The Light in the Hall series 2 ending explained: Who killed Llŷr and set Rhys Owen up for murder in Still Waters?
Caryl learnt a few lessons along the way, too...
The Light in the Hall: Still Waters was a series 2 worth waiting for, as the ending of the dark thriller delivered the mother of all twists – or should we say the sister…?
The Channel 4 crime drama saw convicted murderer Rhys Owen return to his home town after 30 years away. Twenty-two years of which he’d spent in jail. Having been found guilty of killing his own cousin, safe to say Rhys was not welcome back in the small town of Llanemlyn. And no one cared to hear his protests of innocence.
No one except for trainee journalist Caryl Huws, that is. She wanted to find out the truth. And bag herself an exclusive while she was at it. It turned out that Rhys was guilty of a few criminal acts, but not one of them was murder.
Here’s the ending of The Light in the Hall series 2 unpacked, as the real killer of Llŷr Owen was revealed. Was it Rhys, Robert, Eve, Bryn, or someone else we hadn’t even thought of? Reader, this is a TV thriller, of course it was someone we hadn’t even considered!
***Warning: spoilers from the ending of The Light in the Hall series 2 ahead***
Was Rhys Owen the killer in the ending of The Light in the Hall series 2?
Rhys Owen was convicted of killing his own cousin Llŷr 30 years before in the 1995 explosion. And all the evidence was stacked against him.
Both Llŷr, Rhys and their shared girlfriend Eve (don’t get us started on this) were activists against the reservoir expansion. And it was a cause that hadn’t gone away. In present day, Rhys returned to Llanemlyn as tensions resurfaced over a new reservoir expansion. Mabli and friend Hari were both furious at the reservoir development and planned some protests of their own.
Back in the day, Llŷr was determined to make a political statement by blowing up the site of the expansion. However, Rhys backed out at the last minute, realising he didn’t want to end up in jail. Well, look where that got him.
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Llŷr decided to carry out the explosion on his own, and was later found dead. However, he didn’t die in the bomb. He’d suffered a skull fracture after being bashed over the head with some bolt cutters. Rhys’ bolt cutters. Which had his fingerprints all over them. Surely no potential killer in their right mind would use their own tools to commit murder?!
Rhys was found guilty of killing his cousin, and spent 22 years in jail. When he returned to Llanemlyn to care for his ailing dad, he continued to plead innocence in the face of mounting hostility. He was a so-called free man, but felt anything but freedom.
So did he kill his cousin Llŷr? No, he did not. And, after six episodes of speculation, we finally learnt who really killed the young man.
Who really killed Llŷr Owen?
In episode six of The Light in the Hall series 2, Caryl finally unravelled the truth behind Llŷr Jones’ death. And we doubt the killer was anyone you’d guessed… Frankly, there had been no clues at all pointing to this person.
Llŷr Jones’ killer was, in fact, his own sister Megan. Why? Well this is where it gets a little silly, albeit not totally unbelievable. Megan, having lost her mother and then her father, was terrified of losing her brother too. Yep, we told you it didn’t make sense, as she ended up being the one to deliver the fatal blow.
In the ending of The Light in the Hall series 2, Caryl received a message asking her to meet in an abandoned house. Luckily, as soon as she got the message, she forwarded it to Rhys telling him she had a “lead”. It probably saved her life, as Megan had a knife.
When Caryl arrived at the house, she found Llŷr’s sister Megan there. She confessed to killing her own brother 30 years ago. She’d also been the one sending Caryl threatening messages, telling her to stop investigating Llŷr’s death.
Why did Megan kill her brother Llŷr?
Megan knew her brother Llŷr was “plotting something” with Rhys. In the tense denouement, she told Caryl: “I lost mum. And then I lost my dad. Llŷr just started to disappear. I couldn’t get through to him. I tried, I really tried, I was so lonely.”
She was also very angry at life, and with good reason. Orphaned and feeling lost, she raged at the likes of her uncle Bryn Owen. Quite an unpleasant chap by all accounts, and the man who had cast his own brother out.
Megan told Caryl: “It was nothing to do with the reservoir. It’s people like Bryn. If the reservoir hadn’t been there, he’d have found another way to hurt us. Bryn killed dad, and corrupted Llŷr. He destroyed my family.”
Yep, we got it, but then why not kill Bryn rather than Llŷr? On the night of his death, Megan followed Llŷr to the reservoir site to stop him, to “stop all of it”.
She explained: “I loved my brother so much. And for a long time, it was just him and me. But he wouldn’t stop. I didn’t have a choice.”
Megan confronted Llŷr, and he in turn told her to leave him alone. After some harsh words, they fought and she reached for the bolt cutters. Although she hit him over the head, she didn’t mean to kill him. She ran home, leaving him in a pool of his own blood. And then, of course, the bomb he’d planted went off. But Llŷr was already dead from the wound.
After her confession, Megan’s own husband Gareth arrested her for the murder of Llŷr. Bit awks.
Was Rhys’ father Bryn involved?
Rhys confronted his father Bryn about his involvement in the bombing. And despite insisting he’d had no part in it, eventually admitted that he did. Bryn helped his nephew, by loaning him Rhys’ tools – hence Rhys’ fingerprints on the bolt cutters. He’d promised to play a bigger part, but subsequently decided against it like his son had. In the end, it was Llŷr and Llŷr alone who set the bomb at the reservoir site. Bryn had driven him to the site, or close, before dropping him off and leaving him to it.
Bryn wasn’t the nicest man, and could be a cruel dad, but he did love his son and did not believe he’d ever been guilty of murder.
He had also blamed himself for his brother Alan’s death. When Alan started working for developer Robert at the reservoir site, Bryn disowned him. He told Rhys: “It’s the guilt. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have done what I did to him. It was cruel; I killed him. I cut off my brother Alan. He turned to drink.”
Alan died, leaving his kids Llŷr and Megan orphaned and angry.
What else happened in the ending of The Light in the Hall series 2?
As for Eve, well she was a slippery customer. But she wasn’t guilty of anything apart from being morally a bit iffy. Sleeping with cousins Llŷr and Rhys at the same time? Ick. And, in present day, having sex with her daughter’s best friend Hari, a student of hers, and half her age. Double ick.
Although she had “pushed” for Llŷr to plant to bomb in a rage at her dad Robert, she wasn’t actually present on the night of his death. Instead, she was at a clinic considering aborting Llŷr’s baby.
In The Light in the Hall series 2 ending, Eve had reconciled with her daughter Mabli who was very forgiving about everything. Much more grown up than her mum, in fact!
Bryn was “like a lion”, and still very much alive, meaning that Rhys would be staying in Llanemlyn for the time being, at least. Rhys was finally a free man, and the realm killer Megan was facing a lengthy prison sentence.
As for Caryl, she had a dynamite article on her hands. One that The Western Herald would be very interested in publishing. When she had doubts about “hurting people” if she published it, Rhys put her right. He simply said: “You say you care about the community, do your job.”
Rhys was finally able to put the past behind him, while Caryl’s career as a journalist was guaranteed.
Is there a series 3 of The Light in the Hall?
A series 3 of the Welsh crime thriller The Light in the Hall (known as Y Golau in Welsh) has not yet been confirmed. But there’s plenty of mileage for another season. After all, as an anthology series, we could subsequently follow Caryl on her next story, or even different characters in the fictional village. Like True Detective and Fargo, it could even take us to a different part of Wales.
Each series is a standalone, and can be watched without having watched the other. Watch this space for more info when we get it.
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