The Good Nurse ending explained: Charles's confession to Amy, explored

The 2022 film, The Good Nurse, is derived from a true case of a crime committed by a nurse named Charles Cullen.

Starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne, the film explores the plot of a single mother and a kind-hearted nurse named Amy Loughren, who comes to know the shocking truth about her colleague and friend, Charles. It is revealed that Charles is murdering the patients in the hospital as a series of unusual deaths take place.

So at the end of The Good Nurse, when Amy confides to Charles about his gruesome actions, what does he confess to her?

Well, Charles tells her this one thing, that is:

“They didn’t stop me.”

Let us find out more about the conversation between Amy and Charles at the end of The Good Nurse.

What did Amy and Charles say to each other in the ending of The Good Nurse?

The Good Nurse follows the story of Amy Loughren, a nurse who is also a single mother. She works at a hospital which is short-handed. She is also suffering from heart disease, which requires an operation at the earliest. So, in order to get insurance for her treatment, she works hard at the hospital day and night whilst managing her household single-handedly.

Much to Amy's relief, a new employee joins the hospital, and her workload eases off. The employee is Charles Cullen, an experienced nurse with whom Amy bonds over time. She shares her troubles with Charles, and he provides her emotional support regarding her illness and everything. Charles is a seemingly harmless and timid man who looks like he could not hurt a fly, but reality is far from what we often perceive.

Soon, it is noticed that upon the arrival of Charles, a series of strange deaths occurred at the hospital. Charles kills many patients by injecting digoxin, insulin, and EPINEPHrine. Initially, it is brushed off, thinking it could be some reaction to the medicine. But soon, Amy starts to have doubts about Charles, even though she initially does not even think of the possibility that. But when she sees several holes poked into the IV bottles of the deceased patients, she starts suspecting that outside intervention has been done on these IV bottles.

The hospital officials strive to retrieve information about Charles' prior jobs at the other hospitals, but somehow they do not provide them with any information. Amy then talks to one of her friends who has worked with Charles in the past. She then comes to know that there were whispers circling about Charles's involvement in the murders of the patients, but nobody really took any action regarding this.

After the hospital officials inform the police about these occurrences, Amy joins them to help them reveal the truth about Charles. He is soon laid off from the hospital based on the inconsistency in his curriculum vitae. However, Amy, who is still a friend to Charles, asks him to meet her to grab some lunch.

The high-stakes lunch scene between Amy and Charles in The Good Nurse is compelling to witness. They both know why they are there, but they pretend as if they don't. However, Charles gives a strong reaction when Amy questions him about his expulsion from the hospital. Unbeknownst to him, the entire conversation had been recorded by Amy.

Soon, Charles is arrested by the police. But the officials are not able to extract a confession out of him about his complicity in the murders. Then Amy is called to speak to Charles. At the end of The Good Nurse, Amy and Charles meet and share a tender moment of truth, vulnerability, and empathy. Amy showcases deep care towards him, as she asks him his reasons for these murders.

Upon which, Charles utters:

“I just did it”

He still does not provide more information about his motive for his actions. But the determined Amy keeps trying to extract confessions from him, upon which he names a few patients in the hospital whom he killed. Amy's eyes welled up with tears, and she questions him about the reason that made him do it. Charles then says:

“They didn’t stop me.”

However, Charles still does not provide any reasoning behind his actions. In the finale of The Good Nurse, it is revealed that Amy has had a successful operation on her heart and has moved to Florida with her family. She is continuing her job as a nurse. And Charles is convicted of serving jail time for the rest of his life as a result of his horrifying actions.