‘Black Rabbit’ ending explained as Jude Law, Jason Bateman break down big death

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Black Rabbit.

In the end, after a feverish finale that sent its characters careening through the streets of New York City, one of the driving forces of Black Rabbit lived up to the show’s title when he hopped straight to his doom.

Yes, producer-star Jason Bateman’s lovable, scruffy-faced criminal Vince leapt off a building in the new Netflix miniseries’ final moments, right before the eyes of his horrified brother, Jake (Jude Law).

But, as is true for most of the things that happen in Black Rabbit, there’s no easy way to explain something that appears, well, easily explainable on the surface.

Still, Bateman attempts (very well, in fact) to break down Vince’s demise, which he says sees him “at the end of his road in many areas,” and that “this is an opportune moment to finish it for the sake of his brother’s future.”

Backing up just a bit, it’s important to understand the context of what put Vince and Jake on the roof of the titular restaurant in the first place.

Along the way, Vince, far removed from his brother’s New York City restaurant business (which he used to hold stake in before Jake bought him out), unexpectedly returns to Manhattan after running out of money (and murdering, in an admittedly comical scene, a small-time Reno, Nev. crook who robbed him of his precious coin collection.)

While in the city, Jake becomes entangled in Vince’s dark past, which involves the attempted repayment of a major debt to a much more sinister crime leader, Joe (CODA Oscar winner Troy Kotsur). Jake’s past isn’t squeaky clean, though, as it’s revealed through the series that he failed to hold accountable a former employee’s (Abbey Lee) sexual abuser, and has financial issues of his own (fitting that a restauranteur “cooked” his own books, as they say.)

Eventually, Joe and his son, Junior (Forrest Weber), seek to hold Jake’s fortune and stake in the restaurant as collateral until Vince pays them back. One thing leads to another, funds disappear, and they hatch a plan to stage a robbery at a jewelry showcase set to be held at the Black Rabbit restaurant. Things go wrong during the robbery, however, which Vince ultimately participates in alongside Junior.

The scheme heads south fast. Gunfire erupts, Vince kills Junior as the latter is about to shoot Jake, and police soon discover that Vince was behind the murder. Upon fleeing authorities, Jake and Vince find themselves back at the Black Rabbit, where Vince informs Jake that he killed their abusive father years ago — a secret their late mother sought to keep from Jake his entire life.

Jake, however, tells Vince that he knew all along, and the brothers share an emotional hug before heading to the roof. There, Vince calls the police and confesses in one final attempt to make things right for his family — the best way he can, in the moment — before facing Jake, who turns around for a few brief moments, allowing enough time for Vince to intentionally fall backward off the building.

“He didn’t mean it to be punitive or damaging, wanting to scar him with a face-to-face thing,” Bateman explains of Vince’s decision to face his brother while he committed his final act. “He didn’t want to guilt him. It was probably, if anything, wanting to see him and say goodbye as he leapt, and give him a distant hug” in his dying moment.

“This is a guy who’s carried a trauma his whole life, who’s blown up and burned down a lot of successes or disasters he’s created,” Law says. “He’s brilliant, but also a liability. But, throughout the show, there were little references. His drug abuse that’s referred to, but there are references he makes where he’s clearly playing with the idea of ending it all. He’s carrying it alone. You can see it there that this was always going to happen, that he wouldn’t make it to a ripe old age. It’s also a punctuation to their relationship and a hope that it will free Jake.”

Adds co-showrunner Zach Baylin, “The idea that this was a codependent relationship and that some ways Vince, who’s never taken responsibility for anything, was finally willing to own something and to give something back to his brother in this release. It’s a separation, so facing them and finally distancing each other felt thematically relevant.”

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After things settle down in the aftermath of Vince’s death, the show ends with a shot of Jake living a new life, free from the burdens of the fast-paced underworld of the cutthroat New York City business scene.

The last shot of the series is Jake standing behind a bar, working as a bartender after having given up his restaurant in pursuit of a simpler life.

“He’s a transformed man in that he has a jean jacket on, he rides the subway, he walks his son to class, he’s talking to him and not on his phone. It’s changed the way he’s way humbler now. That’s beautiful, too,” Baylin’s creative partner and fellow showrunner Kate Susman explains. “In New York, we talk about everyone’s ambition, but there’s a lot of honor showing up to your job every day doing what it is, if you’re running the restaurant or cleaning the bar. There’s honor in that. At the end, for Jake, he’s showing up and doing his thing.”

Law calls it Jake’s “grace note” after the misdeeds he’s committed throughout the season, and praises director Justin Kurzel for the “beautifully achieved” finale.

“[It’s] a sense that, there’s a pain — a lot — but it’s what spurs Jake and the others on to achieving a more realistic and better life,” Law says. “There’s a modesty. He’s not in the suits and the chains, he’s in an environment he knows and can contribute to, but he’s a guy behind a bar, making an honest living. And I hope we take positivity out of that.”

Black Rabbit is now streaming on Netflix.