Aahana Swrup
The Netflix series ‘Black Rabbit’ follows the thrilling narrative of two brothers whose penchant for mutually seeking out trouble at every turn manages to land them in an impossible situation. Jake Friedken is the ambitious owner of the hottest up-and-coming restaurant in New York. However, his fortune soon begins to turn when his older brother, Vince, unexpectedly comes back in town. With the latter’s arrival, a world of past complications is unearthed, putting the pair on top of local dangerous bookie Joe Mancuso’s list. Even so, with every new threat that looms on the horizon, the Friedkens stick together, trying to fight their way out of every corner they’re backed into. That is, until the very real risk of losing everything comes crashing down, pushing the duo’s dedication and loyalty to each other to the very edge. In the end, as their chaotic lives near their finish line, the brothers inevitably find themselves reckoning with an endgame they never imagined. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Black Rabbit Recap
In New York, Jake Friedken prepares for one of the most important nights for his restaurant, Black Rabbit, which is looking forward to a visit from a high-profile critic. One good review is all it would take to cement the local spot’s place in the city’s culture, giving the owner enough credibility to sway his investors into expanding the brand to a second, prominent location. Meanwhile, his brother, Vince, tries to make a quick buck by selling his father’s penny collection, only to end up on the wrong end of a robbery. Although he manages to get out of the situation alive, he finds himself penniless and responsible for one dead body. Consequently, he has no choice but to reach out to his brother and convince him to fund a trip to New York, in hopes of laying low for a while. Nonetheless, what awaits Vince in the city that never sleeps is the furthest thing from safety. The last time the older brother left the city, he also left behind a hefty debt of $140 thousand.
As a result, once the shady creditor, Junior, son of the respected but dangerous bookie, Mancosa, learns about Vince’s return, the news naturally doesn’t go over well with him. Fortunately for the latter, Jake already has plans to sell their mother’s place and reap a substantial profit from it in a matter of weeks. Around the same time, Jake’s star bartender, Anna, begins skipping shifts, creating the perfect opening for Vince to slip back into his brother’s life by taking on old duties. Unfortunately, his attempts at a new start fall through alongside the sale of the house. In response, Vince turns to his old unhealthy compulsions and tries to win enough money to pay off his debts. Ultimately, all he gets for his troubles is one epic loss and a severed finger, courtesy of Junior and his partner Babbit.
Simultaneously, Anna’s firing begins costing Jake, especially once his Head Chef, Roxie, learns of the nuance behind the situation. He’s also affected by the failed house deal, which directly impacts his plans for expansion. Worst yet, these plans rely entirely on the availability of the Pool Room at a Four Seasons building, an asset which will only be open to him for a limited time period. For the same reason, the revelation about his brother’s problems could not arrive at a worse time for the restaurant owner. Still, he agrees to help him out, walking in to strike up an arrangement with Mancuso personally. Although the bookie agrees to payment in installments, the brothers remain broke enough to make even that alternative unsustainable. However, things begin to look up when Vince comes up with the idea of a fake charity dinner to amass enough money to pay off the debt in bulk.
While the event remains a financial success, the high doesn’t last for long, especially once Jake ends up using most of those earnings to balance his restaurant books. Eventually, things escalate after Anna’s suspicious murder compels Detective Ellen Heung to circle around the Black Rabbit. As the pressure increases, so does the friction between he two brothers, until it all accumulates into a robbery at the restaurant, with Vince behind a ski mask and Jake on the other end of his gun. Even so, when worse comes to worst, the older brother kills Junior to save Jake’s life. Despite the complicated situation, the latter refuses to turn his back on his brother. Yet, the decision gets taken out of his hands when Mancuso threatens the life of Gen, Vince’s daughter. Therefore, Jake has no option but to sell his brother out, putting his life in danger and rushing to save it a moment later. Nevertheless, while he continues fighting for Vince’s survival even in the face of mounting odds, the older brother doesn’t share the same optimism.
Black Rabbit Ending: Does Vince Die? Why Does He Jump Off the Roof?
Vince’s life remains under threat from the minute he returns to New York. Despite the Friedkens’ past with Joe Mancuso, his son, Junior, has no intentions of letting the older brother walk free while his debt remains unpaid. For him, the issue poses a threat to his ego and his authority. Naturally, it hits a nerve when Jake goes over Junior’s head and settles the debt with his father. For the same reason, he decides to go through with the robbery at the Black Rabbit, even after Mancuso forbids it. When his own partner refuses to aid and abet in the crime, he forces Vince to fulfill the role. All of this eventually leads to the wannabe crime boss’ death as the older brother pulls the trigger on him to save Jake’s life. However, in doing so, he puts his own safety at risk. Despite the friction between Mancuso and his son, the bookie is inclined to take revenge for the latter’s death. Therefore, he uses Jake and Gen to track Vince down.
Still, with his own wits and his brother’s impeccable timing, Vince manages to escape with his life. Better yet, Jake assures him he has a plan to save his life by getting him out of the country. Thanks to some shady businesses, the restaurant owner can leverage secrets over Campbell, the problem-solver for a very rich and influential artist. As such, he tries to secure safe passage out of the country for his brother with the promise of trading in a valuable thumb drive. In the end, this brings the brothers back to Black Rabbit. Even though the venue is surrounded on all sides by cops, Jake has faith that Campbell will come through, and he will be able to save his brother. Nonetheless, Vince, whose head is actually on the chopping block, can see things more clearly. The police are already on the lookout for him in connection with the robbery and the shooting that took place at the restaurant. Similarly, it will only be a matter of time before Mancuso eventually catches up to the brothers and exacts his revenge.
Furthermore, even if Vince somehow manages to trick fate and escape the country with his life, he knows he would be putting his family at risk. In the last month alone, his arrival in New York has directly put Jake and Gen in harm’s way. However, even beyond that, he blames himself for dragging his brother throughout their lives. The unfortunate hand Vince had been dealt, which numbed him to addiction and violence from a young age, has managed to decide the course of the rest of his life. Over and over again, the older brother lays out the path for something great before allowing his own self-destructive tendencies to destroy it. For the same reason, after sharing some of the worst of his burdens, Vince calls the authorities in an act of surrender. Initially, Jake wants to take the fall with him. Recognizing the same, his brother realizes the only way to keep the younger man out of trouble is by taking himself out of his life entirely. Thus, when it comes down to it, Vince decides to shoulder the blame for all their mistakes by taking the final fall on his own.
Why Did Jake Never Leave Vince?
Throughout the story, Jake’s unending devotion to his older brother remains one of his most defining characteristics. Even though he knows Vince is nothing but trouble, he welcomes him with open arms, arranging for his arrival in New York. Likewise, he never once truly entertains the idea of letting the other man deal with Mancuso’s problem on his own. Despite drowning in financial struggles of his own, he’s willing to go the extra mile and pay off Vince’s debt come hell or high water. Even though Jake stumbles in this pursuit a few times, making mistakes of his own and picking fights with his brother at every other turn, he never truly turns his back on him. Even after the older brother puts a gun to his head from behind a robber’s mask, Jake chooses to see the nuance of the situation and empathize with the corner he knows Vince had been backed into. The real reason behind this blind faith runs deeper than a simple brotherly connection. Jake and Vince grew up in a tumultuous home. Their father, Dick, was a con man and an abuser who often got physically violent with his wife and kids.
On one particular night, he had a problem with Sheila’s social life, picking a fight and taking it to punches and kicks. In turn, Sheila tried to defend herself despite the myriad of injuries her body sustained. Eventually, the noise drew out their eldest son, who begged his father to stop, only to receive threats from him of similar abuse. Therefore, once the situation grew dire, Vince made a decision. He dropped Dick’s bowling ball right on top of his head from the banister on the first floor. Thus, he saved his mother’s life and killed his father in one fell swoop. In the aftermath, Sheila enlisted Mancuso’s help to cover up the death, making it seem like a bar incident, which was believable given her husband’s bad reputation. The mother and her son vowed to keep it a secret from everyone, even Jake. Yet, unbeknownst to them, the younger brother had overheard the entire thing under the pretence of being asleep. For years, Jake has known the sacrifice his brother made to protect their family. Unlike Vince, he recognizes the murder as an act of bravery and self-defence. For the same reason, he has been committed to staying by his brother’s side through thick and thin, no matter the circumstances.
Are Wes and Tony Dead?
While Vince and Jake are going through a crisis of their own, they also manage to influence the lives of those around them, usually not for the better. Wes and Tony remain the prime example of this. While the brothers are still severely under Junior’s debt, the older brother spills secrets about the complications Anna is presenting to Black Rabbit’s future business. This compels Junior and Babbit to pay the woman a visit. However, instead of simple intimidation, they end up accidentally killing her. Afterward, they realize that the Friedkens could lead the police investigation straight back to them. For the same reason, Junior kidnaps the duo with the intention of executing them and saving his own skin. Nonetheless, Jake manages to cut a deal for his life by offering his jailors a golden opportunity. The Black Rabbit is set to showcase a few million-dollar jewelry pieces during one of his high-profile events.
Jake devises a plan for Junior to break in during the event and steal the jewelry from the backroom. He’s ready to provide the key and safe combination for the job to ensure everything runs smoothly. Nonetheless, shortly after, the restaurant owner comes into possession of some big bucks. As such, he tries to settle the debt with Mancuso directly and call off the robbery. In doing so, he manages to piss Junior off, who decides to go through with the robbery anyway. Worse yet, he strongarms Vince into accompanying him for the crime. On the night of the crime, things inevitably escalate, leading to a hostage situation at the restaurant, with a gun to Tony’s head. The night ends with multiple shots going off, two of which hit the sous-chef and Wes. Although they’re both rushed to the hospital, the musician doesn’t survive the injury. Still, his label releases his unreleased music, posthumously memorializing the artist. Inversely, Tony manages to survive the bullet he took to his neck and goes on to continue working with Roxie in the future.
What Happens to Jake? Does He Lose the Restaurant?
Vince saves Jake from the worst of the repercussions by bearing the burden of the mistakes he had made in the last few days. Since he had always been the official suspect for Junior’s murder, his death wraps up that thread, brushing off both the authorities and Mancuso. The fact that the older brother pays for his crimes by choosing to die also prevents the younger man from martyring himself in the name of love. Simply put, Jake has no choice but to move on in the aftermath of Vince’s death. Yet, while he isn’t under any legal fire, it doesn’t mean his reputation is spared. Even before the robbery, Roxie and Wes had managed to shift the allegiance of the investors away from the founder. Therefore, it is likely that Jake’s relationship with Vince further put his name in the line of fire in the restaurant industry.
However, more importantly, Jake’s own faith is likely lifted from the magic of the Black Rabbit. He and Vince created the restaurant together from the ground up and ran it as co-owners for the longest time. Eventually, an inebriated, ill-advised mistake that medically compromised one of their employees pushed Vince out of his shares in the brand. Still, the younger brother always held a soft spot for the other man, as evidenced by his easy acceptance. Yet, the same place that was once a symbol of their shared excellence likely becomes tarnished under the darkness of Vince’s suicide. Thus, it’s possible that Jake didn’t want anything to do with the restaurant even if he had had a choice. In the end, Roxie takes over the restaurant’s real estate, rebranding it as her own under the name Anna’s. Meanwhile, Jake goes on to work as a bartender in another establishment, turning over a new leaf.
Does Ellen Solve Anna’s Murder?
Anna’s narrative remains clouded with grief and maltreatment from the very beginning. Shortly after Jake fires her, she puts the restaurant on blast on social media. This compels Roxie to reach out to her and find out the root of her issues. Thus, Anna reveals to the Head Chef that she had been raped at the Black Rabbit during her last night on the job. During the closing hours, Jules, Wes’ artist friend, had roofied her drink. The next thing she remembers his waking up naked in the establishment’s bathroom. Still, the bartender doesn’t wish to press charges against the influential man. She has witnessed Jake and his friends abuse their authority enough in the name of humor and jokes to know that she would never be taken seriously. Furthermore, she’s scared of creating too much noise and attracting the wrong kind of attention.
Despite her best efforts, the same comes to fruition after Mel almost overdoses at the restaurant during the charity dinner. The incident attracted media attention, which in turn brought journalists to her door. Even though Anna remains tight-lipped about everything, the attention makes Jules begin to sweat. For the same reason, Campbell tries to push the woman out of the city by paying her hush money. Even so, Anna complies for fear of her life. Unfortunately, Junior ends up arriving at her apartment the same night to intimidate her. As she tries to hide in her bathroom, one bad shove cracks her skull open on the bathtub.
In the end, her death can be written off as an accident. Yet, Roxie and the others push Ellen to recognize that Jules may have had something to do with the murder. Yet, in order ot prove any connections, the detective would need CCTV footage from the restaurant, which Jake seems to have deleted. In actuality, he never deleted the footage entirely and kept a copy as insurance, which he eventually tries to use to secure Vince’s escape. Thus, when the latter dies despite his brother’s best attempts, the latter finally does the right thing and turns the footage in. Even though the footage doesn’t lead Ellen to Junior, it does cement Jules as a suspect in Anna’s murder. Ultimately, both Anna’s killer and her abuser pay for their crimes one way or another.
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