‘The Girl Who Got Away’ Ending, Explained – Was Christina actually Katie?

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The Girl Who Got Away is a 2021 suspense thriller written and directed by Michael Morrissey. The film does hold your attention but often leaves open ends for its viewers to decipher. Multiple possibilities might originate from those loose ends. So here’s an account of what we thought would be the closest explanation to what the director must have had in his mind. 


‘The Girl Who Got Away’ Ending

A killer is on the loose, and the town is panic-stricken and petrified. Nobody really knows what is happening until the name of the killer is revealed. The killer was Elizebeth Caulfield. She was an infamous history-sheeter of the town. Once a caregiver, Elizabeth had kidnapped five girls and was keeping them in captivity. Four girls never made it and were buried in her own premises. But a fifth one named Christina Bowden had somehow escaped. People marveled over that fact and considered it no less than a divine intervention that she had escaped the clutches of a maniac sociopath. But now Elizabeth Caulfield had escaped, killing the law enforcement personnel.

At the same time, she was being transferred from one facility to another. When Elizebeth Caulfield was taken into custody 20 years back for the first time, Gerry, a cop, was in charge of the town. He knew about Elizabeth more than anybody. He also carries a pang of guilt with himself for not being able to save the four girls. That is why he calls his dependable man, Jamie, as soon as he hears the news of the escape.

Jamie is serving in the police department and shares a close bond with Gerry. He respects him and was also seeing his daughter at one point in time. Jamie swings by Christina’s house and also informs her about the impending peril. He starts to interact with Christina, and that’s when we realize that the story is as simple as it seems. There are underlying subplots, and each character has its own set of secrets. 


How did Elizabeth know about Christina’s whereabouts? 

Elizabeth Caulfield starts killing people that were associated with Christina. But the question that arises is how she came to know about them, as she was in prison for the last 20 years. Christina tells Jamie that she used to write letters to her in the jail. It was unusual as to why you would even want to be in touch with a person who has scared you for life.

But this very convoluted and non-idealistic nature of “The Girl Who Got Away” gets you hooked, even if it is not fully explained. A lot is left for your interpretation. Jamie starts having doubts about Christina also during this time. He feels that she is somehow involved and not so innocent as she seems. 


How many Girls were there?

There were five girls, one of whom was Christina. Jamie finds an old videotape of Elizabeth when he starts investigating this mystery. In the video, he realizes that there was a reflection of someone in the mirror. When the video is cleared and made more visible to the naked eye, a revelation is made.

Apart from those five girls who had their names in the database, there was one more person in the house. So apparently, there were six girls in the house with Elizabeth Caulfield. This creates tremors and shakes the very foundation of the investigative theories of Jamie. It changes everything. 


A 6th Girl

Jamie asks Christina if she knows about this sixth person. Christina tells him that actually the girl was the actual daughter of Elizabeth, named Katie Caulfield. Both Elizabeth and Katie had kidnapped the five girls, and in fact, Katie was the mastermind behind everything. But Jamie makes another revelation at this point. He says that the dead body of Katie Caulfield was found earlier that day rotting in the wilderness. 

Now Jamie is convinced beyond doubt that Christina is the one who is orchestrating everything. It is because she chose to hide specific facts that were so crucial for finding the killer. All the evidence suggests that Christina is providing some aid to Elizabeth because of which she can carry out the killings.


Was Christina Bowden actually Katie Caulfield?

In the climax, we see that Elizabeth reaches Jerry’s house. She kills his wife and him. Their pregnant daughter, Amy Bailey, with whom Jamie also had an affair once, calls him and tells him that her life is in danger. By the time Jamie reaches the scene, it is too late. 

At the same time, Christina also reaches Jerry’s house. She meets Elizabeth for the first time in years. Elizabeth says something to Christina, which in my opinion, made it clear that Christina was indeed Katie. Elizabeth hands her the baby, which she had pulled out of Gerry’s daughter, Amy Bailey. She tells Christina that the girl she wanted to adopt wasn’t pure and didn’t like her.

In contrast, Amy’s baby was just pulled out from her womb. She tells Christina to say thanks to her as she took it upon herself to fulfill her desire. Christina says thankyou but pierces a knife in her belly and thereby gravely injuring her. Elizabeth gets up again, but this time Jamie shoots her. 

When the ambulance comes and asks Christina her name, she says Katie.

Christina was the one who had forced Elizabeth to kidnap girls as she wanted to be with someone of her age. That’s why Elizabeth kidnapped a girl who was a year older than the previous one every year. That was because her daughter, i.e., Katie, grew a year older, and she wanted someone of her age. When Katie grew up, she took a new name and started living a dual life. But she keeps writing letters to Elizabeth, who is her birth mother. She expresses her desire to adopt a girl child and coerces Elizabeth to commit those murders. In the end, when Amy is killed, and her baby is given to her, her mission is accomplished.  


Do share with us what you thought after watching The Girl Who Got Away and what, according to you, as a probable explanation.

The Girl Who Got Away is a 2021 Thriller Film written and directed by Michael Morrissey.

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Sushrut Gopesh
Sushrut Gopesh
I came to Mumbai to bring characters to life. I like to dwell in the cinematic world and ponder over philosophical thoughts. I believe in the kind of cinema that not necessarily makes you laugh or cry but moves something inside you.

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