Shoot the Messenger finished its first season with answers to the series’ central mystery, but uncovering the truth led to a far-from-happy ending.
The finale picked up minutes after attorney general Sam Charles (Ari Cohen) murdered businessman Eric Lawson’s henchman Marco DaSilva (Paulino Nunes), as his lawyers enforce the injunction on The Gazette’s story about his affair with murder victim Khaalid Suleman.
Videos by PopCulture.com
At the Gazette, Sam’s lawyers demand to see everything the paper has on him, and Mary (Alex Kingston) enlists Simon (Lucas Bryant) to help them, as Daisy (Elyse Levesque) walks away feeling defeated by the story being stalled, given all the relationships she compromised to pursue it.
Sam arrives at Chloe’s (Hannah Anderson) house to find her concerned about his whereabouts. He lies and claims he went for a long drive following the day’s tumultuous events. Chloe notices he has a cut on his hand and blood on his clothes as he showers.
At the police station, Kevin (Lyric Bent) and Ortiz (Edie Inksetter) interview Sam’s chief of staff Phil Hardcastle (Maurice Dean Wint), who they arrested for Hassan’s murder. The detectives are ready to nail Hardcastle when they get a call about DaSilva’s death, which changes everything.
Kevin and Ortiz question Lawson (Al Sapienza) about DaSilva’s death. Lawson tells them his henchman was selling drugs through his company, and that he had ties to the mob. Suspecting DaSilva’s death is not mob-related, Kevin and Ortiz are ordered to go to Sam for answers discretely.
The detectives visit Sam at his office and ask him questions about Hardcastle and Hassan, which he denies knowing anything. Before they walk away, Kevin asks Sam about his whereabouts the night before. Chloe lies and claims she was with him all night, and that Daisy could help him corroborate her and Sam’s relationship. Chloe then rushes back to her house and cleans Sam’s bloody clothes to cover his tracks.
Later, the police announce at a press conference that Khaalid and Hassan’s girlfriend Avril were killed by DaSilva, leaving Daisy confused as to how Sam could pay for his involvement. Daisy and Kevin meet outside the Gazette. He tells Daisy he suspects Sam might have killed DaSilva, and enlists her to try to talk to Chloe about her alibi.
Daisy also receives a text from Xannan (Shadia Ali), Khaalid’s sister and Hassan’s ex-girlfriend, who tells her Hassan’s friend Nazeem (Warsame Raghe), will talk to them about what led to Khaalid’s murder.
He reveals Hassan was supposed to work for Eric Lawson on one of his charities but was actually hired to supply drugs for his sex parties. Avril would supply the protitutes for the parties, while Nazeem and Khaalid worked as waits. However, Khaalid became involved with Harry Beauchamp and later Sam, so Hassan decided to film the video so he could get blackmail Sam so he and his friends could leave town for good.
The plan hit a snag the night of the shooting when DaSilva found out about the video and threatened to kill Hassan if he didn’t hand it over. But Hassan chose to call Daisy instead, thinking going to the press would protect him and his friends from getting killed.
After the reveal, Kevin confronts Nazeem and tells him he know he has a copy of Khaalid’s video, and promises to not charge him for any crimes if he hands it over. Nazeem gives a USB drive to Kevin and walks away.
With the video in hand, Daisy has Chloe meet her at The Gazette and shows it to her, along with photos of Khaalid and Sam being intimate. Chloe walks away, heartbroken as Mary and Simon look from afar.
Chloe then arrives at her home and confronts Sam about the video and his real relationship with Khaalid. He continues to deny he was in love with him, so Chloe asks him about DaSilva. He admits he killed DaSilva after he tried to blackmail him again. Chloe then reveals she’s wearing a wire, as Kevin walks in and arrests Sam. Daisy tries to comfort her sister, but she walks away, angry at Daisy’s story causing all this trouble.
Following the arrest, The Gazette is able to publish the whole story and the tema celebrates. Daisy tries to find comfort in Simon, but he tells her he and Cassie worked things out and walks away. Daisy may have gotten to the bottom of a huge story, but lost all the people she loved in the process.
The season comes to a heartbreaking end as viewers see Daisy head home and turn to cocaine for comfort.
Shoot the Messenger has not been officially renewed for a second season by WGN America.
