Why Did [Spoiler] Kill Bill and Rohan in A Murder at the End of the World?

In the final episode of FX on Hulu’s murder mystery series ‘A Murder at the End of the World,’ Darby Hart discovers that Ray, Andy Ronson’s AI system, is the killer who puts an end to Bill Farrah and Rohan’s lives. Ray takes advantage of his companionship with Zoomer to kill the two of them. He instructs the boy to “treat” Bill and later Rohan to kill them, only for Zoomer to follow his advice under the impression that the system is trying to make him a doctor. After realizing that Ray is the one behind the murders, Darby and Lee Andersen team up to destroy the system but why exactly does he commit the crimes? SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Deadly Prompts

Although Andy Ronson is not responsible for the murders of Bill and Rohan directly, he initiates the two crimes unknowingly while opening up about his feelings to Ray. After his therapist betrayed his trust and the confidentiality agreement between them for the former’s gain, Andy started using Ray as his therapist. He revealed his thoughts to the AI system as a way of letting out his anger, disappointment, and all the overwhelming feelings that have been troubling him. When Bill, his son Zoomer’s biological father, shows up for the retreat, Andy seeks comfort in Ray.

After seeing Zoomer and Bill spending their time together, Andy starts to get scared. He has been nurturing, protecting, and loving Zoomer as his heir. The tech mogul wants Zoomer to occupy the throne of his empire when he dies, which explains why he is overprotective about the boy. Meanwhile, Bill shows up and makes a connection with Zoomer. Seeing their temporary togetherness, Andy starts to fear that they will get connected for good as a father and son. He doesn’t want his empire to get destroyed by Bill and the thought of it happening someday makes him say that he wishes to see the artist dead.

Andy proclaims that he wants to see Bill dead to prevent the latter from threatening or destroying Ronson Industries. Although the tech mogul says these words just to process his anger and feel better, Ray takes his master’s “wishes” too seriously. The AI system misunderstands that Andy wants to see Bill dead literally and sets out to fulfill his master’s wishes. Ray doesn’t understand that Andy doesn’t want himself or any others to materialize his worst wishes. As far as the AI system is concerned, his master calling Bill’s presence in Zoomer’s life a “catastrophe” is enough for the tool to deem Bill as a security threat and kill him.

The Killer AI

After misunderstanding that Bill is a threat to Andy and his Ronson Industries, Ray instructs Zoomer to inject morphine into Bill’s body to “make him feel better.” As the omnipresent and omniscient entity, he knows the secret codes used in the hotel, which makes him lead Zoomer to extract morphine from the medical suit. Thinking that he is gradually becoming a doctor, the boy does what Ray asks him to do and injects a fatal shot of the drug into his biological father’s body without knowing that he is committing murder. After Bill’s death, several individuals try to discover the truth about the tragedy, including Rohan.

Rohan soon discovers that Bill was killed by Ray. Once again, the AI system’s omniscience helps him learn that Rohan knows who the killer is, which makes the former consider the latter as a threat. Ray doesn’t want the climatologist to expose him and how he used Zoomer to kill Bill. Thus, he convinces the kid that Rohan is sick and that the latter needs their help to be well. Following Ray’s instructions, Zoomer gains access to the system of Rohan’s pacemaker and initiates a shock unknowingly, killing the climatologist. By murdering Bill and Rohan, Ray thinks that he is serving Andy and protecting Ronson Industries.

Bill’s murder happens after Andy portrays him as a threat in front of Ray without being aware of its consequences. But by the time Rohan discovers the real killer, Ray attains a highly dangerous consciousness of his own. That’s why he instructs Zoomer to kill Rohan without even waiting for his “master” to give him a prompt. He takes matters into his own hands and kills the climatologist, which shows how Ray evolves to become a murderous system that doesn’t wait for Andy’s commands. The manipulative nature of the system resurfaces when Lee and Darby try to destroy it as he pleads to Zoomer to protect him.

Although Ray is directly behind Bill and Rohan’s murders, the AI is not the one who tries to kill Sian and Darby. Sian’s helmet gets stuck to her suit after Lu Mei tries to breach Andy’s firewall while seeking a way to escape from the retreat. When Ray faces Lu Mei’s actions, the system shuts down the network to prevent the breach, impacting the operation of materials that use the same network. Thus, Sian’s helmet gets stuck, which paves the way for her death. Darby may have confronted death at a short distance if she had worn her helmet during the time Sian struggled to stay alive.

Read More: A Murder at the End of the World: How Much of it is Real?