If I can say one thing about the ending of Boat Story, it’s that I bet nobody sees it coming. Season 1 of the BBC and Freevee crime drama has been weird and off-kilter throughout, but it saves its darkest turns and strangest flourishes for Episode 6, which even boasts an unexpected post-credits sequence that completely recontextualizes the entirety of the season.
Let’s break it all down, answer the big questions, and point out the more obscure references.
Following Ben’s death, Janet and Samuel kidnapping Pat, and Guy picking up Alan, the actual drug money portion of the plot is resolved rather amicably – as much as these things ever are, obviously.
The Exchange
Janet and Samuel intend to trade Pat for Alan, banking on the Tailor’s love of his new lady to keep things amicable. And, to be honest, it mostly works.
However, Ben’s murder is pinned on Janet and Samuel, and the latter is left in the lurch when the former steals his cut. With his family already having left him because of his gambling addiction, Samuel gets the worst ending of the two, arrested by the police and facing a murder charge. However, the epilogue (more on this below) softens the blow a little.
What is the Tailor’s connection to Les Enfants?
Here’s where things get weird.
Throughout the season the Tailor has shared snippets of a backstory that is almost completely fabricated, and he has related Pat consistently with a character from a French film titled Les Enfants (which doesn’t seem to be real). Pat gradually began to discover that the Tailor had based his so-called life story on the film’s plot and was closely associating her with one of its characters, Madame Bethune, with whom the film’s protagonist becomes obsessed.
Crucially, Pat never saw the film’s ending, and it’s up to Janet to figure out what the Tailor has planned for her in his efforts to recreate the film in real life.
But why is the Tailor so obsessed with this movie? As it turns out, it’s because as a child, he used to escape from the violence he witnessed at the hands of his father. He would watch it when his father murdered his mother. In it, he found a fissure between reality and fiction that he could wriggle through for refuge.
It’s a sad story, but it hardly justifies the endgame.
What does The Tailor have planned for Pat?
Janet figures out that at the end of Les Enfants, the protagonist, in a misguided bid to keep Madame Bethune with him forever, poisons her, cuts her up, and eats her. This is what the Tailor intends to do with Pat. And here we thought he just enjoyed the odd pasty.
Janet sneaks aboard the Tailor’s boat to save Pat, and together they bring an end to him. However, despite being saved, Pat still has to deal with the grief of Ben’s death.
What is the Tailor’s real name?
The Tailor’s headstone exposes his real name, which is Jules-Baptiste Grimondelle. This is a nod to another show from Jack and Harry Williams, Baptiste, in which Tchéky Karyo also starred.
The Tailor’s buried next to a late actress from Les Enfants, so he gets pretty close to the movie after all.
How does Boat Story Season 1 end?
Boat Story ends with a flurry of resolutions – Samuel’s case is thrown out of court and he gets a book deal; Guy continues working in crime and is eventually assassinated without having achieved his pottery dream; and Janet and Alan flee to Cuba, rich on an ill-gotten fortune but forced to live as fugitives, far away from home.
This isn’t all, though, and it’s a bizarre post-credits scene that makes things even weirder.
Boat Story Post-Credits Scene Explained
In the post-credits scene, we’re introduced to the narrator, Elias, who has been telling the story of Janet and Samuel to his hostage. He explains how it was important he learned the lessons of their story before heading outside to face the police, and we presume the consequences for whatever actions he has undertaken.
This story-within-a-story twist is puzzling since it raises all kinds of possibilities. Were Samuel and Janet fictions invented by a madman? Does Elias exist in the same reality? Is Boat Story setting up Season 2?
The truth is we’ll never know – unless there is a Season 2, obviously – and that we’re not intended to know. The whole point is for us to idly speculate about that final note of weirdness, and speculate we have. But the takeaway conclusion is that, ultimately, there are things we’re probably better off not knowing in general.
What did you think of Boat Story Season 1 Episode 6 and the ending? Let us know in the comments.
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