Girl Taken ending explained: Does Rick face justice for what happened to Lily?

**Warning: Contains spoilers for the final episode of Girl Taken.**

This article contains discussion of child abduction and abuse that some may find upsetting.

Forget the Alfie Allen you might have known from HBO's Game of Thrones, in Paramount's latest thriller Girl Taken, he plays the sinister Rick Hansen, a school teacher who kidnaps one of his pupils, sparking a manhunt in a quiet English town.

The pupil, Lily Riser (Tallulah Evans) suffers nothing short of a five-year nightmare at the hands of Rick – and even getting home doesn’t stop the trauma.

While Rick is quickly apprehended and taken to prison (even getting a much-needed beating from his fellow inmates), Lily was left to deal with the fallout of returning home. A lot changes in five years, and her family – who were once so tight – are hanging on by a thread.

Her mother, Eve (Jill Halfpenny), is now an alcoholic, seeking comfort at the bottom of a bottle while finding solace in a new complex relationship with the main detective investigating the case, Tommy Shah (Vikash Bhai). She’s also fallen out with Lily’s twin sister, Abby (Delphi Evans) – who incidentally is now in a relationship with Lily’s ex, Wes (Levi Brown).

As Lily returns home, she’s forced to grieve what she’s been through and the life that she’s missed out on, all whilst adjusting to her new family dynamic. Despite everything, Abby and Eve are both there for her, but stunted Lily is so traumatised by the horrors she faced at the hands of Rick in the cabin, she struggles to do anything but blame herself and try to relive being the 17-year-old she was before she was taken.

With Rick facing court, things reach a head as the former ‘pillar of the community’ faces the stand.

Here’s how everything played out.

Girl Taken ending explained

What happened to Rick as the net closed in?

Rick is an evil person, but definitely resourceful. Before being captured, he burned down the cottage he held Lily in to destroy any evidence, and while in prison, he used his visiting hours to train his baffled and deeply attached wife Zoe (Niamh Walsh) to defend and lie for him to the public. During one session, it’s revealed that Zoe "fell in love" with him at the age of 14 – something he’s made her cover up.

He also traded sexual favours with a prison guard in exchange for protection, ensuring she was on his service when he was taken to the court.

However, things quickly unravelled for Rick when the detectives discover that the baby Lily believed died after childbirth actually survived and was being raised by Zoe and Rick as their own. Lily was told she lost a son, when in fact she gave birth to a perfectly healthy daughter, Alice, telling Zoe that he had a one-night stand with someone who gave the baby up to him. Zoe, who has had a hysterectomy so can’t have kids, saw the baby as a blessing, allowing her to become the mother she never thought she’d become.

When Abby goes to visit Zoe on the morning of Rick’s arraignment, she sees Alice and realises the striking resemblance the four-year-old has with her sister, and confronts Zoe about it. Fearing for her future without the child, Zoe immediately knocks Abby out, leaving her cold on the floor while she flees with Alice – but not before making her character statement in court.

Appearing in front of a judge and seeing a despairing Eve in the stands, Zoe breaks and tells the judge the truth – that Rick is a dangerous man, had repeatedly disappeared for days "to write a book" and she feared for her family’s lives.

Rick is furious as his bail is denied and he’s forced to think on his feet. On his way back to prison he fakes a seizure, and once his handcuffs are removed, he beats the prison guard and makes a run for it.

But he also can’t help himself. After killing a random driver to steal his car and phone, he calls Eve in a bid to speak to his "Baby Doll". While Eve is horrified and the cops quickly try to put a trace on the call, Lily steals the phone and speaks to him. Rick tells her he misses their "special place" and tells her she must miss it too. He also confirms Alice is her baby. Taken to a safe house, Lily, Abby and Eve are protected by police led by Tommy – but Lily is struggling to adjust, suffering nightmares and waking up screaming, believing Rick will find a way to get to her.

How does Girl Taken end?

Lily confides in Abby what Rick told her on the phone, and her sister lulls Lily back to sleep. Abby figures out from his comment about their "special place" that Rick is likely hiding out in the remnants of the cottage he held Lily captive. Stealing her twin’s signature pink hoodie, Abby sneaks out of the house to take care of business herself.

Meanwhile, Zoe – horrified by what she’s unknowingly been a part of – is intercepted by the police while travelling on a country road with with Alice. Knowing that her life as she knows it is over, she looks towards some nearby train tracks while the police beg her to see sense. After letting Alice go with the cops, Zoe attempts to jump off a bridge onto the train tracks below, but is saved at the last minute by Detective Brenton (Victoria Ekanoye), who holds her as she breaks down in tears after years of manipulation and her own nightmare at the hands of Rick.

When Abby reaches the cottage, Rick is there waiting for his "Baby Doll", but realises quickly it’s the wrong twin. After his attempts to subdue her with charm fall on deaf ears, he goes on the offensive. Abby came prepared though, pulling out a knife and slashing at him.

As the pair grapple, they tumble down the stairs into the basement Rick had held Lily in, and for the first time Abby can see the horrid conditions her sister was forced to live in. Despite this, Rick is insistent they were "happy there" – before suggesting Abby was his initial target the night he took Lily.

Pinning her to the floor, Rick looks set to assault Abby, who scrambles to get the knife just out of her reach. Thankfully, she reaches it in time, stabbing him in the neck before she becomes ‘another body buried’ like Rick tells her.

As the police, Lily and Eve discover what Abby has done, they race to the scene. When they arrive, Eve is held back by officers as Lily runs into the house to find her sister with Tommy not far behind her. She arrives just in time to see Rick breathe his last breath. With Abby safe, they both watch Rick die on the floor.

Lily and Abby walk out of the cottage hand-in-hand, with Eve racing to her daughters. Abby is shell-shocked, unable to talk, while Lily looks back at the house one last time, before walking away.

As the detectives race to the scene, they discover Rick’s body, and later recover the body of Isobelle Yates, another teenage victim of the disturbed killer.

What happens next?

Fast-forwarding to months later, and the Riser family finally seems to be on a better path. Abby, who discovered she was pregnant in the weeks before Rick’s death, goes to a sonogram with boyfriend Wes and finds out they’re having twins.

The pair then head for lunch with Lily and Eve, joking about what name nan-to-be Eve would want to go by. She jokes that the pair are set to have their hands full, and she would know.

Lily is also on a much more positive path, and reunites with the daughter she never knew she had. Alice is currently in foster care, but meets with Lily and together they play with a doll house. When Alice asks if Lily is her new mummy, she says yes, but they’ll be taking it slow and getting to know each other first.

We leave the story with the mother-daughter duo playing together, sharing giggles as they put their separate terrifying ordeals behind them.

Girl Taken is streaming now on Paramount+. Season 1 is available to stream on now. Get a seven day free Paramount+ trial at Amazon Prime Video.

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