Reunion ending explained: Why did Daniel kill Ray? ...0

*Warning: This article contains full spoilers for the final episode of Reunion and mentions of suicide and child abuse that some readers may find distressing.*

Having just been released from prison, Reunion follows Daniel Brennan (Matthew Gurney) as he seeks to right the wrongs of his past in light of his terrible crime.

Over the course of four episodes, we start to piece together the events that led Daniel to kill his best friend Ray (Ace Mahbaz) and, in turn, learn more about his childhood and the trauma he experienced throughout it.

The third episode left on quite the cliffhanger, as all seemed to be well and balance appeared to be restored between Daniel and his daughter Carly (Lara Peake), but when she found a shotgun in the boot of his car, she questioned how much she trusts her father.

With a gunshot ringing out in the closing scenes, did Carly shoot her father?

Read on for a full breakdown of the final episode of Reunion.

Reunion ending explained: Are Daniel and Carly alive?

After the cliffhanger ending of episode 3 left their fate up in the air, the fourth and final episode reveals that both Daniel and Carly are alive.

Although the gun was let off, they are both unscathed, as it appears that Carly shot their car back window and not one of them. As they resolve their differences, Carly calls Anna (Olive Gray) to let her know that they’ll try to make the meeting with her, knowing that Daniel could be arrested again if he doesn’t.

They then make a stop at the cemetery to see the grave of Naomi (Sophie Stone), Daniel’s ex-wife and Carly’s mother. It’s the first time that Daniel has been there, of course, and he is understandably emotional, but soon, Carly starts to find out some truths about the past.

Carly reveals that Daniel’s parents never kicked her out of their house; she chose to leave after borrowing money from a friend of a friend to pay for her mum’s funeral and headstone.

They wanted monthly payments for the money she borrowed and, unable to make the payments, they would visit Daniel’s parents home and threaten them.

Although they thought she had money problems relating to drugs, she didn’t, and instead chose to take herself out of their home in a bid to not get them hurt in the crossfire.

Carly explains that when Naomi got diagnosed with cancer, she had to be the one to sign and tell her mother her diagnosis as the hospital hadn’t booked an interpreter. With the deaf community having turned their back on them after Daniel was arrested, Carly had nobody to turn to that would help her or her mother.

Because they had been shunned, Carly made the decision to not invite anyone to her mum’s funeral but did send an invite to Daniel in prison. However, he never showed up and Carly remained angry at her father for never attending her mother’s funeral.

But Daniel reveals the truth of the matter, which was that he did receive the invite eventually – but only did a week after the funeral had taken place.

Due to being unable to read, prison officers would schedule in time to read him his letters with an interpreter, but would only do so once a month. Daniel didn’t find out that Naomi had died until that funeral invite had arrived, and after an angry outburst at the officer, was stuck in solitary confinement.

Daniel explains, though, that in prison, nobody would sign and everyone would just be speaking around him, so really, solitary confinement made no real difference.

After his admission, Daniel receives a text from his old school friend Sean (Stephen Collins) who says that Daniel was right about everything but that he “can’t deal with this anymore”. Immediately worried about Sean, Daniel tells Carly that they should make a quick visit to him to check that he’s alright.

What was Stephen’s secret and does Christine find out about it?

After growing suspicious of former cop Stephen (Eddie Marsan), probation officer Joe (Joe Sims) does some digging on Daniel’s original case file and finds CCTV footage of his initial police interview.

In it, it’s revealed that the officer that coerced Daniel into signing a full confession for Ray’s murder was none other than Stephen.

Knowing that Daniel didn’t fully understand what he was agreeing to and stopping the interpreter from clarifying it to Daniel, Stephen was essentially the person who was responsible for Daniel’s sentencing.

Although it’s against protocol, Joe delivers the file and footage to Christine as she was searching for answers around why Daniel had killed Ray, his best friend and her husband.

Watching the footage for herself, she’s understandably shocked to see that her new boyfriend was the police officer at the heart of Daniel’s case, and goes to meet up with Stephen to confront him. He explains that he never put two and two together about Ray until he finally visited Christine’s home and saw a picture of them together.

Explaining the context to Christine, Stephen says that at the time of the case, his marriage and career were failing and there was pressure to get this case over the line.

With Daniel having been brought in with Ray’s blood on him, Stephen thought that everything pointed at him. But with Daniel’s custody time running out due to the difficulty in finding an interpreter, Stephen didn’t take kindly to her trying to help Daniel or suggest that he be put forward for a mental health assessment.

Although Stephen says that he did what he did for Ray, Christine doesn’t believe any of it, and says that Daniel needed help and someone asking the right questions. Unable to forgive Stephen, Christine ends things with him.

Back at home, Christine listens to Miri’s (Rose Ayling-Ellis) speech about Ray, which brings her to tears as they both grieve his loss.

Joe has also quit his job as a probation officer, and although he isn’t entirely sure on his decision, he’s sure of Anna’s dedication to helping people and encourages her to carry on.

Does Daniel manage to have a reunion with Monroe?

Once they arrive at Sean’s house, Daniel sadly finds that Sean has died by suicide and has left a letter addressed to Mr Monroe. Carly calls an ambulance, and while they wait for it, Daniel blames himself.

He doesn’t allow Carly to read Sean’s letter but explains that Monroe was their headteacher. Now knowing Monroe’s address after searching for him all this time, Daniel and Carly decide to pay him a visit, but make the decision to leave before the ambulance gets there and inevitably keeps them to ask some questions.

They make the journey out to the countryside, where it appears that Monroe is living in relative isolation by himself. They wait until he arrives back home and, once they spot him, Daniel confronts him for an explanation.

Although Daniel is using sign language to communicate with Monroe, Carly is confused because her dad told her that Monroe can sign. However, it’s soon very clear that Monroe does understand Daniel, but is choosing not to communicate with him at all.

Daniel forces Monroe inside and Monroe insists on making some tea, but secretly calls the police. Daniel is tired of the preamble and orders Monroe to sit down, handing him the letter from Sean. Monroe pushes it away and, wanting him to read it, Daniel starts to sign, with Carly interpreting it in spoken English.

The letter details Sean’s journey to Hawthorne Park and how he finally felt accepted at the deaf boarding school, saying how it felt like home. Sean then details the abuse he suffered from Monroe, who told him not to mix with his friends and that Monroe could help him instead. Monroe lied and manipulated Sean, with Sean detailing that he was sexually abused by the headteacher every day.

Unaware of what was in the letter prior to reading it aloud, Carly is appalled by the truth and Sean’s story. After having finished it, Monroe simply says that Sean’s death is a “shame” and that he is unaware of what Sean explains in his letter. Daniel orders Monroe to look at him but he refuses, saying that he finds this all ridiculous.

Why did Daniel kill Ray?

In a flashback to the night of Ray’s death, we see that Daniel and Ray got into a heated argument outside the pub after Ray told Daniel that he was in line to become the new headteacher at Hawthorne Park.

Ray tried to stop Daniel from finding Monroe, and even though he also wanted to see Monroe dead, Ray explained to Daniel that evening that their circumstances were slightly different. He told Daniel that Monroe knew what he was doing by making Ray the head boy at the time, which led Ray to help Monroe to target Sean, Daniel and others.

Ray admits that he helped Monroe as a way of keeping Monroe away from him, saying it was the only way he’d be safe. Although Ray had dedicated his life to helping others, he couldn’t escape that truth, and tells Daniel that is why they must keep their past between themselves.

Going in to hug Daniel, Daniel was triggered by memories of his traumatic past and the way that Monroe would hug him. When Ray reaches for Daniel’s head, Daniel instinctively stabs Ray with the hunting knife that is in his hand.

Daniel admits that he did kill Ray but that Monroe is the reason why he’s dead. Monroe eventually looks at Daniel and uses sign language to tell him that he does remember him, saying that Daniel was naughty and never accepted responsibility. He turns to Carly and tells her that Daniel is to blame for Ray and Sean’s death.

Daniel opens up about his own experiences and is met with hostility again as Monroe tells them to leave, which prompts Carly to pick up the gun and shoot at him. She misses and shoots the wall behind him, which pushes Monroe to eventually apologise to Daniel in the fear of being hurt.

Carly tells Monroe that she’s going to work with her dad to make sure that everyone knows about Monroe’s abuse, but Daniel tells her that it’s done, remembering the promises he made to Ray. With the gun in his hand, they leave Monroe’s home and Daniel turns back to smile at Carly, unaware that armed police are now lining up behind him.

With the gun in Daniel’s hand and Carly having spotted the police, who are yelling orders at them, she makes a split-second decision to run up to Daniel to hug him, spin him around to face the police and take the gun so as not to see him come to any harm.

Facing the police, Daniel realises what Carly has done for him and leans into the hug, with the police continuing to order them to remain still.

Reunion is available to stream on BBC iPlayer, with the series also showing on BBC One.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

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