This article contains major spoilers for the ending of 365 Days: This Day. You can check out our spoiler-free review by clicking these words.
Netflix’s Polish answer to 50 Shades of Gray was an enormous success when it debuted in 2020, making a sequel virtually inevitable. And that sequel, 365 Days: This Day, is finally here, delivering… well, more of the same, honestly. But as well as trying to continue the plot, it’s also trying to up the stakes, address some of the first film’s more contentious elements, and wring enough drama out of the premise and characters that a third and potentially fourth film can make the streaming giant boatloads of money. So, let’s unpack what happens, why, and where it all might lead in the near future.
At least things begin on even footing, more or less. Laura and Massimo are married, and while she lost her unborn child in the accident at the end of the first film, she hasn’t even told her new husband she was pregnant in the first place. These early portions of the film are about two things, primarily — one is inverting the power dynamics so that Laura is the one in control of the relationship, and the other is establishing the life of a Mafia Don’s wife isn’t a particularly fulfilling one.
Both of these things are necessary. The first film received a lot of deserved flack for its rapey kidnapping plot, so this sequel is eager to vocalize how that was all a very terrible idea but that Laura stuck around with Massimo out of her own volition. But it’s important we see how deeply unsatisfied she is with her life so that we understand the appeal of Nacho, Massimo’s humble — and hysterically handsome — gardener. Pretty much every romantic sequel ever made has included a love rival, and Nacho is Massimo’s. But there’s a little more to it than that.
Although she’s flirtatious with Nacho, Laura doesn’t actually see him again until later, when she catches what she assumes to be Massimo having sex with his ex, Anna. Naturally, Nacho just happens to be outside when she leaves, and he immediately whisks her away to the safety and anonymity of his beachside crib. Laura doesn’t think to ask how a gardener can afford the place until later when we’ve already gone through several interminable scenes of Laura falling for Nacho’s charm, cooking, and knowledge of secret hideaway coves. Aside from a couple of scenes of Massimo looking stressed, there’s essentially no plot for the entire middle portion of the film.
365 Days: This Day ending explained
It all comes together in the end. But for the end to make sense, we have to lay out what happened, including some new details. So, let’s do that. For one thing, Massimo has a heretofore unmentioned twin brother who is deeply resentful of him and his success. He has teamed up with Anna to try and wrest control of his late father’s empire back from Massimo. Both are motivated by jealousy — Anna at having been scorned for Laura, and the brother, Adriano, at having always been the runt of the litter ever since he was born ten minutes after big bro.
So, needless to say, it was Adriano and Anna that Laura caught having sex. But this was all part of a plot to push her into the arms of Nacho, who just so happens to be the son of Don Fernando Matos, Massimo’s long-time organized crime rival. Matos has some issues with Massimo’s business expansions and thinks he needs to be kept in check. Since Laura’s accident, which was arranged by Matos, didn’t do the trick, he now wants to supplant Massimo with the much more manipulable Adriano.
Adriano and Anna, though, have other ideas. While Massimo is meeting with Don Matos, they kidnap Laura. So, Nacho and Massimo team up to rescue her, leading to a standoff in which the entire plot is revealed, along with Laura having lost Massimo’s baby in her accident. When Laura tries to escape, Anna shoots her, at which point Nacho shoots Anna and Massimo shoots Adriano. As Laura lays bleeding out on the floor, Nacho holds his gun to Massimo’s head, but he ultimately leaves him alive to tend to her.
Laura’s fate is left unclear as the film ends.
You can stream 365 Days: This Day exclusively on Netflix. Do you have any thoughts on the ending of 365 Days: This Day? Let us know in the comments.
