The new Netflix series out of Australia Boy Swallows Universe ends on a violent but relatively happy note. After jumping ahead in time from 1985 to 1989 in the series' final two episodes, Eli (Felix Cameron, Zac Burgess) has matured greatly from being the boy who was always picked on at school to rising quickly as one of the staff writers at the regional newspaper. Following the series of traumatic incidents both he and his mostly silent older brother Gus (Lee Tiger Halley), who is also some type of soothsayer, experience during their upbringing, Eli finally gets his wish of bringing his broken family back together.
Based on the beloved bestselling novel of the same name written by Trent Dalton, Boys Swallows Universe weaves in and out of coming-of-age narrative tropes combined with a mysterious web of corruption regarding a heroin distribution operation in 1980s Brisbane. Featuring great performances by Phoebe Tonkin, Bryan Brown, Sophie Wilde, Christopher James Baker, and many more, Boy Swallows Universe is a genre-bending miniseries that is glued together by Eli's relentless charm and ambition to life up and repair the broken and corrupt people around him.
What Happens In Boy Swallows Universe Ending
At the end of Boy Swallows Universe, newly hired journalist Eli Bell travels with his crush and colleague Caitlyn Spies to the residence of Tytus Broz, the biggest philanthropist in the area whom Eli suspects of suspicious activity with the hired assassin Ivan Kroll. Suspecting that Tytus and Kroll were responsible for his stepfather Lyle's death, Eli secretly tries to get information on Tytus that would link him to the murders of Bich Dang and Tim Cotton. Tytus intimidates Caitlyn and Eli off his property but the two journalists wait until Tytus leaves to attend the Queensland Champions awards ceremony before investigating his mysterious research facility.
After finding Lyle's preserved severed head in the research facility, and escaping Ivan Kroll who intends to kill them, Eli and Caitlyn arrive at the Queensland Champions ceremony just as Tytus is delivering a speech. Eli runs onto the stage with Lyle's head as evidence that Tytus, who specializes in creating mechanical limbs, is developing a human limb farming operation in his own backyard. Tytus is arrested but Kroll arrives and stabs both Eli and his father before Gus heroically pushes Kroll off a clock tower, saying Eli's life. Both Eli and his dad recover and the Bell family is happily reunited.
What Eli & Caitlyn Discover In Tytus Broz's Research Facility
Eli and Caitlyn's curiosity nearly kills them when they break into Tytus Broz's research facility, which has several animals trapped in cages for apparently unethical scientific purposes. There are also skeletons of various animals, which as Eli and Caitlyn discover, is hardly the worst of it. Eli ventures further into the scientific lab bunker to discover his stepdad Lyle's severed head in a jar preserved in a strange blue liquid along with several other heads. This confirms what Eli had suspected all along about Kroll working for Tytus since he already assumed that Kroll murdered Lyle several years before.
Why Eli Did THAT With Lyle's Severed Head
Rather than letting the police handle the evidence, knowing that some of them were corrupt, Eli took matters into his own hands and brought Lyle's head to the Queensland Champions ceremony. While it was certainly a bold movie it was also very in-character for the spontaneous and blunt Eli, who knew that presenting Lyle's head in front of a crowd would be the only way to bring Tytus to justice. Eli had been incredibly, and often dangerously, involved in the corrupt affairs that were going on throughout the series, from trying to break up a violent street fight to seeing his mom in prison.
Final Hospital Scene With Tytus & Red Phone Explained
At the very end of Boy Swallows Universe, Tytus is seen picking up a scalpel at the hospital and opening up a door before Eli wakes up and sees Caitlyn reading the paper. The red phone also rings throughout the brief scene, which is a common theme throughout the Netflix series, but the scene itself is somewhat unclear as to whether Tytus was actually there or not. It appears that since Tytus was shown to have been thrown in jail based on the front page photo of the paper, Eli was only having a nightmare that he had come to pay him a violent visit at the hospital.
How Eli Survives Despite Gus's Blue Wren Prophecy
During the opening scenes of Boy Swallows Universe episode 1, Gus writes with his finger "Your end is a dead blue wren." Since Gus has the ability to see parts of the future, as displayed through his various drawings and visions throughout the series, Gus predicts that Eli's story will end when a blue wren dies. Ivan Kroll viciously crushes a blue wren with his boot during the climax of the Boy Swallows Universe finale, right before Gus saves his life. While the blue wren was dead, Eli's story, rather than his life, came to an end, which he later wrote down entirely in the show's final scene.
The Real Meaning Of Boy Swallows Universe Ending
The ending of Boy Swallows Universe comes full circle when Eli's wish for his family to reunite comes true in the final scene of the Netflix series. After facing so many instances of heartbreaking trauma throughout his childhood, things finally work out for Eli with his hopes for his family, his career as a journalist, and his romantic interest in Caitlyn, which seems to be taking off by the closing moments of the series. The final message of Boy Swallows Universe is one that amplifies the significance of resiliency and staying true to yourself no matter how terrible life and the people around you can be.
Many key sentiments about the key characters that were originally introduced at the start of the series were maintained and reinforced in the Boy Swallows Universe ending. Eli's mom Frances told him that Gus loves Eli more than anything, which is proven by his act of heroism in the end. The lengths that Eli and Gus go to make their mom happy again, despite her seemingly intentional tendency to attach herself to troublesome people, come to fruition as well. Finally, their Dad, who was drowning in guilt from the car accident years prior, finally has a purpose in his life again thanks to the unyielding spirits of Gus and Eli Bell.
