‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ Episode 3 Ending Explained: Is [SPOILER] Dead?!

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Episode 3 ended on a brutal, jaw-dropping cliffhanger that will leave viewers fearing for the fate of a core character. So rather than make you wait a week in suspense, we went straight to the source and asked the Apple TV star to weigh in…

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Episode 3 spoilers ahead.

While Paula (Tatiana Maslany) was considering a major offer from Karl (Jake Johnson) and trying to track down her blackmailer in Episode 3, Dennis (Murray Bartlett) was trying to track her down. He bought four pairs of pink soccer cleats identical to the ones Hazel (Nola Wallace) lost, put tracking devices in each, and dropped them off at nearby elementary schools and waited for her to lead him to Paula. His plan was a success, sort of! While he did track Hazel and tailed the car she got into after soccer practice, Paula wasn’t driving. Mallory (Jessy Hodges) was behind the wheel!

Assuming he’d found Hazel’s mom, Dennis followed Mallory on her bike ride in the park, and with minutes left in the episode, he jumped out from behind a bush and attacked her. When she flew off her bike onto the ground, he zip tied a black plastic bag over her head and prepared to finish her off with a knife until he noticed she didn’t have the same ankle tattoo he saw on Paula’s leg when she fled from him in Episode 2. Realizing he’d attacked the wrong woman, Dennis pivoted his plan and stole Mallory’s watch and jewelry to stage a robbery. He ran off, leaving her alone, injured, and helpless in the park. And the last time we saw her, she was breathing shallowly from beneath the black bag. So is Mallory dead on Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed?!

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Episode 3 Ending Explained: Is Mallory Dead?!

Looking for Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Episode 3’s ending explained? Wondering if Dennis killed Mallory at the end of Episode 3, or if she’ll be on the road to recovery in Episode 4? Decider spoke with Jessy Hodges about Episode 3’s dark cliffhanger, why she was “very excited” when she read the script, and whether Mallory is alive.

“I was very excited when I saw that,” Hodges said when asked about Episode 3’s intense ending. “From an actor perspective, it was so much fun to shoot. I got to work with Murray for a little, and I was biking around I think it’s called Forest Park for like ten hours one day in the most beautiful weather.”

From a character perspective, however, Mallory will absolutely be traumatized by the experience. Though the situation is dire when Episode 3 ends, she is still alive when the credits roll. “Chunnel” saw Mallory and Karl inviting Paula a move to Boise, Idaho with them so Mallory could accept a big career opportunity and Paula wouldn’t have to be apart from Hazel. But Paula refused to accept the olive branch and vowed to fight to keep Hazel in the city with her, her friends, her soccer team, and her routine.

Assuming Mallory recovers from the attack, which it sounds like she does, Hodges told Decider that the scary experience will only accelerate her desire to leave the city and likely add more fuel to the fiery dynamic with Paula.

“I think it actually intensely shifts the way that she’s thinking about New York City, and therefore, what ends up happening throughout the rest of the season with their family,” Hodges told Decider. “I think everyone has a New York moment where it’s like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Like, ‘I can’t be here anymore.’ And I think that’s Mallory’s, when you have something violent or dangerous happen to you.”

Tune in next week to see what Episode 4 has in store for Mallory and the rest of Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed‘s characters. While you wait, be sure to read our interview with Murray Bartlett about his standout Episode 3 performance.

New episodes of Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV.