The ending of K.O. was about Bastien and Alaoui saving Leo from the clutches of Abdel Manchour and his men (also known as the Manchours) and helping the kid reunite with his mother, Emma. 2 years prior to the events of the movie, Bastien went up against Enzo in a pro MMA fight and accidentally killed the latter. He was apologetic about his actions, but Emma and Leo weren’t in the mood to accept his apology. Bastien hung up his boots and took up a job in a mining facility, living as far away as possible from any kind of conflict. One day, Emma showed up at his doorstep with a request: find Leo. Bastien realized that this was going to be one of the only ways he could make up for his act of accidentally destroying Enzo’s family, and he went to Marseille, since that was where Leo went to live with his cousin, Hugo. Leo was Officer Alaoui’s informant, and since she was searching for him too, she and Bastien joined hands to quicken the process, as they had to get to Leo before the Manchours got to him. What was the real reason that Abdel wanted Leo dead? Did Bastien and Alaoui succeed in shielding Leo from the wrath of Abdel? Should there be a sequel? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Vasseur Was A Mole
From the get-go it was apparent that Leo was working with the Andalou and tipping Alaoui off about how drugs and other illegal stuff were being brought into Marseille. But then he witnessed the Andalou being walked into a trap by his contact, where he was captured by the Manchours. Since Leo had witnessed all of this, including Abdel killing the Andalou’s associate with his own hands, it was important to catch him so that he wouldn’t inform the police that the Manchours were on the rise. You see, the Manchours were incredibly active 10-15 years ago. However, after killing Alaoui’s brother in a particularly violent manner, they went dormant. They had started to make their presence known for the past year, but since Alaoui was the only one who was raising an alarm about this fact, the police weren’t treating it seriously, thereby allowing the Manchours to establish themselves uncontested. So, yeah, if Leo testified—after being brought to the police station, along with Alaoui and Bastien—that he had seen Abdel committing such a heinous crime, he would be stopped from becoming Marseille’s uncrowned king. Hence, it was necessary to kill the lad.
That said, the real reason why Leo needed to be killed was because he was the only one who knew that there was a mole in the police. What Leo didn’t know was this mole’s identity. That said, as soon as Leo would state that there was someone amongst the cops working for the Manchours, an internal investigation would be initiated, and said mole would be punished. Therefore, when Leo was taken into the interrogation room by Vasseur, Benoit, and Alaoui for questioning, Vasseur saw a window of opportunity. He killed Benoit and was about to kill Alaoui and Leo too, but Alaoui pulled out her gun and put an end to the mole. What I absolutely love about this twist is that director-writer Antoine Blossier played with our expectation that Benoit—the good guy whose daughter’s godmother was Alaoui—was going to be the mole because that’s what’s been happening for a while in movies set in the crime thriller subgenre. He was constantly seen calling someone whenever he learned of a new development in the case, and the movie always cut right to Abdel talking to his informant in the police. When Leo brought up the topic of the mole, Alaoui looked suspiciously at Benoit as if, much like the audience, she was aware of the trope and was expecting the betrayal to come from her best friend. So, when Vasseur pulled out the knife, everyone was taken by surprise.
The “good cop is actually the bad cop” trope was introduced as a subversion of the “obviously corrupt cop being the mole” twist, as it’d come as a genuine surprise to the protagonist and the audience. However, Blossier went back to the basics and made Vasseur—the bad guy who was constantly berating Alaoui for proposing the theory that the Manchours were back—the mole. As for why Vasseur decided to betray the police, that wasn’t explicitly revealed. That said, right before Alaoui sent Vasseur into the afterlife, he did say something about the Manchours not giving him much of a choice. We saw how Abdel got the Andalou to talk about where he had stashed the weed and the coke by torturing his daughter. So, it won’t be a stretch to say that maybe the Manchours threatened Vasseur that they’d harm his family if he didn’t work for them. Even though Vasseur sounded desperate, based on Abdel’s remark that he had used his connection with the Manchours to procure coke and sex workers, it’s possible that he was faking it. Maybe he wasn’t threatened at all, and he willingly chose to side with the Manchours. But when he realized that he was going to be punished by the police for being a mole, as well as by the Manchours for not killing Leo, he got all jumpy and erratic. Well, at the end, he got what he deserved.
Abdel Died
In K.O.’s ending, Abdel and Driss Manchour, along with a handful of his gang members, descended upon the precinct that Leo was at, which was a clear homage to John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13. The Manchours had forced most of the officers to go on a wild-goose chase all across Marseille by initiating crimes in the farthest corners of the city, leaving behind Bastien, Alaoui, Leo, Chief Canistra, and a couple of other officers at the police station. Plot-wise, it made sense because the Manchours were diabolical, but they weren’t stupid. They could’ve overwhelmed the police station with their thugs and finished off everyone in one fell swoop. However, that would’ve depleted their resources and led to way too many casualties on their end. On top of that, it would’ve foiled the Manchours’ ruse that they weren’t on the rise. So, instead of waging a war, they planned to make the whole thing look like a skirmish. From a filmmaking perspective, this also made a lot of sense, as it allowed Blossier to cut corners without reducing the impact of the action sequences. More cops and more thugs would make things chaotic, cost a lot of money, and hamper the intimacy of the fights between Abdel, Alaoui, Driss, and Bastien.
Yes, of course the heroes won and the villains lost. Alaoui drove her baton through Abdel’s head; meanwhile, Bastien stabbed, punched, kicked, and flung Driss around until he perished. Canistra and the other cops became martyrs. Leo was saved, and he was reunited with Emma and his girlfriend, Inaya. Happy ending. However, as I rewatched the fights between said heroes and villains, it dawned on me that those 2 battles weren’t just about saving Leo. As mentioned before, Alaoui’s brother was mercilessly killed by Abdel for simply protesting their decision to sell drugs. For over a decade, Alaoui had had to live with that fact, unable to retaliate in any meaningful way. Even when she found out that the Manchours were back in business, she couldn’t do anything because she didn’t get the green light from her boss. So, that punch-up in her precinct was her only way of avenging her brother and bringing down the head of the nexus that had destroyed Marseille from within.
When it comes to Bastien, he had a lot of baggage too. He had turned his body into a weapon and perfected the art of MMA fighting, but not with the intention of killing anybody. Yet, he caused Enzo’s death and ruined Emma and Leo’s lives. Therefore, when the Manchours came for Leo, he used his skills for a good cause. He essentially gave another chance to Leo to script his future after unintentionally leading him astray from a normal life. In the MMA cage, he fought for glory, points, medals, and trophies. He fought for himself. That said, in that precinct, probably for the first time in a long while, he chose to fight for someone else; not for any accolades or achievements, but for the sake of humanity. Right before the chaos began, Bastien said that he knew that Leo would never be able to forgive him for what he had done. So, he wasn’t looking for his forgiveness. He just needed to win Leo’s trust so that he could show him a path that would help him channel his confused emotions in a positive way. Additionally, maybe Bastien wanted to prove to himself that he still had it in him after 2 years of non-violence. I don’t know if it’s possible to fight like that after 2 years of non-stop stone mining. This is a fictional movie, though, and Bastien looks really great while fighting, so I’m willing to give that creative choice a pass.
Sequel Expectations
As soon as Alaoui asked Bastien what he intended to do next, and he replied that he’d find something new to fight for, I started theorizing about the possibility of a K.O. sequel. By the way, Netflix hasn’t announced anything, whatever I am about to say is just speculation. For starters, the gang that the Manchours were operating probably didn’t die with them. Their size and reach weren’t exactly explained. But there might be some loyalists who would look to punish Bastien and his loved ones for ruining their plans to rule over Marseille. That’d be a good enough prompt for Bastien to sharpen his MMA skills and get punching again. Leo has a lot of info on the drug trade in and around Marseille, which he’ll be more than willing to share with Alaoui and the police. So, it’s possible that Alaoui will look to put an end to such nexuses, and Bastien will join her in that fight against drugs.
By the way, I don’t think Vasseur was the only mole in the police. For multiple gangs to gain prominence, they must’ve had multiple officers on their payroll. Vasseur’s death will start an internal investigation, thereby causing every corrupt cop to get anxious. Since Bastien and Alaoui are the reason why their jobs are in danger, maybe they’ll try to frame them and get them killed. With the death of the Manchours, there’ll be a power vacuum in Marseille, something that Morad—the guy that the Andalou used to work for—would love to fill. And Alaoui and Bastien would probably be more than willing to snuff out his light before he gets to burn down Marseille. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the ending of K.O. and my expectations from its potential sequel. What are your opinions on the same? Let me know in the comments section below.
