Memory Of A Killer Boss Explains Killing Off [Spoiler], That Finale Cliffhanger, And More

The following post contains spoilers for Monday's "Memory of a Killer" finale.

Angelo Flannery's double life has collapsed into one single, messy existence.

Fox's freshman drama "Memory of a Killer" — which was just renewed for Season 2 earlier today — wrapped its first season on Monday night, and the jam-packed finale completely dissolved the already-blurry line between Angelo's (Patrick Dempsey) personal and professional lives. Yes, Angelo took down adversary Agent Grant (Gina Torres), but that win came at a cost: Grant orchestrated the fatal stabbing of Angelo's love interest, Nicky (Michaela McManus), then anonymously sent a file folder to his daughter Maria's (Odeya Rush) home that revealed the details of many of Angelo's recent hits.

The folder also contained the address of Angelo's secret New York City apartment, and at the end of the episode, Angelo was shocked to find Maria — who had just given birth a couple of days ago! — at his apartment door. He was smart enough to let her in, and she faced him with a clear request: "Dad, I want you to tell me the truth."

Elsewhere in the finale, Angelo and Dutch's (Michael Imperioli) relationship soured a bit after Dutch got word that Angelo might have a daughter, and Angelo's early Alzheimer's symptoms appeared to worsen when he forgot Maria's name for the first time.

Below, "Memory of a Killer" co-showrunner Aaron Zelman breaks down the finale's biggest developments with TVLine, and teases what to expect in the now-official Season 2. (At the time of our interview, "Memory of a Killer" had not yet been renewed.) Keep scrolling for his insights, then react to the finale in a comment!

TVLINE | So much happens in this finale that I hardly know where to start. Let's go with Maria finding out about her dad's double life — tell me about the choice to end Season 1 on that cliffhanger, and not wait until a potential Season 2 for her to figure out what's going on.

Yeah, that really is the big one, right? From early on in the season — Episode 2, really — we tease the possibility that Maria knew something was off with her father. The idea that she might be on to him — or she is on to him — was something we thought about many times in different ways, in terms of when that might happen. And then we thought, "Well, that's kind of a great way to end the whole season," and we didn't want to do it in a way that was so cliffhanger-y that it feels like Angelo could easily wiggle his way out of it. We wanted to show Maria actually looking at those files of dead people and [knowing] clearly something's really wrong here with her father. There's no intention to yank the rug out from under the audience at the beginning of Season 2 and say, "Oh, she didn't really see that, she didn't really make much of it." She saw it, and there's going to be a real reckoning between these two.

TVLINE | This might be a slightly insane question, since Maria is a new mom and all. But she's got some serious marksman skills now, and we've already seen her lying and hiding things from loved ones. Is there a chance we might see Maria get pulled into Angelo's world instead of turning away from it?

Great question, and certainly something I wouldn't want to ruin on this phone call. [Laughs] But yeah, absolutely, that's something the audience may be wondering and something that is definitely a possible way that the story could go. You'll have to tune in.

TVLINE | On the subject of Maria, we see Angelo forget her name for the first time in this finale. How do you and the writers want to pace out his Alzheimer's battle in a second season? I have to assume you don't want him so far gone, so quickly, that it becomes untenable for the show to continue.

You nailed it right there. It can't progress so quickly that it's untenable for him to do his job. Whether that means, in Season 2, that the entire season plays out in one week or two weeks... The flashback episode in Season 1 was very well-received, and we were very proud of it. We want to do more of those, maybe one or two, and that can slow things down. We're really interested in being as authentic as possible about the disease itself. I had a grandfather who died of it. It's so common, sadly, so I think most people have some connection to someone who's had it, and we take that very seriously. Patrick [Dempsey] takes that very seriously. 

One of the things you notice, when you know someone who goes through this, is that in the very early stages, it feels very random, right? Someone may be totally incoherent one day and then the next day, they seem fine. Even from hour to hour sometimes. That's one aspect of the disease that's very interesting to us, and it means you can forget your daughter's name one day, and the next, be clear-headed. So while we intend to be very authentic to the disease, it's also quite unpredictable, and it shows itself in strange ways.

TVLINE | And as a point of clarity: When Angelo had a vision of his brother, just before his big stand-off with Agent Grant — was that an Alzheimer's-induced hallucination? Or was that Angelo's conscience presenting itself in that moment?

That's a good question. It's funny, that's the kind of question that I suppose some writers and filmmakers don't want to answer. It's kind of a, "Hey, what do you think?" It's up to the audience to decide. And so that's what I'll say. In our minds, it's pretty clear what it is. Let me put it this way: It's one of the things you mentioned just now, but not the other. [Laughs] And if you're watching the show carefully through the whole season, you can understand and guess — from the style of the shooting and stuff — that it doesn't necessarily look like other moments that are similar, if that makes sense. I'm going to leave it at that. In our minds, as the creators, it is clear what that is.

TVLINE | I was so sad to see Nicky die. I feel like we were just getting to know her. But did it feel inevitable to you all that she would have to go?

Actually, it was one of those things where [death] was the plan for her from the beginning, but there was a plan to kill her off earlier — as early as Episode 8. And we felt that she was such an interesting character foil for Angelo, but also a wonderful actor, and we liked the idea of carrying it through to the last episode. People enjoy seeing some romance with Patrick, they're so used to seeing him as a romantic lead, and that's for good reason. But also, how do you have any kind of genuine connection with someone when this is your life, and this is your job? It was something we wanted to explore a little bit deeper, so we actually extended her until the end.

TVLINE | I know Michaela McManus had been cast in a pilot for NBC, and I was curious if that had anything to do with the choice. But it sounds like it didn't!
Oh, you know too much! [Laughs] No, it didn't, that was a coincidence. We were always planning on [Nicky's death].

TVLINE | By the end of this finale, Dutch is clearly feeling some type of way about Angelo possibly having a daughter. Is he mostly feeling betrayed that Angelo didn't tell him about his family? Or does he feel more that a daughter is bad for their business?

Oh, that's a great question. That's a great question, and something that will be explored in Season 2. There's going to be an aspect of both of those things. One of the things we just love about this dynamic — and we want to really dive into it deeper, with flashbacks and with other things — is they always seem to be feeling each other out, and it always seems like they can't quite trust each other. Why is that? What are the roots of that, really? And is there a more specific reason that Angelo doesn't want Dutch to know about his family? Is there a more personal reason other than just the fact of him having a family? Maybe there is. There's lots of different ways that could go, and lots of different meanings it could have that Angelo's been withholding this information.

And, as you say, yes, it's a liability for Dutch in the sense that it's bad for business. Somebody could hold it over Angelo that he's got a daughter, and threaten her, but it's also that these two are supposedly lifelong friends. What does it mean when a close partner of yours has kept a giant secret from you? What other secrets is he keeping from you, right? Dutch has to ask himself those questions.

"Memory of a Killer" fans, what did you think of the season finale? Are you glad to hear a second season is definitely happening? Grade Monday's episode in our poll below, then drop a comment with all of your thoughts!