Rebel Ridge ending explained

Warning! This post contains major spoilers for Netflix’s Rebel Ridge.

Although Terry Richmond struggles to find justice throughout Rebel Ridges runtime, the Netflix film ends on a hopeful note where he wins against the corrupt legal system. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, Rebel Ridge It begins with former Marine Terry Richmond arriving in the town of Shelby Springs to bail out his cousin, Mike. However, moments after he enters the city, a police vehicle rams into his bike and two police officers wrongfully seize his bail money in the name of civil asset forfeiture.

Despite knowing how the police unfairly snagged his money, Richmond keeps his head down and tries to stay out of trouble. Unfortunately, no matter what he does, he does not get the money back, preventing him from saving his cousin. to the final moments of The Netflix action movie, Richmond reaches the end of his wits when his cousin dies and the police try to hurt Summer, the only person in town who dares to help him. As a result, he unleashes his fury on Shelby Springs’ law enforcement and sets out to expose their criminal activities.

Why Terry, Evan and Summer get a police escort at the end of Rebel Ridge

The police force realizes Chief Sandy Burns is wrong

in Rebel RidgeAt the end of the arc, Richmond (Aaron Pierre) finds himself surrounded by police officers outside the Shelby Springs police station as he tries to execute his final plan to expose them. However, things take a grim turn when Officer Steve Lann (Emory Cohen) drugs Summer (AnnaSophia Robb) and decides to kill Richmond there and then to prevent him from causing any further damage. Fortunately for Richmond, Officer Evan Marston (David Denman) takes his side, which leads to a conflict between Marston and Lann.

Although Chief Sandy (Don Johnson) shoots Marston’s leg, Richmond takes the injured police officer to safety and sets out to single-handedly eliminate the police force using the non-lethal weapons from Sandy’s storage. He even manages to escape in a police car with Marston and Summer. However, a blown tire slows his vehicle down, allowing the police officer to catch up with him. To his surprise, instead of following Chief Sandy’s orders, Officer Jessica Sims (Zsane Zhe) derails Chief Sandy off the road and goes to his vehicle to arrest him.

Meanwhile, the other police officers give his vehicle a police escort instead of attacking him. This confirms that although the city’s police force was involved in the criminal practices of Sandy Burns, They are increasingly frustrated about paying for the consequences of his actions. Therefore, when Sandy shot a loyal police officer like Evan Marston, the police force realized that he did not deserve their support. They also noted that Terry was putting his life on the line just to take Evan Marston to the hospital. As a result, they defied Chief Sandy’s orders and gave Terry’s vehicle a police escort.

The real reason why the police seized Terry’s bail money explained

They used the money to fund the city and their department

Although Summer and Terry initially struggle to understand the true motives of the local police force, they suspect that they are up to no good based on several clues. For example, Summer notes that all sentences for felony charges begin in 90 days, even though the state is too broke to keep criminals in jail that long. Things make a lot more sense when Terry Richmond notices piles of cash and bundles of non-lethal weapons at Chief Sandy’s police station.

When Sandy tries to “de-escalate” the situation with Terry, he even tells him that all the money in the station was legally seized to fund the police department and sent back to the community. Terry, however, doesn’t buy his claims. The chief adds that the weapons he saw at the station help sustain them because the city does not finance them. he says They outsource the non-lethal weapons to other PDs, which helps them get profits. However, this does not yet reveal what the police department and the city are going to break.

to the final arc of Rebel RidgeSummer and Terry visit the town’s judge, who finally tells them the truth about what’s going on. The judge reveals that an illegal search orchestrated by Chief Sandy snowballed and led to a wrongful death. After the mayor was personally charged for the crime, the settlement led to the town’s bankruptcy. In order to ensure that the police department remains out of legal jeopardy, they dropped any charges of possession of property, so that the case would never leave the city court.

With no public defendants in town to contest the bail, The arrested individuals remain in limbo for 90 days, which is the retention period for criminal possession.. This offers the police department a win-win situation where they minimize the risk of external intervention and exercise control over the city’s financial state. Sadly for Richmond, he and his cousin became embroiled in the convoluted legal and political web surrounding Shelby Springs.

Terry and Summer’s plan to expose Sandy Burns explained

In the scene where Officer Steve finds Terry back in town despite warning him to stay away, Steve reveals that they avoid turning on their car lights because they automatically switch on their dashcams. This prevents them from recording their illegal acts. When the duo meets the judge, he reveals that Mike’s arrest was recorded on one of the cameras and was problematic enough to get the police officers into trouble.. Therefore, Terry and Summer go to the catacombs of the city, where the drive with the video footage is stored.

Although the police officers try to stay ahead of them by burning down the catacombs, Terry and Summer obtain the storage drive in time. Unfortunately, at the end of the film, Steve takes Terry’s car and breaks it before he can expose the crimes of the police department. in Rebel RidgeIn the final moments, Officer Evan asks Terry to turn on his police vehicle’s dashcam, revealing that it has a recording feature that allows it to record two minutes before it is activated. He asks him to do this to ensure that the dashcam contains footage of Chief Sandy shooting him in the leg.

While Chief Sandy’s fate remains unknown after Officer Jessica arrested him, he is likely to be given a lengthy prison sentence after dashcam footage shows he assaulted a fellow police officer. The other members of the police department will probably also confess against him, as they support Terry in the last moments of the film. This, unfortunately, does not bring Terry’s cousin back however Give him a sense of justice.

Why Terry initially agrees to “de-escalate” things with Chief Sandy

He believes in tactical retrograde

Even though he loses his cousin, Terry agrees to step back from his conflict with Chief Terry when Terry offers him $26,000 and even assures him that he will get his truck back. When Summer tries to ask why he left back, he explains that What he does is called tactical retrogradationA deliberate withdrawal in the military context where a party slowly moves backwards to avoid a more significant threat. He realizes that acting out of impulse after his cousin’s death will only get him into more trouble. However, soon after, he was forced to change his mind.

Who killed Terry’s cousin, Mike, at Rebel Ridge?

Chief Sandy Bourne was responsible for Mike’s murder

During his first interaction with Summer, Terry reveals that long before his cousin was arrested for drug possession, He was a cooperating witness on a capital murder charge. Since the man he helped take down was one of the leading members of a gang, going to the state-run facility would instantly put a target on his back. That’s why Terry wanted to bail him out before he was shifted to the state prison. Unfortunately, after his money is wrongfully seized, Terry can’t get him out, which leads to Mike getting attacked by the gang members he helped put in jail.

Why Marston teams up with Terry at the end of Rebel Ridge

Marston realizes Officer Steve is taking things too far

throughout Rebel RidgeSummer learns that she has a secret guide in the police force that has helped her navigate what was happening in the city. Since she does not reveal his name, Terry codenames him “Serpico.” When Officer Evan Marston goes out of his way to protect Summer and Terry in the film’s final arc, Terry realizes that he is “Serpico.” This revelation is surprising because Marston rammed Terry’s bicycle in Rebel Ridges opening moments before caught his money.

The fact that he protects him to the end suggests that he has always been torn between doing what is ethically right and following Chief Sandy’s illegal methods. Although he wanted to protect innocent citizens like Summer, He too was somewhat attracted to the idea of ​​acquiring more profits by maintaining his position in a corrupt system.. However, when Officer Steve took things too far by drugging Summer and nearly killing Terry, he decided to take a stand.

How the end of Rebel Ridge sets up a sequel

Rebel Ridge 2 can happen

Rebel Ridge Has a conclusive ending, which leaves little to no room for a sequel. However, the sequel of the film may take the Jack Richer Route, III Terry Richmond finds himself in a whole new town and he’s ready to tackle a new set of criminal wrongdoing and criminal activity.. With his impressive screen presence in Rebel RidgeAaron Pierre proves he can run a full-fledged action franchise. Rebel RidgeBird Tomatoes’s near-perfect score also proves its potential for expansion. however, Rebel Ridge 2Its fate will ultimately depend on how well Rebel Ridge Will perform on Netflix.