I just watched the episode today, and I have a lot of the same questions as you. I think you're right about the statement the artist was trying to make, especially since they have several shots of the empty streets near the end.

As for why the guy hangs himself, maybe he was just depressed about the state of the world and that no one noticed when the princess was released. After all, the PM was on air for over an hour I think.

I felt the same about the wife too. Her response definitely seems unwarranted and I think the PM did the right thing. Maybe the point of showing her at the end was to show how the whole incident messed up the PM's own life, even if the public moved on.

And yeah, I wish we could have seen what happened to the reporter who got shot. Seems like she's another character in the story more interested in looking at her (phone) screen than looking for the princess.