Nick Rowland’s She Rides Shotgun, starring Taron Egerton and Ana Sophia Heger, is an emotional drama film about a little girl who was dragged into a violent world by her father. The court had declared Nathan McCluskey a criminal, but to his daughter, Polly, he was just her doting father. When Nathan showed up at Polly’s school, she was taken by surprise. Her mother was supposed to pick her up; she wondered for a quick second if she should trust her father and get in his dilapidated car. She ultimately decided to accompany Nathan, though she was afraid that her father had gotten himself in trouble once again. Polly asked him about her mother and her partner, Tom, but Nathan didn’t explain where they were. They ended up spending the night at a motel, and when Polly turned on a news channel, she learned that the cops were searching for her father.
Spoiler Alert
Did Nathan kill Avis and Tom?
Polly sensed that her father was in trouble when they checked into a motel. But then, she was also glad to be with him. She tried to lighten his mood in her own sweet way. Nathan warned Polly to stay away from men with blue tattoos; he explained he’d seen monsters in prison, and he wanted her to be careful of them. He even taught her how to hit someone hard with a baseball bat. Polly couldn’t really make sense of things, but she promised her father that she would put up a fight if she ever came across blue tattooed men. Nathan had dyed Polly’s hair blonde, and she was pleasantly surprised by her transition. When her father dozed off, Polly tuned into a news channel and discovered that Avis and Tom had been murdered and the cops had deduced that Nathan was responsible. That was the reason why he was on the run. It was assumed that Nathan had abducted his nine-year-old daughter, and a search for Polly had been initiated. We also discover from the news segment that Nathan was tied to a violent criminal gang, Aryan Steel, who were involved in the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. Polly freaked out; she was confident that her father hadn’t killed her mother, and she thought it was important to let the police know that the people with blue tattoos were the actual murderers. Polly was still processing the grief of losing her mother, and she wasn’t quite sure if her father even knew what he was up to. She called the cops and informed them that the tattooed men would hurt her father as well if the cops didn’t arrest them. Before her father showed up at the hotel reception, she told the cops that she was currently at the Monte Vista Motel. She was in tears when she asked Nathan why he’d lied about everything being alright. Nathan didn’t have a response. Before the cops broke into the motel, Polly begged her father to grab his belongings and leave.
Both Polly and Nathan managed to escape, and it was then that Nathan explained that Avis was killed because of the people he was associated with. He didn’t obey them, so they wanted him dead, and even though Nathan tried to protect his former lover, he failed. He promised that he would not stop Polly if she decided to walk back to the motel and contact the cop she’d called, but he strongly believed that the men who’d killed her mother would also kill Polly, and that was why he’d been trying to protect her. Nathan was the only family Polly had left, so she didn’t wish to walk away from him. Her father promised that he wouldn’t ever lie to her, and thus began their journey escaping cops and thugs to survive together.
Who was the killer?
Nathan and Polly ended up staying at Charlotte’s place for a night. She used to be Nick’s (Nathan’s brother) girlfriend before his untimely death. He was probably killed in a gang dispute; he was involved with Aryan Steel too. Later, Charlotte and Nathan got involved, though Nathan didn’t think he was worthy of being someone’s romantic interest. Initially, Charlotte wasn’t ready to provide shelter to Nathan and his kid, but he managed to convince her. The next day, a man with a blue bolt tattoo showed up; as it turned out, Charlotte was the one who’d informed him about Nathan. She had to make a choice—if she had to survive, she had to keep the gang happy, which meant throwing Nathan under the bus. Nathan ended up killing the man, and they left Charlotte’s house. Nathan planned on crossing the border with Polly, and he needed cash for it. Since Charlotte couldn’t lend him any, he decided to rob a convenience store. The robbery didn’t pan out perfectly, and while Nathan got the cash from the register, he also ended up getting shot in the leg. While Nathan and Polly crashed at a trailer chapel to dress Nathan’s wound, a cop showed up. Polly was outside, and the minute she noticed the gun in his hands, she knew he was danger. He too had the same blue bolt tattoo on his wrist. It was evident that he worked for the gang as well, and that he’d been tasked with killing Polly and Nathan. Thankfully, Nathan intervened at the right time and managed to save Polly. The little girl was so shocked and helpless that she ended up grabbing the gun she’d found on the ground and shooting the cop. Nathan made her promise to never pull the trigger again; while circumstances had turned him rotten, he didn’t wish for his daughter to turn to violence ever again.
Meanwhile, investigator John Park started to suspect that there was something bigger at play. He wondered if Nathan was actually responsible for Avis and Tom’s deaths. Two weeks before Nathan was released, a man named Chuck Hollington was brutally murdered, and apparently he had a beef with the Blue Bolts, which meant that they were likely the ones who’d killed him. Aryan Steel, the Blue Bolts, and Odin’s Bas***ds were controlled by a mysterious individual, the God of Slabtown. He led the biggest meth production in the Southwest, and nobody dared to walk into Slabtown. Even though he was said to be untouchable, John was confident that if he managed to find his Trojan horse, he would successfully manage to enter Troy. He intended on using Nathan to get to the God of Slabtown.
John contacted Sheriff Houser to find out if Nathan and Polly made it to McKinley and to dig a little deep into the activities in Slabtown. But according to Houser, that father-daughter didn’t show up there, and apparently Slabtown was pretty much non-existent. John figured the sheriff was lying after finding the body of the dead cop, who was found near the car that Nathan had dumped. The sheriff had told him that he’d spoken to the cop that morning even though the man was already dead, and John found his body in a dumpster and noticed his blue bolt tattoo. John had a feeling that maybe Nathan was using the police officer’s cruiser, and he decided to track it down. His suspicion turned out to be right; he finally found Nathan and Polly walking through a deserted landscape.
How did Nathan and John trap Houser?
John approached Nathan, and he explained that he didn’t intend on hurting him or his daughter. He simply wanted to talk, and he proposed a solution that could help Nathan deal with ‘The God of Slabtown.’ Nathan was intrigued, and he finally decided to put down his gun. John explained that after going through Nathan’s arrest record, he’d come to the conclusion that even though he’d been involved in petty crimes, he was never put behind bars for domestic violence. Polly stated with confidence that her father hadn’t killed her mom. Nathan was glad that at least his daughter didn’t think the worst of him even after everything she’d witnessed. We finally get to know the reason why Nathan was being tracked down by Aryan Steel—even though he wasn’t a member of the gang before, when he was put behind bars, he ended up accepting the protection offered by Steel, but he’d lately tried to cut ties with them, and that was why he and everyone around him had become a target of the gang. John could’ve arrested Nathan, but he instead offered something that didn’t involve being locked up. He proposed that Nathan head to Slabtown, and he added that the ‘God of Slabtown’ was Samuel Houser, aka the Sheriff. He was the leader of the white supremacist gangs involved in the manufacturing and distribution of meth. He had cops and thugs on payroll, and since he worked from within the system, it was almost impossible to bring him down.
John was afraid of taking a step on his own because he couldn’t trust anyone in the department, considering many were loyal to Houser. If Nathan managed to kill Houser, John promised to ensure that he and his daughter would get the chance to restart their lives again somewhere far away. Even though it was extremely risky, Nathan decided to do it because that was the only way he could rebuild his life with Polly. He was all she had, and he had to make sure that her life wasn’t ruined just because he had failed to be a good father. Nathan knew that the chances of him successfully executing the plan were slim, so before leaving he requested John to look after his daughter even if he didn’t make it.
When Nathan left, John’s partner, Jimmy, showed up. He demanded to know what John was up to, but the moment he noticed Polly’s suitcase, he figured out John had been working with Nathan to execute his plan. It soon became evident that Jimmy was also a Steel, and he admitted that he didn’t really have a choice considering the power of Samuel Houser. Jimmy attempted to shoot John, and after an intense gunfight, Jimmy died. Polly was in the washroom, and she was petrified. She was a little relieved when John opened the washroom door. They left the motel, and John prepared to finally confront Samuel Houser in Slabtown. As soon as Nathan showed up at Slabtown, Houser’s men grabbed hold of him. Samuel was vengeful and determined to end Nathan, and he was surprised when, even in a bloody state, Nathan stated with confidence that he would kill Samuel.
During She Rides Shotgun’s ending, Samuel figured that Nathan was simply a distraction, and while he was busy dealing with him, John and the state police had showed up at Slabtown. During the ensuing shootout, Polly stepped out of the police cruiser and found her way to her father. She untied him and was devastated to see her father completely battered. She encouraged him to get on his feet; suddenly Samuel entered the scene. He figured that the only way he could keep the cops away was by holding Polly captive. He shot Nathan in the chest and punched his face. Samuel grabbed Polly and held a gun to her head and threatened to shoot her if the cops continued firing. John instructed his team to back down.
What happened to Nathan and Polly?
In She Rides Shotgun’s ending, Nathan somehow managed to get back on his feet, and he attacked Samuel with a sharp object. Polly successfully escaped, but the moment she looked back at her father, he asked her to turn around. The cops repeatedly shot Samuel, and a few of the bullets hit Nathan as well. Along with Samuel, Nathan too died on the spot. At just the tender age of nine, Polly had witnessed immense violence and experienced constant tragedy with no guarantee of a safe future. She held onto her father because he was the only person she knew she could trust, but he was always caught up in his mess. She loved Nathan, but there’s no denying that he was the reason why she had to go through such an extreme and traumatic experience.
Within a few days, Polly had lost both of her parents. She watched her father die right before her eyes while she helplessly screamed and cried. The last few days that she’d spent with her father would forever remain etched in her memory. While child support provided her with therapy, she missed home, her family, and the overall sense of familiarity. After losing her father, the feeling of being completely alone in this world had caught up with her. John dropped her at a foster home, where she was welcomed by a compassionate woman. She was introduced to her foster sisters and brothers, and while they tried to make her feel at home, she felt extremely distant. She wanted to be happy again, but she couldn’t stop herself from remembering that the two people she loved the most in the world were gone. She now had to figure out life on her own, and she was scared. Polly deserved to be adopted by a loving family, who would manage to ease her pain and make her feel that life was worth living again. But there will always be those blue days when she will feel a sense of void and remember the fond memories that she shared with her birth parents.
