The Fury

Elliot tells the reader that he knows he idealizes Lana, and although he’s told the truth, he hasn’t held to his promise of telling the whole truth. He did so with the intention of protecting Lana but now resolves to tell the reader all of Lana’s secrets. In his telling, he goes back to the beginning, in which Lana calls Kate to invite her to Greece. Earlier, he told the reader that Lana called Kate immediately after having the idea, but in reality, an entire day passed.

When Lana has the idea to go to Greece, she goes home before she calls Kate. She makes a cup of tea and tries to figure out what has been bothering her. She wonders if it is her conversation with Leo a few days earlier.

When Leo told her he wants to be an actor, she was surprised at both the announcement and her instant reaction to it. She got angry, Leo got upset, and the conversation devolved from there. She tried to convince him to abandon the idea, but they both saw her reaction as obviously hypocritical. As they talked, she realized that he isn’t interested in acting but in being a movie star.

After their conversation, Lana called Elliot, but he wasn’t sympathetic. He pointed out that Leo could become a movie star just on the strength of his connection to her and that Leo was rich regardless. While it is true that Leo can depend on his father’s money, Lana wants him to work for a living. Leo also doesn’t know that she gave up acting after Otto’s death in order to devote all her time and energy to raising him.

She is proud of how Leo has turned out and of the life she built. She compares it positively to Kate’s life, which is chaotic and messy, but Lana can’t ignore her slight envy of Kate’s career. She knows, however, that she made the right choice and is happy to be where she is. Elliot tells the reader that fate was cruel to destroy her life just as she was finding peace.

On the day that Lana decides to go to Greece, Agathi runs her usual Tuesday errands in London. When she picks up the dry cleaning, the man gives her an earring that he found stuck on Jason’s jacket. On the way home, she wonders whether to tell Lana and considers throwing it away.

When Agathi gets home, she gives Lana the earring. Lana pretends she doesn’t know if it is hers but refuses to give it back to Agathi. Elliot tells the reader that in that moment, Lana makes a choice that leads to her fate.

Lana knows the earring isn’t hers. She recognizes it but can’t place it. She doesn’t want to lose Jason, but upon realizing that he is having an affair, her calm turns into rage. She tears their bedroom apart looking for clues and then decides to go for a walk.

Lana walks until she sees a billboard for Kate’s latest play and decides to ask for her friend’s advice. Elliot tells the reader that he wonders whether Lana already suspects Kate at this point. If she does, she banishes the feeling and goes through the theater doors.

Lana goes to Kate’s dressing room to wait for rehearsal to be finished. She looks through Kate’s things, admitting her suspicions to herself. She finds the matching earring in Kate’s makeup bag. When Kate comes in, Lana quickly hides the earrings, makes an excuse, and leaves.

That night, Lana is amazed at how she can act with Jason as if nothing is wrong. She doesn’t know how to confront him and realizes that deep down, she suspected him for some time. When she met Jason, he had been Kate’s date, but he fell for Lana and Kate stepped aside. Lana felt guilty but thought Kate and Jason’s relationship was finished. She stands on her balcony and thinks about how easy it would be to step off the edge. As she is considering it, Elliot texts her to go for a drink, and Lana decides to talk to him about everything.

Elliot tells the reader that this is when he enters the story. He applies storytelling conventions to real life, identifying Lana as the hero of his story because if he were the hero, he would’ve been introduced earlier. Elliot is a playwright and lives by the principles outlined in a book called The Techniques of Playwriting by Valentine Levy. He applies them to his story here as well, questioning the motives of the various characters, noting that Levy asserts that motive determines goal and that humans’ motives revolve around avoiding pain.

Through this understanding, Elliot believes that Lana came to him because she was in pain. Further, he decides on his own plan because he is motivated by Lana’s pain. He is trying to make her feel better, but things don’t go according to plan.

After a few drinks, Lana tells Elliot everything, and he is shocked to see her lose control. She realizes that Elliot knew about the affair or had a feeling about it. Lana is so devastated that Elliot decides she should confront them. He suggests that she invite them to Aura to do it.

The next day, Elliot stands in Lana’s kitchen while she calls Kate to invite her to the island. At this point, she and Elliot have put their plan in motion.

Lana continues to pretend that everything is fine and is surprised at how well she can do it. She is upset by how easy it is to deceive Jason, who seems oblivious. Over the next few days, she is lulled into the idea that Jason is innocent. She avoids talking to Elliot because she is afraid that he will force her to acknowledge the truth.

Lana acts distant toward Elliot from the moment he arrives on Aura. Elliot decides to remind her of their plan. He is amazed that she can act toward Jason and Kate as if nothing is wrong and realizes that if he doesn’t step in, she won’t do anything.

Kate, on the other hand, is being wild and confrontational. Even though Agathi is sleeping, she goes into the housekeeper’s room to get the crystal. When Kate whispers her question to it, however, she gets a firm “no,” which upsets her. Since then, Elliot has often wondered what Kate asked the crystal and whether everything that followed was determined by what it said.

The next morning, Elliot tries to talk to Lana, but she brushes him off. He finally catches up with her on the raft and asks what is wrong. She is bothered by the conversation they had and the way she lost control, and she doesn’t trust Elliot with the knowledge he now has. When he tries to reassure her, she dives off the raft.

When they return to the house, Elliot pretends to go inside but instead follows Lana as she follows Kate. They both watch from behind the trees as Kate meets Jason at the ruin. When they kiss, Lana drops to her knees, but Elliot is relieved that she is seeing proof that she can’t deny. Lana rushes back to the house and Elliot follows, concerned.

Lana goes to Jason’s gun room and takes a handgun off the rack. She goes back outside and points the gun at Jason, who is walking toward the house on the lower level. Jason doesn’t see her, and Elliot wonders if she will really shoot, but when Leo approaches Jason, Lana lowers the gun. When Leo looks up and waves, Lana hides the gun, returns the wave, and then turns quickly to go inside.

In her bedroom, Lana is still frightened by what she almost did. When Agathi comes in, she knows that something is wrong, but Lana won’t tell her. Agathi leaves the room after putting her crystal on the dresser for Lana to use. Lana murmurs a question, and the crystal says “yes.”

At that moment, the winds around the island begin to stir, signaling the beginning of “the fury.”

After dinner on Mykonos, Elliot steps out onto the veranda to avoid Kate. He watches through the window as she offers Jason a drink, which he refuses. Lana gives Kate a warning look. When Lana wants Jason to come to bed with her, Kate asks him to stay, and both Elliot and Lana realize that Kate is not angry with either of them but with Jason.

Lana suggests that Jason choose between herself and Kate. Jason sees Elliot watching from the veranda and directs his anger at him, attacking him. Kate pulls Jason away, and he turns to talk to Lana, but she is gone.

Nikos is in his cottage, drinking, listening to the wind, and thinking of Lana. He fantasizes that she will stay on the island with him. He shuts his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them again, Lana is really there. She asks for his help.

Elliot, Jason, and Kate remain in the living room. Kate wants to talk with Jason, but he leaves the room without speaking. Elliot makes her a drink. He tells Kate that Jason will never leave Lana for her. Kate wonders aloud why he cares and then realizes, from Elliot’s expression, that he is in love with Lana, and she hurries out of the room.

Elliot, left alone, imagines what is happening: Kate is looking for Jason, and Jason is looking for Lana. Elliot imagines Jason finding her at the ruin, Lana distant at first and then blaming herself but acting brave. Jason falls for it and begs for her forgiveness. Elliot hopes that won’t happen and decides that he needs to trust Lana.

Nikos is shocked by what Lana wants him to do. She offers him her diamond necklace as payment, but instead, he asks for a kiss. She agrees, and he agrees to her request. After leaving Niko’s cottage, Lana goes to the ruins alone. She hears a twig snap in the trees and turns. Three gunshots sound out, and Lana falls to the ground.

Leo finds Lana’s body first. He is followed closely by Agathi, Elliot, and Jason. Kate appears a little bit later, and her arrival spurs Leo to action. He cradles Lana’s body against his own, allowing no one else near it. Jason directs Agathi to call the Mykonos police and then turns to the house to get a gun, thinking there is an intruder on the island. After he leaves, Leo remembers hiding the guns and runs after him.

Kate returns to the house, and Jason tells her the guns are missing. Leo tells them about hiding the guns in the chest, but when they open it, the chest is empty. Kate wonders where Nikos is. He announces himself behind them. He is holding a gun and refuses to give it to Jason. Elliot enters the kitchen to tell them that Agathi spoke to the Mykonos police, who can’t come to the island because of the wind. They will attempt it at dawn, which is five hours away.

Although Elliot thinks it’s a waste, he, Jason, and Nikos are assigned to check the island for intruders. They scour the property until it becomes clear that they are the only ones on the island, which means the murderer is one of them.

Elliot tells the reader that he knows there are audience expectations when telling a story like this—readers think they know how the story will go. This story doesn’t happen like a conventional murder mystery, but for a moment, he imagines what it would look like if the story unfolded the way Agatha Christie might have written it.

Christie, he contends, would’ve had a dapper Greek detective arrive on the island. He would’ve interviewed everyone, beginning with Leo, quickly realizing that no one has an alibi for the crime, as they were all alone. Elliot would try to convince the detective that he has no motive, but the truth is, Lana left him money in her will.

Elliot wants the reader to believe that Jason is the murderer, but according to the alibis, it could’ve been any of them. He doesn’t think that Agathi, Kate, or Leo did it and believes that Nikos is too obvious a suspect. In Elliot’s hypothetical scenario, the detective announces the murderer to them, but Elliot doesn’t reveal the solution. He tells the reader that the real story is messier and unpredictable. In reality, by the time the police arrived, the murderer had already been discovered, and the island was in chaos.