How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ending explained: What happened to Greta and the truth behind Heaven's Veil
Also... what was in the pink bag?
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ends with a massive unanswered question – but before we get to that, let’s break down Greta’s fate and what was going on in Heaven’s Veil.
The new Netflix series, created by Lisa McGee (Derry Girls), seems to be disarmingly simple. Three grown-up pals – Saoirse, Dara, and Robyn – reunite to pay their respects to Greta, their childhood friend.
However, when they get to her hometown of Knockdara, something is… off. Saoirse begins to suspect Greta could still be alive, but other forces at play want to make sure she stays ‘dead’.
This takes them to Belfast, Portugal, and “Heaven’s Veil”. By the ending of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, everything – well, apart from one thing – is tied up, so let’s get into it.
***Warning: spoilers for How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ahead***
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ending: What happened to Greta?
Greta didn’t die! She accidentally killed her childhood friend, Jodie, and initially fled with the help of an organisation that created a new identity for her.
We’ll get into how and why Jodie died shortly. The main thing to know is that she fell down the stairs during an argument with Greta.
Instead of confessing to the police, her ‘mother’ Margo convinced her to run away. Her husband Owen, a local police officer, was reluctant to agree, but they went ahead with it, announcing to everyone else that Greta had died – but it was Jodie’s body in the coffin.
Booker, a senior member of the mysterious organisation, whisks Greta away to a lighthouse before taking her to Portugal. There, she meets Feeney, who organises her new passport and sorts her other documents.
However, Greta has a last-minute change of heart. She drugs Feeney and the “midwife” (the woman who “delivers her” to her next life) and heads back to Ireland to confront her past.
It turns out that Margo isn’t Greta’s mum. Her real mother, Nora O’Hara, sold her as a child. She’s a bit of a monster, and as Robyn tells her, “what chance did [Greta] have?”
Does Greta live at the end?
Yes! Not only does Greta live, but she gets to reunite with Owen and her daughter Maria.
Booker’s boss, Rossa, orders her to kill Greta and anyone who could be considered a risk after her escape. Instead, Booker gets the midwife to kill Rossa and all of her corrupt associates (they were profiting from the suffering of the women they were meant to help).
In one of the final scenes, Booker hands Greta and her family all sorts of documents. “I don’t understand,” Greta says, and Booker tells her, “You don’t need to.”
Booker may have acted like a contract killer, but she wanted to help Greta more than anybody else.
Greta and the girls part ways for the final time, knowing they’re all safe and well.
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ending: Heaven’s Veil explained
Heaven’s Veil (also known as Caille Neamh) remains a mystery for most of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. However, we get some big answers in the last episode.
It’s a small village where Greta and Jodie lived when they were kids. They were both neglected and abused by their parents – “two little broken dolls,” Greta says.
“We were told God himself comes here. We believed he himself would save us,” she explains.
God never came, so Greta and Jodie set fire to the local church. As the blaze burned out of control, the girls noticed bikes outside. All of the children inside were burned alive.
Greta carried the guilt through her childhood into her adult life. However, while that incident is what connects Greta and Jodie, it doesn’t explain the other death in the series.
Who killed ‘Jason Meadows’?
First of all, Jason Meadows was a made-up name. His real name was Charles Sampson, and he was a journalist.
He’d been investigating what happened at Heaven’s Veil, even telling Greta, “What they did was a horrific social experiment.”
It remains unclear exactly what that means; was Heaven’s Veil a religious project, or is he talking about how Greta and Jodie were treated following the church tragedy?
Either way, Charles wanted to tell their side of the story. However, Greta found his secret dictaphone and refused to give it back.
He tried to take it back forcefully, and with Greta unable to defend herself, Jodie stabbed him.
Greta told Jodie to run, and that’s how she ended up burying him with the help of Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara.
Do they get arrested?
No! Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara walk free by the end of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.
They confess everything to Liam, their Knockdara ally throughout the series. Instead of pressing charges, he tells Charles’ son Andrew, where they buried his dad.
In one of the final scenes, Andrew stands at his father’s grave and smiles at Liam. He doesn’t want justice for his dad’s death – he’s just happy to know where he is.
Do Liam and Saoirse end up together?
Liam and Saoirse may have sex, but they don’t appear to be together by the end of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.
He takes them to Heaven’s Veil, where they explain how, where, and why they buried Charles Sampson.
“This story might not end the way you want it to, Saoirse,” he says, suggesting that they don’t have a future together.
The real question is, will she stay with Seb? Probably, which is a bit depressing.
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ending explained: What’s in the bag?
This is easily the biggest takeaway from How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. What on Earth is in the pink bag?
Earlier in the finale, Greta hitches a ride with Conrad, a stranger who offers to give her a lift.
He says some weird things, like his insistence that Greta shouldn’t get into cars “with strange men” and how it could be “dangerous”.
He stops in the middle of the woods, steps out of the car, and gets back in with a jacket and a pink bag.
“They shouldn’t be too long… speak of the devil,” he says, and we hear a car pulling up… but we never see who it is.
By the end of the finale, Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara are left with the bag, and it’s revealed that Conrad was left with a screwdriver in his neck.
So, what is it? Money is the likeliest answer, but what for? Did Rossa contact a local enforcer to search for her, but Greta killed them both and legged it?
Maybe it was Booker and Feeney, but Greta ran away before they could explain themselves.
We’ll never know for sure… unless Lisa McGee tells us.
Read more: How to Get to Heaven from Belfast cast breakdown, including a Father Ted legend
