There was only one way that Top Boy could end. What were the chances that anyone would get out alive or unscathed? Even those who do survive have their lives shattered by the deaths of their loved ones, as well as the mental and physical scars left by the ongoing gangland violence.
So as the final ever outing for the Netflix series came to a close, like Succession, its title suggested that there would need to be a resolution: who would be the Top Boy, and would it be Dushane (Ashley Walters) or Sully (Kane “Kano” Robinson)? Or perhaps a pretender to the throne would rise up instead?
As the hour-long finale of episode six bowed out with several big bangs – and several shock deaths – let’s break down the ending, with spoilers and all, and the ambiguous final scene: who fired the last fatal shot?
The final chapter
With riots erupting all over the Summerhouse estate – a speeding police car hit and potentially killed a young girl from the community – Dushane is hiding out, waiting for his lawyer’s man to help him flee the country for good.
Meanwhile, Sully has realised that Kieron was lying to him about who stole the bags of drugs, and arranges to have him dragged out of his car and killed, which Jaq (Jasmine Jobson) preempts, and arranges to meet with Sully and Dushane to give them back the stash of drugs she stole. She’s hoping to get a “pass”, but even if she’s killed, she’s begged him to leave her girlfriend Becks and Lauryn’s baby alone. She is willing to sacrifice herself for her family.
But on the way to the meet up, Dushane jumps on Jaq, hitting her and stealing the bags. When Sully finds out, there’s a frenetic chase through the backdrop of the riots, and just as Dushane is due to jump into a car to start his new life, Sully and Junior catch up with him.
There’s a shoot out, and the two guys meant to be helping Dushane flee are shot, as is Junior. There’s a chase between Dushane and Sully and just as Dushane’s about to jump over a metal gate, Sully fatally shoots him in his torso.
Dying on the other side of the gate, the pair have a final conversation, as the enormity of what Sully has done hits him. Dushane tells him that he had no choice, as Lizzie and Lithe stole his money, and says: “I thought we were brothers!”. Sully then says Dushane never respected him and adds: “If we’re not monsters, we’re food. And I could never be food. How do you think we survived all this time [...] You know I can’t let you get away with those bags right?” – but it’s too late. Dushane is dead.
The final scene
After a touching moment with Sully and his daughter, Tash, he’s confronted by Stefan in the park, who has been trained to use his gun by Si. He wants revenge for Sully killing his brother Jamie, and Erin’s dad.
“How does it feel?” Stefan asks him, holding him up at gunpoint. But a broken Sully’s resigned to dying, and replies: “To be honest Stefan, that feeling done left me a long time ago.” But Stefan lets him go, wisely telling him “you’re not worth it”, breaking the ‘a life for a life’ cycle and refusing to condemn himself to the same path of gangs, violence and prison time.
However, moments later, as Sully gets into his car, a slight, anonymous figure in a black coat – and a hair wrap? A helmet? – rushes up by the window and shoots him dead, splattering blood everywhere.
Who shot Sully?
Did Stefan have a change of heart? Unlikely. How about another gang member, like Si, who Sully almost killed in the previous episode? Perhaps, but there’s one glaringly obvious suspect: Jaq. She likely realised that the only way she could be out of the game – because of the guilt she felt after selling the drugs that ultimately killed her sister, Lauryn – was to kill Sully. That way, there would be no Top Boy left to take her down.
Her last words in the series were to her girlfriend, Becks (Adwoa Aboah). “Everything’s going to be okay”, she said, with a determined look. To save her partner and her nephew from the life she was so desperate to escape, murdering Sully could be the only way she was guaranteed her final pass.
Ultimately, the show’s creators will want the true killer to remain ambiguous. Sully finally got what he wanted, but he admitted that he was as much as dead on the inside. It was just a matter of time before his crimes finally caught up with him and he finally fell foul of the murderous cycle he spent his life perpetuating.
Top Boy is streaming on Netflix now.
