Lou (2022) ending explained: Does Lou save Vee?

Lou (2022) is an action thriller that follows an old woman named Lou Adell with a sketchy past who is forced to rescue a little girl who has been kidnapped. The film is now streaming on Netflix.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Plot summary

Lou looks out at the sky as the storm is closing in. With her dog, Jax by her side, she goes out into the forest and digs out a box. She sets things straight in her house, destroys the contents of the box, keeps aside a bunch of cash, and then gets ready to kill herself with a rifle.

Earlier that day, Lou is hunting in the forest and shoots down a stag. She lives in a secluded area on a small island that has a minimal population. She goes to the bank and withdraws all the money she had in her account, then heads home after picking up some tarps.

Hannah is a single mother who lives with her daughter, Vee in a trailer on Lou’s property. Lou drops by to remind her about the rent and then heads home. There’s a bulletin on the radio warning about a thunderstorm approaching.

A friend of Hannah visits and talks to her about letting Vee know that her father has died. Hannah says that she’s waiting for the right moment.

On his way back to town, the man picks up a hitchhiker in the rain. They chat a bit and then the stranger finds a moment when they’re alone on the road and he attacks Hannah’s friend.

The storm hits and Hannah and Vee get ready to go to bed when the power goes out. Hannah heads out to check the breakers but she finds her friend’s van out in the distance and his body in the back. Someone breaks into the trailer and takes Vee after knocking her out with gas.

Hannah rushes back to find a picture of Vee and her father. She walks into Lou’s cabin just as Lou is about to pull the trigger on herself and rambles on about Vee’s father coming back and kidnapping her even though he’s supposed to be dead.

Lou immediately switches to action mode as she hides the letter she planned to leave behind for whoever found her. She gathers supplies and says that she needs to track the man herself as the storm is too strong to get help.

Hannah tells her Vee’s father, Philip, was Green Beret who was discharged for doing some horrible things and he’s too much for just Lou and her to handle. Lou ignores her and pushes on with her search.

Phillip is pulling Vee along in a covered stroller while trying to get in touch with some friends of his. When Vee wakes up again, he lets her know that he’s her father and checks if she remembers him, which she does.

He tells her that they’re going on an adventure and that he’s left clues behind for her mother so that she can meet them later on. Vee is happy to see her father, but she’s also a little scared because of the strange circumstances she’s in.

Lou and Hannah find a cabin in the woods with two men guarding it. Hannah says that they’re people who served with Philip and that this is probably a trap that he set up as a distraction.

Hannah walks up to the cabin and pretends to be an old woman who has lost her way. She’s invited in and when the two men lower their guard, Lou fights them and kills them after finding out that Philip is headed to Eagle Bay.

Hannah asks Lou where she learned all this and Lou admits that she was an agent of the CIA. They continue and take a break in the woods where Hannah discusses how Philip was abusive to her when they were married and how she felt free when she found out he died.

Lou and Hannah arrive at Eagle Bay and cannot find any trace of Philip and Vee. They find Vee’s favourite toy with the head ripped off and Hannah gets worried. Lou tells her to take the radio they have to a high spot and contact the sheriff.

Hannah manages to get a message through to the sheriff who immediately contacts the authorities on the mainland. An officer informs the sheriff that Philip is a war criminal while Lou is wanted by the CIA and that this investigation is now in their hands.

Lou finds where Vee and Philip have set up camp and sneaks up but she is blindsided by Philip who has a gun pointed at her.

Lou (2022) ending explained in detail:

What is the connection between Lou and Philip?

Philip addresses Lou as his mother and then asks her why she sold him out. Lou says that she did that to protect Vee and Hannah and that she wanted to keep them safe, far away from Philip.

He brings up the fact that she didn’t do anything when he was kidnapped by strange men when he was a child and she reasons that it was to make sure that she didn’t get caught too.

She brings up the fact that she eventually had him rescued but he hits back that she never spoke to him after that and says that never cared for him, she only cared about her job.

They have a scuffle and Lou gets stabbed in the chest with an axe as Philip leaves with Vee and tells them to come to the Lighthouse.

How does Hannah react?

Lou gets herself back to the coast and Hannah returns to find her struggling. She digs into Lou’s bag for the first aid kit and finds the notes that Philip had left behind. She realises that they weren’t meant for her and asks Lou for the truth.

Lou admits that Philip is her son and that it was her who led Hannah to the island so that she could keep watch. She blackmailed the CIA to investigate Philip’s actions to get him away from them.

Hannah is angry that she never told her about this and then blames her for Vee’s kidnapping. After learning that Philip is at the lighthouse, she goes there and leaves Lou behind.

Lou is later found by the sheriff after the storm clears up and when he asks her why the CIA wants her, she says that she has evidence that they’re responsible for the coup in Iran.

What happens at the lighthouse?

Hannah reaches the lighthouse and sees Philip. He tells her that they need to wait for Lou to arrive so that he can finally end things. Vee asks her father if she can hug Hannah and he relents.

After the hug, Hannah tells Vee to hide so Vee asks Philip if she can go to the bathroom. He tells her to come back right after. Hannah pulls a gun at Philip and shoots him twice. He disarms her and pins her down but she stabs his hand with Lou’s knife and traps him.

She goes down to the basement of the lighthouse to find Vee and sees that Philip has rigged it to explode. Lou shows up a little while later and they manage to escape through a side hatch as Philip gets free and stumbles down the stairs after them.

Lou changes the frequency to nullify the remote trigger that Philip is carrying.

Does Lou survive?

Vee makes a run for it to the end of the coast and Hannah and Lou follow after her. Philip finds the hatch they escaped in and goes after them. Lou notices a chopper from the CIA circling.

She blows up the lighthouse with a remote trigger she made to grab the chopper’s attention. She tells Hannah to get away with Vee and stays behind to deal with Philip.

She fights him and keeps him occupied until the chopper arrives and shoots them down.

A few weeks later, a few agents are questioning Hannah whether Lou mentioned any documents that she had and Hannah says she doesn’t know anything. Everything is packed up as Hannah and Vee get set to move to Seattle.

They get on a ferry along with Jax and Jax gets distracted by a woman on the other end of the ferry who is watching them with a pair of binoculars. Lou faked her death and will continue watching over Hannah and Vee.


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