The Survivors, the Netflix murder mystery, is based on Jane Harper’s novel of the same name. I found the story to be quite entertaining, and I believe the picturesque locations added to that feeling. So let’s find out what happened in The Survivors, why Kieran, the protagonist, was so apprehensive about going back to his hometown, and who was behind the murders.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to Toby and Finn?
In a flashback sequence that took place almost 14 years back, we saw that the protagonist, Kieran, who happened to be a native of Evelyn Bay, had met with an accident where two men, Toby and Finn, had ended up losing their lives. Finn happened to be Kieran’s elder brother, whereas Toby was the son of another Evelyn Bay resident named Julian Gilroy. After that incident, Kieran had moved to Sydney, and for the next 14 years, he never stepped foot in his hometown. Kieran got into a relationship with a girl named Mia, who coincidentally went to the same school as the former back in the day. This was the reason why they both knew everybody from Evelyn Bay and were well aware of the tragedy that took place in the coastal town. Mia was a bit younger than Kieran, and they never really talked or bonded in school. Mia was also affected by the tragedy because, apart from the two boys, her good friend Gabby had also met her fateful end around that time. The people of Evelyn Bay never really talked about Gabby’s death, surprisingly, even though the girl had died under very mysterious circumstances. Gaby’s dead body was never found by the police, and it was assumed that either she fell from a cliff and drowned or she took her own life, though everybody knew she had no reason to do so. Mia, deep down, knew that there were things that were hidden from the public purview, but she never spoke about them. Gabby’s mother, Trish, just couldn’t make peace with the fact that her daughter had passed away just like that. She felt that Gabby was still alive, and due to some unknown reason, she was not coming back to Evelyn Bay.
Apart from the fact that Kieran didn’t want to be at a place that reminded him of that terrible incident, there was another reason why he went to Sydney and never came back. Julian Gilroy, with many of the townsfolk, and even Kieran’s mother, Verity, to some extent, blamed Kieran for whatever had happened that day. Kieran had gone out sailing that day, and he got stuck near a cave. The weather changed all of a sudden, and the cave got filled with water. Kieran contacted Finn and Toby, who came by boat to rescue him. But unfortunately, they lost their lives in the storm, though Kieran was able to make it to the shore. Everybody felt that if Kieran had not gone there, Finn and Toby would still be alive. It was Brian, Kieran’s father, who asked him to leave town, as he knew that otherwise his entire life would be spent in guilt, thinking that he was responsible for his brother’s demise.
Why was Bronte obsessed with Gabby’s death?
After coming back to Evelyn Bay, Kieran met his friend Ash and found out that he was dating Olivia, a mutual friend of theirs. Kieran felt a bit surprised, maybe because he and Olivia liked each other back in the day, and they would have got into a relationship had the tragedy not happened. Kieran met a girl named Bronte, who was staying with Olivia as a paying guest. Bronte had gotten obsessed with the disappearance/death of Gabby, and she felt that it was extremely strange that nobody really talked about it. She felt that that was all the more reason to address whatever had happened to her, since, unlike the guys, Toby and Finn, her body was never found by the authorities. She caught hold of Mia at the local bar (where she worked) that same day, and she asked her if she could talk to her about Gabby. Mia and Gabby used to be the best of friends, and the latter’s death had had a deep impact on Mia.
But before Bronte and Mia could meet and have a conversation, the former’s dead body was found near the shore. Kieran couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that the moment he arrived in town, people started dying in mysterious circumstances. Detective Pendlebury came to know that Mia was one of the last people with whom Bronte had a chat, and that Liam, Toby’s son, threw a mug of beer at Kieran when he saw him at the bar as he thought Kieran was the reason that his father died. Mia went and very truthfully told the authorities about whatever had happened. She and Kieran also informed Pendlebury about the car that almost rammed into them when they were heading back to their house. Mia gave a description of the car, and it wasn’t difficult to figure out that the car belonged to Liam. Detective Pendlebury had already gotten to know that Liam was in a bad mood after he saw Kieran at the bar, and according to some, he was the one who dropped Bronte home that night. So Liam became the first suspect, and Julian, his grandfather, was not happy about what had happened. Julian had gotten to know that Brian, Kieran’s father, was walking on the beach, quite near to where Bronte’s dead body had been found. He threatened Kieran and Verity that if they didn’t ask Mia to change her testimony, then he would make sure that Brian became the prime suspect of the investigation.
What were Kieran and Olivia hiding?
Mia felt really uncomfortable when she saw Olivia and Kieran together. She felt insecure, probably because she knew that they were very close to each other back in the day, and even now, they seemed to share a very close bond. Mia often got reminded of that day when Gabby told her that she liked Kieran and that she wanted to express her feelings to him. The moment she decided to go and talk to Kieran, she saw him having a chat with her sister, Olivia. Mia told Gabby that, seeing them, it did feel like they liked each other. At that moment, Mia had no feelings whatsoever for Kieran, but she knew that seeing Kieran with Olivia had hurt Gabby somewhere.
Once Olivia got to know that Kieran was in town, she arrived at his place unannounced repeatedly, and coincidentally always when Mia was out of the house. Olivia didn’t have any malicious intentions, but she just seemed to connect with Kieran at a very different level. Olivia felt that her life was falling apart, and she just didn’t know how to deal with it. She had gotten to know that Ash, her boyfriend, had kept Gabby’s phone with him since he didn’t want the authorities to know that he supplied marijuana to her. Olivia knew that it was not the right thing to do, and moreover, it made Ash look guilty. Olivia didn’t tell the detective about it, but she did confide in Kieran, as she felt that he needed to know about it. Kieran was obviously not happy about it, because Brian, his father, was being considered as one of the main suspects. He felt that Bronte’s mobile could have some evidence that could prove that his father was innocent. Olivia fought with her own conscience for quite some time, but then, ultimately, without telling Ash about it, she handed Bronte’s phone to the authorities. Another thing that bothered Olivia was the fact that her mother, Trish, wasn’t keeping well. She had tried to take her own life in the past, and Olivia was scared that she might end up doing something similar once again. She was talking to Kieran about it when Mia walked in on them and saw them holding hands. This was enough to trigger Mia so much so that she stormed out of the house in anger.
Mia wanted clarity, and so she asked Kieran later if he had feelings for Olivia or vice versa. That’s when Kieran revealed to her that, back in the day, when he got stuck in those caves, it was Olivia who had called Finn and Toby, and not him. He said he had hidden that fact because he didn’t want Olivia to be ostracized by the likes of Julian, Liam and the others, and be held responsible for the deaths of Finn and Toby. Olivia also had a chat with Mia and told her that it was trauma, guilt, and grief that connected her and Kieran. She assured her that they didn’t have romantic feelings for each other, but it was an undeniable fact that they found comfort in each other’s company. But the fact that Mia felt so insecure about Kieran and Olivia’s bond made her a bit unsure about everything. She started questioning her relationship and the kind of person she had grown to become, not because Kieran had done something wrong but because of the way she felt and how his actions impacted her mental well-being. I believe somewhere Mia felt weak; she felt like her feelings were not in her control, and that made her very restless.
How Did Gabby Die?
Detective Geoff Mallott was the one who handled Finn and Toby’s case back in the day, and it was he who had found Gabby’s backpack near the shore. Geoff theorized that Gabby fell from a cliff, and her bag got washed back by the waves. Trish, over the years, threw several backpacks from that same cliff, but not a single one came back onto shore. Trish was convinced that her daughter was still alive and that Geoff was hiding something from her. Trish’s doubt became even stronger once Mia showed her an old picture of Gabby where she was seen having fun on Toby’s boat. Mia got that picture from Gabby’s collection that George Barlin, a novelist and a professor who had been fired from university due to his lecherous behavior, had with him. Bronte used to visit Barlin’s house quite often, and the man had set up a darkroom for developing the photographs in his garage. So Trish, after she saw the picture, believed that Gabby was with Toby and Finn on their boat, the day they met their fateful end. Meanwhile, Geoff Mallott did admit that he found Gabby’s backpack on Toby’s boat. Trish presumed that both the guys had ill intentions towards her daughter, and she felt infuriated when the entire town wanted to celebrate their death anniversary and honor them like heroes.
Mia told everything to Kieran, who just couldn’t make peace with the fact that his brother and Toby were capable of doing something like that. Amidst all the chaos, Kieran noticed that in one of the pictures, Gabby’s name was engraved on the wall in the same cave where his friends, i.e., Sean and Ash, had carved out their names. Kieran decided to go and see for himself if her name was there on the wall or not and to check on the date carved right below her name. He wanted to do so because, according to his calculations, Gabby could only have engraved her name on the day he and Olivia got stuck in the storm. What this meant was that if Gabby was present in the cave at that moment, then she could not have been there with Finn and Toby on their boat. Kieran and Sean went together to the same caves, and they found that though Gabby’s name was engraved on the wall, somebody had scratched it out. Kieran knew that Ash was not the one who had brought Gabby there, and from that point, it wasn’t difficult for him to connect the dots. Sean, who had been standing there in silence, broke down and spilled all the secrets. It was he who had brought Gabby to that cave 14 years ago. Sean had made an advance on Gabby, kissing her. It was that moment that he realized that she didn’t like him the way he did. Moreover, Sean knew that Gabby was interested in Kieran, which made him feel even more pathetic. There were times when Sean felt really small in front of Kieran and Ash. He saw them hooking up with girls, whereas he didn’t get any attention. Sean, feeling embarrassed, had left Gabby behind and went out of the cave. Suddenly, the water had started to rise due to the storm, and Gabby shouted at the top of her lungs and asked Sean to wait for her since she didn’t know the way. Gabby couldn’t make it out of the cave in time, and she eventually drowned and died a painful death. Sean didn’t explicitly kill her, but he knew that he didn’t do anything to save her either. He knew he shouldn’t have left her like that, but deep down he wanted her to die, as he didn’t want others to know what had happened between them.
Who killed Bronte? And why?
Brian, Liam, Marco Cabollo (Bronte’s stalker), and George Barlin were the prime suspects in the Bronte murder case at different points in time. But at the end, Detective Pendlebury almost got convinced that it was Brian who had killed the girl. There were many pieces of evidence that pointed towards his involvement in the crime. Firstly, Bronte’s camera was found in his garage, and somebody had spray-painted the word “perv” on the garage gate. Moreover, his DNA was found on Bronte’s clothes and mouth, which made the detectives feel that he could have sexually assaulted her first and then killed her. The problem was that Brian was experiencing memory loss, and it wasn’t possible to make him confess to his crimes as he didn’t remember what he had done.
I believe Brian would have been held guilty had Sean not confessed at the end of The Survivors. Moreover, even Verity, while talking to Julian, figured out that the man was involved in Gabby’s and Bronte’s murders. Though Julian did not explicitly kill them, he hid the truth from the authorities once he came to know what his son, Sean, had done. Sean was with Bronte at the beach when the latter somewhat sensed that he was involved in Gabby’s death. She realized that whenever she talked about her, Sean felt extremely uncomfortable, and he just didn’t like talking about it. Also, Sean had a slip of the tongue and then ended up saying something that only a person who was with Gabby in her last moments could have known. Sean saw that Bronte had taken the picture of the cave walls where Gabby’s name was inscribed. He knew that if people got to know about it, they would connect the dots and find out that he was responsible for her death. Things got heated up between Sean and Bronte, and the former ended up delivering a deadly blow to her skull. Bronte succumbed to her injuries, and then Sean tried to plant all the evidence on Brian and make it look like he was the culprit. In the end, Sean tried to kill his childhood friend, to save himself from an arrest, but by this time Verity had already found out the truth from Sean’s father shortly after which she alerted the police. The detectives, along with the armed forces, arrived at the location and arrested Sean for murder. Meanwhile, Kieran was rescued from the cave and was taken care of by the paramedics. It’s likely that Sean would be charged for murder and he might spend the rest of his life behind bars.
In The Survivors’ ending, Trish, Olivia, and Bronte’s parents got the closure they deserved. As for Kieran, the entire chain of events had led him and his mother to resolve their differences and understand each other’s perspective. Verity loved her son, and she realized that, back in the day, she hadn’t treated Kieran very nicely. As for Mia, I think she was still in two minds about her relationship. She definitely needed some space, but at the end she decided to stay back at Evelyn Bay as Kieran requested her to. Maybe in the future, they will be able to mend their bond and once again find that love that existed between them.
