I love Griffith, but haven’t seen WAY DOWN EAST for a long time… and don’t remember the end, and have no clue why she’d kiss his mother rather than him.
It’s been awhile but didn’t his mother really magnanimously remove the barriers between them (impoverished fallen woman, etc) by bestowing her blessings?
There were three couples getting married. I think Gish’s MIL must have been hostess, so maybe that’s why she got the kiss. However, it’s been two years since I’ve seen it, and I only saw it the once. Gish’s FIL did ask her to forgive him for the harsh comments he’d made, so I think it was the in-laws who realized they’d been rather high and mighty. Maybe the kiss was an act of forgiveness on Gish’s part.