The Burbs Episode 6 revealed who killed Alison Grant, and the answer is more complicated than it sounds due to an unexpected twist. At the center of the mystery of Peacock's new original comedy thriller series is what really happened to Alison, a young girl who lived in the Hinkley House at Ashfield Place, who mysteriously disappeared two decades ago in March 2005 and was presumed dead by everyone inside the village.
According to Samira's (Keke Palmer) husband, Rob (Jack Whitehall), the small town gossip revealed that Alison was actually murdered by an unknown suspect, and her case remained unresolved ever since. However, the finale ultimately revealed the twisted backstory behind Alison's fate in The Burbs.
What Really Happened to Alison Is Unpacked in The Burbs Episode 6
The Burbs revealed various theories from the neighbors about what happened to Alison, with some speculating that she was killed by her own parents and buried in their basement, while Samira theorized that the house's new owner, Gary, was the one who killed Alison and returned to the present day to "bask in the sick glory of having gotten away with it."
However, none of those theories proved correct, as the show's unexpected twist began to unravel as early as Episode 5, when it confirmed that Rob and Naveen were actually childhood friends with Alison and that she was still alive and posing as Betsy Wilson (Gary's wife).
As it turned out, The Burbs revealed that Alison was initially kidnapped by an unknown suspect known as John, later identified as Walters, the neighborhood sanitation worker. This is a big twist because nobody expected it to be Walters (others have theorized that it was Gary, Rob, or Naveen).
Episode 6 then revealed that Alison actually faked her death after she managed to escape from Walters and went into hiding, and lived under the alias Betsy. This means Alison was the one who fake-killed herself by staging her death in order to keep the real suspects away from her scent.
She formed an alliance with Gary and mapped out a plan to discover the culprit behind her disappearance. Gary agreed to work with her because he was also investigating his brother, Hank's, disappearance.
Samira, Rob, Naveen, and the other neighbors initially thought Gary was the suspect, but Alison pointed out that he had been on her side all along, helping uncover the real suspects because they believed they were still living in Ashfield Place.
The Real Suspects Get Unmasked in The Burbs Episode 8
The Burbs Episode 8 (the finale) revealed the gut-wrenching truth about Ashfield Place and how dangerous Walters really is. Walters manipulated Gary by leading him to believe he had information about Hank, but Walters got the better of him by knocking him out. He would then trap Samira and Alison in the bunker, leaving them powerless to escape.
An ensuing confrontation happened, ultimately allowing Alison to strike Walter in the head, which led to his sudden death. Naveen took the fall, and Danny (Agnes' son-in-law and a cop) agreed that it was self-defense. Alison made amends with Rob, Naveen, and Samira, leaving the town for good, but chose to keep in touch with them this time. Alison also left the key to her vintage house to Samira and Rob so that they can take care of it while she is gone.
However, the plot thickened after it was revealed that Walters was only a hired gun, and Samira believed that the true suspects were hiding in plain sight: none other than Agnes and Kate, two members of the Hinkley Hills Homeowners' Association (HOA).
Samira deduced that Agnes and Kate (and some other unnamed members of the HOA) were getting rid of everyone who went against the town in some way to maintain Hinkley Hills' reputation as the safest town in America. They planned everything because she wanted to renovate Alison’s house to match the rest of the neighborhood's aesthetic, so their village would be named one of the best towns in the United States.
There was a deeper conspiracy happening in Hinkley Hills, and the final shot of Season 1 showed Naveen being tied up in the back of Kate's car after she drugged him during their date, leaving his fate up in the air and setting up a potential second season.
