Coldwater Ending Shocker: What Really Happens to John and Tommy

Major spoilers for Coldwater ahead.

Andrew Lincoln moves to a quiet Scottish town and immediately regrets all his life choices. That is basically Coldwater in a sentence. Lincoln plays John, a London transplant who barely gets the boxes off the van before he and his overly friendly neighbor Tommy (Ewen Bremner) are covering up a murder. By the time the finale rolls around, it is full carnage, full gaslighting, and a very messy setup for what sure looks like a season 2.

The setup: John thinks he killed a guy, Tommy lets him believe it

Early on, John brains local bully Angus Gillespie with a brick after Angus attacks him in the woods. He assumes he killed Angus. Tommy is more than happy to let that guilt eat John alive. And because Tommy is the town’s golden boy (he runs a bible study) and his wife Rebecca (Eve Myles) is a pastor, everyone loves them and their whole wholesome act. John? He is the weird new guy from London.

Why nobody listens to John

Even when John starts to suspect Tommy is the real problem, he cannot get traction. Rebecca actively poisons the well, whispering to anyone who will listen that John is a violent creep who fled London after beating up a woman. Meanwhile, she is fully aware of Tommy’s extracurricular hobbies and basically cheers him on. So, no, not the most neutral referee.

The trophy box that blows everything open (and a cat named Harlequin)

John finally gets proof thanks to Moira-Jane, Tommy’s adopted adult daughter. She shows John and his wife Fiona (Indira Varma) a box of trophies Tommy has kept, including trinkets from victims he has killed since John moved in. In there: the cross necklace Angus wore, a ring that belongs to Angus’s dad Nathan Gillespie, and the collar from Harlequin, the cat Tommy strangled and dumped on John’s bins as a warning. Translation: John did not kill Angus. Tommy did. Vindication, and then some.

Moira-Jane has her own war going on at home. She tries to convince her brother Cameron their dad is a predator. He refuses, flies into a rage, and starts strangling her—exactly like dear old dad. She manages to jam scissors into his leg and get free.

The dinner party from hell

John and Fiona decide to set a trap: invite Tommy and Rebecca over to "bury the hatchet" while Moira-Jane sneaks the trophy box out. Tommy and Rebecca smell a setup a mile away and counter with one of their own, swiping Nathan Gillespie’s ring and hiding it in John’s house to frame him later. Because of course they do.

Then Tommy goes full control freak and insists Moira-Jane join the dinner. When John slips away to get the box himself, Tommy catches him in the garage, tasers him, tosses him in the boot, and peels off. Fiona calls the police. Rebecca immediately flips into trembling, battered-wife mode and begs Fiona for help. Fiona buys it. The manipulation on this show is a contact sport.

The showdown: guns, a good neighbor, and a bad idea

John wriggles out of the car and sprints to the nearby house of his friend William. Tommy barrels after him with a shotgun and starts beating William until John intervenes. William manages to grab the gun and hold both men at bay long enough to call the police, finally saying out loud that Tommy is the town’s real killer. Then he leaves the weapon with John, which is… a choice.

Tommy, realizing he is cooked, begs John to let him call Rebecca. She answers with a line that pretty much sums up the marriage:

"It’s over, do you understand?"

Fiona hears it. Then Rebecca tells Tommy to run.

Tommy still thinks he and John are kindred spirits and asks John to bolt with him. He monologues about how he made John a "real man" and demands John pull the trigger. John refuses—he does not need to become a killer to prove anything to Tommy. Tommy lunges. Cut to black. Gunshot.

When the picture comes back, John is the one who caught the bullet during the scuffle. Tommy is gone by the time the police show. Weeks later, John is fully recovered and doing a news hit with Fiona about the whole thing, saying the ordeal brought them closer together. Tommy, now publicly branded the Coldwater Killer, has vanished. Rebecca stays put and keeps preaching forgiveness from the pulpit like nothing happened. Subtle.

Where it leaves everyone (and why a second season seems inevitable)

Tommy’s men’s prayer group is still meeting. And yes, they are still meeting at Tommy and Rebecca’s house. John shows up and offers to host at his place, but the guys insist on staying because Rebecca says it brings her "comfort". They also believe she had no idea what Tommy was doing, which… sure.

Under the surface, the town is still a powder keg. Here are the dangling threads screaming for a season 2:

• Rebecca is watching that prayer group from the staircase with ice in her veins. She is not done.
• Cameron refuses to accept that his dad is a killer, even after strangling his own sister.
• Nathan Gillespie’s ring—the one Tommy and Rebecca planted to frame John—is still hidden in a toy hamper at John and Fiona’s house.

Bottom line: the killers are unmasked, but the mess is very much ongoing. If ITVX orders more, there is plenty to dig into: a fugitive Tommy, a ruthlessly calculating Rebecca, a town in denial, and a piece of planted evidence ticking like a bomb in the Harpers’ living room.

Coldwater is streaming now on ITVX.