the traditional career paths for final girls post-finale are returning to their normal lives with some bad dreams, never expecting that it鈥檚 going to happen all over again, or (occasionally) becoming sexy killers themselves. so i really enjoy how james cameron takes both ellen ripley and sarah connor and says what happens to a final girl post-finale? well she becomes mean and tough and hypervigilant, constantly braced for it to happen all over again. she bleeds all the femininity out of herself because she remembers what happened to her coworkers and friends who indulged in softness on that day. she鈥檚 a bundle of raw nerves and live wires, mentally trapped in a slasher film when all the characters around her are in a different genre altogether, and that makes her seem unappealing and dangerous鈥攁nd she is. she has made herself as dangerous as her one-time enemy, and she can never be normal again