Serenity ending explained: Patrick’s video game, Baker Dill, and processing grief

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Serenity. Reader discretion is advised.

In 2019, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight came out with Serenity, a mystery thriller film starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in the central roles. Written and directed by Knight, the film follows a fishing boat captain hired by his ex-wife to settle the score with her new husband. McConaughey plays Captain Baker Dill, and Hathaway plays his former wife, Karen.

Eventually, the film pulls a narrative twist that changes the way we look at all its characters. They are all in service of one person, who's trying to process his difficult emotions. Eventually, the ending of Serenity confirms that Baker Dill is only a figment of Patrick's imagination. He lost his father in a war. So, he created an entire video game in an attempt to reconnect with his late father.

Before diving into these details, it follows Baker Dill's quiet life on a fishing island that offers a respite to his soul.

What is the plot of Serenity?

A still from Serenity (Image via YouTube/Madman Films)

Serenity primarily follows Baker Dill as he goes about his day in his tropical enclave. He lives a fairly mundane life, and the only thing that seems to keep him going is a fish called "justice." Baker is so obsessed with catching it that he abandons the job he is hired for to focus on catching it. The clients don't pay him. So, he pays his sidekick Duke (Djimon Hounsou) from his pocket.

Baker eventually crosses paths with Karen (Anne Hathaway), his ex-wife, who proposes a shocking plan. She wants Baker to take her husband, Frank (Jason Clarke), for a fishing trip and get rid of him along the way. In exchange, she offers him $10 million, which can solve his financial qualms. However, it also means he will have to live with the emotional burden. So, for moral reasons, he refuses her plan.

Baker is also bitter about their past, where Karen left him to be with Frank. However, he changes his mind after making a life-altering discovery: he is not real and is only part of a game. He gains this self-awareness after meeting Reid Miller (Jeremy Strong), who offers him fishing equipment to find "justice." That leads Baker to realize that he does not have free will and is expected to fulfill a particular goal.

What happens at the end of Serenity?

Initially, Baker's only goal is to catch the fish. However, it shifts to killing Frank because that's what his creator, Patrick, wants. The ending of Serenity reveals that Patrick created the fishing game with a protagonist (Baker) who looks like his late father, John Mason. John died in a war when Patrick was young. The only memory Patrick associates with John is the time they spent together fishing. Thus, a fishing game.

In reality, Patrick stabs Frank with John's knife to seek revenge against many years of physical abuse. Simultaneously, in the game, Baker kills the simulated version of Frank despite all the attempts made to stop him from taking this drastic step. So, the game serves as a way for Patrick to process his grief and to be with John, even if it's through a simulated world he has created to seek "justice."

After making these choices, Patrick and Baker face different consequences. Patrick is apprehended but is put under his mother's custody since he acted in self-defense. Baker gets to reunite with his son through another simulation created by Patrick.

Although explicitly revealed during the meeting with Reid, the film foreshadows the fact that he is part of a simulation through the way it constructs his reality. That is why all these characters use cliches to reveal their place in Baker's story.