The Tourist Season 2 Ending, Explained

The Tourist finally dropped on Netflix at the end of February, and it was just as entertaining and comedic as the first. After taking an extended holiday and traversing across a myriad of countries, Elliot (played by Jamie Dornan) and Helen (Danielle Macdonald) decide to travel to Ireland to learn more about Elliot’s past. While recovering in the hospital after downing a handful of pills with a bottle of vodka at the end of Season 1, Elliot receives a letter from an old friend he can’t remember. However, the letter turns out to be a ruse to lure Elliott home and make him atone for the wrongs of his past. As soon as the pair arrive in Ireland, Elliot is kidnapped.

He inevitably escapes his kidnappers and subsequently discovers his name is really Eugene Cassidy. He then meets his mother, Niamh (Olwen Fouéré), and discovers he’s part of a long-running family feud between the Cassidy clan he belongs to and the McDonnells, who kidnapped him. He also meets his illegitimate son, Fergal (Mark McKenna), who has grown up as a McDonnell, and discovers the brother he can’t remember was murdered after being mistaken for Elliot. As such, the more he learns about his past, the more he dislikes the person he was. Furthermore, Helen struggles with his previous actions as well, especially when his past catches up with them in a dangerous way.

Elliot’s Past Catches Up With Him

While the McDonnells have their own reasons for hating Elliot, Lena Pascal (Victoria Haralabidou), the Russian woman from Season 1, is the person responsible for his return to Ireland. Because she knew where he was, she sent him the letter in Australia and enlisted the McDonnells to help her enact her revenge. After Donal (Diarmaid Murtagh) and his men find Elliot and Helen, thanks to Fergal, he takes them out into the woods where they come face to face with Lena. Rather than report him to the police for the drug trafficking that led to her friend’s death, Lena seeks to harm Elliot in the same way she hurt him. Therefore, she shoots Helen in the stomach.

Thankfully, Helen survives after Elliot manages to fend off their attackers and get her to a hospital straight away. Unfortunately, the seeds of doubt between Helen and Elliot grow deeper when he leaves her bedside for the first time in a week to attempt to end the family feud once and for all. After multiple attempts on his life, Elliot realizes Donal won’t ever stop until he’s dead. As such, he makes a move to kill Donal but finds he can’t pull the trigger because he’s no longer the killer he once was. However, Niamh takes it upon herself to finish the job for Elliot without telling him and kills Donal. Unfortunately, all the evidence points to Elliot, and Helen isn’t sure what to believe.

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The Real Elliot Stanley and a Family Secret

The real Elliot Stanley was a diver hired by Frank McDonnell (Francis Magee) to retrieve a package his father left for him after his death. The package was on its way from Boston via plane when it went down in the water off the coast of Ireland. Niamh had become friendly with the real Elliot and accompanied him on the dive. However, she killed him under the water, intercepted Frank’s package, and buried it in the dirt. Prior to their dive, it’s suggested Niamh had a romantic relationship with the real Elliot, who is more than likely Elliot/Eugene’s father, which would explain why the two of them look so similar.

As Helen prepares to leave Ireland without Elliot, she realizes she can’t let it lie and has to find out what Frank’s father left for him all those years ago. After tracking down the cab company that picked up Niamh after her dive, Helena locates what Niamh kept hidden for over 40 years. It turns out Niamh and Frank are actually half-siblings as indicated by the love letters between his father and her mother. After so many years of bad blood, the Cassidy and McDonnell clans are actually related, which ultimately ends the long-standing war between them. In the nick of time, Helen arrives at the standoff between the clans and reunites with Elliot after revealing the love letters and the truth to everyone.

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Is Elliot a Secret Agent?

Six months after their misadventures in Ireland, Elliot and Helen are happily living in Amsterdam, where Helen is working as a private investigator. While there, someone unknown to either of them sends them a file on Eugene Cassidy, Elliot’s real identity. Rather than take a peek inside, they decide to burn it and leave the past behind. Elliot makes it clear he doesn’t care who he was, only who he is now, and Helen proclaims she doesn’t need a file to tell her who he is. However, as much as Helen meant what she said, it’s clear she would have liked to know what was in the file as soon as Elliot put it in the flames.

Afterward, Helen takes Elliot to a theater where she plays “Swan Lake” in the hopes that his hidden talent will emerge. Thanks to his mother, the pair discover Elliot can dance ballet, and he shows off his skills rather quickly without even thinking. While he dances, viewers see a glimpse of what was in the file as it begins to burn away. As seen on the first page of the paperwork, Eugene Cassidy is some sort of special agent under deep cover. The file with all the answers is then consumed by the flames and audiences are offered no further explanation. While there has been no word on whether there will be a Season 3, the show’s recent finale clearly set the stage for one to emerge sometime in the near future.

Seasons 1 and 2 of The Tourist are currently streaming on Netflix.