Are Niall and Ruben Dead in Half Man? Do They Kill Each Other?

Created by Richard Gadd, HBO Max’s ‘Half Man’ begins with a tacit understanding that Niall Kennedy and Ruben Pallister will never be truly happy or truly unhappy with each other. Between that liminal space lie a number of ways by which the two characters try to label, bracket, break, or mend their relationship. However, over the course of several decades and several more secrets, things eventually come to a boiling point. What episode 6 of this drama series ties together is a conclusion that has been a long time in the making, where both Niall and Ruben realize that words aren’t something they can rely on anymore. As such, what they communicate with instead are their fists, their kicks, the blood, sweat, and tears that seem focused on dismantling the dynamic rather than rebuilding it. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Niall and Ruben Die at Each Other’s Hands to Bring the Tale to an End

‘Half Man’ ends with Niall and Ruben killing each other in a final, tragic brawl that has been building up all season long. While we are initially led to believe that this is a playful and, at best, cathartic exchange of blows between the proverbial “brothers from a different lover,” the recontextualizations provided in the show’s finale change that entire appearance. In reality, this is Ruben’s last charge against Niall for destroying every little thing in his life. At the same time, the grievances do not just flow in one direction, as this also comes as Niall’s first and final chance to come clean about how he feels, both regarding Ruben in particular, and their unusual, toxically codependent relationship.

After the initial rounds of the fight that we are shown in episode 1, Ruben throws Niall to the floor, putting his entire body weight on him as the scene takes a sexually charged turn. The imagery is not only evocative of the first time Ruben and Mona sexually assaulted Niall, but also of the many times Ruben has discussed how he loves calming his opponents down before charging at them yet again. The most potent imagery, however, remains that of intercourse, and through this complete release of all the frustrations that the two of them have harbored over the years, the show reaches a subverted form of catharsis. However, with Ruben clearly being a stronger fighter in this case, things soon start to go downhill for Niall, which prompts him to use the knife that his mother gifted to him before the wedding.

Ruben and Niall’s Final Fight Has an Underlying Sexual Symbolism

After briefly managing to escape Ruben’s clutches and catch his breath, Niall pulls out the knife and stabs Ruben in the side, likely puncturing his lung in the process. We see this not only in how profusely Ruben bleeds from that point, but also in how he hyperventilates throughout the rest of the scene. This still isn’t enough to bring him down, though, and only causes him to double down and choke Niall without any hesitation. Ruben’s positioning and hyperventilation make the sexual connotation of the scene even more apparent, all the while also highlighting the symbolism of sexual abuse. It’s possible that Ruben’s manner of holding down Niall is something that happened to him, too, when he was sexually assaulted by his father.

Somewhere during the long, agonizing moments of Ruben suffocating Niall, we see the light leave the latter’s eyes, signaling that he’s gone. This moment also coincides with Ruben almost climaxing due to the rush and violence, only for the feeling to come crashing down when he realizes that the most important person in his life is dead. However, that detail is quickly supplemented by the fact that Ruben, too, is stabbed fatally, and while the show ends before we can see him die here, we already know by the end of episode 4 that he’s dead. Rather, it’s Niall’s death that emerges as the real twist of the episode, as if sealing the deal on the intertwined nature of their journeys.

Niall and Ruben’s turbulent dynamic can best be explained as one where they can neither live together nor stay separated for too long. Both characters fuel each other’s worst traits to the point that their positive moments of growth and change are steadily consumed and corrupted over the course of time. While Ruben is the physically dominant force of nature in this equation, Niall also plays a self-destructive role in the ending. It is his complicated feelings about the ebbs and flows of Ruben’s life that ultimately lead to a point where they simply decide that coexistence is no longer possible. Their mutual death, then, marks a full stop in a relationship that is narratively deemed too toxic to ever get repaired.

Read More: Is Half Man Based on a True Story? Are Niall Kennedy and Ruben Pallister Based on Real People?