‘Transatlantic’ Ending Explained: Who Escapes, Who Dies, And Who Stays To Fight With The Resistance?

Throughout the whole of the Netflix series Transatlantic, a stealthy group called the Emergency Rescue Committee, which was led by an American man named Varian Fry (Cory Michael Smith), hid and helped smuggle thousands of artists and Jewish sympathizers out of France after the Nazis occupied it in 1940.

Fry, along with his colleagues Mary Jayne Gold (Gillian Jacobs) and Albert Hirschman (Lucas Englander), set up a network of brave men and women, who often posed as spies or led resistance movements to fight back against the Germans, to help smuggle thousands of people out of German-occupied France in 1940 and 1941. Based in Marseille, they transport many influential figures, including artists like Marc Chagall and Max Ernst, across the Pyrenees into Spain, ultimately evacuating many to the United States.

In the final episode of Transatlantic, the ERC and those they are trying to help become targets of both the Nazis and the American General Consul Graham Patterson (Corey Stoll) who doesn’t support their efforts.

Albert, having helped his sister Ursula flee to the United States, has a visa of his own waiting for him at the U.S. Consulate; he could leave France to be with his sister, but that would mean leaving behind his romance with Mary Jayne and the group of refugees who still need to cross the border. He tells Mary Jayne that he does want to flee to America with her, but as he plans to retrieve his visa, he learns that one of the ERC’s members, Paul Kandjo (Ralph Amoussou), who was previously arrested, is being held in a prison and needs to be rescued. Albert, Paul’s brother Petit, and the rest of the ERC devise a plan to hijack a convoy carrying Paul and kidnap him to safety, while Varian is on a mission of his own to get artist Marc Chagall and his wife Bella out of the country. Varian decides to leave his lover, Thomas (Amit Rahav) behind in France and drive the Chagalls to Portugal where they’ll seek safe passage to America. Varian, who is married to a woman, sadly accepts that though his purpose in Europe was noble and his relationship with Thomas was genuine, he must finally return to his normal life, as much as it pains him.

As the members of the ERC stake out Paul’s convoy, the rescue mission goes awry when Paul’s brother Petit and one of the other prisoners are shot and killed. Paul and the other prisoners are brought to safety but he’s devastated by the loss of his brother. With Paul now safe, Albert races back to Mary Jayne, but Mary Jayne has already gone off to board a plane back to America herself. Albert races to her, not so he can leave with her as planned, but to say goodbye. He has realized his greater purpose is to stay behind and that his work in Europe is not yet done.

As the series ends, Varian drives through Spain with the Chagalls, Mary Jayne flies out of France in her prop plane, and Albert and Paul drive off together to continue working with the resistance to drive the Nazis out of France, an effort which, as the epilogue states, began in earnest in 1941. After seeing through their primary goal to escort thousands out of France, each of our main players realizes that their relationships and motivations were temporary. While Mary Jayne and Varian’s passion for their mission was true, the reality of their normal lives had to set it. On the other hand, Albert and Paul were mobilized by the work they did with the ERC and felt that the only option was to stay and continue the fight.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.