The Revenge Club on Paramount+ ending explained: Unexpected killer revealed in riotously fun thriller
Six divorcees sought revenge on their deceitful spouses, but someone took it WAY too far!
The Revenge Club on Paramount+ was a riotous ride of a thriller that kept us guessing until the very ending – and left us wanting more.
The six-part darkly comic series introduced six lonely-hearts, all of whom were recently or soon-to-be divorced. Based on the debut novel The Othello Club by J.D. Pennington, we followed the members of a divorce support group. Despite their differences, they all had one thing in common – heartbreak, and a desire to inflict karma.
Like the Shakepeare play, the novel uses the jealousy, manipulation, and tragic outcomes from Othello as its foundation. But puts them into a contemporary setting of marital breakdown and revenge.
So when they formed a pact to get revenge on their exes, it started as a bit of light pranking to get empowerment. But when one of their exes turned up dead – and then another, and another – it became clear that someone in the group was taking the revenge pact WAY too far.
In the brilliantly fun and twisty ending of The Revenge Club, the killer was finally revealed. But not before a few red herrings, two of the divorce group members were seriously injured, and the police barked up the wrong tree. Here’s the dramatic finale unpacked…
***Warning: spoilers from The Revenge Club ending ahead***
Who was the killer in The Revenge Club?
PR executive Emily was revealed to be the serial killer in The Revenge Club ending. She had murdered three of the groups exes, including her own ex-husband Dan.
Flashback footage showed Emily pouring ketamine into Jack’s drink, just before he downed it, and ended up facing face down in his swimming pool. She wanted revenge for his behaviour towards his wife Rachel, who had been made to feel like she was “nothing”.
Next, she pushed her ex-husband Dan down the stairs, staging it to look like an accident. Oh, to add insult to (fatal) injury, it was his wedding day to her ex-best friend.
Third, she murdered Steve’s estranged wife Sue, the love of his life. A piece of work, Sue had agreed to get back together with Steve. But only after finding out his wealthy dad was dying, and Steve stood to inherit a million pound house. Emily followed Sue to a walking spot, and locked her in her car with a jar full of wasps – knowing full well she was allergic to them.
Lastly, she attacked Rita and framed Steve for the attack. She planted Steve’s keys in Rita’s pocket to be found by the police. However, she knew that Steve would eventually be released. Why did she attack Rita and frame Steve, her so-called friends? Perhaps she’d just got a taste of blood.
Why did Emily turn killer?
Bumping into therapist Malcolm in the street, she told him: “I a lot of what you said really helped. Feeling your pain is where healing begins. Your gut knows what to do, trust it. You’re stronger than you think. Push forward, one step at a time. Find your people. The ones who show up for you, and show up for them. The hardest part of healing is letting go of who you thought you were, and accepting who you are.”
She continued: “And there you’ll find them; the person who meets you in the ruins, who’s worth breaking down every wall for. Who sees what you’ve become, really sees it, and doesn’t ask you to be different. Or better, or good. Just you. That’s when you know it’s real.”
Long story short, Emily was fed up of people taking her for granted – and her support group friends. And she wanted some payback.
What happened to Emily and Calum in The Revenge Club ending on Paramount+?
Emily left town at the end of The Revenge Club. But not before meeting up with her accomplice Calum. Although we have no reason to believe her boyfriend had anything to do with the murders, she obviously told him about her crimes – and he accepted it. Like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, he covered up the murders, and they walked off together into the future.
Ultimately, Calum was a guy who’d fallen apart, and at his limit. He’s lost his home, his wife, and eventually his daughter. Calum laid his emotions bare for Emily, and just wanted honesty from her. And that’s exactly what he got. Although viewers didn’t see the scene where Emily told Calum about her evil deeds, he had decided to accept her for who she was. He felt like people kept leaving him, and wasn’t prepared to leave Emily – no matter what she’d done.
Talking about the twist that Emily is the killer, writer Gabbie Asher said: ” think the key to any misdirection is making it feel like it’s inevitable in hindsight and it’s not a cheat. Because you know I’ve seen those shows where you’re like ‘Whaat?! No way!’ and it’s a great twist but you would never have seen it coming. And it’s a real challenge to seed in those bits where when you rewatch you’re like ‘ooh okay’.”
She added: “And in the beginning, I knew Emily’s journey had to be more than just seeking revenge. It had to be about what happens when pain transitions and transforms someone completely, and every scene, every interaction has to work on two levels; what the audience think they’re seeing, and then what’s actually happening underneath…”
What else happened in The Revenge Club ending?
At the end of the penultimate episode, Rita’s life hung in the balance after Emily had walloped her over the head with a rock. And suspicion quickly fell on Steve, whose car keys had been planted in Rita’s coat pocket. Of course, Steve’s wife had been found murdered, and police found surveillance equipment and crucially bullets in his caravan. Realising he’d been framed, Steve grabbed his gun and went to see the remaining group members – Rachel and Tej – to convince them of his innocence.
Believing that Calum was in fact the killer, thanks to his late girlfriend, the three of that travelled to Milton Cottage where Calum and Emily were staying in a bid to ‘escape Steve’. We saw Emily listen to a worried message from Rachel about Steve’s culpability. And this is where the readers’ were taken on a ride.
Emily looked genuinely worried as she tried to slip away from Calum, and escape him. The pair had a physical fight in the woods, where Calum tried to choke Emily. At that moment, Steve and his fellow Musketeers arrived and Steve shot Calum with his gun to stop him hurting Emily.
As police arrested Steve and took him away for shooting Calum, an injured Calum took his chance to slip away. At that point, readers believed he was the psycho, and that he’d gone on the run. Until the big reveal at the end, where we learnt that Emily was, in fact, the serial killer.
What did it all mean? Did Emily set the scene up to make herself look the victim, or was Calum in on it at this point? It certainly looked real from where we were sitting!
The Revenge Club Paramount+ ending: Who was Michelle Kavanagh?
Michelle Kavanagh was Steve’s teenage sweetheart who sadly died when she was 19. While it was ruled a suicide, her family always believed it was murder and pointed the finger at Steve.
However, Calum was likely not to blame for the death of his former girlfriend Michelle Kavanagh. She had suffered from suicidal ideation, and had attempted to take her own life several times before. This meant her death by drowning was most likely her own choice to take her own life. But, of course, this made Calum even more desperate to keep hold of Emily, even if she was a killer…
Other plot twists in the series finale…
- Rita woke up at the end of the episode after months in a coma. But surely she knew who had hit her over the head and would be able to tell the police? Perhaps a plotl ine for a possible series 2…?
- Police were left believing he killer was Calum, and stopped looking for anybody else. Even though a neighbour had seen Calum on the night of Dan’s death, so it didn’t all add up.
- Like the book it’s based on, the ending was left deliberately ambiguous. Of course, viewers didn’t see the two months between Calum getting shot, and us seeing Emily again.
Is there a series 2 of The Revenge Club on Paramount+?
Paramount+ has not confirmed if they’ll be a series 2 of The Revenge Club, but we’d love to see one. Although the dramas was based on a book, there’s no reason why there couldn’t be a sequel.
After all, there were plenty of loose threads left hanging. Would police ever catch up with killer Emily, and would she strike again?
Crucially, Rita woke up at the end of The Revenge Club, so would she tell police it was really Emily who attacked her and not Calum? These are characters we’d definitely like to see more of, so watch this space.
Far from being the “Poundshop’s Ocean 11” this engaging comedy thriller about karma left us begging for more. It was sad, tragic, funny, tender, hopeful and life-affirming. With a wicked twist at the end. That’s how you keep viewers entertained.
