'28 Years Later' Ending Explained: Who Is Power Ranger Jimmy?

In 28 Years Later’s ending, Spike finally came to a realization that death is a part of life and always will be. And no one can really run away from it, no matter how much they try. It indeed breaks our heart to lose someone, but we have to let them go, sooner or later. What we can do differently is give them a better death than others. We leave each other in love. In the film, Spike embarked on a journey to find a fabled doctor, Dr. Kelson, whom he believed would be able to save his mother, Isla’s life. He couldn’t see his mother in pain anymore, and wanted to do something to help her. But little did he know that his mother was suffering from a disease that no medicine could cure, just like the rage virus. 

Spoiler Alert

The thing is, Isla always knew the truth. And I think her husband, Jamie did, too. But both the parents hid it from their kid because it wouldn’t have been easy to explain. Spike wasn’t born into a normal world. He hardly knew what cancer was. However, when Isla realized that her little son had grown up, not only physically but also emotionally, and could look after himself, she decided to leave the world. And in that moment, Spike let her go with love. After Kelson cremated her in the furnace and brought back her skull, Spike put it on the top of the memento mori so his mother could see every sunset and every sunrise. Isla had spent a considerable amount of her life locked in a room, unable to leave the bed, but Spike left her with a gift. He gave her mother the freedom she longed for. Isla’s death is quite in contrast with how Jimmy Crystal (the young boy at the beginning of the film) lost his parents. In the first scene, they were attacked by the zombies and didn’t have much choice. But thanks to Spike, Isla passed away peacefully. But that’s just me talking about Spike’s emotional and physical transformation, and there are a lot of other details to address in the film’s ending, so allow me to jump straight into it.

We Are All Infected

As I see it, the infected are not very different from the non-infected. We are very much alike. The rage virus just amplifies the malice already within us. It takes away our ability to think rationally. It unlocks the caged beast inside us and turns us into our worst selves. Something like booze but more permanent. Even Spike spelled it out for us. He told Erik that, on some, the infection kind of works like steroids. I mean, I know he was talking about the alpha zombie, or the berserker, but you got the gist.

We are all infected with one thing or another. Even Isla was infected. She was infected with cancer. She was suffering those painful headaches because of which she couldn’t think straight nor remember anything. In her case, she was losing her mind slowly, unlike the zombies, who become unhinged with just a bite from the infected. And I am sure you didn’t take it as a joke when Spike saw the photo of Erik’s girlfriend and pointed out that her face looked swollen as if she were allergic to shellfish. I mean, our minds are infected with that drive to get that perfect face, right? Jimmy’s father was infected with religion, and saw the abominations as God’s blessing. He didn’t try to protect his son, and abandoned him to his fate. In the end, even Erik got infected with hatred and tried to kill a newborn baby. He knew the girl wasn’t infected, yet he wanted to kill her. So how was he any different than the mindless creatures who went on killing people to survive and to proliferate? It’s our kindness that sets us apart. It is our ability to think and question that makes us human. But those “boots” who go to war, are they any different? I mean, I didn’t want to rub it in your face, but the soldiers and the crusaders are no less than zombies. They kill for something that isn’t their decision to make in the first place. Spike’s father wanted to turn him into a soldier, but he refused to be a mere boot. He wanted to be a thinker.

The Alpha Came For His Kid

No matter how barbaric and monstrous the Alpha looked, he was still a father who cared for his newborn. I guess the Alphas were more human than the rest of the zombie lot, and the way he looked at the pregnant zombie did hint at the possibility that the newborn could be his child. That was the reason he attacked Kelson and Spike, as he wanted to get his kid back. But here I am not sure if the father knew that the child wasn’t a zombie, or maybe he wanted to turn him into a zombie, because that’s what zombies do, even the smartest ones. This means he won’t give up on his search until he has achieved his goal. It’s possible that he will try to attack Kelson again to find his kid, and maybe this time, it will eventually kill the doctor? Or maybe he will end up attacking the fortified village to get his kid back, where he will be killed by the villagers. Whatever the case might be, baby Isla is in safe hands. 

I believe, after his wife’s death, Jamie will marry Rosie, the girl he was having an affair with, and they will raise baby Isla as their own. I just hope that Jamie will be a better father this time and won’t repeat the mistakes he made with Spike. The reason I say this is because Jamie was quite obsessed with turning his young kid into a man, and in doing so, he robbed him of his innocence. Everyone in the village told Jamie that Spike was still 12 and wasn’t ready to witness the wilderness, yet Jamie took him hunting because he wanted to prove his own manliness in the eyes of society. I am not denying the fact that Jamie tried his best to protect his kid when they were chased by an Alpha, but you have to consider the fact that it was Jamie who had put the young boy’s life in danger in the first place.

Now, this part is purely my perspective, and you can disagree with me if you’d like, just don’t bash me, but I think Jamie didn’t even try to go out looking for Spike and Isla after they ran out of the village. I am assuming this because the film didn’t show that he made any efforts to bring his wife and son back. They were gone for some two days, right? Maybe Jamie thought Spike was a grown man who could look after himself and his mother; hence, he believed that they would come back sooner or later. This, once again, is in stark contrast with the Alpha, who couldn’t be away from his child for a moment, and went after Kelson and Spike to get his kid back. It’s ludicrous that a zombie was more bothered about his child than a human like Jamie. Let’s hope Jame will reflect upon his past actions and try to be a better father to baby Isla.

Jimmy helped Spike

In a way, both Jimmy and Spike were wronged by their fathers (or at least that was what they believed). Jimmy was abandoned by his religious father, while in Spike’s case, he felt that his father had lied to him and to the rest of the villagers for no apparent reason. He couldn’t understand why he would tell everyone that Spike killed the giant and lots of monsters when all he was able to do was to hit one fat sluggish zombie. Later, he raised his hand against Spike when he confronted him over his infidelity. In the end, both Jimmy and Spike decided to leave their home behind. One was forced to by his circumstances, as zombies killed Jimmy’s entire family, while Spike, after his mother’s death, believed that he had no family left, likely because he assumed his father would be busy with his new girlfriend. I think it was also the feeling of abandonment that broke Spike’s heart. The way he screamed at his father suggested that, somewhere in the back of his mind, he feared that his father would “forsake” him after his mother died, which was the reason why he asked him if he wanted her to die. I mean, what else would a 12-year-old think when his father would abandon him alone at a party so he could go see his girlfriend? So, yes, Jimmy and Spike were two different people, but they shared the same trauma.

Jimmy Will Return in Sequel

Coming back once again to the beginning of the film, you might remember that young Jimmy was watching “Teletubbies” on television. Spike, on the other hand, had a “Power Ranger” action figure in his bedroom. This is an important detail, because Jimmy’s new gang, a band of color-coded warriors, looked like they were heavily inspired by the “Power Rangers” and “Teletubbies.” Jimmy even whistled the theme song of the show that he was seen watching at the beginning of the film. So what happened after his parents’ death? It could be assumed that Jimmy managed to survive the odds and might have found other abandoned kids with whom he created a zombie-fighting cult. According to IMDb, all his followers or members had “Jimmy” as their first name. Additionally, Jimmy could be seen wearing the crucifix necklace that his father gave to him moments before his death. Ironically, Jimmy was wearing it upside-down, evoking a satanic cross. It implied that he wasn’t a follower of his old man’s belief, and turned to evil, creating his own cult, likely to replace the old religion. In his cult, people wouldn’t wait for divine justice to rescue them from perils, but would pick up their hockey sticks and smash the brains out of their enemies. This cult believed in taking matters into their own hands.

28 Years Later’s ending suggests that Spike might end up joining Jimmy’s cult. He was already fond of the fictional “rangers,” so why wouldn’t he want to be a part of a squad like that in real life? Though he would soon realize that these men are more rotten and evil than the zombies. Spike, Jimmy, and Jamie’s story will continue in the next installment of the film, that is, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, where we can expect the return of the main protagonist of the first film, Jim (played by Cillian Murphy). In this film as well, Erik, the Swedish navy officer, told Spike about his best friend from school, who worked as a delivery driver, but unfortunately, his name was Felix, not Jim, so possibly he wasn’t referring to Cillian Murphy’s character.

The Virus Still Lives

As per the film’s opening text, the deadly rage virus had been driven back from continental Europe, but the holy island was still under quarantine and was heavily guarded by the Navy to contain the virus. Erik and his men were basically patrolling the coastto make sure no living soul would ever leave the infected land. So, in a way, nothing has really changed in two decades, right? It’s still the same threat and same fears. Even the tagline of 28 Years Later, “time didn’t heal anything,” suggests the same. That can also be applied to Jimmy, whose condition has tragically worsened with time. Time didn’t actually heal his emotional pain. In short, the virus has created a spiral from which the survivors aren’t able to escape, and the only way to break this pattern is to eradicate the virus once and for all. I am not sure how humanity is going to do that, but we can expect that it will be explored in the sequel film, The Bone Temple. Maybe the military will nuke the whole island and turn it into a memento mori to remove the virus from the face of the Earth, or the islanders will themselves come up with a better solution to eradicate it. Well, whatever the case might be, it’s high time the survivors find a more permanent solution, because this new normal doesn’t seem to be healing anybody. Well, those are just my scattered thoughts about 28 Years Later’s ending, but I would love to hear your opinion, or if you have anything to add or correct, please do drop a message in the comment box.

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