The Devastating 'Love Story' Ending, Explained

Now, neither John nor Carolyn necessarily want to do a separation...and end up sleeping together instead. Despite the tension that still exists between them, and their lack of true vulnerability or communication, America's favorite couple has a date at the Indian restaurant from their first date. Carolyn finally admits how hard it is to let her guard down — but how much she wanted to let John in the more she got to know him.

The couple seems to make up again (and makes a public appearance at the Newman’s Own/George Awards gala), before hopping in their tiny private plane with Carolyn's sister Lauren (Sydney Lemmon). They're headed to Martha's Vineyard before Rory Kennedy's wedding in Hyannis Point — but things quickly spiral.

Anyone who's familiar with the story of John Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette knew what was coming at the end of Love Story: during their plane ride to Martha's Vineyard, the weather gets so bad that John loses sight of the horizon before crashing the plane. All three lose their lives.

EW reports that John "was not trained for instrument flying. He was trained to look outside to get his visual cues," according to retired aircraft accident investigator Jeff Guzzetti. Gary Ginsberg, a friend of John's, adds that he "was a guy who loved to challenge himself physically, mentally, professionally, personally, and thrill-seeking was kind of part of all that." Not to mention the fact that the haze was so strong, other pilots decided to cancel their flights.

Now, of course no one really knows what those final moments were like but in the show, Carolyn crawls up to join John in the cockpit, and then stays by his side as the plane goes down. In real life, the New York Times reported that "all three victims were 'near and under' the fuselage, still strapped in," when they were located.

"It was 17 seconds from the time they began to divert from their flight path to the time they impacted the ocean," Guzzetti revealed in JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography (via People).

As devastating as it is to witness the deaths of John, Carolyn, and her sister Lauren, it's almost worse to see their families have to live in the aftermath. The trio is reported missing for a little while, but Caroline (Grace Gummer) has a total meltdown in her husband's arms when he confirms their bodies had been found.

Carolyn's mother Ann (Constance Zimmer), who was worried about Carolyn marrying John in the first place, now has to live with the media frenzy surrounding the crash, reports that the crash was caused by Carolyn delaying the trip (which, in reality, didn't seem to hit publications until 2003), and the press basically ignoring the fact Lauren was also on the plane.

Caroline wishes that she had reached out to Carolyn during her struggles, and will forever regret the fact she didn't, and expresses that she'd liked to have known Lauren better.

And while some members of the Kennedy family want John to be buried with his parents, it's decided that their ashes will be scattered at sea. This feels like a sweet callback to the moment John and Carolyn shared in their wedding episode, staring out at the ocean, enjoying the sweet silence of a beach sunrise.

In the final moments of Love Story, John and Carolyn sit in the sunlight on a beach dune, "Death Is Nothing At All" being read over them. The real emotional gut punch of this shot to me is the fact their faces are obscured by beach grasses; you can never really get a clear view of them. They're just out of reach, on the other side of the veil.

If you've been on the internet in the last month, then you've probably seen all the fan edits, premiere pictures, and interviews showing love to the cast — but you might have also seen the negative reaction from Caroline Kennedy's son Jack Schlossberg (who called the show a "grotesque display") and John's ex Daryl Hannah (who called her portrayal in the series "appalling" in The New York Times).

"Throughout this process, we’ve tried to approach all the characters with sincerity," executive producer Brad Simpson told People. "Our writers, [creator] Connor [Hines], Ryan and the producers — we all love these characters, and we have great respect for the Kennedy family. It’s been an honor to bring JFK Jr. and Carolyn to a generation who maybe didn’t know them as well. I hope we’ve done right by them."

"I think it’s hard to miss how much we love the characters," Nina Jacobson agreed. "It’s a love story. It’s pretty critical that you really love them, and you really want them to be together."