This article contains major spoilers for the ending of The Full Monty Season 1 Episode 8.
The Full Monty is far from a mystery, and even if it was, it wouldn’t make much of a whodunit. The matter of who killed Horse is obvious. It was the British state.
Yes, the government killed Horse. The government who forced a disabled man to hitchhike to Castleford for an assessment that was designed to prove him fit for work, even though he obviously wasn’t; who sacked him when he wasn’t fit for purpose; who suspended his benefits despite him not having eaten for days; who considered shuffling him out of the hospital to empty his bed loudly enough that a proud man’s last shred of dignity carried him to his lonely death in a bus stop.
So, how will the gang grieve him? Let’s find out.
Full Monty Season 1 Ending Explained
Horse’s years of service to British industry entitle him to a pauper’s grave, £500 for a stick in the ground, so Gaz does the logical thing and steals his body from the morgue, laying it out on the café’s prep table – to Dennis’s considerable horror – and shooting off to bail Destiny out of jail.
How does Destiny’s audition go?
Gaz’s bodysnatching makes Destiny late for her audition, so he has to give a frank and desperate speech to the snooty teacher she’s auditioning for just to give her a chance. Some technical difficulties with the keyboard force Destiny into a brutally honesty but somewhat aggressive acapella freestyle, which she tearfully assumes won’t endear her to the faculty.
Disappointed by her performance and the circumstances surrounding it, Destiny goes missing.
Does Horse get a funeral?
When Dave sets his couch alight – too many negative associations – Gaz gets the idea of giving Horse a Viking funeral, an open-air cremation that’ll send him off to Valhalla, but there’s some pushback from the others, who worry about the legalities.
Of course, it’s hard to justify adhering to the rules when a citizen of a global superpower essentially died of malnutrition in the twenty-first century.
So, everyone comes around to the idea eventually. While Gaz traipses around Sheffield looking for Destiny, who broke up with Tabina and went AWOL, the others, spurred on by Dennis, nick a load of flowers from gardens, dress Horse in his Sunday best, and hold a little service for him at the café. The Viking funeral is a go.
Dennis, Lomper, and MSC do the catering. Darren makes the coffin and spares time to reunite with Silvan while he’s at it. Gaz gets Ant to paint a mural of Horse on the side of his van. Every major and minor character in the series is present at the funeral, where Des leads the Revenge Choir in a stirring rendition of Hozier’s “Nina Cried Power”.
It’s a very moving sequence, this, interspersed with flashbacks to the original movie as each character reminisces about what Horse meant to them and what his untimely passing has made them consider about their lives.
During the mourning, Destiny finds out that her audition was successful, and Dave and Jean decide to give their marriage another go. The season ends with Gaz saying a final farewell to Horse’s smoldering send-off, finally walking away and hopefully into a more positive relationship with Des, who is moving in with him.
You can stream The Full Monty Season 1 Episode 8 exclusively on Hulu and Disney+. What did you think of the ending of The Full Monty Season 1? Let us know in the comments.
