Max is full of hidden gems. Initially, these movies may not have been on your must-watch 2024 movie schedule, but now, you can’t stop thinking about them. This is the case with Caddo Lake. It’s one of Max’s best movies to watch right now. It’s thrilling, complex, and memorable. The Caddo Lake ending adds to the film’s exciting depth.
It stars Dylan O'Brien, Eliza Scanlen, and Lauren Ambrose. In Caddo Lake, protagonists Paris (O’Brien) and Ellie (Scanlen) each want to solve a personal and challenging mystery. For Paris, he needs to know the exact cause of his mother’s death. Ellie needs to find her sister, Anna (Caroline Falk). The movie takes plenty of twists and turns that leave you stunned and desperate for answers.
Caddo Lake gives plenty of them but also leaves a ton of questions. Let's dive into the ending and all that comes with it.
Warning - Caddo Lake spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution.
What Happened At The End Of Caddo Lake?
In 2005, Ellie discovers that Anna has been left back in 1952. She sees images of her life from things posted online, and she prints out an image of Anna with her class in 1952. Then she returns to the lake to make her way back to 2022. Meanwhile, Paris has been taken to the hospital but he escapes.
He realizes that the missing girl, Anna, is his mother, and he helped save her life in 1952. Paris also sees his father and tells him goodbye before stealing Daniel's (Eric Lange) and Celeste’s (Lauren Ambrose) car.
The police chase Paris to a bridge, where he jumps off and attempts to get to Caddo Lake to return to his time. A dam breaks and he drowns trying to swim back.
Daniel finds Ellie on the lake. She tries to explain how they’re family but offers him some comfort by saying Anna is all right. Once back home, as they watch the news report of Paris’s death, Ellie shows Celeste the picture from 1952 of Anna. Ellie comforts her mother and says Paris and Anna were trying to get back to them. They hug.
How Time Travel Works In The Film
Caddo Lake has a very intriguing, complex time-traveling model. It relies on Caddo Lake’s water level. Low water level opens the portal. Paris notices that most of Anna’s seizures and bleeding ears happen when there is a drought. That’s also why Paris must make it back because the level of the water (due to the rain) will be too high for him to return to 2003.
Like many great time-travel movies, Caddo Lake has its own specific rules. One of them likely is that time travel happens in a loop. Everything that happens to Ellie has happened before. We know that she met her mother in 2005 before we actually see it happen because Celeste mentions meeting a woman who attacked her, and it's only later that we see Ellie turn out to be that woman in the parking lot.
After Anna’s disappearance, the boat is missing because another Ellie took it while the current Ellie was still confused about the lake’s powers. This makes it seem like things in Caddo Lake can never change because everything is stuck in a loop. Therefore, Paris could never really save Anna, and Anna would always end up in 1952.
Caddo Lake doesn’t seem to confirm the idea that time traveling on the Lake is specific to the Lang family, or that they’re just the ones we witness doing it. Paris tries to show Celeste (Diana Hopper) how the lake works but it doesn’t work at that moment because the water pressure is too high. Therefore, there is a chance that she would have been able to travel too if they came at the right time. Most likely, everyone who finds the portals when it’s open can travel.
A supposed consequence of all the time travel is the ear bleeds, seizures, and arm trembles. We know this is a consequence, and not what triggers it, because these things happen even when these characters are not going through the portal.
However, they are linked to when the portals are open, and when the water level is low. This is why certain years Anna has them.
The Complex Family Tree In Caddo Lake
The Lang family tree has almost as complicated of a family tree as some of the greatest soap opera dynasties. Yet, somehow, more confusing. Let’s break down all the familial connections.
- Anna is Ellie’s stepsister.
- Anna gets lost in 1952 and decades later marries Ben Lang (Sam Hennings).
- Ben and Anna are Paris’s parents.
- Paris and Celeste are Ellie’s parents.
- Anna is Ellie’s grandmother and her stepsister.
- Daniel is Anna’s father with an unknown Florida woman.
- Daniel marries Celeste.
- Daniel is Ellie’s stepfather and her great-grandfather
This family history makes Ellie’s statement at the family dinner about not being related to anyone ironic. She’s related to everyone.
The Importance Of Familial Bonds To The Plot
In an interview with Howard’s Haunt, Caddo Lake co-writer and director Logan George mentions that after his mother’s passing, he heard stories about her from his partner and Caddo Lake co-writer and director Celine Held. This sparked the idea of the mysteries of our parents. We don’t know much about their lives before us.
A central theme of Caddo Lake is the bonds of family and how even when broken, they can be repaired. We see this with Celeste and Ellie. They have this volatile relationship due to a lot of toxic history between them. However, Ellie’s journey to find Anna and understand Paris’s disappearance allows her to understand Celeste better as well.
In an interview with Pop Culture Unplugged, George mentions how he wants Caddo Lake to bring families together and encourage some understanding between child and parent and life before the child. Celeste and Ellie’s relationship represents that hope for the movie
The Celeste and Ellie dynamic is one of the driving relationships, but Paris’s relationship with Anna, and Ellie’s relationship with Paris are just as crucial to the story. It seems like Anna and Paris had a loving relationship based on how he made it his mission to try to understand her death. His grief overpowers him to where he can’t let go.
Saving Anna as a child may give him some closure for not being able to save her in the car accident but it may come too late.
Ellie never meets Paris, which is one of Caddo Lake’s greatest tragedies and something we wish happened. However, the movie is stronger because it doesn’t give viewers what they want.
Grief can’t easily be resolved by changing fate. The film’s messages about loss work because George and Held end Caddo Lake on a somber note. They explain this decision to leave loose ends in an interview with The Movie Blog.
We knew we didn’t want to tie things up neatly. Grief and loss are messy, and we wanted that reflected in the story. Ultimately, we wanted people to walk away wanting to call their loved ones, to remind them that these relationships, even when fragile, are what really matter.
The Wolves And Other Phenomena In Caddo Lake
Wolves and moths are recurring creatures in Caddo Lake. This allows everyone to know that something unusual is happening. The film never directly explains the moths, wolves, and dead alligator. However, we can make some guesses.
In 1952, the men around the lake mentioned the wolves. This could mean that wolves were common in the 1950s or constantly traveled through the portals to different times. The same goes for the moths. With the alligator, we can assume that maybe it died because it went somewhere in time where something stronger than an alligator killed it.
The other option is it got trapped between the portal while it was closing and that caused the perfect cut. We also see a lot of items in the lake. These are likely things stuck in it from past travelers. This also supports the theory that the Caddo Lake time traveling isn’t specific to the Lang family. Many may have gone through the portal and these items reflect stuff lost.
Caddo Lake is one of Dylan O’Brien’s best movies and an excellent family sci-fi drama. It’s one of the best movies to watch on Max.
