The Game series 2 on Channel 5: That INSANE ending explained and what it means for a future series 3
That. Was. Wild!
The Game series 2 has come to a suitably bonkers ending after four episodes of Patrick’s sneering, Huw’s bewilderment, and Margot’s doe-like naivety (also known as stupidity). But anybody hoping for a ‘proper’ conclusion will have been left as duped as poor DS Jenny Atkins (not the cleverest cop on the block).
The season finale of The Game left a haberdashery-full of loose threads. The two protagonists were both on the run from the police, with Huw (the mouse) in hot pursuit of The Ripton Stalker Patrick (the cat). Huw’s daughter Margot was left in grave danger in the clutches of Patrick’s accomplice Sam. But she fully deserved it for being so damn slow-witted.
Of course, all the unresolved plot lines pave the way for a possible series 3… So here’s that insane The Game series 2 ending unpacked, and everything the cast have teased about future episodes.
***Warning: spoilers from The Game series 2 ending ahead***
What happened in The Game episode 4?
Series 1 of The Game saw Huw finally capture The Ripton Stalker, and series 2 began one year on. Serial killer Patrick was in prison where he belonged, and Huw was living happily out in the countryside with his wife Alice. He should have been the happiest man alive, only that man had an annoying itch he couldn’t scratch. So when Patrick began to write to him from prison, Huw couldn’t resist playing mental chess with him again. So when it all went to [bleep], he had no one to blame but himself.
This all cumulated with Huw helping Patrick get out of prison – in order to kill him. It was a truly bonkers scheme and, of course, went catastrophically wrong. The penultimate episode ended with Huw pointing a gun at Patrick – and later a knife – seemingly in control, having masterminded Patrick’s release from prison.
As the final episode started, Huw forced Patrick to drive across the moors. While Patrick seemed eerily calm… When they arrived at a secluded farmhouse, Huw prepared to kill Patrick and stop his sick games once and for all.
But Patrick’s secret accomplice arrived in the nick of time to bash Huw over the head with a spade and allow Patrick to escape. Yep, many of you guessed it, Margot’s boyfriend Sam was the person helping Patrick on the outside. And, shockingly, he was the person driving the car that killed Huw’s wife and Margot’s mum Alice.
On that note, we have to respect a thriller brave enough to kill off a main character. Few do.
The Game series 2 ending: Who was Sam?
The ending of The Game series 2 finally revealed who had been helping Patrick on the outside. Although prison officer Jackie (Tanya Franks in the cast) had been complicit in some of the skullduggery, she was not to blame for the worst of it – that was all Sam.
Sam, who had been dating Huw’s daughter Margot long enough to have moved in with her, was actually working with Patrick. Bizarrely, he was the son of Ray Butler, Patrick’s second murder victim. But rather than despise Patrick for killing his dad, Sam worshipped him. Ray had been abusive and used to beat his son and wife with a belt. So Sam felt he owed Patrick a debt for getting rid of his dad…
Patrick subsequently became Sam’s surrogate parent, grooming and shaping him, and slowly driving a wedge between Huw and Margot from the shadows.
It was Sam who killed Alice in a hit and run, and seemingly started a relationship with Margot all to help Patrick get revenge on Huw for catching him. Far fetched? 100%. But all Channel 5 thrillers put the P in preposterous… That’s kind of why we like them.
The Game series 2 ending: What happened to Margot?
After Sam helped Patrick escape, he supplied him with cash, clothes and a burner phone. And, crucially, Sam had the one thing that Patrick needed to truly hurt Huw – his daughter Margot in the palm of his hand.
Patrick, the master of mind games, had taught Sam well. His protégé had convinced Margot to check into a hotel with him, turn off her phone, and take a mental health break from her dad. But this was all a ruse to isolate her.
In the final denouement, when the foes came face to face again, Patrick told Huw: “I need you crushed. No wife. No job, and no reputation. And, soon, no daughter.”
Huw held a knife to Patrick but, of course, Patrick knew where Margot was. So Huw was powerless. To prove Margot was alive, Patrick allowed Huw to have a (rather long) conversation with his daughter. When he told her the truth about Sam, and the fact that he’d killed her mum, Margot refused to believe him. She was truly under Sam’s spell.
If you weren’t screaming “are you stupid?” at your TV screen, then you have more self control than us. The last time we saw Margot, she was planning to disappear out of the country with Sam. We have a slim hope that she was pretending to play along in a bid to not get killed, but only a series 3 can confirm that.
What happened to Patrick and Huw in The Game series 2 ending
Patrick had been playing Huw like a fiddle all along. When Jonathan Gower’s wife claimed her husband was also killed by The Ripton Stalker, the police were compelled to investigate. Patrick played along to get airtime with Huw, and to propose a little trip out of prison to reveal where the body was buried. But this was all lies.
Patrick had not murdered Jonathan, who had actually been killed in a hit and run. It was all an elaborate plot to escape, with the help of lovestruck Jackie. And Huw was only too happy to facilitate the jaunt out of jail as he wanted to kill Patrick. As well as revenge, Huw’s primary motive was protecting his daughter Margot. Patrick had been calling Margot, getting Jackie to harass her, and threatening her life.
Huw told Patrick why he wanted him dead, saying: “Prison isn’t good enough for you. This is for all the victims, all the years I’ve lost, and for what you are doing to Margot.”
In turn, Patrick needed Huw to get him out of prison. It was all meticulously planned. He told him: “I needed you back in the game. I needed you angry. Too angry to think straight.”
Later, realising the whole thing was his fault, Huw said: “I’ve undone everything I’ve worked for. I’m the idiot who let him out. I’ve got to fix it.”
Huw had “destroyed everything he was just to stop Patrick” and he swore he’d do it again, saying: “I’ll find a way to stop you again.”
Did Patrick walk free?
Patrick walked free in The Game series 2 ending, with Huw powerless to stop him. With his world in tatters around him, Huw was left utterly alone. So naturally he did what any hero would do in a Channel 5 thriller. He decided to devote his life to tracking down his daughter Margot. And Patrick, of course.
Channel 5 teased: “But can Huw outrun the law, hunt down Patrick, and save Margot before it’s too late? All while the police are on his tale for helping Patrick escape?” Well, the broadcaster needs to confirm a series 3 for these questions to be answered…
Is there a series 3 of The Game?
Well, we will riot if there isn’t. Series 2 ended on a huge cliffhanger, with way too many unanswered questions for our liking. We’ve been robbed if there’s no follow up.
Although Channel 5 has not yet confirmed a series 3, we’d be surprised if there isn’t one. And leading actors Robson Green and Jason Watkins are willing.
Talking about the future of The Game, Huw Miller actor Jason said: “I can neither confirm nor deny about The Game 3. But, if this one does well again, who knows? I know that they would enjoy finding a way forward. I think viewers will be very surprised where series two goes.
“In series one we had quite a suburban street where all the characters existed. It was a suburban backdrop for The Game whereas now we are out there in the wilds.”
Robson Green, who plays killer Patrick, added: “[For series 3] I think there now needs to be, for want of a better description, a caper where there is movement. Take these two characters on a physical, moving journey with a big dénouement. We just need a nice island in the Indian ocean.”
Read more: The Game on Channel 5 filming locations revealed, and it’s not where they say it is!
