Hound’s Hill, the latest Netflix Polish crime thriller, follows the life of a troubled man, Mikolaj, who had a strained relationship with his father because of certain events that had happened in his past. Mikolaj had moved on in his life, and he had decided to never look back. But as fate would have it, he went back to his hometown to celebrate his father’s birthday and mend his relationship with him, and he once again found himself stuck in an unforeseen situation. So, let’s find out what happened with Mikolaj and who was behind the murders that were happening in Zybork.
Spoiler Alert
What happened with Daria?
At the beginning of Hound’s Hill, we are shown the tragedy that happened in Zybork and how it changed the lives of the people living there forever. Eighteen years back, a girl named Daria was found raped and murdered. Her own brother, Sebastian, aka Gizmo, was found guilty of the crime and sent to psychiatric care. Sebastian suffered from some cognitive disorders, but it was hard for everybody to imagine that the sweet boy who never meant any harm to anybody could commit such a heinous crime. Moreover, another ghastly revelation was made when the law enforcement authorities got to know that Daria had been raped several times before she was brutally murdered. Daria was in a relationship with a boy named Mikolaj at that time. Mikolaj was with her on the night she was killed. We saw that Mikolaj had been brought back to his home by his father, Tomek, probably just hours before Daria was killed. Mikolaj had consumed drugs, and he murmured something about him not being able to find Daria and how she suddenly vanished from the party. Tomek asked his son to rest when the news of Daria being killed spread all across the town. Mikolaj couldn’t resist his impulse, and he, too, went running to the crime scene. He saw that Sebastian was sitting inside the police vehicle, shouting and crying out loud. Mikolaj, after that incident, was shaken from within. He moved to Warsaw and hoped to make a fresh start. He met a girl named Justyna, who worked as a journalist for a newspaper named The National. No matter how hard Mikolaj tried, his past kept haunting him. There came a time when Justyna got fed up with his drug addiction, and her life became miserable because of it. But things gradually became better. Mikolaj turned his back on drugs, and he even wrote a crime fiction novel that became a national bestseller. Mikolaj cut all ties with his city and his family. It had been years since he had had a conversation with his father. But that also changed when he and Justyna decided to pay Tomek a visit on his birthday. Little did Justyna know that her life was going to be turned upside down in the next few days.
Why did Justyna and Mikolaj stay back?
Things were not great between Mikolaj and his father. Obviously, Tomek was angry at his son since, for the longest time, he hadn’t spoken to him. Mikolaj’s elder brother, Grzesiek, lived with the family itself, and he shared an amicable relationship with his brother. Mikolaj and Justyna would have left Zybork if some unprecedented events hadn’t happened. After Mikolaj had a fight with his father, he and Justyna decided to go back. On the way back, they found a gravely injured man lying on the road. It came to be known that the man was Filip Bernat, who was a longtime friend of Tomek. Filip was taken to the hospital, but he eventually succumbed to his injuries. Filip’s son was supposed to come back to Zybork to attend his funeral, but he, too, went missing, and nobody saw him arrive at the airport. Justyna believed that there was a story hidden beneath the mystery, and that she could write an investigative piece about whatever had happened for her newspaper. We got to know in Hound’s Hill that the city mayor was trying to build a luxury hotel, and she needed Filip’s land for it. For the longest time, Filip didn’t want to sell off his property, and the mayor, who was working closely with a private investor named Johann, was trying her level best to convince him. Also, Tomek was totally against the project, and he made it very clear through his protests that he wouldn’t let them build the hotel so easily.
Many homeless people lived on the lands where the mayor and Johann wanted to build their hotel. Though they had promised to give those people a place to stay, Tomek did not trust their intentions. Justyna got more invested in local politics than Mikolaj. Mikolaj, during that time, had his own battles to deal with. He met with Kaska, Daria’s younger sister, and she made him feel even more guilty for his actions. The crime thriller that Mikolaj had written, which became a bestseller, was inspired by whatever happened in Zybork 18 years back. Obviously he had changed the names of the people, but it just took a read for anybody to realize that a particular character represented them. Kaska told him that he should have at least taken their permission before writing about their lives. Also, Mikolaj was told by the local parish priest that, after reading his novel, the latter had realized that Mikolaj didn’t know about the truth. That made Mikolaj even more intrigued. As if the ghosts of his past weren’t torturing him enough, Mikolaj got to know that his wife had had an affair with her editor. In her defense, Justyna told Mikolaj that whatever she had with her boss was when she was going through a terrible phase in her life. Due to Mikolaj’s addiction, her life had become a living hell, and in that moment of weakness, she did things that she wasn’t proud of. But still, cheating couldn’t be justified, and she had to bear the consequences of her action as Mikolaj really got mad at her for breaking his trust.
How was Tomek framed for Filip Bernat’s murder?
Two unforeseen events happened in Hound’s Hill that changed the entire power dynamics of the place. Sebastian took his own life just days after Mikolaj paid him a visit. Mikolaj had gotten a couple of threatening notes from Sebastian, and he was surprised, as he knew that the boy wasn’t capable of doing that. Sebastian took his life, and everybody believed that it was probably his own guilt that made him commit that act. But Justyna and Mikolaj both knew that there was something fishy about the entire matter. Meanwhile, Justyna was carrying out her own investigation to find out where Filip. and his son had gone missing. The forensics report stated that though Filip was starving, chunks of human meat were found inside his digestive system. After a thorough analysis, it came to be known that the piece of meat found in his stomach belonged to his kin. Justyna was able to find out that Gawit, the son of the local mafia, Tobek, was probably the last person to meet Filip’s son, Marek. During this time, the local priest, who was Filip’s brother, also went missing. When Justyna provided the police chief Dobocinski with all the evidence, he didn’t have any option but to arrest Gawit and interrogate him. Dobocinski and Tomek didn’t like each other, and so the former made a deal with Tobek, as he didn’t gain anything out of charging Gawit for the crime. So Tobek, the mafia, and Dobocinski decided to frame Tomek for the murder of Filip and Marek. Also, Tomek had made it very clear that he wouldn’t let the mayor and Johann construct their hotel, so it was in the best interest of everybody to put him behind bars.
Gawit gave false testimony, and he stated that he saw Tomek together with Filip on the day the latter was killed. Tomek was taken into custody, and Dobocinski felt that he would be able to get the better of him. But Justyna was not ready to give up. She pulled some strings, and threatened the attorney general, since she had some incriminating evidence against him that could prove that he was a pedophile. The attorney general got in touch with the local authorities in Zybork, and Tomek was immediately released and acquitted of all charges.
Who killed Daria?
Once Tomek came out of prison, Mikolaj went missing, and he stopped responding to Justyna’s calls and messages. Justyna got quite worried, and she got to know that Mikolaj had bought heroin from a local dealer. Justyna got a message from Mikolaj two days after his disappearance, and he told her that he had gone back to Warsaw. Tomek told Justyna to go to Warsaw and bring Mikolaj back so that they could help his cause together. When Justyna was on her way to Warsaw, something unprecedented happened. She forgot her laptop at Tomek’s house, and she needed to review her article, which was going to be published that very same day. She went back to Tomek’s house, where she spotted Grzesiek having a chat with an anonymous man. She gave a call to Mikolaj, and she saw that his phone was in the possession of that man. She suspected that there was some foul play going on, of which she had no clue. She followed their vehicle, hoping to unravel the mystery behind Mikolaj’s disappearance, but she was caught by that anonymous man and he knocked her out. By the time Justyna came back to her senses, she found herself lying on the couch of a worn-out house. That’s when she came to know that it was Tomek alone who was responsible for all the deaths that were happening in Zybork. Tomek had gotten to know that on that fateful day 18 years back, Macius, the drug dealer who worked closely with the mayor and Johann, together with Jarecki and Marek Bernat, had raped and killed Daria, and Filip, Marek’s father knew about it and probably pulled some strings and made sure that the blame was entirely put on Sebastian. Dobocisnki made sure that he made Sebastian confess to his crimes and put him behind bars. Just before Daria had been killed, Macius had forced Sebastian to consume drugs. Mikolaj was also present at that party, but he didn’t do anything to stop Macius. Now Mikolaj was under the impression that Sebastian had committed the crime as he was not in his senses, but he didn’t know that the poor boy didn’t do any such thing. Once Tomek came to know about it, he started hunting all those who were responsible for the act.
In Hound’s Hill’s ending, Tomek killed Macius and Jarecki, and he burned the priest (who was Marek’s uncle) alive in that dilapidated house. The reason behind killing him was that he, too, knew the truth, and even after being such a religious man, he chose to hide it. When Mikolaj got to know about it, he took the gun from his father and killed Macius himself. Justyna got traumatized, and she kept shouting at Mikolaj to stop his family. But Mikolaj was not in the right state of mind. All he could think of was taking revenge on the perpetrators. In the end, Justyna and Mikolaj parted ways, and the former went back to Warsaw while Mikolaj decided to stay back with his family.
Is Mikolaj dead or alive?
Justyna won an award for authoring the best investigative coverage of the year. While accepting the award, she didn’t feel any happiness. She knew what she had had to go through, what she had seen, and how no achievement could make up for the trauma she had suffered. Elka, Tomek’s candidate, became the new mayor of the town. Tomek struck a deal with Johann, and they had a brief conversation about constructing a senior care home instead of a luxury hotel. Tomek became the kingmaker, and I believe that he also had some vested interests in constructing the senior care home. Tomek made it seem like he was constructing it out of charity, but he had found a way to appease people and, at the same time, make a profit for himself. We saw that he made a deal with Tobek, too, who told him that he also wanted to be a part of his scheme and that he was willing to donate five million for it. Kaska, Daria’s younger sister, and Mikolaj started dating, which I personally found quite strange since it hadn’t been long since Mikolaj and Justyna decided to part ways. I believe Kaska was just a rebound for Mikolaj, and he wanted to forget his past and move ahead in his life. But deep down, Mikolaj knew that it wouldn’t be so easy for him to start afresh. He knew that it was not going to be easy for him to just forget what had happened in the past few days with him.
Also, there came a moment in Hound’s Hill when Mikolaj’s subconscious mind multiplied the guilt that he had already carried on his shoulders. We saw that Mikolaj saw these visions where Daria came and talked to him. One time, when he was held captive by Tomek, she asked him what he would have done if his father hadn’t taken him away that night. Mikolaj didn’t have an answer. Probably, he didn’t want to accept it, but he knew that he, too, would have participated in the act. He was not in his senses, and he could defend himself all he wanted, but the truth was that he wasn’t sure about what he would have done.
During Hound’s Hill’s ending scene, Mikolaj overdosed on drugs and took his last breaths in a washroom. Maybe he was just tired of all the guilt, and he wanted to get rid of it. Maybe he did it intentionally as he couldn’t face the truth. Hound’s Hill ended on that tragic note. I believe that Tomek will continue doing what he had planned. He had somehow made himself believe that he had done the right thing by taking the law into his own hands. But I think Justyna would take some time to recover from what she had seen and endured. Probably, if she is able to find her way back from that deep and dark abyss in which her mind was stuck, she will expose Tomek and bring the truth to light.
