Upamanyu Biswas
At the end of ‘Don’t Let Go,’ Jack slowly begins to piece together the mystery behind Ashley’s death. However, his quest to get to the bottom of the truth puts him in the line of danger as a bigger conspiracy comes into the picture. Meanwhile, things get further complicated when past-Ashley begins to realize that she is conversing with a future version of her uncle. The jump between the two timelines leads to some unforeseen outcomes for both characters as every choice leads to a different possibility. With time racing by, Jack has to do everything in his power to ensure that the tragedy is not repeated and his niece’s life is saved by whatever means necessary. By the final moments, the complex blend between a murder mystery and a time travel story leads to a conclusion that, while ambiguous, closes the curtains on Jack’s desperate cause. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Don’t Let Go Plot Synopsis
‘Don’t Let Go’ begins with Detective Jack Radcliff receiving a phone call from his niece Ashley. After Garret, Ashley’s dad, fails to pick up her calls, the young girl asks her uncle for a lift. They go out to a diner and have some food while talking about Garret and his irresponsible nature. He is currently undergoing treatment for his bipolar disorder. Jack promises to have a frank discussion with Garret and rectify his inadequacies as a father. The next day, Jack receives another phone call from Ashley, which sounds alarming because of her frightened voice. He heads over to her house and discovers the front door unlocked. Upon scouring the place, Jack finds that Garret and his wife Susan have been killed. Tragically, his niece Ashely is also dead, and her remains are in the bathtub.
Jack spirals into depression and sadness following his niece’s death. It is evident that he blames himself for the entire family’s death, especially after the cops rule it as a murder-suicide triggered by Garret. A few days later, things begin to take a strange turn when Jack receives a series of calls from Ashley’s disconnected phone. He is confused about the whole thing until he picks up one of the calls and realizes it is Ashley’s voice. The more they talk, the more Jack realizes that something is off about the whole thing. During one such transmission, he tests out a theory by asking Ashley to carry out some tasks in her home. After checking out the home premises on his own, Jack realizes that Ashley is speaking to him from the past and is unaware of her death. He decides to keep that information a secret and focuses on how he can save her life before the fateful murder takes place.
Once it is established that Jack and Ashley are conversing from separate timelines, the movie starts to shift perspectives between the two characters seamlessly. Jack starts retracing what happened on the day of her murder and tries to figure out who might be behind her death. He eventually tracks down a mysterious figure known as Georgie, who may be behind a series of serious drug crimes in the city. Jack suspects that Garret was framed and Georgie is behind the murder. However, he faces another major blow during the investigation when he is fatally injured during a drive-by shooting. Subsequently, he is forced to take drastic action by calling Ashley and asking her to have her father arrested by the police. The small change in events leads to Jack surviving the shooting.
Don’t Let Go Ending: Does Jack Tell Ashley the Truth?
After Jack escapes his near-death experience, he finds out that the date of Ashley’s murder has been shifted to one day earlier. As such, he is left with an even tighter schedule to save his niece’s life. He calls her up and realizes that she is living through the same day as she is supposed to die. Subsequently, Jack is left with no choice but to reveal the truth about her fated murder. He tells Ashley to go to the diner. In the present-day timeline, Jack does the same. The two share a moment together, separated by their time barrier. In that moment, Jack finally reveals the truth to his niece, telling her in plain and simple terms that she dies later in the day. He urges her to take precautions against it by running away from town before anything bad happens.
Ashley decides to take Jack’s advice, convinced that he is really speaking to her from the future. She heads back to her house with the same plan in mind. Meanwhile, Jack decides to look into the case further, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and shed more light on the killer’s identity. However, it is evident that sharing the information with Ashley somewhat soothes his mind, especially after the helplessness he has been dealing with for large chunks of the story. Although Garret and Susan mean a lot to him, it was Ashley’s death that affected him the most, mainly because of their close bond and how she views him as a father figure. He is desperate to rescue her in any way possible, even if it means fleeing from the town entirely.
Who is Behind Ashley and Her Family’s Death? Why?
The big answer to the identity of Ashley, Garret, and Susan’s killer arrives after Jack persistently goes after the Georgie lead. He takes a trip to the police station, trying to track down more clues behind the mysterious drug lord. However, the assumptions about Georgie are proven to be wrong once Jack digs a little deeper. His boss Howard and friend Bobby, who is also the lead investigator into Ashley’s murder, help him out in learning more about Georgie’s real identity. They reveal that the figure is not really a drug lord, as identified earlier. Instead, Georgie refers to a group of dirty cops hidden within the Southwestern Police Department. It is likely, therefore, that one of those dirty cops was behind Garret and his family’s murders, with the motives still unknown.
Howard and Bobby take Jack to a remote location to probe into the case a little more. However, soon after arrival, a twist takes place as Bobby guns down Howard right in front of Jack, who is shocked by the turn of events. Subsequently, Bobby reveals that he is one of the members involved in the Georgie gang of corrupt cops. He also makes it clear that it was him behind Ashley’s murder and the death of her parents. As it turns out, Garret had refused to help the Georgie group with a drug deal they wanted to conduct. This made them unhappy with Garret, and subsequently, an order to assassinate him was given out. Bobby attacked Garret and his family that fateful night and killed them all mercilessly. It avoided any loose strings while also helping the group continue their series of corrupt activities under the radar.
Thus, Garret was never a perpetrator of the murder, as suspected by the cops in the beginning. In fact, Bobby had been manipulating and playing the good friend to Jack throughout the movie. He was always on the take with the dirty cops and was responsible for directly killing a family of people he knew very closely. Jack feels betrayed by the revelation and is also left with no way to escape his situation as Bobby bears down on him with the gun. However, because the latter has no idea about Jack’s ability to call Ashley through time, he believes that his friend learned the information from another source. He questions Jack about how he managed to uncover the truth behind Ashley’s death without any outside help. As death looms over his head, this lets Jack have one last ace up his sleeve.
Does Jack Save His Niece? What Happens to Bobby?
In the past timeline, Ashley is picked up on her way home by Bobby. As she has no idea that Bobby is the one responsible for her death, she invites him to the house, expecting that he may be able to protect her and her entire family from whatever threat Jack warned her of. However, this proves to be the wrong decision as Bobby soon takes everyone hostage at gunpoint right after stepping through the door. He kills Garret and Susan while Ashley makes a run for her life. Bobby follows her in his car. Meanwhile, in the present day, the past version of Ashley connects with Jack over a call, who is still at gunpoint by Bobby. He informs her that her best chance of survival is to make a straight journey to his house and seek his former self’s protection. Although Ashley has no idea how to escape Bobby, she decides to follow his advice.
She manages to make it all the way to Jack’s house. Unfortunately, no one answers the door when she knocks on it. She tries to find a way to enter by combing through the premises, hoping her uncle Jack will find her somehow. Just moments later, Bobby arrives at the spot and corners Ashley on the ground. Jack also appears, and he and Bobby face off one another with Ashley’s life at stake. Seeing that his niece is in danger, he takes the shot and kills Bobby, despite the fact that this version of him has no idea about Bobby’s intentions. Subsequently, Jack embraces Ashley and consoles her. After struggling to make sense of the situation for much of the story, Jack achieves his ultimate goal of saving Ashley. It comes about in a roundabout manner, but he probably doesn’t care as long as she survives somehow.
Read More: Best Horror Movies on Netflix
You must be logged in to post a comment.