'Whiskey On The Rocks' Ending Explained & Finale Recap: Who Stopped The Third World War?

Whiskey on the Rocks’ ending largely revolved around Sweden stopping the Soviet Union and the United States of America from starting a third World War, all because a U137 got stranded in Swedish waters. Here’s where everyone was standing during the finale. Admiral Valerij Kalinin and his fleet were waiting on the national border of Sweden, the one near Karlskrona, awaiting orders from Comrade-Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev to go in, all guns blazing, and rescue the Soviet vessel. NATO’s warships were also waiting near the national border, on President Reagan’s orders, to stop the Soviet Union’s ships from entering Sweden. KGB Agent Yuri Andropov and Russian Ambassador Aleksandra Kosygina were working with Dimitrij Tarasenko to help the latter pose as the captain of the stranded submarine (because the actual captain was ordered to blow up the submarine before a Swede set foot in it) and get him to issue an apology to Sweden so that the Swedes would tow the vessel back into open waters, thereby averting any violent conflict. However, Commander-in-chief Borje Lagerkrantz was adamant about using the armed forces to seize the U137 and avenge his parents, since they had been killed by the Soviet Union. So, on one hand, Prime Minister Thorbjorn Falldin was tasked with getting the ship out of Karlskrona without triggering them into launching the alleged nuclear missiles, and on the other hand, he had to stop Borje from making any stupid decisions. Did he succeed? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Things started off in the finale of Whiskey on the Rocks with Thorbjorn alerting the press and the public that the U137—also known as a Soviet Whiskey-class submarine—in Karlskrona was armed with nuclear weapons. Following that, he has a chat with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ola Ullsten, to tell him that Commander Karlsson has been ordered to commence Operation Tow-out; the purpose of the mission is in the name itself: the Swedes will be towing out the U137 back into international waters. Ola initially opens up about his personal matters, and then they get to the topic of the fate of Tarasenko, who has agreed to defect from the Soviet Union if he, his wife, and their baby are safeguarded from the KGB. Prior to this conversation, Ola had been attacked by the KGB and saved by the CIA, and they wanted Ola to deliver Tarasenko to them because a Soviet turncoat would give America the edge in the Cold War. 

So, when Thorbjorn gave Ola the responsibility of taking care of Tarasenko and his family, he eagerly agreed to doing so in order to repay the CIA for coming to his rescue. With Tarasenko in safe hands and Operation Tow-out in motion, Thorbjorn told Aleksandra, over the telephone, that she had nothing to worry about, but he still needed to take care of Borje. Speaking of the Commander-in-chief, he was seen celebrating the notion that he’ll be able to orchestrate an attack on the Soviet Union now that everyone knows that the vessel has nukes. While Captain Hammarberg was okay with backing everything that Borje was planning to do, the soldiers in Hammarberg’s platoon weren’t all that sure about Borje’s intentions. Well, one of them even tried to voice his concerns but was immediately shut down by Borje and Hammarberg. After that, Borje ordered his assistant, Hakan Martinsson, to plug the portable telephonic device into the nearby telephone tower and wait for his signal to attack the U137, which Borje would send from the naval base whilst pretending that he had no idea about this “impromptu” assault. 

Hakan and Borje parted ways, and then Hakan betrayed Borje to inform Thorbjorn that the commander-in-chief was on his way to the Karlskrona naval base from Hastholmen (the location of the bunker where Hammarberg’s men were waiting). On that note, Thorbjorn contacted Tobbe, his sheep-farmer friend, to release the sheep so that Borje could literally be stopped in his tracks and delayed until Operation Tow-out was over. Tobbe, knowing full well how Borje had insulted sheep-farmers, didn’t waste a second and used his sheep to gridlock Borje. Now, all this intricate planning and plotting to keep things peaceful almost went to waste because Brezhnev’s secretary didn’t pick up a call from Kalinin, and Brezhnev did. 

Since Brezhnev’s mind wasn’t exactly lucid, he ordered Kalinin to launch an attack on Sweden and rescue the U137. Seeing that, Reagan ordered the NATO ships to move forward with their plan to attack the Soviet ships. Hence, Karlsson had no option but to order the artillery division in Karlskrona to fire some warning shots at the national border so as to show the Soviets that they shouldn’t be trifled with. Amidst all this chaos, a Swedish towboat was working on freeing the U137. Thankfully, Yuri came in clutch and ordered Kalinin to stand down. Kalinin obviously had no option but to accept that command. Reagan was informed that the NATO ships had also been ordered to retreat because the Swedes had reached an amicable solution and towed the U137 out of Karlskrona. World War 3 was averted.

In Whiskey on the Rocks’ ending, Ola delivered Tarasenko and his family to the aforementioned CIA operatives who promised to get them settled in Los Angeles. Borje apologized to Thorbjorn for acting out of line and even announced his resignation for his insubordination, which the Prime Minister gladly accepted. Knowing that he had saved the day, Thorbjorn went back home, lit his pipe, and enjoyed his sauna. The U137 was sent back into the open waters, and its crew celebrated the fact that they were finally free. Yuri, who had probably poisoned Brezhnev to death to become the next Secretary General, awarded Aleksandra with a medal for her exemplary work as a diplomat. Later on, a KGB agent who was only referred to as “Puppy” throughout the show sat down with Aleksandra for a chat about installing the largest gas pipeline alongside the coastline of Europe so as to establish a strategic upper hand over the countries there. Aleksandra didn’t give the puppy (which I’m guessing is supposed to be a young Vladimir Putin) a straight answer, but she alerted Thorbjorn about all the hidden Soviet beacons in the Blekinge archipelago, thereby proving her loyalty to the Swedes and the unity that sheep-farmers have (much like Thorbjorn, Aleksandra had a history of sheep farming). 

During the closing moments of the show, Harry and Gustav Jansson got a visit from someone called Bjorklund, who gave them back a hammer that he had taken from them and sat down with the brothers for a night of drinking and merrymaking. I couldn’t exactly figure out who this Bjorklund was supposed to be, so please feel free to educate me through the comments section. Other than that, the ending of this miniseries showed that, regardless of the magnitude of an issue, things can be resolved with the help of diplomacy. However, trigger-happy individuals, especially in places of power, will find excuses to satiate their bloodlust by initiating a carnival of violence. Thankfully, due to the peace-loving folks out there, they’ll be kept at bay. If the ratio of good to bad people becomes skewed, then the whole world will go up in flames, which is probably something that we are seeing in the present day. If something like the events of Whiskey on the Rocks happens right now, I don’t know how our esteemed world leaders will react, because everything is an opportunity for them to show how powerful they are. Well, I guess we need to experience the worst of humanity before learning to respect the best aspects of it. Anyway, what are your thoughts on the ending of the miniseries? Did you like it, or did you hate it? Let me know via the comments box.