Coldwater Ending Explained: Where Did Tommy go?

Co-directed by Lee Haven Jones and Andrew Cumming, ‘Coldwater’ is a psychological thriller drama series that chronicles John’s new life at the eponymous village. Following a traumatic incident in his previous, urban neighborhood, John is faced with a myriad of insecurities, many of which connect to and create his inferiority complex. To that end, he seeks respite in a place where he can start anew, even if it means putting his family under duress. However, unbeknownst to him, Coldwater has its own share of horrific secrets, many of which center around his neighbor, Tommy. While he initially appears to be everything John is not, Tommy has a malevolent side that he has kept hidden all along, and everything comes pouring out in the murder saga that follows. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Coldwater Plot Recap

‘Coldwater’ begins with John bonding with his neighbor at the park, when one of the parents nearby hits his son. While John remains frozen on the spot, the neighbor protests the man’s actions and is subsequently brutally attacked. The fact that he never helped her begins to eat at John’s conscience, prompting him to question his own masculinity and develop extreme trauma. As a result, he leaves London with his family and settles in a Scottish village known as Coldwater. There, he develops a friendship with his neighbors, Tommy and Rebecca, who initially appear to be a model family. As John interacts with Tommy, who is a village leader of sorts, he grows increasingly insecure, which furthers the tensions between him and his wife, Fiona.

Although John seeks a life without problems, trouble soon finds him in the form of Angus, a local ruffian who wishes to pick a fight with John. Later that night, their paths cross yet again when Angus ambushes him during a nighttime jog. This time, John gains the upper hand and smashes Angus’ face, seemingly leaving him to die. With no way out, he reaches out to Tommy, who offers to deal with the situation as quietly as possible. Contrary to his expectations, Angus is still alive, and it is Tommy who lands the finishing blow before framing the death as a fire accident. As time passes, he and John awkwardly maneuver around their shared criminal past, but more uncomfortable revelations concerning Tommy’s past start to come up, particularly in the form of a box full of serial killing trophies.

Tommy’s son, Cameron, happens to chance upon the box of souvenirs and recognizes Angus’ necklace. However, given that he saw a bloodied John on the night of Angus’ death, he believes the former, and not his own father, to be the prime suspect. His mother, Rebecca, however, seems to know the truth about her husband, and both work closely to pin the blame on John and away from themselves. Although John feels suffocated with the burden of murder, he is unable to open up to anyone except Tommy, which in turn pulls him even deeper into the hole. However, when his cat, Harlequin, disappears, John slowly comes to realize that his neighbor is not his ally, but a serial killer in his own right. The cat-and-mouse chase that follows ends with their confrontation at a farmland, with John holding a shotgun to Tommy’s face.

Coldwater Ending: Where Did Tommy go? Will He Get Caught?

At the end of ‘Coldwater,’ Tommy escapes John’s clutches and disappears into the woods, despite knowing that the truth about his serial killings is about to become public. Although John has his neighbor at gunpoint, he is unable to sustain that victory, as it is implied that Tommy attacked him, took control of his gun, and then shot him in the shoulder. This comes mere moments after Tommy’s phone call with Rebecca, where she effectively broke all of her associations with his criminal side, declaring that he must fend for himself now. While these words sound as a denouncement meant to save Rebecca from trouble, they also double as words of encouragement for the serial murderer, seemingly causing him to go primal. As such, although he is out of sight, Tommy is perhaps at his most dangerous now.

Following Tommy’s disappearance, the police descend on the farmland and soon uncover all the evidence surrounding his history of murder. With this, Tommy is now the prime suspect in the murder of Angus, Nathan, and other vanished victims such as Suzie Bissett. However, with zero leads on where he is, the police’s hands are tied. Still, John is cleared of all suspicions and gets reintegrated into Coldwater’s community. More importantly, he assumes the role of Tommy in spirit, taking charge of the church reading group that took place in Tommy’s house. As John’s entire arc is about battling his social insecurities, the season fittingly ends with a role reversal in John and Tommy’s case, wherein it is now the latter who is on the run from his past.

While Tommy’s present whereabouts are entirely up for speculation, it is possible that he has completely given in to his murderous desires and is now actively constructing a trail of blood. Previously, his boundaries were imposed by Rebecca, who strictly forbade the murder of women. However, given that Tommy is completely detached from his family now, those conditions likely no longer apply, and he might expand his scope of serial killings in the future. To that end, there is little doubt that he is hungry for revenge and might just strike the village once again to attack people like Catriona, whom he has long held a vendetta against. Still, with the particularities of his escape obscured, his exact state of mind cannot be deciphered as easily as before.

Why Didn’t Tommy Kill John?

A burning question regarding Tommy’s final actions this season is why he chose to spare John. The fact that we see the latter with a serious, but ultimately non-fatal, bullet wound means that Tommy likely had a clean shot at his life. Still, the serial killer’s decision not to go for a decisive blow indicates that he has unresolved business with John, with a long way to go before their conflicts are resolved. Notably, many crumbs spread throughout the finale suggest that Tommy has some sort of plan to get out of this mess, and it involves contorting John’s life further. Killing him in that critical moment would have eliminated that angle and also doubled down on Tommy being guilty of the crimes. With this, he can still potentially execute his plan and return to safety, with one less murder ascribed to his name.

However, there might be another, deeper reason as to why Tommy spared John, and that is rooted in their intertwined psyches. On some level, Tommy believes that John is just like him, a person with a fragile sense of self who might explode any other day. To him, the murder of Angus serves as a bonding exercise between two like-minded people, who don’t just share an affinity for violence but also an emotional connection. As such, John’s actions in the finale likely come off to him as an ultimate betrayal, and he is still unable to shake off how he feels about his friend turned foe. As such, while Tommy might have an elaborate plan to ruin John’s life further, there might be a scenario where he refuses to kill him. In that case, he might even try to groom John into turning to a dark path, much like what he’s been subtly attempting this entire season.

What is Rebecca’s Next Step? Will the Ring be Found?

While Tommy is on the run by the final moments of ‘Coldwater’ season 1, Rebecca’s arc concludes with her seemingly at the same point where she was at the start. Given her claim of never knowing anything about her husband’s darker side, Rebecca is declared guilt-free by the authorities and allowed to return to her house. Unlike her husband, she becomes a presence that everyone in the village sympathizes with, as one of Tommy’s many victims. However, what this superficial finish obscures is her passive, continued involvement in Tommy’s serial killings. As John and Fiona return to their regular lives, we see Rebecca silently concocting a revenge plan, potentially taking the reins as a chief antagonist now that her husband is somewhat out of the picture.

Throughout ‘Coldwater,’ Tommy’s sinister actions find a constant bed of support in the form of Rebecca, but the exact origins of this dynamic remain a mystery. To that end, it is entirely possible that Rebecca wasn’t always like this and has been forcibly conditioned into accepting Tommy’s actions as a survival mechanism. Still, in the present, she is effectively exerting Tommy’s will, and rupturing John’s family life from the inside out is a part of that. The fact that no one suspects her of any criminal involvement means that her task is that much easier, and this is made evident by her last appearance on screen, wherein we see her look at John ominously. It is possible that her revenge plan is already in motion, and the ring she placed in John’s toy hamper is the key to it all.

The most likely course of action for Rebecca is to frame John for Nathan’s death, using the ring as the primary evidence. However, that one element alone is not likely to arouse enough suspicion, especially now that Tommy’s box of souvenirs is public knowledge. The police are just as likely to believe that Tommy planted that evidence in John’s house, which means that Rebecca and potentially Tommy will have to put more effort into framing John. Given her ability to seamlessly manipulate the people in her life, we might see a repeat of season 1, where both she and Tommy turned the entire village against John, seemingly overnight. While that certainly gives her the edge, chances are that Johna and Fiona are also aware of all possibilities and ready with a counterattack of their own.

Where is Cameron? Is He After Tommy or John?

Alongside Tommy, one other missing character in the grand scheme of things is none other than his son, Cameron. In the finale, we see him outside the village, still believing that his father is innocent and that John is the real killer. However, with his father now on the run and the entire village flooded with unwanted attention, Cameron has no choice but to plan his next move from a distance. With this, there are now three members of the same family who are after John’s life in one way or another, and out of these, Cameron manages to be the least predictable. As the only other person who saw John on the night of Angus’ murder, he understands the importance of his testimony, but until he can gather more proof, he is unlikely to reunite with his parents or even face John.

While Cameron is largely coming from a place of disbelief regarding his father’s crimes, there is also a layer of cyclicality in his attitude. Earlier in the story, we see him try to choke his own sister, Moira-Jane, when faced with the possibility that Tommy is the murderer. This act directly mirrors how his father kills his victims, and points to there potentially being an element of darkness within Cameron as well. Given that Tommy claims that his violent instincts are a result of his parental abuse, we might see fate repeat itself with Cameron, adding even more uncertainty to the well-being of John and his family. While Cameron has no way to get in touch with Tommy, the worst-case scenario is them working together to bring down John and wreak havoc in the village of Coldwater.