I have noted two themes which weave through the story: Toxic Masculinity and Revenge. They are tied together, the former leading to the latter, specifically in response to the brutal assault on Nina. Cassie is consumed by the attack which, as she sees it, led directly to Nina's suicide and to Cassie dropping out of medical school. The attack on Nina not only resulted in Cassie losing her best friend, but also losing her future, at least one in which Cassie would be free of grief and rage.

It is interesting to note that Cassie's approach to revenge begins rather generically, going after random men she picks up in bars while pretending to be blindingly drunk, ripe for being taken advantage of by this or that guy. However, once Ryan tells her that Al, Nina's chief assailant, is back in town, Cassie's actions become more focused on people specifically tied to the horrible event which ruined Nina's life and eventually leading to her death.

-- There is Madison, a former friend, failed to believe Nina and in effect blaming her for getting so drunk, she would allow herself to be taken advantage of.

-- There is the dean of the school who did not believe Nina's story.

-- There is the lawyer who convinced Nina to drop her case against Al.

Then there is Al himself. Subsequent to her breakup with Ryan, when she learned, he, too, was complicit in Nina's assault, Cassie goes directly into the "lion's den" by portraying someone hired to have sex with Al at his bachelor party.

Much has been made of the story's ending and Cassie's death. If you watch the video in tomorrow's article featuring Dialogue from the script and movie, you will see how the writer-director explains her thinking about the controversial culmination of the story. At one point, she did consider Cassie gaining revenge by killing Al and perhaps other men at the bachelor party event, but she dismissed that idea quickly. As I recall, her thinking was that this would make the movie just another revenge-achieved stories. She soon hit on the idea that Cassie would die at the hands of Nina's rapist, Al.

Some have conjectured that this was, indeed, Cassie's plan. It makes a certain amount of sense. For one thing, had Cassie murdered Al, she would likely get caught and face prison time, a not satisfying result. Also, it's possible she might have some survivor's guilt at work in her psyche, perhaps even a death wish so she could join Nina. The problem with that line of thinking is a simple fact: Nina fights back fiercely when Al frees himself and they get into a struggle. Even when he is smothering her with a pillow, she resists. That does not seem like the actions of someone who *wants* to die.

Some have suggested that if she didn't know she were going to die, why did she go through with her plan to have evidence sent to the lawyer which sets into motion Al's arrest? Why did she plan to have texts sent at a prearranged time? I don't think that holds water either. Cassie is smart enough to know that she is taking a huge risk -- one woman among over a dozen horny, drunk guys (she need look no further than what happened to Nina to recognize the danger she would be exposing herself to) -- thus, I think it's more likely the evidence being sent to the lawyer was a backup plan in case something did happen to her, even her potential death.

Here's an interesting thought experiment: What if Cassie had managed to kill Al? What if she had escaped and somehow not been charged with murder? Would gaining that revenge have caused her rage to abate? Would she have found closure or experienced some kind of transformative catharsis? Would she have been able to move on with her life and put Nina's death behind her?

I don't think so. I suspect she would have, at the very least, never lived a "normal" life, and quite possibly would have continued to get back at men, one by one, returning to where we first met her: this random guy... that random guy.

Thus, my take on the ending is that as tragic as it is that Cassie dies, for her character arc, it fits. In fact, I am inclined to think of it as being inevitable. She was leading a life-less life. She met Ryan. A chance to lead a life touched by love and joy. When that got yanked away from her with what in effect is Ryan's betrayal, based on the reveal of his past involvement with Nina's assault, that crushes whatever hopes she may have had to lead any sort normal life. Her death, while horrendous, at least gives her some peace, one armed with the knowledge that even after death, she's going to make Al pay and get a brutally ironic last dig at Ryan.

In writing this on the fly, I was thinking I might stumble upon another theme, maybe even a central theme hiding in plain sight, but in the end, I do think the main ones are Toxic Masculinity and Revenge, tied at the hip as far as Cassie is concerned, both connected to the specific events which destroyed Nina's life.