Yahoo News Better ending explained – Who wins in Lou and Col's battle?
Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide.
Better spoilers follow.
DI Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) has been a bent copper for the best part of two decades, continuing a long-standing relationship with criminal kingpin Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan) and keeping him one step ahead of being caught.
But when her son Owen nearly dies while out doing some of his dirty work, she begins re-evaluating a few things – in particular where her priorities lie.
Over the course of five episodes, which are now available in full on BBC iPlayer, Lou begins to question whether she wants to continue living her double life of criminal mastermind and top policewoman.
But how does she get out of it?
Here's everything you need to know as the series reached its nail-biting conclusion.
*Final spoiler warning, as BBC is continuing to air the show weekly.*
Col and Lou's longstanding friendship got shakier and shakier, before eventually collapsing ahead of the final episode.
With neither trusting the other any more, the pair had started putting plans in motion to stop the other in their tracks – with Lou trying to take Col's business down and Col trying to keep her quiet. It was only a matter of time before it got deadly.
In episode four, a massive showdown sees Lou taken to an abandoned farmland with Col holding a gun to her head.
In what she considers her final moments, Lou delivers some bitter home truths about Col's daughter, Aoife – who died by suicide a year prior overdosing on drugs Col had been supplying.
But the moment of honesty strikes a nerve in him, and he can't bring himself to kill her. Seems like he's trying to be better too.
So instead he lets her go, telling her to never see him again. The news infuriates Bulgey, one of Col's long-standing right-hand men, who believes Lou's going to still come after them.
When Col's son Donal returns home bloodied after Lou's husband Ceri beat him for "kidnapping" their son Owen (which he kinda did, but was so friendly Owen didn't realise), again Col doesn't react, telling his teen son to fight his own battles when Donal suggests going after Ceri.
Bulgey takes that as a sign Col's gone soft, spits on him and hands in his resignation. Col's wife slaps him, as she believes that Col loves Lou – which he does, but as he states "not in that way".
Bulgey later takes matters into his own hands, breaking into the home of Vernon Marley – a former bent copper who came clean and quit decades before. Vernon had befriended Lou as she searched for her own clean slate.
Bulgey attempts to murder Lou for Col "losing his head", but Vernon beats him to it. Shooting him to protect her, Vernon willingly takes the fall to keep her safe, even as his house burns down. He drinks a bottle of wine as he watches his life go up in smoke.
After Vernon makes his confession and is sent to prison, one of Col's lackeys, Noel, stabs Vernon to death with a toothbrush under command of Col's right hand man. While Noel doesn't want to, he feels like he has to for the sake of loyalty and his own safety.
Devastated by Vernon's fate, Lou decides to break Col's rule and confront him one last time, sending Ceri and Owen away for their own protection and leaving her to face him alone.
Tricking him to a woodland by saying she found a suicide note with Aoife's body, the pair face each other one last time there.
Pointing a gun at him, the pair stand off as they discuss the decisions that led them to that moment. Col even encourages her, telling her to get on with it, but she can't as he's like a brother to her.
She reveals her plans to confess everything to the police the next day, including her plans to aid in the investigation to bring him down. She asks that he don't go after their family and even hands over the gun to him.
Pointing the gun at her, he asks for the note, and she confesses it doesn't exist. With that he tells her he actually found her first, and did find a note, during which she says goodbye to her mum and Donal, but says "f**k you" to him. So he hid it.
He admits it broke him, and how he felt like he had to keep living the life he'd made because of who he was. He believed if he dipped harder into his world "and kept kicking the engine it would restart" but he was run down and gone no matter how hard he tried.
Col admits he knows she was trying to be better for Owen after nearly losing him as he lay in hospital, and the pair connect once again.
Deciding what to do next, she convinces him to come with her to the police station and confess everything they've done, finally paying for the decades of crime.
Throwing the gun into the water, he agrees – finally done with being in his criminal underworld.
Together, they head to the police station, but spend ages waiting for someone to arrive at the reception desk. As they sit and mull over their decision, waiting for the police to arrive, they sit in silence.
Just before the episode cuts off, they hear the click of the police office door opening.
Better is available now as a box set on BBC iPlayer, and airs Mondays at 9pm on BBC One.
We encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Information about how to access support is available via the NHS, and organisations who can offer help include Samaritans on 116 123 or Mind on 0300 123 3393.
Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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