Karen Pirie star Lauren Lyle's BBC thriller series The Ridge has got us seriously obsessed.
Over six episodes, Lyle plays drug-addicted medic Mia who flies to New Zealand for her sister Cassy's wedding, only to arrive and find that Cassy is missing, and then found dead.
As she grapples with her own demons, Mia must also find out what really happened to her sister – did she fall to her death as part of a tragic accident, or did something more sinister than that occur?
Read ahead for a comprehensive rundown of The Ridge's ending, explained in full.
The BAFTA-winning actor talks combining comedy with her craft, the show's crucial portrayal of violence against women and girls.
The Ridge ending: Who killed Cassy?
It was discovered that Ewan murdered his fiancée Cassy and staged it to look like a climbing accident. Nat had it bang on when she described him as a “super-controlling narcissist”.
We discover that this is Ewan's second murder. He also killed a former flame of his named Hera, a 15-year-old local girl who died years 15 years previously, with police ruling it as a suicide. Test showed that Hera had been pregnant before she died, but had miscarried. In episode 6, it is revealed that Ewan was the father of the child. While his half-sister Libby suspected Ewan was involved in Hera's death all along, she had “no proof”. Ewan's dad had also told him at the time that the “bastard” child would not be recognised by the family, and “ridiculed” him.
In a showdown confrontation between Mia and Ewan, he admits that he killed Cassy.
“All I had to do was play it like Cassy slipped," he said, adding that Cassy had “teased him” and his frustration at being unable to control her. “I wanted her to be part of me; part of my family. I gave her my grandmother’s ring, so precious. But, oh no, she doesn’t wear jewellery. She shamed me, she used me, she disrespected me and everything that I love.”
And so, when they had an argument up on the ridge, Ewan pushed Cassy to her death and let it look like an accident. What a nasty piece of work.
So, once Mia was sure of what had happened, she lured Ewan to the spot where Cassy died, under the pretence of laying a memorial for her. She confronts him, and he soon has her by the throat, but soon her plan (inspired by her drug addiction) comes into force. Yes, readers, she had drugged Ewan. As the drugging began to take hold, Mia got to tell her sister's fiancé what she really thought of him, which we have to say was cathartic as hell.
She even explains to Ewan exactly how she got to him. Mia had taken the drugs (a fictional type named Duranyl) from Ewan's wardrobe, as he had confiscated them from Mia to force her into opioid withdrawal.
“Seeping Duranyl in water increases its absorption rate," she tells Ewan. "It’s how all the local kids are taking it. And it’s not a bad idea actually. It’s nice in a cup of tea. You see, my tolerance is sky-high, but you have none.”
Once he was incapacitated, Mia pushed Ewan off the ridge. Poetic justice. Libby did arrive just in time to see her do it, but we don't think she's going to report her… Libby knew what her half-brother was capable of.
We also discover that Ewan isn't the first person that Mia has murdered – we know that she killed their alcoholic, abusive mother in a shocking event, stabbing her in the neck when her mother tried to kill herself, as well as her and Cassy, by poisoning them with the exhaust fumes from the car.
During the confrontation, she also admits that some of her patients' deaths – the rapists, criminals and abusers – she'd witnessed were not necessarily accidents. She may have helped along the process and claimed that they “deserved” what they got.
“That last patient felt everything," she told Ewan. When the surgeon started cutting, he was awake. He could feel everything. It was some of my best work actually."
“When it came to my mishaps, I knew what I was doing. And who I was doing it to. Why should these people get to live to cause pain? You see Ewan, that’s the difference between you and me. You kill for rage. I kill for mercy.”
A final scene sees Mia getting the keys to a hire car, and setting off with a smile on her face. Having avenged her sister’s death, and finally clean of drugs, is it a happy ending for her?
Will there be a series 2 of The Ridge?
BBC Two has not yet confirmed a series 2 of The Ridge, but we can dare to dream!
