'Ride Or Die' Ending Explained: Will The Director Die?

Amazon Prime’s latest buddy action series Ride or Die revolves around the crazy adventure that best friends Debbie and Judith embark upon. Debbie had no idea that her best friend of 20 years was an assassin. She found out this major secret when her husband, David, was abducted from a party, and Judith came to her rescue. Judith, aka Whiptail, was at the party on an assignment; she was supposed to kill Billy Donovan, a middleman for drug cartels, but because of this unexpected chaos that unfolded, Judith failed to do her job. Debbie had also discovered that David had been involved with an Albanian gang, and he owed them money. It’s safe to say that it was one of the worst days of Debbie’s life; she didn’t expect the people she called family to betray her trust so badly. Can Judith and Debbie ever reconcile? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

What was Ana’s plan?

Long story short, Ana, a contract killer who was trained in the same academy as Judith, wanted to seek revenge on her. Ana was obsessed with Judith, she thought she was her best friend, even though they weren’t really that close. Ana felt envious when she spotted Judith with Debbie during a mission. Since they’d discussed their target in front of her, Ana told Judith that they must get rid of Debbie. At the time, Debbie had no idea that Judith was an assassin, she thought her best friend was an accountant, and she accompanied Judith to her “accounting conference.” After Ana and Judith were done with their mission, Judith shot Ana, and she fell off a high-rise. She couldn’t afford to lose Debbie, which meant that Ana had to go. Judith had told her agency that Ana had died in an accident, and the Director, who headed the agency, believed her. But Ana survived, and she was taken captive by the Turkish mafia, who tortured her and turned her life into a living hell. But Ana didn’t give up, she lived so that one day she could take revenge on Judith. She was extremely disappointed when the Director didn’t come to her rescue, and she felt the desperate need to establish that the agency had made a terrible mistake by not trying to find her. 

Now, Ana eventually realized that killing Judith wouldn’t give her the satisfaction she was after; she figured that she needed to hurt Debbie to get back at Judith. The moment Judith realized that Ana was responsible for everything that had been going wrong in her life, she regretted her decision of failing to get rid of Ana the night she’d shot her. Debbie was already in a difficult position, her husband had been working for the Albanian mafia, and he owed them over twenty-four million pounds. She was trying to come up with a way to pay them back, and now Debbie also had to worry about an assassin who wanted her dead simply because she was Judith’s best friend. Debbie eventually surrendered herself to Interpol, realizing that the petty crimes she had committed while trying to get away from the Albanian gang wouldn’t land her in much trouble, but she couldn’t afford to let Judith get caught. She surrendered herself so that Judith could walk away without raising suspicion and track down Ana. 

Fast forward to the Geneva incident; Ana lured Judith there using Elijah, the man who’d been handling David’s money. Elijah notified Billy Donovan, who’d been helping Judith and Debbie, that the money was in Geneva, and they fell for the bait. Judith had an apartment in Geneva, and when they arrived there, she met Sam, her handler, Queenie, her colleague’s daughter, and David. They’d all come to warn her about Ana. Judith had instructed David to go to the bank and withdraw the money, but things took a turn when Ana dropped smoke bombs all around the area, and the bank had to be evacuated. Debbie too had arrived there with Interpol, hoping to provide them with enough information to expose her husband. She started coughing because of the smoke, and she was hurriedly asked to get in an ambulance. She did so without considering the possibility that it might be a trap. By the time Judith realized that Ana had abducted Debbie, it was too late, Ana had already done the damage that she’d planned to. She didn’t kill Debbie, instead she’d gathered all the videos of Judith where she’d stated that Debbie was nothing more than a civilian who helped her maintain her cover. She’d mentioned that she wasn’t emotionally connected to her, and she even admitted to deleting the job offer that Debbie had received from a law firm based in New York because she thought Debbie was an “invaluable civilian asset.” and as long as she could be with Debbie she would pass off as an unsuspicious “boring average middle-aged woman”. Debbie lost her faith in her friendship with Judith; she tried to believe that the videos were only half-truths, but when Judith mentioned deleting the job offer, she was completely broken. A true friend wouldn’t do something like that, Debbie had been looking forward to the job, to the possibility of living in New York, but her “best friend” took that away from her. Ana chose to let go of Debbie; she never planned on physically hurting her, all she wanted was to destroy Debbie and Judith’s friendship, to plant a seed of doubt in Debbie’s mind that would automatically create a distance between them. Her plan worked, as Debbie couldn’t trust Judith anymore, and she was determined to break all contact with her. 

Why did Debbie rescue Judith?

Judith was devastated when she realized that Ana had shown Debbie the videos where she’d described their friendship as just a good cover story. She wanted to tell her friend that everything she’d said in the videos was a lie, but she didn’t get the chance to justify her actions. Debbie had already made up her mind, and Judith, in that moment, couldn’t say anything to her. She had tears rolling down her cheek as she watched her friend walk away. Later, Judith decided to confront Debbie. She showed up at her house unannounced, and tried to explain the reason behind her actions. Debbie couldn’t trust Judith anymore; after everything she’d been through and had witnessed, she wondered if she would be making a fool of herself again by believing a single word that came out of Judith’s mouth. Debbie had learned to prioritize herself, something that she struggled to do before. She’d exposed her husband’s wrongdoings to Interpol, meaning he was under house arrest and was being investigated. She no longer cared about appearing to be nice, she had made peace with the fact that she couldn’t make everyone happy. So, when Judith approached her again, she wasn’t sure if the woman standing in front of her deserved another chance after completely breaching her trust. 

Judith tried to explain that everything she did for Debbie was genuine; she had been taught not to love or develop feelings for anyone, but when it came to Debbie, she broke the rule. She adored her best friend, and while she lived with the guilt of deleting the job offer, she tried to make up for it by sending her job offers from places that Debbie thought were too good for her. Judith explained that she’d deleted the email because she didn’t want her best friend to move to New York. She admitted that it was a selfish move, and she hated herself for doing what she did. Debbie was all that she had, and she couldn’t imagine losing her. But she also pointed out that Debbie chose not to accept any of the job offers that came her way later on because she was too afraid of starting a new life, and she even ended up calling Debbie a “coward,” which obviously upset her best friend. Debbie chose not to reconcile with her, and Judith had no other option but to accept the fact that she’d lost the trust of the one friend she’d made in her life. 

Judith focused on taking down Ana, directing all her anger and frustration to the mission. She decided to head back to the academy where she, Ana, and countless other contract killers had been trained by the Director. She wanted to find out about Ana’s past, and she remembered how every student at the academy used to hide every little trinket from their past lives under the wooden floor in the attic. The kids would etch their names on the wooden floor to mark the spot where they’d hidden the secret of their past lives. She found Ana’s, and she realized that just like her, Ana had been returned after being adopted from an orphanage. She thought it was quite a strange coincidence. So, she started to check the belongings of the other students and realized that all of them had been returned after being adopted. Now, what does that mean? Well, the Director recruited those kids who didn’t have  a home and it is very likely that the Director was behind this whole adoption and return process. He intentionally got these kids with tremendous potential adopted (a dummy adoption), and then had them returned to the orphanage after a short span of time, so that they would completely lose their self-worth. He knew that it would be easier to groom kids who’d lost hope in life, and his plan always worked. 

By the time Judith realized that her whole life had been a lie, it was too late. Ana walked into the attic, and she mentioned that she’d poisoned the entire floor because she expected Judith to do exactly what she did. She too had realized that the Director had betrayed them, but she didn’t care about it anymore. She called the Director and mentioned that she had Judith in captivity, and if he wanted her to not continue with her killing spree anymore, then he must instruct her to get rid of Judith. As expected the Director ordered her to kill Judith to protect his agency. The effect of the neurosuppressant made it impossible for Judith to move. Ana locked her in an old furnace in the basement. She wanted Judith to die a slow death; the only source of oxygen inside the furnace was through the tube that she’d made Judith put on, and she believed it would last a couple of years. Even if Judith wanted to leave, she couldn’t, Ana wanted her to experience isolation and die knowing that no one had come to her rescue, similar to what she’d faced when she was held captive in Turkey. Judith somehow managed to tear off the oxygen tube, since she wanted a quick death. Soon, Judith could barely breathe, and that’s when her best friend came to her rescue! Sam had told Debbie that Ana was about to kill Judith, and only she could rescue her. Debbie wasn’t ready to listen to Sam at first, but when she heard that Ana might kill Judith, she instinctively decided to help her. She also discovered the secret room in Judith’s apartment where she’d carefully kept every little thing that Debbie and her kids had gifted her, and realized that Judith had been honest all along. Her friendship wasn’t fake, and she genuinely cared about her. Now, Sam had mentioned that Ana had told the Director that she’d taken Judith ‘home,’ and while going through Judith’s belongings, Debbie saw a picture of the Director and Judith at the academy, and she suddenly remembered that Judith had told her that the academy was her home, and if Ana had mentioned taking her home then she must be at the academy. Sam and Debbie arrived at the academy and that was when they found Judith trapped in the furnace almost unconscious. 

Did Ana die?

Ana was chilling and enjoying the view outside when she noticed a car leave the academy. This wasn’t a part of her plan, someone had clearly come to rescue Judith, and Ana was visibly frustrated. Ana started chasing Debbie and Judith, repeatedly hitting them with her car, but they refused to stop. When she started firing shots, Judith asked Debbie to grab the weapons in the backseat while she took over the wheel. Judith’s plan was to use a grapple gun to attach their car to Ana’s. Since they were headed to a cliff, Judith and Debbie had to jump out of the moving car, and hope that Ana would fall off the cliff and die. Well, things panned out exactly as Judith had imagined, they successfully managed to get out of the car on time and watched Ana’s car fall off the cliff and burn. While Judith thought they’d finally gotten rid of Ana, Debbie wasn’t so sure. She decided to walk to the crash site and make sure that Ana was indeed dead! That’s a really good idea, because honestly, if she hadn’t mentioned what was going on in her mind, I would’ve assumed that Ana was alive and might make a comeback. We don’t get to see Ana’s dead body, so there’s still a slight possibility of the psycho killer making a return, but I guess Debbie would’ve mentioned not seeing Ana’s body if that was the case. So, she is very likely very dead. 

Will The Show return with season 2?

Well, Ride or Die is a limited series, so the chances of it returning with a season 2 are technically slim, but you never know. The series ends on a pretty interesting note, since Ana is dead, but Debbie and Judith’s journey is far from over. Judith is labeled ‘inactive’ by the agency, probably because they think that she’s dead, and even if she’s alive, the Director knows that she won’t be working for him anymore. 

In Ride or Die’s ending, the Director approaches Sam, and tells him that he wants him to be Queenie’s handler. As it turns out, Queenie has decided that she wants to be trained to become a contract killer and, well, Sam is not happy about it. The thing is, Sam doesn’t know the entire truth, and I think the less he knows, the better it will be for Queenie. Towards the end of the series, Queenie had discovered that the Director is her biological father, and she hates him with all her might. He’d destroyed countless lives, literally groomed young kids and trained them to become assassins, her mother had died because of his negligence, and he’d never really been there for her. Queenie had enough reasons to seek revenge, and she’d teamed up with Interpol to take down the agency. 

Will the Director die?

Although the agency has political backing, they won’t have any support if they end up being exposed. If the agency ends up stirring up trouble instead of solving problems, the politicians will stop covering up for the Director. Instead, they will try to destroy the agency before the details of their past operations are exposed. Considering that the Director has a soft spot for Queenie, I don’t think he’s going to suspect her at first. She has agreed to wear the recording device embedded in her jewelry to help Interpol gather evidence. I guess at some point the Director will realize that his daughter has backstabbed him, but what will he do then? Will he kill her? Or will he surrender? Or maybe he’ll kill himself because he knows there’s no getting away with it anymore. 

Debbie has moved out of her and David’s house, and is ready to start her life afresh. She has decided to start practicing law again, and she is getting ready to open her own chamber. In the final scene, Debbie and Judith reunited, meeting on a train together sharing life updates. Judith stated that she’d decided to move to Cambodia; Billy Donovan had told her about this tiny island there where he’d wanted to settle, and it looks like Judith too wants to stay as far as possible from any attention. She believes that her new life will allow her to discover who she really is beyond being an assassin. Debbie is happy for her; they’ve come a long way, and after going through so many ups and downs, she has come to cherish her best friend all the more. Debbie feels proud of Judith for finally choosing herself, and the best friends decide to have a drink and celebrate this milestone. But the adventure is far from over; on the train, there were three agents, they had been keeping an eye on Judith and Debbie and had every intention of taking them down. Judith has enough enemies who want her dead, and considering Judith is no longer working for the agency, people she might have done harm to will directly try to seek revenge on her because nothing is stopping them anymore. The besties now have far too many enemies to deal with, but they also have people like Sam and Queenie to help them out. Hopefully, the best friends will escape from the mess smoothly before things take an ugly turn. Judith deserves to live a peaceful life and hopefully Debbie can make that happen for her.

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