The Death Of Bunny Munro Recap And Ending Explained: How Does Bunny Die?

Adapted from Australian musician Nick Cave’s novel of the same name, Sky Atlantic’s six-episode long, dark comedy miniseries, “The Death of Bunny Munro,” is more tragic than it is satirical or sarcastic, more poetic than the usual blunt irony often associated with such narratives. The story itself is pretty basic—following a family tragedy, a demented salesman goes on an unexpected road trip with his young son and tries to keep it together while realizing he is on the verge of losing it all due to being unable to cope with grief. But the way the narrative utilizes the underlying themes of fractured paternal bonds, toxic masculinity, the psychological impact of grief and trauma, and doomed aspirations is telling.

Spoilers Ahead

Bunny Hits the Road, Taking His Son Along

Growing up under the care of his womanizing antique seller of a father, whose toxic parenting and misogynist tendencies rubbed off on him in a wrong way, Bunny Munro developed a twisted worldview and a proclivity for carnal affairs from an early age. Later in life, Bunny became a door-to-door cosmetic salesman, much to his abusive father’s disappointment, and mixed business with pleasure to satiate his sex addiction. Bunny found the love of his life in Libby, his doting wife, and the couple had a son, Bunny Junior. Despite having a chance to leave his murky past behind and settle for a peaceful family life, Bunny neglected his wife and son to continue his hedonistic pursuits. With his eyes set on living life king-size, Bunny’s amoral, selfish demeanors took a toll on Libby’s mental health. As the series kicks off, it is shown that after battling with depression for quite a while, Libby took her own life. Junior’s responsibilities fall on Bunny’s inept shoulders, who would have otherwise abandoned his son but decided to take him along when child protective services knocked on his door. More than faint paternal feelings, Bunny’s decision to take Junior with him is motivated by his desperation to validate himself as a father figure. His own father, Bunny Munro Sr., failed him big time, which is why he wants Junior to look up to him as the ‘cool dad,’ even if it means exposing the kid to the perverted, filthy world Bunny himself holed up inside.

Bunny’s Struggle With His Guilt and Junior’s Realization

Between abandoning Junior to pursue his lecherous habits and trying to teach him the ropes of salesmanship, Bunny realizes that his trusted devious charm isn’t working as it used to. Bunny tried escaping from the bitter realization that his demented lifestyle was the reason for Libby’s condition aggravating and her eventual suicide, but the more he tried to suppress the truth, the more it ate Bunny up from inside. He starts witnessing Libby’s presence around him; she represents the moral compass Bunny lost long ago and also the sense of guilt he is desperately trying to escape from. Additionally, Bunny gets too worked up regarding news of a local horn-wearing serial killer hunting women around the vicinity. In his mind’s eye, the horned killer represents the devil himself, whom Bunny considers to be on the hunt for his soul. The horned killer is also Bunny’s self-projection, acting as a constant reminder of how many lives Bunny has ruined through his lecherous actions. As Bunny gets desperate to get his old self back, his psyche gradually deteriorates, and he starts getting haunted by his past. A reckless Bunny leaves a trail of chaos in his self-destructive pursuit, and fear of getting caught, facing the truth about being a crooked failure, gets to his mind.

On the other hand, Junior also starts seeing visions of his mother, Libby, as well, in moments where his expectations with his father shatter, in moments where the poor kid is most vulnerable and alone. Libby arrives as a calming presence and as a cautionary warning to Junior about the true nature of his father. Junior is not ready to give up on his father despite seeing telltale signs of how problematic his old man is and hopes in vain to win his approval. Bunny’s irresponsibility reaches a new height when, witnessing his close friend, Poodle, dying right in front of his eyes after being run over by a truck, he abandons Junior in a bar and bails on him. Yvonne, an employee at the bar, takes Junior home, and staying with Yvonne and her son, Junior gets the taste of a normal family life for the first time. However, just when he contemplates accepting Yvonne’s proposal of being assisted by child services to find a responsible, loving family for himself, Bunny returns to his life and takes him away. 

With things falling apart, Bunny decides to take Junior to meet his abusive, control-freak father, whose disdainful, manipulative demeanors still have Bunny wrapped around his fingers. Junior witnesses how pitiful Bunny appears in front of a terminally ill Bunny Sr. and lacks the courage to stand up to him. Bunny’s sordid mental state is now quite apparent to his son, who tries in vain to make his father, who has been spiraling out of control, rectify his increasingly toxic behaviors. His degeneration reaches its lowest when he tries to take advantage of a drug addict who has completely lost her senses. Sitting alone in the car, Junior is visited by his mother’s vision for a final time and accepts that his father is beyond saving. 

How Does Bunny Die?

No longer able to hide from the truth, Bunny breaks down after accepting the fact that he is responsible for Libby’s death, wasting the chance to live a good life he was handed on a silver platter. The road trip comes to an end as the father-son duo reach the beauty expo where Bunny aimed to make his big score. Still overwhelmed by the fear of his karma catching up to him, Bunny recognizes that Junior is nothing like him and he doesn’t need to go down the path he did. 

Bunny’s imaginary devil catches up to him as he sees the devil parking a truck outside the expo, a similar kind of vehicle that ran over Poodle and has been one of the elements linked with Bunny’s mortal fear and guilt. Sending Junior away, he goes outside and gets himself right in the truck’s way. However, instead of the bleak darkness of death, he is treated with a surreal vision that acts as a projection of his broken psyche. Bunny re-enters the expo, but this time he is taken to a stage where he has to perform in front of all the women whom he has tried to seduce, including the love of his life, Libby. It should be mentioned musician Nick Cave, author of the source material itself, made a cameo in this surreal vision sequence. Holding onto his confidence and charm, Bunny sings “Always On My Mind” and dedicates the iconic Elvis tune to Libby, still hoping to some extent that he has been forgiven. But even in his own vision, Bunny knows that he is irredeemable, and like every other woman in his vision, Libby too leaves him at the end. The devil takes Bunny, who realizes that in real life, he is dying after having the truck run over him. With his dying breath, Bunny’s last words to his son Junior are that he is a terrible salesman. Bunny ultimately recognizes that he was a product of his environment; he looked up to his own father, who inculcated all the wrong tendencies in him and ruined his life. In his last moments, Bunny ensures that Junior doesn’t go down the same path; instead of looking up to his terrible father, Junior is better off forging his own way. 

As the series comes to an end, Junior is seen living with a family where he is living a happy, regular life like an adolescent boy should. He has a mother figure who cares about him and siblings who love him—everything he wanted back when he was staying with Yvonne. Junior has been able to hold onto his innocence, break away from the Munro family curse, and hopefully will have an emotionally healthy upbringing to grow up as a good person. 

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