I do think in a lot of ways the ending is beautiful. Ivory finally finds comfort in a home, even with its flaws caused primarily by one man, she has found her people, and so have many of the people there. There is still the pain and unanswered grief around Misty, the Hemlock's mother, and Zombie, but the Hemlock's have each other and the servants have each other and there is some overlap as well. They can survive they can get through it with time.
Unfortunately Kantje didn't have time. He was desperate. A desperation caused by Zombie Hemlock, and a simple way to get back at him and his wealth that he does not care to share and help people, like himself, his friends, and especially his family. That desperation leads him to do what he does without consideration of what would actually happen. To examine the possibilities and dangers that they may face.
Almost everybody Ivory, and by extension the audience, has come to care about dies in that fire. That has happened. It is an immutable fact. And now Ivory is desperate and angry and in shock and grieving here is an answer of a way to find closure or control through revenge. And she rushes into it. She does an act of incredible violence against Kantje, and is lucky that they survived. But the show tells you it is not justified.
It says here are two people who have committed acts of incredible violence against them/the people that they love. And forgiveness is not needed, but revenge and retaliation is not. Here are two people we have humanized to you. Shown you bits of their lives, and ask you to see that this continued violence achieves nothing. Any act of dehumanization is dangerous. So are systems that leave people oppressed and desperate. This is an individual who put under immense strain was unable to think clearly and caused immense harm but Whitepine asks you to still understand them and hold empathy for them and their position even if you cannot forgive them.
Additionally, with the consistent anti-police themes Whitepine disagrees with the punitive justice system almost in its entirety. I say almost because it doesn't take a hard stance on the individual who murdered Misty, but I would personally say that with the ending it asks you to give them the same treatment. You have not been shown anything to humanize this individual. All you know is that they killed someone, which had significant effects on the people around our pov character. And yet, they are still a person. You cannot ask the individuals of Whitepine to forgive them. But you can try to help them and to put them into a situation whatever 'unaddressed mental issues' are looked at with care instead of with hate, disdain, and or uncaring.
And to connect this to real life, the individuals who are most often oppressed, desperate, and subject to police brutality and institutional harm are black people, indigenous people, and immigrants. So recognize that when they are put in these situations, there is institutional harm that has lead to whatever thing they do, there is no guarantee that they did do it due to human falliability and racism, and that whether or not they did it respect, safety, and the same rights as anyone else.
