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Dark, psychological shows have a habit of finding space on Netflix. The Gardener is one of them. Originating from Spain, the series has six episodes and features a unique storyline.

If you are here, you are probably looking for an ending explanation of the show.

Before delving into the final episode, let’s recap what happened in the fifth.

The Gardener Episode 5 Recap

Elmer breaks inside Sabela’s house and ends up murdering her. Catuxa spots her roaming around the lady’s house and sends a voice note to Violeta.

However, she doesn’t get the time to listen to it as Elmer arrives with an injury on his chest.

On the other hand, Carrera sneaks inside the nursery on her own and takes pictures of the plants under UV lighting.

China sends Orson to end Violeta’s chapter once and for all.

Now, I will detail the happenings of the sixth and final episode.

The Gardener Season 1 Ending Explained

The morning after killing Sabela, Elmer goes to his home while Violeta finally gets the chance to listen to her friend’s voice message.

At the same time, she finds Sabela’s earring in Elmer’s clothes. An online news article makes her heart race as she comes to know that Sabela was murdered last night.

She recalls the injury on Elmer’s body and makes the necessary connections. Fearful, she quickly packs her stuff and leaves her house with Milky.

However, the assassin hired by China gets on her trail from the word go.

The intro montage plays at this point.

Torres informs Carrera about Sabela’s death, prompting the two to consider a potential connection to their prime suspect.

The male officer is furious at his counterpart for going to China’s nursery on her own last night. He refers to the photos taken by her and says they could lead to their suspension.

Further, he tells her that they cannot search the premises without a warrant from a judge and suggests that they must get the photos examined by an expert.

In the next scene, we see them talking to a specialist doctor. He tells them that the decomposition of a body releases a lot of nitrogen, and it is a powerful fertilizer that stimulates plant growth and intensifies the green color of their leaves.

Moreover, he largely attributes the spots on the leaves to cadmium poisoning in the roots, leaving Carrera optimistic.

Torres requests him to write a report containing his conclusions.

On the other hand, Elmer brings home the jewelry and cash he had recovered from Sabela’s house to his mother.

He tells her that now she can drop the plan of killing Violeta and go back to Mexico.

She is seemingly happy but gets uncomfortable when Elmer asks if she had ever considered refusing a job in case something bad happened to him.

China answers, saying she always knew nothing would happen to him since he has a gift. Elmer objects to her calling his ability to not feel emotions a gift.

He leaves for his room, but China stops him midway and asks if the hospital called him. Furthermore, she asks whether he has told Violeta the truth.

Elmer answers NO to both of them. She further questions if Violeta would still love him upon knowing the truth with an evil smile.

In his room to pack his remaining stuff, Elmer receives a voice recording from his girlfriend. She tells him that she knows about what he did to Sabela, and she probably didn’t go to the cops because she feels herself responsible for this in part.

Moreover, Violeta says that she wants him to have some buffer time to go far away before she eventually tells everything to the cops.

An angry and stressed Elmer asks China if she has told Violeta anything, but her mother denies the accusations.

She makes him sit in front and tells him that since Violeta intends to go to the cops, they can arrive any minute from now.

Then she offers Elmer the opportunity to come to Mexico with her.

The scene cuts to Violeta, who has parked in an isolated area and is standing outside her car after dropping the voice message.

It gives Orson the perfect opportunity to attack her. He takes advantage of the situation and strikes Violeta in the head, rendering her unconscious.

The assassin then drags her into a nearby jungle, leaving Milky locked inside the car. He brings her to an abandoned structure in the middle of the forest, and soon, she comes back to her senses.

Just before he could shoot her, a natural distraction allows Violeta to run away. Orson chases her and tries shooting her but fails.

The cat-and-mouse chase subsides with Violeta finally hiding successfully. As Orson looks around for her with a gun held out, she quietly attacks him from behind with a heavy stone.

Violeta continuously stabs him to death, pouring in all the anger vociferously. After the madness finally leaves her body, she realizes that all the blood from the stabbing is on her face.

Anxious, she uses Orson’s phone to call Elmer and tells him everything. He asks for her location pin and immediately leaves the house.

China sees him go and calls out his name, but her son deliberately avoids her. She goes inside and calls Orson’s number, and to her surprise, Violeta picks up the call.

She informs her that his hitman is dead and she knows her identity. The call ends, and China rushes to check the money and jewelry Elmer had brought.

However, she finds the box empty and realizes that her son has taken all of it along.

Torres and Carrera finally receive the warrant to search the nursery. They depart, accompanied by a cavalry unit, to initiate the operation.

Considering the case almost done, they confront China at her house. But the tables soon turn when the cops discover that the whole nursery has been dug up and there is nothing left to search.

All the herbs and plants are gone. Now, even if they dig and find something, China can get away with saying that the soil came from somewhere else.

How did this happen?

Who Emptied the Nursery? Did China Know that the Cops Were Coming?

The night before the police raid, when China gave Orson the task of eliminating Violeta, she saw from her window that Carrera was doing something in her nursery.

China quickly switched off the lights and discovered that the cop was taking pictures of her plants under UV lighting.

She sniffed something off, given the fact that the mother-son duo was recently questioned by the police.

Therefore, after Carrera left, China directed Orson to clear all the plantations from the nursery, which were built over the dead remains of people.

Violeta’s friends find her absent from her home. Concerned, they decide to report it to the cops.

However, they learn that Carrera and Torres, who are in charge of the Missing Persons department, are out on duty when they arrive at the station.

So, the two friends wait at the reception for the cops to return.

Elmer reaches the forest and sees the dead body. He doesn’t recognize the man, but a blood-laden Violeta tells him that his name is Orson and China had sent him to kill her.

He finally opens up to her and tells her the truth. He shares that Sabela had hired China and him to kill her.

Since he fell in love with her, he thought killing Sabela was the only option to put an end to the assignment. However, he didn’t know his mother would do something like this.

Furthermore, he goes on to tell Violeta everything about his side job as a contract killer and promises that he will take care of Orson’s body.

How Does Elmer Make Orson the Prime Suspect in Sabela’s Murder?

Elmer puts the stolen jewelry and cash in Orson’s car alongside his dead body. He then starts the engine to make sure that the car falls off a cliff.

Later, when the police find the car, they easily connect Orson to Sabela’s death.

On their way back, Violeta asks several questions of Elmer, and he answers everything truthfully, including how many people he has killed and why he couldn’t finish Violeta.

He expresses his love for her and tells her how she changed everything in him.

They arrive at the location where Violeta had previously parked her car. She thanks him and kisses him goodbye before meeting Milky.

Catuxa receives a call from Violeta while waiting for the cops. She asks about the voice message, but the latter denies listening to it.

When Catuxa says that she suspects Elemer has killed Sabela, Violeta outrightly rejects her theory and requests her to not report anything to the cops.

Meanwhile, Carrera and Torres pass from in front of her eyes. Listening to her friend’s advice, she doesn’t report anything and leaves the station.

The police chief gives an earful to Carrera and Torres for their disastrous raid on the nursery. While the officers try and convince him that the mother and son duo are killers, the chief doesn’t listen.

He informs them that they have already found Sabela’s killer, and he is not Elmer but Orson.

After the chief leaves, Carrera offers Torres a beer. However, he refuses, saying that he has to go home.

His behavior indicates a likely conclusion to their brief romance.

Elmer returns home, and China notices him burning something in the alleyway. She talks to him and presents him the idea of moving back to Mexico.

But he doesn’t budge. When his mother asks for the money, Elmer says that it is his, since he was the one who committed the murders.

China counters by telling him about the police raid and how she had to remove the dead remains and dump them all into the sea.

He throws a cash bundle at her face, calling it her share. Further, he asks why she decided to proceed with her plan of killing Violeta despite him giving her all the money and jewelry from Sabela’s house.

China says she did it to get him to take the treatment for his tumor, which he was not ready to do while in love with Violeta.

Elmer hands her all the cash and says if she did it out of love for him, she should burn the money. He then takes out his deadly syringe, inciting fear in China’s eyes.

She asks him to throw it away, and he obliges. Elmer then moves to his van to leave forever. However, his mother lands a blow on his head with her stick from behind. He faints.

Why Did China Hit Elmer, Her Son?

Elmer wanted to leave China forever. But the bigger problem for China was that her son had a tumor in his brain that needed treatment.

Elmer didn’t want the treatment and had rejected it several times in the past. According to him, the tumor allowed him to feel emotions again following his childhood accident.

Further, if he removed the tumor, things would go back to how they were, and he would no longer feel any love for Violeta.

He saw the tumor as a hidden blessing that allowed him to experience love for the first time.

China’s biggest priority was to get him treated. Elmer had almost entered his vehicle, and she had to do something.

Hence, she hit him on the head with enough force to make him unconscious.

China takes Elmer to the hospital and tells the doctor that he fell and hit his head. The doctor takes it as a probable effect of the tumor and proceeds with the surgery.

What Happens in the End of The Gardener Season 1?

Violeta leaves the city because she thinks it will haunt her forever.

Elmer’s surgery is successful, and his emotions go back into dormant form. He tells China that he remembers how he ended up in the hospital.

He returns home and continues indulging in planting and greenhouse activities. However, Elmer no longer has any affection for his mother, thanks to her actions of the past.

Even after a long time, he doesn’t forgive China.

The mother-son duo drops their side hustle of contract killings.

However, the last frame of the series shows that Violeta comes to meet Elmer at the nursery. She needs her services and wants him to send someone away, potentially hinting at The Gardener Season 2.

Will there be The Gardener Season 2?

Yes, there will be a second season of the show, according to the first season’s ending. An official word from Netflix will further confirm things.

What Might Happen in The Gardener Season 2?

There are several angles that can be explored in the second season. Carrera is dying to go after China since she made her look a fool in front of the police chief.

Moreover, the fact that Violeta wants to hire Elmer for a job might just give the cops an opening into another investigation.

It will also be fascinating to find out who Violeta wants Elmer to send away. The obvious guess might be China, but that seems too predictable.

It could be her friend Catuxa as well. She is the only person who knows everything about Violeta. What if she starts blackmailing Violeta with the information she knows?

Else, it could be one of Violeta’s past enemies.

There is a passing thought that it could be a trap set by the cops to bait him into the battleground once again.

But why would Violeta do that? She herself has several sins to pay for.

Moreover, Orson’s autopsy report can provide important clues with regard to the cause of his death.