Rebel Ridge End Explained: Why Did Police Arrest Terry? Jeremy Saulnier Unravels the Conspiracy

Is Rebel Back based on a true story?

No, but you’d be forgiven for thinking that. “This film isn’t based on a specific incident, but elements of it could certainly happen,” Saulnier said. “I’m interested in examining corrupt systems — not so much how they’re built, but how they’re to persevere.” The details of Terry’s journey in Rebel Back — legal challenges, police harassment — won’t be familiar to every viewer, but his push against the confines of Shelby Springs bureaucracy will ring true for anyone who’s spent hours on the phone with their phone company. “For this film, I wanted to explore how the rest of us respond to said (corrupt) systems,” Saulnier said, “from corrupt politicians to the endless loop of a failed customer service call.”

Is there such a thing as civil asset forfeiture?

Yes. Civil asset forfeiture is the legal framework that allows the Shelby Springs police to seize Terry’s money without any due process. “It’s this insane loophole in the drug law that allows law enforcement to seize property from ordinary citizens without any evidence of criminal activity,” Saulnier said. He built the entire film around the concept: “I thought it would be a great premise for a movie because of how unifying it is — it’s irritating everyone out.”

As Summer explains to Terry at the beginning of the film, asset forfeiture holds up in court because the citizen money has no civil rights of her own. She even points out, humorously, that the file for the case will simply read: “The Township of Shelby Springs v. $36,000.”

Saulnier’s preparation for Rebel Back began with intensive research. “As with all my projects, I start with a deep interest in a subject, and then I research it thoroughly,” Saulnier said. “Once I’ve got a good grasp on the subject, I just start writing. If I run into any problems along the way, I do some more research.” The director’s tenacity is a trait shared by his protagonist, Terry Richmond.

Who is Terry Richmond in Rebel Back?

The Shelby Springs cops get a lot more than they bargained for when they drag Terry into their gang. When officers Steve Lann (Emory Cohen) and Evan Marston (David Denman) push him off his bike, they think they’re harassing a passerby. But in reality, Terry is a graduate of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program who specializes in nonlethal, extremely effective combat.

“Terry’s goal, should he find himself in a situation that has escalated to the point of physical abuse and/or violence, is to resolve that situation in a way that leaves no one irreparably harmed,” Pierre told Netflix of his character. “The mantra we use in the film is ‘one mind, every weapon.'” Pierre himself spent years training in boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai, so Terry’s skills came naturally to him.

Things aren’t so easy at the Shelby Springs Police Department. When Terry’s attempts to politely reclaim his assets are rebuffed, he infiltrates the police department and cuts a forced deal with Don Johnson’s Chief Sandy Burnne: he’ll settle for taking back $10,000 for his nephew’s bail and letting the police keep the rest. “Chief Sandy Burnne is torn in the sense that he’s trying to help his city, but at the expense of others,” Johnson told Netflix. Burnne’s budget has been slashed, and an informant in his department leaked to Summer that money seized through civil asset forfeiture is helping keep the police department—and Shelby Springs itself—on its feet.

Terry is adamant that his nephew not spend too much time in the state penitentiary; Mike was once a cooperating witness in a murder case, so his life could be in danger. Burnne agrees—but it’s too late. Before Mike can be safely delivered to Terry, he’s killed in prison.

What is Chief Burnne’s plan in Rebel Back?

Mike’s death makes Terry even more determined to unravel the Shelby Springs conspiracy — even as his and Summer’s situation becomes even more dangerous. To deter the pair from their investigation, the police raid Summer’s home and inject her with drugs. When she’s randomly drug tested at work, her world comes crashing down, but she keeps fighting. “Summer doesn’t just help Terry because she’s a good person,” Robb told Netflix. “She has a vested interest. She’s also backed into a corner, and she decides to make the bold, brave choice.”

Terry and Summer eventually get to the bottom of the Shelby Springs Police Department’s scheme by consulting with a guilt-ridden Judge Logston (James Cromwell). Logston has been helping Burnne in his attempt to fund the city by raising bail and lengthening the prison sentences of suspects. It’s a ruthless way to make up for budget cuts, and the judge commits suicide shortly after Terry and Summer leave. “There’s an economic element to the script and the story that I’ve never seen before that I found interesting,” Johnson said. That economic element has visceral consequences.

In a last-ditch effort to expose Burnne’s corruption, Terry and Summer break into City Hall to obtain dashcam footage, hoping that photographic evidence of police crimes will lead to a scandal and decisive reform.

But the police, preparing to set fire to the building, get there first. Terry manages to get an SD card with key evidence, but Summer is captured. Terry retaliates by kidnapping a rookie cop and making a hostage deal with the police. They meet at a landmark called — you guessed it — Rebel Ridge.

What happens at the end of Rebel Back?

Terry doesn’t go to Rebel Ridge. Instead, he targets the police station again, raids the armory, and overpowers Burnne. But after he does, he’s stopped by Deputy Jessica Sims (Zsané Jhé). Terry thinks he’s free, assuming she’s Summer’s informant. That assumption is a mistake, and Terry soon braces himself for a bullet to the head.

But salvation comes from an unexpected source: Agent Marston, one of the officers who initially arrested Terry. Terry soon realizes that Marston is Summers’ informant. As Terry and the police converge on a final confrontation, the police station parking lot begins to resemble the kind of war zone Terry thought he had left behind at the end of his military service.

For the action scenes in Rebel BackSaulnier took things back to basics. “I wanted to see a more realistic portrayal of hand-to-hand combat on screen,” he said. “My strength and strategy in this film was to stay grounded and not to strive for that level of over-choreographed spectacle that we’ve become accustomed to.”

A sequence in which Terry drags Marston behind a parked car for cover took a few takes. “(Denman) had stunt pads, he was safe, but we had a tether on him so Aaron wouldn’t exhaust himself after four or five takes, because David’s a big guy, 6’3,” Saulnier recalled. “After we had a few of those in the bus, Aaron asked us if he could actually drag David by himself, without tethers, and everyone agreed to try it. That shows Aaron’s dedication. And of course that’s the take that ended up in the film.”

Terry takes out multiple officers using supplies from the police armory and his own non-lethal skills, capturing the carnage on a police cruiser’s dash cam. He and Marston then rescue a drugged-out Summer and drive away, with Burnne in hot pursuit. At the last moment, Deputy Sims has a change of heart and rams her boss off the road. Terry drives Marston and Summer to the hospital, secures the dash cam, and sits down on a bench. After living through some of society’s darkest nightmares—asset forfeiture, police brutality, post-traumatic stress—and coming out the other side, he closes his eyes and can finally rest.

That moment of peace is another impulse Saulnier shares with his protagonist. “If there’s one thing I want to do, it’s just to trigger an involuntary reaction in the audience,” Saulnier said. “What the audience can get out of it, I fortunately have no influence on that anymore. But I’m completely at peace with it, knowing that I gave it everything I could.”

Rebel Back is now available on Netflix.

The trailer for Rebel Back