We knew the fallout from last episode wasn’t going to disappear overnight. Words can be explained, but hurt takes much longer to heal. That’s why Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ AKA the season finale forces Elle to live with the consequences of her choices, even the ones she never meant to make.
For the first time all season, she reaches a point where believing in herself isn’t enough to fix what’s broken. She has to decide whether she’s still the girl who refuses to give up or whether she’s willing to let disappointment define her. In doing so, the finale reminds us that finding home isn’t about where life is easiest. It’s about the place that keeps calling you back, even after you’ve convinced yourself you’ve lost it forever. Ready?
Here we go!
Sometimes Saying “I’m sorry” Isn’t Enough
Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ picks up exactly where Episode 7 left us, and the damage Shannon caused is immediate. Everyone assumes the worst about Elle, especially the friends she fought so hard to earn. They believe she only pretended to care about Donna and the school because she wanted to secure her dream internship and return to Los Angeles.
And yeah, seeing them look at her that way broke us.
The only person willing to stand up for Elle is Dustin. And we have to admit we were disappointed that Miles didn’t do the same. Dustin keeps believing in Elle for as long as he can, but even he begins to struggle the more he learns about what Elle actually wrote.
Elle does everything she can to explain herself. She tells them those words don’t reflect who she is now. Deep down, they never truly reflected who she was at all. She wrote them when she felt completely rejected, when she had nowhere to put her frustration except onto the page. Yes, the things she wrote were cruel. But they came from hurt, not from how she saw the people around her.
But no matter how honest she is, in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ nobody believes her.
Seeing the disappointment in her friends’ eyes leaves Elle devastated. She wishes she could go back and erase every single word she wrote, but that’s impossible. Once those words are out in the world, she has to live with them. And that’s exactly why her confrontation with Eva feels so good. Elle made it clear that she didn’t want the internship anymore. She didn’t want to leave Seattle and go back to Los Angeles.
But Eva applied on her behalf anyway. In Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ Eva can tell herself she did it for her daughter, but she did it for herself, she did it because it’s what she wanted. Because it’s what made her own life easier. And we love that Elle confronts her with the truth.
That said, Elle had pushed back even harder. She forgives Eva far too quickly considering everything that happened. Instead of fully confronting what her mother took away from her, she immediately shifts her focus toward trying to repair the damage with her friends. We understand why she does it, but we couldn’t help wanting that conversation to last just a little longer.
Giving Up is the One Thing We Never Thought We’d See Elle Do
After facing her mother in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard,’ Elle walks back into the school determined to make things right. So she tries to explain herself one last time. But sometimes apologizing isn’t enough because people aren’t ready to forgive you.
So, when every attempt to fix things fails, Elle does something we never imagined we’d see from her: she gives up. Back in the first episodes, Elle was adamant that Seattle wasn’t going to change who she was. She wasn’t someone who quit when things got difficult. She fought for what she wanted, for what she believed, no matter how impossible it seemed.
But in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ she walks away for the first time in her life. And honestly? We don’t blame her. There comes a point where constantly fighting to prove yourself becomes exhausting. Sometimes you just want to go somewhere familiar, somewhere that doesn’t make you feel like you’re disappointing everyone around you.
Is leaving the right decision? No. Is it understandable? Absolutely.
So Elle tells Eva she’s ready to go home, and together they return to Los Angeles. But it doesn’t feel like home anymore. On paper, everything should be perfect. Elle is back with her lifelong friends, living in the city she always loved, working at the internship she once dreamed about. But none of it feels the way she imagined.
Everything feels empty. Too easy, too polished, too….predictable.
In Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ Elle feels that there are no challenges pushing her forward. No obstacles making her fight for something. No spark that makes every victory feel earned. Surrounded by people who all seem to blend together, Elle starts feeling like she’s becoming one more version of everyone else instead of the person who has always stood out because she dared to think differently.
That’s frustrating her, because she spent so long dreaming about this life, and now that she finally has it, she can’t make herself feel happy about it. She knows so many people would do anything to trade places with her, yet it still isn’t enough. Because while Los Angeles may have been the life she wanted once, her heart never really left Seattle—or the people she was forced to leave behind.
Elle Discovers that Home it’s Where She’s Grown
Even after returning to Los Angeles, Elle can’t stop thinking about Seattle. And the hardest part is that life there keeps moving without her. Nobody reaches out. Donna is the only person she can still talk to. Miles asks about her, but never finds the courage to contact her. Kimberly, Dustin, and Liz are still too hurt to do it. They all miss her, but the wound is still too fresh, and none of them are ready to pretend otherwise.
Ironically, Elle continues thriving at work for the exact same reason she’s always stood out. She isn’t afraid to think differently. That’s what makes her talented, and it’s why she keeps moving forward professionally. But in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ success isn’t enough for Elle anymore.
Her heart is still in Seattle. And all it takes is the right person giving her one final push for Elle to finally understand what we’ve been realizing alongside her. Home isn’t Los Angeles anymore. Home is Seattle. And if that’s true, then she can’t leave things the way they are.
She has to go back and fight for the life—and the people—she loves.
Eva is going through something similar in her own way. Returning to Los Angeles initially makes it seem as though everything has gone back to normal for her too, but it quickly becomes obvious that nothing is actually the same.
So in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ she finally confronts the resentment she’s been carrying toward her husband ever since everything fell apart. His mistake forced their entire family to rebuild their lives somewhere she never wanted to be, and he never truly acknowledged what that cost either her or Elle.
And we love seeing Eva finally say those feelings out loud and stop pretending that everything is fine when it clearly isn’t.
Dustin Finally Takes the Step We’ve Been Waiting For
Once Elle returns to Seattle in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard,’ there’s only one thing on her mind: she has to make things right. So she races to make it in time to see Liz perform in public for the very first time, hoping that maybe this can be the beginning of repairing everything she broke.
Thankfully, Donna has already helped Liz see that she was being too hard on Elle. So when Liz notices her in the audience, she starts playing again, letting Elle know she’s happy she’s there and that she’s forgiven her. And we´re celebrating!
Dustin, however, isn’t ready to do the same.The moment Elle approaches him, he lets all of his disappointment spill out. But what really hurts him it’s that she ran. The Elle he knows doesn’t quit. The woman he fell in love with never walks away when things get difficult. She fights for what she wants, no matter how impossible it seems. The person standing in front of him chose to leave instead, and what hurts Dustin most is that she still can’t fully admit that’s what she did.
He feels abandoned.
And seeing in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard’ how deeply she hurt him breaks Elle’s heart too. She wants to fix it. And then everything gets out of control and everything that Dustin and Elle feel for each other all over the place.
Then Dustin kisses her…and Miles sees everything. And yeah, that’s where the season leaves us. The audacy!
We have to admit that we loved seeing Dustin finally take that step in Elle Season 1 Episode 8 ‘What, Like It’s Hard.’ Throughout the season, he’s been there for Elle. He challenged her, questioned her, pushed her to be better, and never seemed intimidated by how bright she is. If anything, he always met her exactly where she was.With Miles, we’ve often had the opposite feeling. More than once, it seemed as though Elle’s light intimidated him instead of inspiring him.
That said, we’ve been saying this for a while now, and the finale doesn’t change our opinion. The show didn’t build this love triangle as well as it could have. Yes, Dustin and Elle shared cute moments throughout the season, but for most of it, those feelings felt almost one-sided from Dustin’s perspective—at least until Elle asked him to the ball.
Meanwhile, Elle spent the entire season focused on Miles, giving us very little reason to think she saw Dustin as anything more than a friend. Because of that, this final kiss loses some of the impact it should have had. We´re rooting for Dustin and Elle together, but we wish the series had spent more time building the romance between them so this ending felt as earned as it deserved to.
Other Things We Love About Elle Season 1 Episode 8
- Finally Kimberly and Liz gave each other the chance they deserved! Our heart was already broken for Kimberly from the pressure of having to pretend to be someone she’s not just because her mom doesn’t accept her. We want more of them in season 2!
- Madison is always supporting Elle and understanding that she’s still her friend even though she’s changed. Love it!
- Jealous Elle is a whole other thing…
- Liz is awesome!
- We love that Shannon and Elle got the chance to clear things up and make peace.
- What will happen with Elle’s parents? Will they get divorced?
- Who will elle follow? Because she feels something for Dustin, but also for Miles and Shannon gave her blessing, which was the only thing holding her back…
- We need season 2 now!
Elle Season 1 is available to stream now only on Prime Video.
