’s next vision, she wakes up in the drawer at a morgue before finding herself face-to-face with Tessie Durst (Bianca Belle). Frustrated by Tessie’s appearance,Maddie tells the dead girl that her story is over — that she’s old news. It underscores Maddie’s selfishness and her career-obsessed nature. Once a story is told, Maddie doesn’t seem to have much use for it, and, ultimately, dehumanizes those she writes about. Tessie calls Maddie out, suggesting she doesn’t care about Cleo and that she just wants everyone to know she’s a great writer.
Maddie has a lot of her own trauma (and stories) to confront.
“Ambition is not the enemy of truth,” a tearful Maddie tells dream-Tessie. Eventually, however, Maddie sees how crass she’s being and promises to really tell Tessie’s story one day.Even if it’s an empty promise made out of desperation, it seems to satisfy Tessie, who helps Maddie unlock other drawers in the morgue. Instead of finding Cleo, however, Maddie sees Seth’s body as well as Allan’s father, who’s lying in a drawer with the unborn fetus he forced Maddie to abort as a teenager. Clearly, Maddie has a lot of her own trauma (and stories) to confront.
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3The Dance Sequence With Maddie & Ferdie, Explained
Lady In The Lake Uses Other Art Forms To Tell A Story That’s Beyond Words
In one of the episode’s most beautifully rendered visions, Maddie walks into a space that’s a combination of a club, the department store where Cleo worked, and a church. Everything is shot through with rich, rainbow colors, making the characters and set feel like they’re made of stained-glass. At first, Maddie watches Cleo perform, and it’s somewhat reminiscent of Dora Carter’s (Jennifer Mogbock) onstage moments. Without words,Maddie and Ferdie (Y’lan Noel), who are both stripped down to their undergarments, dance in the chaos— ever vulnerable and precious and safe from the darkness on the dance floor’s edges.
2Maddie Gives The Eulogy At Her Own Funeral
The Sequence Blends Maddie’s Story With Cleo’s Life
After the dancing scene, Maddie is escorted down the hallway of the church that Cleo Johnson’s real-life funeral was held in. However, it soon becomes clear thatLady in the Lake’s cast of charactershave come together to attend Maddie’s funeral.It’s a strange blend of people from Maddie’s life and folks who attended Cleo’s funeral, including The Prophet (Sean Ringgold). During a conversation with her mother, Maddie wonders why her parent only has “terrible memories,” and criticizes her for taking up space at Maddie’s funeral.
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When no one offers to deliver Maddie’s eulogy, she does it herself, claiming that she “fights for those who can no longer fight for themselves.” It’s a pretty delusional statement, which the show underscores when the audio from the TV in Maddie’s hospital room bleeds into the scene. As the news broadcast, which shows white supremacists flooding Baltimore, leaks into Maddie’s vision,Lady in the Lakesuggests that Maddie is doing a different kind of harm to a Black woman and her storyby taking away her agency and transforming her life (and death) into something fit for consumption.
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1Maddie’s Final Vision, Explained
Maddie Pulls Cleo From The Lake & Learns The Truth
In her final vision,Maddie follows a trumpet player — Cleo’s estranged father — through the woods. Instead of attending a party with her mother and the rest of Pikesville’s Jewish community, Maddie continues on with the trumpet player. In the woods, they come upon a house where Slappy (Byron Bowers), Cleo’s husband, is shouting numbers and holding a dream book, reiterating the link between Shell Gordon (Wood Harris) and Cleo. As “Amazing Grace” plays, Maddie wanders onto the lakefront, where Baltimore’s Black community has gathered to watch Cleo perform.
Cleo, wearing a beautiful costume, emerges from the fountain where her body was found in real life. She sings and performs acrobatics while everyone cheers for her; even Maddie can’t take her eyes off of Cleo. Suddenly,Cleo slips and plunges into the lake, and Maddie dives off a lifeguard’s chair to save her. Back in the hospital hall — presumably “under” the lake — the show’s protagonists wear the same outfits — golden with crowns. When they emerge from the water, Maddie wears the outfit, but Cleo is swaddled in her blue coat.
Before Cleo can explain who killed her, Reggie emerges from the water behind them…
Around them, the forest looks dead and the lifeguard’s chair is on fire. Even the crowds have disappeared from the shore. Completely alone, Maddie grasps Cleo’s shoulders and says, “Tell me.” Before Cleo can explain who killed her, Reggie emerges from the water behind them, wielding a paddle. He strikes Maddie, who is jarred awake in her hospital bed. Back in reality,Maddie tells a nurse that she “can’t dream anymore” — it’s all too much. The nurse assures her that she’s awake, and when Maddie asks who she is, the camera reveals Ingram, who says, “I was Cleo Johnson.”
Lady in the Lake’s finale airs on Apple TV+ on July 12, 2025.
Lady in the Lake
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY LAURA LIPPMAN, LADY OF THE LAKE IS A FICTIONAL DRAMA MINISERIES BASED AROUND THE REAL DISAPPEARANCES OF A YOUNG GIRL AND A WOMAN, COMING TO APPLE TV+. THE STORY CENTERS AROUND MADELINE SCHWARTZ, A DISSATISFIED 1960S HOUSEWIFE OF TWENTY YEARS WHO ENDS HER MARRIAGE IN SEARCH OF A LIFE WITH MEANING. MADELINE, BETTER KNOWN AS MADDIE, SEEKS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD - TO DO SO, SHE HEADS DOWN THE PATH OF AN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST AFTER SOMEHOW HELPING THE BALTIMORE POLICE FIND THE BODY OF A YOUNG GIRL IN THE LAKE, CLEO SHERWOOD. LADY IN THE LAKE HAS NOIR ELEMENTS AND EXPLORES STATUS AND RACE IN A MURDER MYSTERY IN A DIFFERENT PERIOD. THE SERIES HAS BEEN DELAYED DUE TO AN INCIDENT IN LATE 2022 BUT IS STILL SET TO COME TO APPLE TV+ IN THE FUTURE.
