Orphan: First Kill ending explained - will the Albrights discover Esther's secret? (2024)

This article discusses the ending of the Paramount + film Orphan: First Kill, which will contain spoilers.

Ready Steady Cut film critic M.N. Miller calls Orphan: First Killer “A frustratingly standard horror picture.”

The film starts with an art therapist, Anna (Gwendikyn Collins), arriving at her new job. She comes, and the facility goes on lockdown. The most dangerous resident in the place is missing. Never a good sign. Her name is Leena Klamme, and the head of the business locks Anna in the break room and tells her not to open the door for anyone. Unfortunately for Anna, the site is dark, the alarm sound is noisy, and the flashing red light reveals a young girl behind her. It’s our girl Esther, who has not taken on that persona yet. Her real name is Leena.

The staff shows up and saves Anna, who Leena was approaching with a freshly sharpened pencil. However, as the day progresses, Leena manipulates another resident to attack facility personnel by training her to attack for candy (or stop). Anna finishes her first day. At the same time, Leena entices a security guard who is monitoring rooms on the CCTV cameras. She invites him in, telling him she is going to kiss him. His back is against the wall; Leena stands on a chair in front of him and slams his head several times against the wall. She gathers her things and escapes. While leaving, she stands in front of Anna’s car, telling her, “Shh.” She runs away, Anna goes back inside, and later quits.

Anna drives home, and we all know what is happening; Leena is the master of distraction. Anna then sees her trunk open as she opens her front door at home. She checks her car, and no one is there. The therapist heads back to her house, leaving the door open. Leena hits her over the head with a crowbar. Leena uses the therapist’s home to research missing children in the United States. She comes across a missing child named Esther, that looks just like her.

A police officer finds her on a swing at night. She claims her name is Esther. The authorities contact her family, the Albrights. Her mother, Tricia (The Lake‘s Julia Stiles), and brother, Gunner (Matthew Finlan), are skeptical of her. However, her husband, Allen (Rossif Sutherland), has finally woken out of his grief with the return of his baby girl. However, Leena/Esther falls for Allen because of their mutual love of art.

The detective investigating the original Esther missing child case, as the kids say, is all up in Leena’s business. She sneaks into the house, steals the prints of a vinyl album, and finds they are not a match when he runs a comparison off his computer at his home. That’s when Esther comes from behind and stabs him a dozen times. As he lays bleeding on his back, suddenly, Tricia arrives and puts a half dozen bullets into his torso.

Uh, what?

Paramount + film Orphan: First Kill ending explained

Here is why Tricia killed the detective. It turns out Gunner was roughhousing with Esther and accidentally killed her. Not wanting to lose two children, Tricia dumps her daughter’s body in a well on their property. (That’s also where they left poor Detective Donna). Why does Tricia not turn in Leena? Well, she has reignited her husband’s passion for life. So, if she stays and pretends to be Esther, she will be compensated. When Tricia approaches Gunner, he freaks out, wondering why his mother would do such a thing. (Honestly, so am I).

Eventually, both sides can’t get along. Tricia gets jealous when she sees Leena kiss her husband’s hand. When Leena finds that Tricia tried to spike her food with a lethal dose of sleeping pills when she spots her favorite mouse passed out after feeding it some goodies, she puts that same mouse in Tricia’s kale smoothie. When Leena has a failed attempt to push both Gunner and Tricia into a moving subway car, Tricia has had enough. Esther escapes by spraying Gunner with mace. (Later, when he cries to Tricia he needs to go to the hospital, she hilariously responds bluntly, “You’re fine.”)

Esther is returned to Albright’s home by a local police officer. There, they try to kill her while Allen is away on business. A fire starts in the house. Esther kills Gunner with his handheld crossbow and fencing foil. Tricia is distressed over her son’s death but gets over it quickly by chasing the imposter through the home and onto the mansion’s roof. The house is in flames, and when Allen arrives home, he thinks they are just trying to escape the fire onto the rooftop.

By the time he arrives, both have slipped and are holding on for dear life, hanging from the gutters. Tricia begs Allen to save her because Esther is a 30-plus-year-old imposter, but his “daughter” tells him she’s lying. Both women have their hands slip, but it’s Esther Allen has hung onto. Tricia is killed instantly when she lands, and her head hits the curb. When Allen hugs Esther’s face with his hands, her false teeth become loose. He then screams, “What are you?” It looked like Esther pushed Allen, and he fell to his death.

Esther is now an orphan. (I’m wondering if she now has a large inheritance from the Albright family trust). While sitting at the therapist’s office, she sits with a social worker and a child therapist as they discuss finding a nice family to place her with.

What did you think of the Paramount + film Orphan: First Kill and the ending? Comment below.

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