Why did Grace go to Mexico?

If the producers werent under pressure to wrap it up they probably never would. Seemed like it took forever to develop the angel story line because it always seemed like they were going off on other story lines that didnt seem to go far. I understand it was part crime drama but they always advertised the angel aspect of the show but every episode had so little to do with Earl...Like it was a side story or a hook just to get people watching.
I found the ending to be dissapointing but at least we got one at all.

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.

I'm guessing that Grace's guilt drove her to go to Mexico, to catch a glimpse of the life Esperanza might have had had she not been killed by Grace.

Dying so young, she never had a chance to wear a beautiful dress like the one Grace put on, never had a chance to have her quinceañera. The bracelet was most likely meant for Esperanza on her birthday as it is traditional for girls turning 15, when becoming young women, to wear a piece of jewelry other than earrings, typically a necklace or bracelet.

The wedding shop that's in the photo was yet another milestone that was denied to the little girl. She would never get married, have a family of her own -- thanks to Grace. She sat on the very bench that the little girl did when the photo was taken. Grace is putting herself in the girl's place, trying to make up for what she's done, but of course it's all in vain.

That guy in the white suit, I'd say he's most likely an uncle or close family friend to the girl celebrating her quinceañera. The other girl, probably her best friend. He could even be something important locally. He's only important in that when he asks Grace what her name is, she replies that it is Esperanza.

Those girls tried to cheer Grace up and invited her to the party. She gives the girl Esperanza's bracelet because that way it wouldn't have gone to waste. It was as if the little girl did finally get to have her quinceañera through this other girl. It was the most Grace could do for Esperanza.

When she says that she went all that way there to give it to her, she doesn't mean it literally although it does come off like that. She was trying to give Esperanza a chance at a life she felt she had stolen from her and finding this other girl, just brought it all full circle for her.

The odd thing is how it all begins when she heading to Mexico. Hitchhiking, sleeping with the driver and accepting payment for sex like a whore. This is how she views herself. She can't go much lower. And then she tries to exclude herself completely from the equation and just focuses on Esperanza and the life she might have had.

As for Neely, following the balloon led Grace to the alley where she found her dead. Do I really need to say that God sent the balloon so she could find her? How did Neely end up in Mexico? Maybe she went there to escape Grace/Earl/God. She wanted to die and would find a way eventually. She had given up. But Grace had also failed her. Tying her up, leaving her alone, taking her stash and getting high on it -- none of that was going to help Neely and it certainly did nothing to help Grace.

When Rhetta freed Neely, it was probably the worst thing she could have done but it all comes back to many of the stories that Earl told Grace, about how things have consequences that we can't always foresee. A woman goes out in the middle of the night to buy milk for her children and dies due to a slip on the ground and hitting her head. A million different things could have happened that prevented that accident, just as a million different things might have prevented Grace from killing Esperanza with her car. No one can see the path they are on, except for God, and it's completely out of our control.

That ocean? Well where Grace went was Nuevo Laredo, a border town near Texas and on the eastern shore near the Gulf of Mexico. Nuevo Laredo was where Esperanza's family was from, and it was on the sign of the Wedding Shop in that photo that Grace had of the girl.

Earl didn't take her there. She went on her own, hitching rides down to Mexico and turning tricks for cash. He looks on as she walks out into the water. Will she try to drown herself? Or swim back to shore?

Yeah, that was Neely.


There are no atheists in hell.

yes--that was her body in the alley--
apparently Earl wisked her down to Mexico for Grace to find her and realize that she had to do the final "right thing" for her by taking her body back to New Orleans to bury her with her folks...
of course this was accomplished by angel-magic since transporting a dead body across international border is usually frowned upon without all kinds of special paperwork--

Frankly I think Grace died in the ocean--based on what she told Earl when they were dining at sunset before she went off to kill herself in the warehouse at the end...
all that transpired in Mexico was just pretty crappy writers' mind-f---
of the audience...they had to extend the story line and that was a good a way as any to do it...since it played into the mystical aura of Grace's bonding with Earl and her task from God...
at least to them

"...That's the beauty of argument, Joey. If you argue correctly, you're never wrong..."