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Warning: This post contains spoilers for the finale of Furious.

By the end of the eighth and final episode of the first season of Furious, billionaire Jay Easton (Peter McRobbie) is dead, Catherine (Lola Petticrew) is in prison, and Alice (Emmy Rossum) has secured a full-time position working under Nora (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) in the Bureau's basement-level sex crimes unit. But not all was as simple as it seemed, as creator Elizabeth Meriwether's cat-and-mouse thriller still had a final twist up its sleeve.

Over the course of its first seven episodes, Furious tracked NYPD homicide detective-turned-probationary FBI duty agent Alice's hunt for serial killer Catherine, a sex trafficking survivor targeting wealthy, high-profile men involved in her past abuse. Along the way, we learned Catherine's primary motive was not simply retributive justice, but rather a desire to uncover the truth about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of her best friend and first love Isabel (Larissa Campos) at the Easton estate over a decade earlier. With the help of Nora's corrupt boss Ed (Danny McCarthy), Jay covered up Isabel's death to shield his involvement in a prolific child sexual abuse and trafficking ring. Catherine is convinced Jay himself killed Isabel, but due to the severe memory distortion she suffers from as a result of her trauma, she can't fully remember what happened on that fateful night.

After Catherine's fiancé Alden (Steve Way) gave Alice's former partner Danny (Scoot McNairy) a flash drive containing years of incriminating evidence against Jay and his associates, it was revealed there was a folder containing an illicit video of a then-14-year-old Alice being abused by one of the men within Jay's network. Episode 7 then ended with Alice tracking down Catherine and, instead of arresting her, manipulating her into driving out to Jay's Connecticut estate while Alice followed closely behind in order to orchestrate an incident that would allow Alice to search Jay's compound and arrest him without handing over the flash drive.

Who killed Isabel?

Although Episode 7 led us to believe Jay's daughter Emma (Hope Davis) was going to be exposed as the person who had killed Isabel, Furious had a much more tragic reveal on the way. While Emma was anything but innocent considering she spent years procuring underage girls for her father and destroyed evidence of his crimes to protect their family, in the finale, she helped Catherine remember that Catherine herself was the one who ultimately injected Isabel with the drugs that killed her.

On the night Isabel died, both girls had been brought to the Easton house to be abused by Jay and his men. However, Isabel had only recently given birth to her daughter Elena (Chloe Carrillo) and started hemorrhaging and crying out in pain, which led to Jay hitting her. Isabel then asked Catherine to end her life and put her out of her misery, and Catherine complied. In the present timeline, after Catherine finally came to terms with what actually happened, Alice arrests her. While the other cops who had arrived then take over the scene, Alice goes upstairs to find Jay and ends up witnessing him dying of respiratory failure—though we will soon learn that she did more than just witness his demise.

How does the finale end?

Since Emma had destroyed all the evidence at the house and Jay was no longer around to be interrogated, it initially seemed like everyone in Jay's circle was going to get off scot free while only Catherine went to prison, reinforcing the show's overarching message about our flawed justice system. But after weighing the personal cost of exposing her video, Alice decided to hand the flash drive over to Nora so she would at least be able to take Ed down.

While visiting Catherine in prison, Alice learned that Catherine had caught on to the fact that Alice had killed Jay that night by purposefully stepping on his breathing tube to cut off his oxygen supply. Alice also decided to take Nora's advice and watch the video of her abuse in order to face her trauma head on. The finale then ended with Alice using the FBI's search database to look up a list of everyone who had ever downloaded her file, implying Alice may have acquired a taste for the same method of vigilante justice Catherine had been so fond of doling out. And since it was announced on Aug. 27 that Furious has been renewed for a second season, it seems like we're eventually going to get to see Alice attempting to balance her devotion to her role as a FBI agent with her newfound thirst for vengeance against those who wronged her.

We also get a satisfying closing note to Alice and Danny's relationship, as they decompress from the events of the season during a romantic getaway at the beach house he mentioned several episodes back. As to what will happen between them in the future, Rossum tells Entertainment Weekly it's open-ended. "Now all of a sudden, they could be together, but he’s also processing not being really able to hold the totality of who she is and her secrets now that he knows the tape and has seen part of it," she says. "So I think it’s really complicated, and I think getting to watch the human toll on him, the potential partner of somebody that has been a victim of violence and sexual violence is really interesting.”

The first mail-in ballots in the country should start going out at the end of this week. It’s entirely possible that the Trump Administration’s fight over them won’t be settled for several more weeks—possibly right up to Election Day on November 3 or beyond.

The uncertainty is leaving campaign hands from both parties exasperated as they debate what to tell voters. Even the possibility that some mail-in ballots may be ignored poses very practical questions for campaigns planning out millions of dollars in spending to boost turnout. Should voters still trust mail-in ballots will still be counted? Should they instead vote early in person if they can? Should they hold their votes until Election Day itself, just to be sure?

“We’re all flying blind,” says one Democratic campaign consultant. 

“That’s the 8 million-vote question,” responds a Republican consultant when asked about how their party is adapting to the legal limbo. 

For over a year, President Donald Trump has been laying the groundwork for the U.S. Postal Service to take on a new role in deciding which mail-in ballots get to be counted, working off lists of citizens created by the Department of Homeland Security. It’s a process that experts predict would likely lead to the disenfranchisement of many legitimate voters. Most of them, it’s worth saying, are Democrats.

Last week, the Supreme Court issued an emergency order that amounted to a procedural and preliminary win for Trump’s plan, but other courts have stepped in to block it on merits. The result is growing confusion over how, exactly, the votes might—or might not—be counted come November.

Some election experts insist that things are not as urgent as either side would have you believe. “I’m annoyed, but not freaked out,” says Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank. “The court’s ruling was a procedural one, with a great deal of legal back and forth to come. The executive order is still illegal and still unconstitutional.” 

“For voters, so far, nothing has changed—and is unlikely to before Election Day,” he adds.

That doesn’t mean this isn’t a problem for campaigns at the nuts-and-bolts level. Significant resources often go into encouraging voters to request a mail ballot, and then reminding them to fill it out and return it. Should campaigns maintain their plans for that outreach, or redirect that money to get-out-the-vote efforts at early-voting sites and on Election Day? There’s no settled answer at this point, leaving a messaging mess for campaigns on the ground.

Democratic campaigns, in particular, are wondering if focusing as much on banking votes via mailed ballots is too much of a risk this cycle. Even if the Supreme Court ultimately strikes down Trump’s plan, anxiety over some other election-eve upset targeting mail ballots could deter voters from bothering to put their ballot in the mailbox. Perhaps putting more resources into in-person, on-site voting would make more sense? “This is not an easy conversation,” a long-time Democratic campaign adviser says. “We are all operating on assumptions.”

Republican campaigns separately risk running afoul of Trump if they push mail ballots too hard. In practice, GOP party strategists in Washington are advising campaigns to run their races locally and tune out the Washington noise. “Why would we not go after every vote on every day we can?” asks a second GOP operative.

How many voters cast ballots by mail?

Mail-in voting rules vary by state, but their use overall has been growing. In 2024, 29% of votes were cast by mail, accounting for tens of millions of ballots. Democrats vote by mail more than Republicans, but, depending on the analysis, as many as a quarter of Republicans voted by mail in 2024.

At the center of all this, naturally, is Trump, who has for years advanced debunked conspiracy theories that U.S. elections are rife with fraud from votes by foreign nationals, immigrants who don’t have the proper documentation, and dead people. It’s part of why he keeps insisting he won the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

In 2024, GOP advisers convinced Trump that dissuading his voters from using the mail-in option was self-sabotaging. This year, he’s swung back in the other direction, railing against mail ballots despite casting his own ballot that way for the Florida Republican primary.

The outlook around mail ballots is likely to remain muddled for at least a little while longer. But campaign managers don’t have that kind of time to settle on their plans for banking the most votes before Election Day. The first mail-in ballots are due to be ready for North Carolina voters this Friday.

El Niño is here, threatening to bring warmer global temperatures as it strengthens over the Pacific Ocean. 

“This El Niño could be a record setting event,” says Erin Coughlan de Perez, associate professor of climate science at Tufts University. 

Forecasts are anticipating it might be the strongest in living memory—but the impact will likely vary depending on where you’re located. Here’s what to expect, and how you can prepare. 

Read more: How El Niño May Test the Limits of Our Climate Knowledge

What weather can we expect El Niño to bring?

El Niño began forming in the early summer and is expected to last into 2027, reaching its peak strength in the last two months of 2026. 

The impact it has will vary. Forecasts predict that the system will bring drought conditions to southern Africa, southeast Asia, and the northern parts of South America, while parts of East Africa and the southern U.S. might see stormier weather and flooding.

An El Niño event increases global temperatures, which, coupled with rising temperatures fueled by climate change, means 2027 could shape up to be the warmest year on record, if predictions hold true. 

The impact will be felt around the world. “El Nino impacts millions of people's lives in terms of increasing the likelihood of above or below normal rainfall in some areas, which has impacts on agriculture production, crop yields, logistics, and transportation,” says Andrew Kruczkiewicz, senior researcher at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University. 

How will El Niño impact the U.S.?

In the U.S., El Niño often brings a warmer than usual winter to the northern U.S., and a wetter, cooler winter in the south, with a higher likelihood for rain and snow.  

“Much of the South, particularly the Southeast U.S. can expect to see wetter and likely cooler weather during those cool months into the late fall through the early spring,” says Emily Powell, Florida state climatologist at Florida State University, who notes that El Niño also brings increased risk for severe weather, including tornadoes to the area. 

However, it doesn’t mean these conditions are a given. “Right now we are in a moderate to strong El Niño, and it's forecast to strengthen,” says Kruczkiewicz. “Now, that doesn't necessarily mean the impacts around the world will be moderate or strong or weak or will manifest at all.” That’s because there are a number of other modes of climate variability, including the Indian Ocean Dipole (which impacts sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean) and the Madden-Julian Oscillation (a tropical atmospheric phenomenon that influences rainfall), both of which can also impact weather patterns alongside El Niño. 

How can I prepare for El Niño?

If you live in an area that’s likely to see stormy weather this winter, preparing for El Niño doesn’t have to be complicated. “People should just think about this as preparing as they would for any kind of system that would bring more rain and increase risk for flooding,” says Powell. 

Make sure the area around your home has good drainage, clear your gutters, and patch up any leaks. 

Sign up for emergency alerts and pay attention to local forecasts. “These are good for providing general awareness of what's expected in terms of whether your area will be wetter than average in the coming weeks to months,” says Powell. 

Some of the weather impacts that El Niño may bring—like snowstorms or flash floods—can come during a normal winter. It presents an opportunity for governments to make sure they’re prepared to tackle extreme weather events that are only becoming more common due to climate change. Cities can prepare in advance: setting up cooling centers and creating action plans to help those most vulnerable to extreme heat or helping residents understand flood risk and purchase flood insurance.

“El Niño years should [in theory] be the years with the fewest disasters because we have the warning. If we actually do take this seriously, and we prepare, this could be a year where we don't have big impacts,” says Coughlan de Perez. “We shouldn't be surprised. We shouldn't be caught unaware.”

Funding cuts to federal agencies, including NOAA and the National Weather Service, however, is leading to some concerns about U.S. preparedness levels when it comes to facing extreme weather. According to the Center for American Progress, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s funding has been drained to “emergency” levels. 

“We need the weather service to give us the heads up, as you know, as early as possible,” says Coughlan de Perez. “They need really good staffing. They need a lot of investment. And I would hope that we are making that investment, for the American people, in our government to provide these warnings.”