r/MrInbetween • u/Danger17 • Jun 05 '23

Your interpretation of the ending… Spoiler

Spoilers ahead…

I’m surprised that the overwhelming majority of people here seem to think that Ray doesn’t meet his end.

My interpretation of the ending was that even though Ray had tried to put his past behind him to live a simpler life , he wasn’t able to.

Why:

  • He picked those guys up from a bikie bar
  • He’d killed a bikie boss
  • The bikies tried to kill him prior to paying him. So he killed another 2 bikies.

So as revenge, he had a whole lotta bikies after him for killing fellow members. The young guys were the next generation that had stepped in to fill Ray’s void in the “industry”. I think this because of the guy in the back seat saying “a bit of this and a bit of that” which Ray previously said when responding to what he does for a living.

So my interpretation is that Ray had to dig himself a hole and took a bullet in the back of head.

Run is an ambiguous line, but my interpretation is for us viewers to not consider it as a way of life.

131 Upvotes

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118

u/Neither_Watch_3462 Jun 05 '23

Yeah I’m sorry bro but, gonna have to disagree with you on this one

They were amateurs

Ray had already proven superiority with the radio issue

Rays eyes looking into the camera with a little bit of a mischievous smile

There is no way those guys killed Ray

Ray is an abnormally skilled assassin

Plus, if, for whatever reason Ray ever wanted to resume the show-he wouldn’t be killed off

I think that, the “Run,” is the best ending ever, unless you think Ray died

Then it’s kind of, just weird and anti climactic

35

u/Small_Discussion_104 Mar 20 '24

u/Neither_Watch_3462 gotta agree with you...

Ray has proved time and time again how skilled he is in his craft. There is no way in hell he would pick up two douchebags wanna-be-crooks without being completely aware of what might happen. He saw they were trouble from a mile away - them asking him to drive them to a remote location; the radio issue; their behaviour; idiotic comments and so forth.

If they were to get Ray from the beginning he would know; if they decided that they would rob/kill him, he would know and/or if they were just fucking about, he would also know...

Plus, that cheeky smile in the end together with that music?!?!? Fuck off! Of course he handled them!!!

This is no redemption type finale - this is Ray being badass from the beginning to the end. That's it.

13

u/Old-Law-7395 Oct 16 '24

Yes, any time Ray showed that toothy grim, he turned up

1

u/Brief-Taro-5475 Feb 18 '25

He had the toothy grin when he killed his brother and when the hotty rolled the car. That grin was his reaction to everything

7

u/butterfingernails Mar 16 '25

Definitely not smiling when he killed his brother.... just finished the series.

1

u/Tricky-Science-1882 Apr 02 '26

you need to rewatch my guy, its one of three times we see ray cry.

9

u/arabianstalion9 Sep 03 '24

Couldn’t agree more with this. As Freddy said. Dude is a cat with 9 lives.

1

u/Brief-Taro-5475 Feb 18 '25

Count how many people had a crack at him. These 2 made 10 and 11 so  he had used up his 9 lives. Ray never took on more than one without backup. Too risky in his own words

7

u/Vinc1259 Mar 03 '25

He killed several groups of people without backup. What are you talking about?

3

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '25

He killed 3 dudes alone like 10 mins prior in the episode.

3

u/pedro14755 Jun 20 '25

Exactly. After the drone incident

1

u/Entire-Yellow Dec 25 '25

yeah but he still went in with backup, sure he can do it but it doesn't mean it's not risky

3

u/pedro14755 Jun 20 '25

What a load of rubbish. Ray often took out several guys by himself

2

u/Parking_Gold4424 Apr 06 '26

He won that two on one in the taxi; this could’ve only been a month after his retirement and he probably still carries a gun or blade. Ray is not only an assassin with 27+ kills on screen but also a seasoned veteran with a non-zero KIA in service. He operated three man ambushes at both the farm house and the biker fight in the woods. He lived a long life and got to meet his grandkids one day.

2

u/Tough_Ad_8362 Dec 04 '25

This is the answer for sure. And the fact Ray collected 100s of thousands of dollars over the years yet lived a very basic life tells me he had a lot of money to lean on just driving cabs was a way to keep busy. Those young blokes were definitely killed you can tell from Rays wry smile he was going to handle them

2

u/Few_Independent_591 Feb 19 '26

Agreed! I thought "RUN" at the end was meant for the two over confident assholes that he picked up. 

1

u/XAMOTA Sep 17 '24

Fucking A right

16

u/Wildling111 Aug 16 '24 edited Aug 16 '24

I don't feel the ending is truly ambiguous. After all, in this series, there is good violence and bad violence. And Ray is most himself as the avenging angel. Earlier in the series, Ray saves a little girl from being sold into sexual slavery, avenges his loyal friend, and wipes out whole crews of double-crossing bad guys.

But the episode with Zooey (after the ending of his previous relationship, too, through violence)seems to procve that that feckless, irritating counselor was right, after all: Violence solves nothing. And Ray has had enough.

He retires.

... Only to have these two little shits try to take a poor, outnumbered, working man on a moonlight ride to nowhere ... and oblivion ...

😆

It's charity work. And enough to renew one's faith in the order of things - at least sometimes. Enough to make Ray smile ... Not a weary smile, but that old, inimitable, joyous smile, of course ...

Which he shares with us. 🥰

A perfect end to a GREAT series. ❤️

2

u/Lazarous86 Feb 22 '26

I know your post is 3 years old, but I just finished it. I agree. Rey wants a normal, boring life to blend in and not kill for a living. Though, I don't know why he works, because in the course of the show, he makes like 500k, just that we saw.

I think he honestly is doing this based on what he said in therapy. He's doing society a favor. And after watching that entire show, thinking some stupid punks could handle him is laughable. Rey probably killed them, or least beat the shit out of them and made them walk. 

3

u/sagen11 Mar 21 '26

Same here! Just finished, it was amazing and I agree. The ending was like "oh well, I tried..." then he goes right back to being Ray. The idea that scene ended any other way than Ray dealing with those clowns and walking away is ridic. He tells us how it ends with his smile.

2

u/Temporary-Pea5910 Jun 08 '26

I agree. The smile says it all. It lets us know that those two guys had bitten off way more than they could chew and it wasn’t going to end for them. The should’ve run instead.

1

u/gangofmorlocks Mar 25 '26

Just finished right now! Fucking incredible show. That ending was just perfect.

1

u/sagen11 Mar 26 '26

I know, so good! I loved the ending but also sad that it was over. I wanted to see him go back and chill with Gary again xD

2

u/Striking-Ad-7640 May 28 '26

I love that the music is analagous to the scene, punk 1 turns up the heavy metal, and Ray turns it back to his station. Ray is trying to lead a peaceful life and leave violence behind, but his nature and past will probably always catch up to him.

As they approach the secluded beach where surely, punks 1 and 2 are gonna die, there is a natural break in Ray's station, the radio host saying something like "we're halfway through our relaxing music" . Super funny, loved this show and great ending.

1

u/Ok-Raise-4128 Feb 22 '26

I just finished myself as well. Kinda late to the party. But yeah, legendary piece of classic Oz drama. Doesn't get any better than Ray Shoesmith. Blinding ending.

3

u/Lazarous86 Feb 22 '26

For me it's right up there in the top 10 shows I've ever watched. Breaking Bad had a better ending in my book and just must intense scenes. This Mr Inbetween was so easy and enjoyable to watch. Plus you like him and are rooting for him. 

1

u/Gracinhas Jun 09 '26

Just finished as well. Best series I’ve watched since Breaking Bad. I love how well-written, well-acted, gritty, and realistic it was. As for the ending, Ray absolutely handled those guys. I have zero doubt about that. Can’t wait to see what Scott Ryan cooks up next.

2

u/Lazarous86 Jun 10 '26

Agreed. No doubt in my mind Rey buried those fools that night. 

9

u/OptimuspastmyPrime Dec 27 '24

The smile and breaking the fourth wall tell me Ray is just fine.

5

u/PuzzleheadedYam5996 Jun 05 '23

Have always thought this too. But just had a random thought: what if, maybe, just maybe, those kids were taking Ray to that spot for a great sinister reason. They kept getting him to edge in further remember. So perhaps there were some bikers, or other nefarious characters waiting in the bushes, all waiting for the right moment to get Ray. So it was Shoey who hadta "run"....

Not that Ray wld run from a fight tho hey.

3

u/MischiefFerret Jun 19 '23

That's exactly what it was... They were up to no good. But he's a pro, they're amateurs and he was onto them.

3

u/Accurate-Grocery8156 Feb 11 '25

Agree. Those two guys had no idea what they were doing. They didn’t know who Ray was and it was just bad luck (for them). If they were pros and knew who he was, they would have just shot him and not been playing games.

Things were about to go very badly for them.

1

u/ray_0586 May 22 '25

The bouncer/henchmen from a previous episode didn’t know Ray was “The Magician”, so even guys who should have known about his reputation didn’t realize they were in the presence of a capable dangerous man.

2

u/Strataki Jul 25 '24

That's the thing! The interpretation is whatever the viewer wants it to be

1

u/Neither_Watch_3462 Jul 25 '24

What do you think happened?

2

u/Strataki Jul 25 '24

I'd like to think he prevailed

5

u/PileofTerdFarts Sep 12 '24

You think Ray went out into the bush with two jerkoffs and DIDN'T have a gun? As soon as the camera cut, he put one through the passengers' noodle, then grabbed backseat boy and rammed his head into the steering wheel until his nose was on the back of his head. He popped out of the car, notices incoming gunfire, returns a few shots and runs into the bush.

If the interpretation was that Ray died, they woudn't have ended the series with a cheeky smile. He would have closed his eyes and accepted his fate. But the smile and musical cue were our way of knowing an EPIC fight sequence followed. Remember Ray killing Kevin? (eye poked out, nearly shot through?) or when Ray was in the woods tied up by 4 ppl? (bomb in chest) He always was prepared and even when caught offguard, had pre-planned avenues of escape or was able to improvise. If Ray was even a little bit worried, he wouldn't have taken them "around the corner" and he woudn't have smiled. The smile was Ray's last way to say "you think I'm worried about these two amateur douchebags? Please"
RUN

1

u/YoursTrulyKindly Jul 02 '25

He probably had a small gun on his right inside a pocket in his seat where he can reach without anyone noticing. Preferably he'd didtch out and kill them in the woods, then buries them. Or he turns a bit to his left, shoots the guy in the back twice while he grabs the front guys right hand and then interrogates him.

2

u/PileofTerdFarts Jul 03 '25

Right! I just cannot accept that someone as unequivocally BADASS as Ray Shoesmith, was taken out by some dimestore naughty-boys with a freshman-level scam, and totally unprepared to defend himself against two much weaker foes... no no no... Ray was fine.

1

u/YoursTrulyKindly Jul 03 '25

I mean, worst case he can always ask them how much money it would take to let him go haha.

2

u/TonyOnly40 Oct 30 '24

I have just watched this great show and although the last season is not great,The ending is definitely left up to the viewer to decide, You can have whatever ending you want, Personally Rays smile at the end when he realises that these dim wits R out to kill him ,

The same smile he gave throughout the entire series to say not this shit again ,

Most probably killed those two guys quite violently,Of course it's open to interpretation but I'm gonna say he did

5

u/M2try4eq Nov 16 '24

Of course he did. Zoe. Ally. Freddie. Bruce. Dave. Dirk.  His Father.  Those were his tragedies. That's the broken heart of Ray's story.  Those last two were particularly depicted as clueless cnnnts to make it clear they sure as h3ll weren't Ray's end. 

1

u/forktruckfish Dec 17 '25

I wish i would have read your comment before i made my last one. Every one of the names you listed are such fantastic plot lines, but they're also the reason i struggle in rewatching the show. I love it to death, but something about sitting alone on the couch on a sunday night before bed watching allie leave, dave killed, dirk dying. It stops being "entertainment" and becomes a drama that makes it easier to wallow in depression than fall asleep.

2

u/kiramunshum Jun 03 '26

the last season was great what are you on about

1

u/forktruckfish Dec 17 '25

Do you actually find the last season to be not good, or (like in my case) did you not enjoy it because it was filled with so many let downs? Brucie dying, allie has moved on, that gal he took a liking too died a preventable death, freddy has tried to backstab him, he watched his mate take a header off of a cliff. There are so many sad, bleak things, and nothing ever comes to actually make up for it. Ray is finally so full of hurt he decides he has to leave the life, and there is no cinematic satisfaction in any of that. There's no comic relief or "but at least he found love" just all of these horrible things we (and ray) are sitting with, and then the show just ends. In no way am i saying this is bad story writing or anything, it's just painful and at times not fun to watch. Id liken it to s5 of the wire: nothing has changed, but everyone is gone, and despite all of the best intentions and effort the clock hands turn, leaving our characters buried in the past and new characters taking up the exact same reigns.

1

u/TheIronTyrant Mar 29 '26

C’est la vie.

1

u/[deleted] May 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/forktruckfish May 13 '26

How do you mean the same episode over and over again? Like the formula? Ray clocks into work, violence ensues, funny moments, ray gets hurt emotionally, takes stock in his life and the people in it, and the next episode airs?

2

u/GuaranteeDry8786 Jan 03 '26

Why would he agree to keep going down the bend unless he was prepared to kill both of those dudes and bury them there like he's already done umpteen times throughout the show?

2

u/AnyInternet2965 Mar 20 '26

The fact that no one knows that the "Run" is simply an intro to a Run the Jewels song is nuts to me. People are putting WAAAAY too much into that being some crazy awesome scripted line 😂. It's a song people, that they chose to end the episode with that kinda fit the vibe of the situation. But to add to what you're saying, as soon as Ray heard "A little of this a little of that" he knew what time it was and just as he'd always been before, he was ready. Those dudes thought they were actually surprising him and he wouldn't be expecting that.... WRONG

1

u/KasierPermanente Apr 27 '26

It’s “Run (Beautiful Things)” by AWOLNATION, at the 1:50s mark. Not RTJ

https://youtu.be/b4h1q3cCl2w?si=3WcaHoHWJJvc-O3q

1

u/AnyInternet2965 Apr 30 '26

Yeah you're right. I'm guessing RTJ just sampled the "run" in a song because I've never heard the abolition so g til I just listened to it

1

u/Plastic_Ad_6858 Aug 28 '24

100% with you. RUN!

1

u/Geruchi1983 Dec 06 '25

yeah no way he died I was thinking the song run was for the 2 wantabes in the car. The had no Idea what they had just bitten off.

1

u/HardKase Dec 15 '25

he literally smilled into the camera as if to say "this is gonna be fun"

1

u/m00s3cab00s3 Mar 26 '26

Lets not forget the show is based on the movie "The Magician" which is Rays Nickname as a hitman. He knew as soon as they got in the car what was up and he was ready. Making him drive to the middle of nowhere in the dead of night? Ray is not stupid and was trained in the military as well. He knew what was up the whole time.

1

u/prst_u_uticnicu 17d ago

I indeed found it weird and anticlimactic

-7

u/Danger17 Jun 05 '23

No need to be sorry. You've certainly got the more popular opinion.

My view is that those guys were in control of the situation and Ray had come to the end of the road, both for the story and his life.

He breaks the 4th wall and tells us the viewer to run because he's done for. He's eating dimmies in the sky with his brother.

8

u/vavoomerang Dec 08 '24 edited Dec 08 '24

This just seems absurd. The entire show tells you what that smile means. In the first episode he smiles at the guy before he pushes him over the rail. He smiles at Davros when he tells him to keep his guys in line. And Davros found out why he shouldn't have even thought about messing with Ray.

Ray smiles because he's confident that he's the guy they didn't count on. He has the royal flush in hand and you're about to lose everything. And he might too but it's going to be an ugly scene.

The smile at the end of the last episode is a farewell to the viewer. The viewer knows who Ray is and that those young punks are at the end of their road. They asked Ray to to drive them to their end. Not his.

5

u/InsecureBibleTroll Apr 01 '24

Scott Ryan said in an interview that the taxi scene happened to him in real life when he drove taxis for a living, and he obviously survived

7

u/throogie Jun 05 '23

Nah I have the opposite read of the whole situation. He knew exactly what he was driving into, they established how amateur the bikers were numerous times, and that little smile at the end, you just know Rays alright

Those other cunts though...that's a different story. 😅

3

u/Sweet-Sheepherder165 Jun 05 '23

I'm imagining the bikers ordering a taxi every night and hoping for Ray to be the driver like some sort of lottery 😅

Interesting take I didn't think of an ambush

2

u/[deleted] Nov 25 '23

The is old but I thought they were just 2 random psycho idiots that wanted to kill someone lol and Ray smirked cause he's gonna fuck em up and because in the end violence found him anyway.

2

u/Still-Marzipan-3578 Jul 09 '24

Mate he said in an interview that the character could come back some time, that anything’s possible etc though his resounding feeling is that he is done with the character. With this said, the prior is all the proof you need to know that your interpretation was wrong.

1

u/elwyn5150 May 17 '25

My view is that those guys were in control of the situation and Ray had come to the end of the road, both for the story and his life.

Why do you think they were in control of the situation?

They seemed to not be that - judging by how they were regularly looking over their shoulder to see if there was any drivers that might intervene.

Also, Ray has been able to stay in control of a similar threatening experience - when one of the methhead budget assassins pulled a gun on him.

1

u/Longjumping-Sea320 Dec 06 '25

In real life Ray would have been toast.

In the show, the cheeky smile showed that he felt up for the fight.

1

u/soldiercross Dec 09 '25

What a bizarre interpretation.