The Survivors ending explained: How did Gabby and Bronte die?

So was the extreme weather entirely to blame? And why does a borrowed torch prove to be its Chekhov’s gun?

Here’s a look at what went down in the compelling final episode.

‘Were we so wrong about our sons?’

Following the revelation that underage Gabby (Eloise Rothfield) was on the same boat the same night they all lost their lives in the storm, local heroes Finn and Toby start The Survivors’ finale as potential villains. Even Kieran (Charlie Vickers), the brother they died trying to save in the treacherous caves, is coming round to the idea that their reputation may be undeserved.

Mother Verity (Robyn Malcolm), however, is initially having none of it. “You seem remarkably determined to implicate your brother in something awful,” she barks during a heated family argument, which leads to another shocking home truth. On chastising him for moving to Sydney soon after the tragedy, Kieran drops the bombshell that he did so on the advice of his now-Alzheimer's afflicted dad Brian (Damien Garvey). “He told me that I had to get away from you. If I didn’t, you’d destroy me,” he says, referring to how she continually blamed him for Finn’s death.

During a visit to Toby’s father Julian (Martin Sacks), Verity starts to wonder, “Were we so wrong about our sons?” She’s soon reassured that Gabby didn’t die on the boat and that both Finn and Toby are entirely innocent. When asked how he can be so certain, the show settles one of its two big mysteries.

What really happened to Gabby?

In a flashback to that fateful day 15 years ago, Gabby is shown looking for Kieran at the harbour before bumping into Toby’s brother Sean (Thom Green) who then offers to take her to him in his family’s boat. When they get to the caves, however, Kieran is nowhere to be seen. Seizing his opportunity, Sean goes in for a kiss. But when he’s rejected, his toxic masculinity surfaces with deadly results.

More concerned about the mockery he’d receive from friends Kieran and Ash (George Mason) than Gabby’s survival, Sean swims away, essentially leaving her for dead. Unfamiliar with her cave surroundings, Gabby is unable to navigate her way to safety and as the tide rises, she tragically drowns.

Sean soon confesses all to his dad. But having just lost his eldest son in the storm, Julian is determined not to lose his youngest too and so, as he now admits to a stunned Verity, tells him to take his secret to his grave. This isn’t the last time, however, that Sean gets himself into such trouble.

What really happened to Bronte?

After recovered CCTV footage shows him getting into an argument with Bronte (Shannon Berry) the night she was murdered, Julian starts the episode as chief suspect. Could he have silenced the amateur sleuth after she got a little too close to the truth?

George (Don Hany), the creepy teacher who was #MeToo’d by a former student, also comes under suspicion when a photo on Bronte’s phone confirms him to be her stalker. However, having been in bed with another girl at the time, he has a cast iron alibi.

The real culprit emerges during Kieran and Sean’s investigative journey to the caves. Recognising he’s holding the torch he’d seen Bronte carrying the day of her death, the former asks the latter how he got his hands on it.

In another flashback, we see Sean knocking on Bronte’s door to retrieve the torch and then joining her for a beachside walk which quickly turns from amiable to violent. Indeed, on seeing the student’s recent shots of the caves – and specifically the traditional name carving which proved Gabby didn’t die on the boat – Sean starts to panic about what exactly Bronte knows.

“The way she looked at me like I was worthless,” Sean tells Kieran, trying to justify how he then punched her head so hard she suffered fatal blunt force trauma. On realising he was now essentially a serial killer, the coward fled the scene just as a confused Brian was on his nighttime walk: the latter’s efforts to resuscitate Bronte explain why cops found his DNA on her body and his disturbing visions of the incident too.

Did Kieran make it out alive?

Not only does Kieran have to deal with the fact his longtime friend was responsible for both Gabby and Bronte’s deaths, he also becomes aware that he framed his ailing dad too. Yes, in order to throw cops off the scent, Sean labelled Brian a ‘perv’ in a very public graffiti display and did nothing when he was thrown into jail too.

If that wasn’t enough, Kieran very nearly becomes Sean’s third victim when the pair get into a scuffle in the waterlogged caves. Indeed, he looks to be a goner when he’s hit on the head with a rock. And he’s nowhere to be seen when Sean emerges on dry land just in time for the police, who by this point had discovered crucial DNA linking him to Bronte’s death, to take him into custody. However, much to the relief of his waiting mother, a bloodied Kieran eventually staggers into view.

The aftermath

Sean is held further bang to rights when Bronte’s laptop is found buried at his home and Gabby’s skull is found in the caves, and he eventually confesses all. Meanwhile, Kieran decides to try and continue repairing his relationships with his parents: instead of heading back to Sydney, he, wife Mia (Yerin Ha) and their young daughter Audrey will stay in Evelyn Bay for the foreseeable.

The Survivors lets Bronte have the last word, however, with footage from the true crime project she was working on before her death.

“This town is full of ghosts,” she says from beyond the grave before signing off with what proved to be a heartbreaking display of optimism: “I’m really going to miss this place... I’m just really excited for what’s next.”

All six episodes of The Survivors are now available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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