End of series Three Pines (2022): who is the real killer?

A Quebec-based police investigator named Superintendent Armand Gamache ends up in the village of Three Pines to investigate a series of murders in the mystery series “Three Pines” on Amazon Prime Video. The inhabitants of the sleepy town are shocked by Gamache’s entry, which leads him to several mysteries hidden deep within the town. James Hill’s murder investigation is shown in the seventh and eighth episodes of the show, dubbed “The Hangman: Part One” and “The Hangman: Part Two” respectively, when the investigator faces off against Blue Two-Rivers’ killer. Let’s share our thoughts on the amazing events that make up the show’s first-season finale if you’re interested in a deeper analysis. Spoilers follow.

Summary of Three Pines

In the opening scene of “Three Pines”, Armand Gamache promises Missy Two-Rivers that he will investigate the long-missing disappearance of Blue Two-Rivers, a native young woman. Gamache decides to take the probe with him after realizing the department has been ignoring the case. To find out if Blue and her lover Tommy are still alive, he turns to his best friend and fellow police officer Pierre Arnot for help. Gamache receives a photo of this from Pierre, who also informs him that Blue is in New York. Gamache informs the Two-Rivers family of the discovery, but they still believe Blue is dead.

Gamache eventually finds himself in Three Pines to investigate the death of CC de Poitiers. Realizing that she is Emilie Longpré’s relative, the investigator is given a window to learn more about her mysterious history. In the end, he solves the case by identifying the killer – who happens to be CC’s daughter, who killed her for not taking care of their family. Blue’s mother Missy kills herself to pressure the department to investigate the case much more thoroughly after Gamache dismisses Blue’s case by assuming she is dead. The Inspector continues to work on his investigation despite nightmares about Blue and involvement in the murder of Marc Fortier, which also takes place in Three Pines.

Gamache learns that Marc and Sophie were close, and he uses this information to prove that Marc was killed by Sophie’s father because the victim was trying to keep Marc and his daughter apart. When Blue’s lover Tommy’s brother Kevin calls Gamache’s assistant Isabelle Lacoste, the investigation into her disappearance takes an unexpected turn. Kevin informs Isabelle that Blue and Tommy were killed by police personnel affiliated with Sûreté. When Isabelle investigates the situation, she discovers that a patrol car was nearby. At the same time, Gamache investigates the death of Julia Morrow, the daughter of a wealthy businessman.

Gamache discovers that Julia is Peter from Three Pines’ sister. He discovers during the investigation that the family never really got along except for the gaudy displays of love and concern. The investigator solves the case by determining that Maurice, a child of Charles, the father of Peter, and Julia, was the murderer. Julia was killed by Maurice because she got the lavish hotel Charles owned before he died, not him. Kevin is detained by a group of police officers while on his way to New York. He had already died of a heroin overdose by the time Isabelle and Gamache arrived at the prison.

After solving Julia’s murder, Gamache finds himself back in Three Pines because an outsider who had recently arrived in the community was killed there. Figuring out who the person is and why he came to town is difficult for the inspector and his team. With Myrna’s help, they come to the realization that Arthur Ellis is a false identity and the name of an executioner. According to Gamache, Ellis came to Three Pines to “execute” someone. Gamache solves a riddle using a pine needle he finds near Ellis’ deceased body, and as a result finds Blue and Tommy’s bodies.

Three Pines Ending: Who Killed Blue and Tommy?

Gamache looks into a certain patrol car that was in the area the day Blue and Tommy were last seen after Kevin reveals that Blue and Tommy were killed by police officers. Despite learning that the car belonged to Dan Chowski, he is unable to identify the second person who was with him. Gamache also discovers a collection of bullets, which he sends to a lab to identify the firearms that fired the same shots, along with Blue and Tommy’s corpses. Gamache is shocked by the test results when he learns that Chowski and Gamache’s best friend and fellow Inspector Pierre used police guns to shoot Tommy and Blue dead.

Even though Pierre seemed like a reliable and innocent policeman to Gamache, at the time he had to kill Blue, he was involved in the illegal tobacco trade. Chowski eventually went along with his plan. The two considered stealing the shipment for their own trade because they knew about Kevin’s illegal activities. Blue recorded the whole situation on her phone, jeopardizing Pierre’s plans. The cop shot her when she tried to flee with the evidence that would ruin Pierre’s family and career. Chowski, the person responsible for Tommy’s death, helped Pierre bury the partners.

As a budding killer, Pierre was unable to completely cover up the crime and frame Kevin. Gamache finds the two killers thanks to the pine needles that Pierre and Chowski irresponsibly left at Kevin’s house. However, despite his best efforts, Pierre is unable to come up with a new story to distract Gamache from him and his actions. Since the Inspector has known Pierre for years, he can tell when the latter is lying, which helps identify Pierre as the murderer. Ironically, Gamache needs Pierre’s help to discover the killer and unravel the mystery surrounding Blue’s disappearance.

However, Pierre is only partially successful in distracting Gamache from the reality that Blue has died. The Inspector believes Blue is alive because he believes Pierre’s faked photo in New York. However, Gamache is further driven by his creepy nightmares to expand the investigation, which brings him to Pierre and Chowski.

Is Armand Gamache dead or alive?

After failing to frame Chowski and Kevin, Gamache learns that Pierre is trying to frame him for Blue and Tommy’s deaths. The Inspector then confronts the killer. Gamache makes it clear that Pierre must appear in court and face the trial, so Pierre shoots Gamache to get him out of there. In an effort to protect his family and career, Pierre decides to kill his best friend of over 40 years. Gamache could survive the gunshot wound even if Pierre shoots him. Shortly after Pierre successfully disappears, Isabelle and Jean-Guy arrive at the scene and call for help to save Gamache.

It is expected that Isabelle and Jean-Guy would set up the necessary medical procedure to save Gamache’s life. Gamache has a good chance of survival if rescuers can soon enter Pierre’s cabin, which is located in a remote area. We can be optimistic that the Inspector will live because Gamache doesn’t die in Louise Penny’s original novels. In addition, Pierre fires at Gamache outside the “breast kill zone”, showing that he simply intended to stop Gamache rather than kill him.

Who killed James Hill/Arthur Ellis? Why?

James Hill, aka Arthur Ellis, was killed by Mike and Angela Blake. Mike and Angela drove a truck that killed James Hill’s wife and daughter when they were students. Hill has been looking for the couple and two of their friends to get revenge on them since the incident. However, Mike and Angela arrived in Three Pines to put their past behind them and start a new chapter of their lives before he could locate them. Hill nevertheless found himself in the sleepy hamlet as he searched for his wife and daughter’s killers. However, he is unable to recognize the pair as it has been a long time since he last saw them, which gives Mike and Angela some breathing room.

However, Hill must have tried to kill Mike and Angela when he finally discovered them. However, Hill is the one who dies as the pair kill him in fear for their own lives. The pair talk about how they protected themselves from Hill, which makes clear the reason for the former teacher’s death, even though they don’t say outright that they are the killers. Gamache, investigating Hill’s death, does not immediately find it necessary to discover two murderers, but eventually comes to the conclusion that a sane fellow like Hill cannot be killed and hanged by one person alone.