The Capture Season 3 Ending Explained: Is Garland Dead or Alive?

Peacock’s ‘The Capture’ focuses on the use of technology to create deepfake videos. What makes the scenario more interesting and highly disturbing is that the tech is not being used by rogue individuals for their personal purposes but by government agencies that are supposed to protect people. Over the course of three seasons, Rachel Carey becomes the soldier who tries to expose this practice and bring down corrupt people. The third season pushes her to her limits, forcing her to wonder whether she can actually win this fight. The answer isn’t so simple. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Capture Season 3 Plot Synopsis

It has been more than a year since Rachel Carey revealed Correction’s existence to the world. Now, she is heading a department tasked with keeping the tech in check and bringing those who misuse it to justice. Isaac Turner is on the path to becoming the next PM, and under his aegis, Carey and her organization have made considerable strides. But then, Turner is killed, and Carey finds herself in a stupefying dilemma. She saw the man who shot Turner, but when the CCTV footage is pulled up, someone else’s face appears on the screen.

To make matters worse, a new Commander, named Pierson, has been assigned to replace her, and Carey is sure that the new man in charge is the one who shot Turner. Meanwhile, the man in the video, Whitlock, becomes the focus of the narrative. His past and his current actions don’t make his case any easier, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is innocent. Trying to get to the bottom of the truth leads Carey to make strange bedfellows. However, by the time the whole truth comes to light, she is left so exhausted by fighting for her life and that of her loved ones that it seems she is ready to give up.

What Happens to Garland? Is She Dead?

By the end of the season, it turns out that the Correction program has been used to full effect and is actually being run by someone named Simon. This someone turns out to be an AI program that has a group of highly trained professionals, called E Squadron, at its beck and call to do whatever it deems right. All the people who have been working to legitimize Correction are actually at Simon’s beck and call, including Garland and Pierson. In the penultimate episode, Pierson reveals that he was working for Simon because he is being blackmailed, but he is ready to help Carey if she can protect him.

With his support, Carey retakes control of SO15. Meanwhile, the inquiry into Correction reaches a tipping point when Gill testifies against Garland. Once she is put on the stand, she accepts all the things she has been accused of. She doesn’t try to hide from all the bad things that have happened so far, arguing that Correction has, in fact, saved thousands of lives. She continues to promote it as something that has been used for national security. Moreover, she claims full responsibility for the program, granting a free pass to all her superiors, none of whom can now be linked to Correction.

With this, Garland becomes the sole face of Correction. Before a sentence can be passed on her, Pierson enters the court and shoots her dead. This is a major twist and makes one question Pierson’s true loyalties. Interestingly, however, killing Garland was also a part of Simon’s plan. Once Correction is exposed, it becomes clear that the only way to convince people it is no longer being used is to make someone the face of the tech, then remove them from the picture. With Garland being that person, her death gives the impression that Correction is gone for good as well. That, however, is a complete lie.

Is Pierson Dead? Why does Carey Kill Him?

One of the major wild cards of Season 3 is Pierson. He enters the picture as a villain, but later turns out to be the victim of his circumstances. He is being forced to commit all the crimes, while Simon and his people use Correction to remove all traces and wash the blood off his hands. In the penultimate episode, he loses his leverage when he removes the heart implant. But then, Carey is kidnapped, and Pierson realizes that the only way to save her is to get the implant back. It gives him an extra boost of power, making him exceptionally skilled at fighting. But it also comes with strings attached.

As soon as he is reimplanted, he receives a mission from Simon. He is to kill Garland during the hearing, or Carey, who is being held captive by E Squadron, will be killed. Aware of Simon’s omnipotence, he knows there is no way he can wiggle his way out of this bind, so he decides to follow the orders. As soon as he kills Garland, Carey is left alone and alive. By the time he finds her, the news of Garland’s murder has already reached her. The trauma of the torture has already left her drained, so finding out about Pierson’s betrayal is a bit too much. She also thinks he is there to kill her, so as soon as she sees him, she shoots.

In his dying breaths, Pierson tells her why he killed Garland, and claims that he really did come there to save Carey. In any case, the damage has been done, and he is dead now. Later, Carey tries to expose Simon and its secret organization by releasing a Corrected video that shows Pierson shooting Turner to death. She hopes to get the truth out, but her enemies are already ten steps ahead. They don’t waste time flooding social media with misinformation about Pierson. He is promptly branded a Russian spy, and the whole narrative around him is used to push for war and the agenda that the people behind Correction have been pushing for forever.

Is Whitlock Dead?

While Carey is trying to bring down the people behind Correction, the tech continues to claim victims. With the tech, Turner’s death is blamed on Whitlock, who keeps claiming his innocence. Just when it seems he might have a way to prove his innocence, things go downhill. Garland is killed, and the video showing her being shot down is Corrected to make it look like Whitlock shot her. This time, there is no way for him to prove his innocence. The only person who gets an independent video during the shooting is Natasha Hayes, and she, too, turns out to be compromised.

In fact, her video is used to prove Whitlock’s guilt. Sadly, Whitlock doesn’t even get the chance to defend himself this time. Deciding not to risk being exposed again or pulled into controversy over the use of Correction, they decide to get Whitlock out of the picture. He is assassinated in his home by MI6, but that is not where the villains stop. Once Whitlock has been painted as the killer in the public’s eye, a narrative is created to use his guilt as a push for Correction. While it is accepted that Correction was used to show that he killed Turner, would it have been so wrong to throw him in prison?

Had he been arrested at the time, he would not have been out on the streets to come back and kill Garland. With this, Whitlock becomes yet another victim of Correction, and the villains succeed in rallying around the tech, taking another step toward legitimizing it and defeating people like Carey, who have been fighting for what’s right. This is one way to show that Simon and the people behind Correction cannot be defeated. The only way people like Carey can survive is by joining them, because they certainly cannot be beaten.

What Happens to Carey?

From the first season, Rachel has been fighting for justice. She wants to put the right people behind bars for the crimes they have committed, and the practice of Correction is a huge blot on the justice system. She almost succeeds in bringing down the whole system at the end of Season 2, but the third season throws her down a new rabbit hole. In the finale, her renewed efforts to expose Simon and its people lead the villains to deal with her once and for all. Figgis has her kidnapped, and she is put through immense mental and psychological torture. She is shown a video of her sister, Abigail, being shot dead, and she has no idea whether it was real or not.

At the time, she doesn’t know that Pierson is on his way to kill Garland. She is forced to charge Whitlock again, but she doesn’t budge. Eventually, she is left alone with a loaded gun, having no idea why she was left alive. Then Whitlock is killed, and the whole narrative against him spirals the whole thing out of control. What makes things worse is when Carey discovers that the people she thought she could trust, like Hayes, are also compromised, and they have been helping Simon bring down Carey since before Turner’s murder. This makes her realize she is fighting a losing battle, forcing her to make a shocking decision.

Carey uses Correction to show Pierson shooting Turner. She thought she could use it to expose Simon, but then things turned around on her with the whole Russian spy narrative. The worst part of this scenario is that the villains now have kompromat on Carey. She has done the very thing she was fighting against, and going back on it now will harm her more than anything else. This had been the plan all along. In fact, the whole thing was fabricated to trap Carey into doing something incriminating. Now that she, too, is complicit, she is forced to join the villains. And this truly breaks her spirit.

Is It Really Garland in the Picture?

Realizing that she has fallen into the trap laid out for her, Carey finally accepts defeat against Simon and its organisation. Now, she will have to do their bidding, or her whole life will come undone. She is so defeated that when Talbot offers her incriminating evidence against Yates, she decides not to heed him. Instead, she goes home, where she discovers that her sister is still alive. The video was a deepfake after all. Relieved that Abigail is all right and has no clue about all that went down in the past 24 hours, Carey has a heartfelt conversation with her.

She asks Abigail to move in with her, and the latter says she will consider. The girls take a picture together, and Abigail calls it a night. When she leaves for her bedroom, the weight of everything that has happened comes crashing down on Carey, and she breaks down. As a source of comfort, she looks at the picture she just took with Abigail. To her horror, she sees Garland in the background, watching them from the window. The fact that this is not possible, because Garland is dead and Carey’s apartment is a few floors up, means something is not right.

Either the picture has been doctored to mess with Carey’s head, or her mental stability has deteriorated to the point where she has started to hallucinate things. Sure enough, when she looks at the picture again, there is no Garland in the picture. It remains to be seen why Carey really saw Garland in the picture, but it is clear that Carey is in a mess of defeatism. This time, it seems there is no way for her to rise up again and fight the villain. If the story continues, Carey will eventually find a way to do it. For now, she can do nothing but survive another day.

Read More: Is The Capture a True Story?