Netflix's 'The Unforgivable' Ending Explained: Does Ruth finally unite with Katie?
Contains spoilers for 'The Unforgivable'
Sandra Bullock returns to screens with 'The Unforgivable' and the drama is a far cry from her last post-apocalyptic 'Birdbox'. The movie sees her play Ruth, an ex-con out of prison after serving 20 years for the murder of a sheriff. She's out in the world now, trying to rebuild her life and also reconnect with her long-lost sister Katie (Aisling Franciosi).
Over the course of the movie, Ruth is seen trying to piece her life and dented name back together and has a few helping hands in the form of her parole officer Vince (Rob Morgan), and another ex-con, Blake (Jon Bernthal). That said, Ruth's traumatic past haunts her and she enlists the help of corporate lawyers, Jon, and Liz (Vincent D’Onofrio and Viola Davis) and while the latter has her reservations after realizing that Ruth had lied about her old home where the layer's family resides, she does eventually come around. Meanwhile, the sons of the man she killed, Steve and Keith, hear news of her release and decide to exact revenge.
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Forward to the final 30 minutes of the movie. When Steve (Will Pullen) finds that his wife is sleeping with his brother, Keith, and in fury, slams his brother before driving off and decides to stick to the plan of killing Katie. The twist comes with Steve kidnapping Katie's sister Emily instead. By then, a desperate Ruth tries to get hold of John but manages to get Liz instead and that's when the second surprise drops. Ruth never killed the sheriff and Katie, innocuously grabs hold of the shotgun and pulls the trigger nailing a clean headshot.
The firing has repercussions and that sees the blast from the shotgun manage to leave a gash across her face and also wipe off her memory of what happened. Eventually, Ruth surrenders and takes the blame. It's only natural that she does it as the movie earlier reveals that she was the one who raised Katie after her mother died giving birth to her. Coming back to the present, Steve takes Emily hostage and although Ruth knows it isn't Katie, she doesn't let Steve know and manages to convince him to not kill the teen.
In the end, the police show up and haul Steve away, but with the evidence pointing to Steve holding the gun, she manages to be free with Vince vouching for him she has done nothing wrong. In the final scene, she meets her sister who without a word just comes and hugs her and the scene fades to black. 'The Unforgivable' is a heartening drama that's got some great acting but is let down by the writing which attempts to pack a lot in two hours. The redemption tale manages to keep the audience rapt but isn't a movie that leaves a mark well after it ends.
'The Unforgivable' is currently streaming on Netflix.
