'To Cook A Bear' Ending Explained & Finale Recap: Who Is The Killer?

Disney+’s Swedish historical Nordic noir, To Cook a Bear, ends quite abruptly, without concluding major character arcs and keeping many narrative threads open, which ruins the watching experience of an otherwise brilliant series to some extent. That being said, it also leaves scope for a continuation if a second season gets made in the near future. Set in the mid-nineteenth century, the narrative revolves around the struggles faced by the progressive Pastor, Lasse, and his adopted son, Jussi, as they investigate a series of murders in the Northern Swedish village of Kengis brings out the deep-rooted moral degeneration and corruption of authoritative figures. Building on suspense for six episodes, the ending of the first season reveals the identity of the killer who has been preying on the women of the village, teases Jussi’s new journey, and shares a glimpse at the turbulent fate awaiting Pastor Lasse and his family.

Spoilers Ahead

The death of Hilda and Jolina, both of whom were sexually assaulted by a mysterious perpetrator, set the central crisis in motion. Throughout the series, Pastor Lasse’s investigation had him meander over a number of red herrings. Judging from the evidence and clues gathered from crime scenes, Lasse suspected Lindmark, the general store owner, and Beronius, the artist—who himself turned out to be a victim of the killer—and at one point he even cast his doubt over his own adopted son, Jussi, as well, which resulted in estrangement between them, and Jussi left the town to go back to his roots. However, ironically enough, it is when Jussi gets framed as the serial killer/rapist and gets tormented by Sheriff Brahe and Constable Michelsson that Lasse learns the identity of the killer. A bloodied and battered Jussi reveals to Lasse that the first time they visited Michelsson at his home and took a sample of his handwriting, he kept his natural hand—his left hand—away and wrote using his right hand. While beating up Jussi in custody, Michelsson used his natural hand, which inflicted injuries on the right side of Jussi’s face, in the exact same places where Hilda and Jolina had sustained injuries. Michelsson was already on Lasse’s list of suspects, who deduced the possibility of his presence from pencil shavings left at the crime scene. 

To confirm his suspicion, Lasse went to Michelsson’s house and was able to convince Aili, the constable’s wife, to share the truth about her husband. Aili directed Lasse to Michelsson’s secretive shack, where the pastor found concrete evidence in the form of the ‘souvenirs’ Michelsson collected from his victims and even felt the need to keep it documented inside a diary. As for the motive, behind his mask of a nervous, mild-mannered constable, Michelsson was a sadistic psychopath who derived pleasure by abusing his wife. A lecherous predator, he killed Hilda and Jolina after sexually assaulting them and beating them up, killed Beronius, stole his money, and framed Jussi for all the crimes. Being part of a rotten, self-serving administration, Michelsson was confident enough to do as he pleased. Sheriff Brahe was aware of his vile acts and covered them up until Madam Sjodahl directly confronted him at the dinner organized at her mansion. To save his own skin, a complicit Brahe turned on Michelsson, even though neither Sjodahl nor Brahe felt the necessity of bringing him to justice. In the end, after escaping from custody, it was Jussi who served justice to the departed by killing Michelsson with an axe. 

After obtaining Michelsson’s diary, Lasse kept it in the church as concrete evidence against the constable’s crimes, which he could have shown to villagers to prove Jussi’s innocence and the true, ugly face of the corrupt authorities. However, he made the mistake of trusting Ironmaster Madam Sjodahl with the role of distracting Sheriff Brahe, Michelsson, and their merry band of feckless associates like Dr. Beredin and Lindmark. Pastor had mistaken Sjodahl’s desperation to identify her secret lover, Beronius’ killer, with her having a change of heart, and ultimately she proved to be a bird of the same father as Sheriff Brahe and co. Like Brahe, Sjodahl too identified Pastor Lasse as a threat to their age-old regressive customs and traditions and feared that the change Lasse wanted to bring to Kengis would one day lead to revolution and strip them of their power. Serving justice to the victims of the killer was never the intention of these morally bankrupt administrative figures—their common target was always Pastor Lasse. Obviously, in the end, Sjodahl led Brahe to the church, who shot Lasse and seized the diary from him. After Jussi flees with Maria, the next day Sjodahl, Brahe, and a troop of cops are seen heading towards Lasse’s residence. Pastor knows that there is nothing he can do to save himself or his family; the darkness, the rot he feared was infesting the villagers, manifested in a horrible way, and he became its target. Pastor Lasse entrusted Lisa to take care of her siblings and asked her to flee from the village, while he and his wife, Brita Kajsa, waited to meet their fate. Sjodahl and co. are going to frame Lasse like the cops did with Jussi and incriminate him by using the diary. As the series ends, Lasse and his family’s future seems bleak, and it doesn’t seem any divine miracle is going to help them.

Pastor Lasse’s adopted son, Jussi, suffered a lot throughout the series. A member of the indigenous Sami tribe, Jussi left his home to escape from his drunk, abusive mother, leaving his sister, Anne Maret, alone. After having a fallout with his adoptive father, Lasse, Jussi returns to his sister and reconciles but once again leaves after realizing there is a part within himself that has been shaped by both the good and bad aspects of settlers like Lasse. He can never truly belong with his people. Upon returning to Kengis, Jussi learns a painful lesson that he will not belong with settlers either, as he gets tormented by Roope and gets framed by Brahe and Michelsson. His adoptive father’s sense of justice, guided by Christian morality, will not protect a native like him, who has been exploited by the settlers for ages. In the end, Jussi chooses to leave on his own and takes his love, Maria, with him. Like Jussi, she too has no place to call home any longer, and the duo set out for a new life in the northern mountains. With Lasse and his family in deep peril, there is a chance that Jussi might bring help to save his adoptive family. Who knows, he might find help from his Sami community to lead a rebellion against the authoritative forces of Kengis and bring down Sjodahl and Brahe for good.