‘The Power of the Dog’ Ending Explained: Jane Campion’s Western Comes With a Dark Twist

Warning: This article contains major The Power of the Dog spoilers. Surely you knew that when you clicked on it, right?

The Power of the Dog, which is now streaming on Netflix as well as playing in theaters, may seem like an exquisite but slow-moving character study for the majority of the film. But in the final 15 minutes of Jane Campion‘s critically-acclaimed western, the plot suddenly kicks into high gear. What you thought was merely a haunting slice-of-life movie suddenly feels like a thriller, because The Power of the Dog ending comes with a plot twist that will leave audiences reeling.

The story is based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. Savage was a gay man—though not openly so at the time—who based parts of the plot and characters on his own experience as a teenager growing up on a ranch in Montana. That said, the story is still largely fictional—or, at least, so one hopes.

The Power of the Dog ending is as dark as it is shocking, and Campion—who both directed and adapted the script from Savage’s novel—doesn’t exactly spell out what happens for viewers. If you weren’t paying close attention, you may have missed some key details. Don’t worry, because Decider is here to help. Read on for The Power of the Dog plot summary and The Power of the Dog ending explained.

WHAT IS THE POWER OF THE DOG ABOUT? THE POWER OF THE DOG PLOT SUMMARY:

Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Burbank (Jesse Plemons) are wealthy ranch owners in Montana in 1925. One day, their work takes them and their crew to an inn owned by Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst), a mild-mannered widow. George takes a liking to Rose. He attempts to make up for his cruel-hearted brother—who openly mocks Rose’s frail-looking son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee)—by helping her in the kitchen.

George and Rose fall in love and get married. Rose and Peter move out of the inn and into the ranch. Phil Burbank, feeling abandoned by his brother, is viciously cruel to Rose at every opportunity, and drives her to drink. After Peter returns home from school for the summer—where he is studying to become a doctor—Rose is a full-blown alcoholic.

One day, Peter discovers Phil’s stash of nude photos of men, and sees Phil bathing naked with a handkerchief that belonged to “Bronco Henry,” the mentor that Phil often speaks highly of. Phil sees Peter spying and chases him off, but after that incident, Phil and Peter strike up a strange sort of friendship, much to Rose’s dismay.

Phil begins to make a rope for Peter by braiding together rawhide and helps Peter learn how to ride a horse. During one of these lessons, Peter casually asks about how some of the calves die—is it by wolves? Phil replies that yes, sometimes wolves kill the calves, and sometimes the calves die from anthrax, an infectious disease. Peter, armed with this knowledge, takes a solo ride into the mountains where he finds a calf that has died of disease. Peter, wearing protective gloves, carefully removes the diseased calf’s hide. Later, Phil takes Peter out riding to repair a fence. While messing around with a rabbit, Phil gets a deep gash on his hand. (Remember both of these details for later!)

Rose’s drinking continues to get worse. When she hears that Phil Burbank plans to burn his extra hides rather than sell them to the local American Indians, she defiantly, drunkenly trades all of the cowhides to the tribe leader for a pair of gloves. When Phil realizes all of his hides are gone, he is furious—he now no longer has enough material to finish Peter’s rope.

Peter offers the rawhide he took from his solo ride to Phil. When Phil asks why Peter has rawhide, Peter replies that he cuts some up because he wanted to be like Phil. Phil is overwhelmed by Peter’s kindness and promises to work through the night to finish the rope. Phil washes Peter’s rawhide with his open wound, unaware that it came from a diseased cow. Phil tells Peter the story of the time Bronco Henry saved his life by pressing their bodies together while they slept to stay warm in extreme cold. Peter asks if they slept naked, and Phil laughs but doesn’t reply.

WHAT IS THE POWER OF THE DOG ENDING EXPLAINED?

The next morning, Phil doesn’t come down for breakfast. George finds him in his bed, sweaty and feverish. The wound on his hand is clearly infected. George gets the car to take Phil to the doctor, but Phil doesn’t want to leave before he finds Peter and gives him the rope. Phil stumbles around with the rope in his hand, before he finally allows George to guide him into the car. Peter watches them leave from his window.

In the next scene, Phil has died, and George is picking out his coffin. At the funeral, Rose shares a nice moment with her mother-in-law, and George invites his parents back for Christmas—implying that the whole family will now be able to live peacefully, with Phil gone. The coroner tells George he thinks Phil died from anthrax poisoning, which confuses George, as he knew his brother always refused to handle diseased animals.

Peter does not attend Phil’s funeral. Instead, he finds and reads a bible verse at home. Psalm 22:20: “Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog.” He watches from his window as Rose—now sober—returns with George from the funeral. He smiles as he sees them share a kiss, and from that smile, you just know that Peter is responsible for Phil’s death.

WHAT DOES THE POWER OF THE DOG ENDING MEAN?

Interpret the ending as you will, but my take is that Peter saw what his Uncle Phil was doing to his mother, and knew that she would never stop drinking as long as Phil was around to torment her. Once he realized Phil was gay, he deliberately used this knowledge to grow close to him. He had perhaps always intended to slip the diseased cowhide into Phil’s supply for the rope he was making, and when his mother sold all the hides, he saw the perfect opportunity to swoop in, and intentionally cause Phil’s open wound to become infected.

It’s diabolical, but Peter was right—with Phil out of the way, both his mother and George already seem to be much happier. Sometimes being a good son means poisoning your abusive uncle with anthrax!

Watch The Power of the Dog on Netflix