Dead End (2022) is a Polish series that follows a group of individuals who accidentally switch cars with a bank robber and then try to figure out what to do with the money. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
A man walks up to the teller at a bank and whimpers before piping up and exclaiming that he’s robbing the place.
Two men are at a dining table, one of them pleading with the other to be a little lenient with his evaluation. Leon is a single father to Dianka, who gets in a lot of trouble and has a probation officer.
Leon is informed that if Dianka gets in trouble one more time, she’ll be sent to a facility. Dianka and Leon don’t get along well because she doesn’t listen and he is an unemployed alcoholic. He pawns off her laptop and his wedding ring for cash to buy more booze.
Dianka claims that Leon barely notices her and doesn’t care for her to prove it, she tells him that he hasn’t even realised she is 3 months pregnant.
His solution is to drive to the Czech Republic, and since he needs cash he offers to take along two more passengers. Klara is a middle-aged woman who just left her husband and is headed to her sister’s place.
Wojtek is a young man who has been lying to a girl online about his identity and plans on meeting her in the Czech Republic. Along the way, they hear a news bulletin about a robbery at a bank where two million zlotys were stolen.
Dianka is a troublesome girl and when they stop at a gas station, she makes their journey even more complicated. The man who robbed the bank stops by in an identical car to patch himself up.
The robber and Dianka end up exchanging keys after running into each other and they only realise they’re in the wrong car a while after leaving. Leon also notices blood and later confirms that the car belongs to the bank robber.
Klara, Leon, Dianka and Wojtek disagree on what to do about the money as a prostitute named Celina walks up to them. The robber knows where they are because he uses Leon’s phone to call Dianka and she tells him because she didn’t know who he was yet.
They come up with a plan to get rid of the robber and take the money themselves but things go haywire and Celina runs away with the money while Wojtek beats the robber close to death to save Klara.
The robber’s name is Emil and he planned the robbery with his cousin and his cousin’s cokehead friend. After stealing the money, they argue amongst themselves and Emil is the only one who survives following a shootout.
After seeing Emil wake up in a trance due to his head injury, they get back their keys and head to a nearby motel. Little do they know that Celina is at the same motel as her pimp, Adrian operates from there.
After Emil gets to his senses, he drives up to the motel as well and waits for his moment to get the money back. Dianka tells Klara that her father is taking her to the Czech Republic because it is legal to get an abortion there.
Klara suspects Leon and Dianka of hiding the money and doesn’t believe that Celina has it. She believes Wojtek is in on it after he says that he saw Celina at the motel too.
Celina calls Adrian and tells him that he has a gift for him. She hides most of the money and keeps 70,000 aside and tells Adrian that it’s just enough for them to start anew.
Adrian instead beats her to find out where she got the money and when she tells him that she ran into the people who robbed the bank, he asks her where the rest of the money is.
Dead End (2022) ending explained in detail:
What does Celina tell Adrian?
Celina tells Adrian that the others must be still in the forest where she stole the money so they head out there. In truth, she sees Wojtek and knows that they’re at the motel and doesn’t reveal that she stole all the money.
Meanwhile, Klara finds the money that Leon hid and threatens to report him to social services unless she gets her cut of the money. To prove her wrong, Dianka sneaks into Celina’s room from the balcony and Leon sends her back while he searches the room.
Dianka traps Wojtek in the toilet and sneaks out with the extra cash and goes to the bar. Emil sneaks into the room and knocks Wojtek out after he breaks out of the toilet after which he looks for the money.
He hears Klara accuse Dianka of hiding the money and goes looking for her.
What happens to Dianka?
After Adrian doesn’t find any money in the woods, he chokes Celina but she tells him that they’re back at the motel while lying about their criminal capabilities.
They go back and Adrian finds their names in the register but Celina points out that Dianka is at the bar so he sends her to the room. She rushes to the room and begins packing up the money while Klara and Leon hide under her bed.
Just as she’s leaving Klara and Leon stop her with a gun and order her to put the money down. Wojtek bursts in and tells them Dianka is missing.
Leon gets a message from Dianka and it’s a video that Adrian took. He got her drunk and then restrained her in the back room. He threatens to hurt her unless they leave the money for him.
Emil sees Dianka and Adrian talking and follows them to the back room where he attacks Adrian.
What do they do with the money?
Leon is ready to give the money up but Celina tells him that she knows where the room is and can take them there. Adrian is high on coke so he overpowers Emil and stabs him to death.
The others walk in and Leon points the gun at Adrian. Celina grabs the gun from him and shoots Adrian multiple times until he’s dead.
They are then seen burning Emil’s car and Klara dumps the cash in there too. Dianka finally tells Leon that she lied about being pregnant.
Leon drops Klara and Wojtek in the Czech Republic and then heads back so that all of them including Celina can start new lives an try to get over the crazy day they just went through.
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