The Amazon Prime Video Mystery Series, ‘Three Pines‘ revolves around Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, a Quebec police officer who ends up in the town of Three Pines to investigate a series of murders. Gamache’s arrival shakes the past of the sleepy town’s residents, which leads him to several secrets that have been buried deep within the town. The show’s seventh and eighth episodes, titled ‘The Hangman: Part One’ and ‘The Hangman: Part Two’ respectively, depict the James Hill murder investigation as the detective confronts the Blue Two-Rivers killer. If you want an in-depth look at the surprising developments that form the show’s season 1 finale, then let us share our thoughts!
SPOILERS ALERT!
Recapping the Three Pines Plot
‘Three Pines’ begins with Armand Gamache promising Missy Two-Rivers that he will investigate the disappearance of Blue Two-Rivers, a young indigenous woman who has been missing for some time. Gamache realizes that the department is ignoring the case and proposes to move forward with the investigation. He seeks help from his best friend and fellow police officer Pierre Arnot to find out if Blue and her boyfriend Tommy are alive. Pierre produces a photograph of himself and shares it with Gamache, adding that Blue is in New York. Although Gamache relays the discovery to the Two-Rivers family, they are convinced Blue is dead.
Meanwhile, Gamache ends up in Three Pines to investigate CC de Poitiers’ death. The investigator realizes that she is related to Emilie Longpré, which gives him an opening to uncover her hidden past. He finally solves the case by finding the killer, who turns out to be none other than CC’s daughter, who kills her for neglecting her family. When Gamache closes Blue’s case believing her to be dead, her mother Missy kills herself to pressure the department to investigate the case much harder. The inspector continues his investigation while being haunted by Blue’s nightmares, but becomes involved in the Marc Fortier murder case, which also takes place in Three Pines.
Gamache discovers Marc’s close relationship with Sophie and solves the case by proving that Sophie’s father killed Marc because the victim tried to separate him from his daughter. Blue’s missing case takes a surprising turn when her boyfriend, Tommy’s brother, Kevin, contacts Gamache’s subordinate, Isabelle Lacoste. Kevin reveals to Isabelle that police belonging to the Sûreté gunned down Blue and Tommy. Isabelle investigates the matter and discovers that a squad car was nearby. Gamache, at the same time, investigates the death of Julia Morrow, the daughter of a wealthy businessman.
Gamache learns that Julia is Peter’s sister from Three Pines. During the investigation, he realizes that the family never got along much beyond pretentious expressions of love and affection. The inspector solves the case by proving that the killer is Maurice, Julia’s son and Peter’s father, Charles, from another woman. Maurice killed Julia because she gets the luxury hotel Charles owned before her death and not him. A group of police arrest Kevin as he tries to leave for New York. When Isabelle and Gamache arrive at the prison, they find him dead from a drug overdose.
After solving Julia’s murder, Gamache is back to busying himself in Three Pines due to the murder of Arthur Ellis, an outsider who ended up in town a few days ago. The inspector and his team have a difficult time determining who the person is and why he or she came to town. With Myrna’s help, they realize that Arthur Ellis is a false identity and the name of an executioner. Gamache theorizes that Ellis arrived at Three Pines to “execute” someone. Using a pine needle that Gamache gets from nearby Ellis’ corpse, he solves a puzzle, which leads him to Blue and Tommy’s corpses.
Three Pines Finale: Who Killed Blue and Tommy?
Kevin’s revelation that Blue and Tommy were killed by cops prompts Gamache to investigate the particular patrol car that was in the vicinity the day Blue and Tommy were last seen. He discovers that the car belonged to Dan Chowski, but he is unable to discover the second person accompanying him. Along with Blue and Tommy’s corpses, Gamache also discovers a set of bullets, which he sends to a lab to discover the weapons that fired them. The test results surprise Gamache as he reads that the bullets that killed Tommy and Blue were fired from the police guns of Chowski and Gamache’s best friend and fellow Inspector Pierre.
Although Pierre was an innocent and faithful policeman in front of Gamache, he was dealing illegal tobacco at the time he had to kill Blue. Chowski ended up becoming part of his scheme. As the two knew of Kevin’s illegal dealings, they thought of seizing the cargo for their own trade. However, Pierre’s plans were threatened when Blue filmed the entire situation on his phone. When she tried to flee with the evidence that would destroy Pierre’s family and professional career, the policeman shot her. Chowski, who killed Tommy, joined Pierre in burying the dead partners.
Since Pierre is an inexperienced assassin, he failed to perfectly cover up the murder and frame Kevin. The pine needles that Pierre and Chowski carelessly left behind at Kevin’s house lead Gamache to the two assassins. Still, Pierre does his best to devise another story to divert Gamache from him and his actions, only to fail. The inspector has been friends with Pierre for years to understand when he is lying, which helps him determine Pierre as the murderer. Ironically, Pierre’s help in solving the mystery surrounding Blue’s disappearance turns out to be necessary for Gamache to find the killer.
That said, Pierre manages to partially divert Gamache from the truth that Blue is dead. The inspector trusts the photograph of New York that Pierre fabricated and becomes convinced that Blue is still alive. But Gamache’s frightening nightmares further motivate him to broaden the scope of the case, which leads him to Pierre and Chowski.
Is Armand Gamache alive or dead?
When Gamache discovers that Pierre is trying to frame him for the murders of Blue and Tommy, after failing to frame Chowski and Kevin, the inspector confronts the killer. Gamache makes it clear that he has to appear in court and face judgment, which causes Pierre to shoot Gamache to rescue him from the scene. Pierre decides to kill his best friend of over four decades to save his career and family. Although Pierre shoots Gamache, the inspector is able to survive the gunshot wound. Isabelle and Jean-Guy arrive at the scene shortly after Pierre manages to disappear and activate the emergency services to rescue Gamache.
Isabelle and Jean-Guy are expected to provide the necessary medical intervention to save Gamache’s life. If rescuers manage to enter Pierre’s hut soon, which is located in an isolated region, Gamache’s chances of survival are high. Since Gamache doesn’t die in the original Louise Penny novels, we can expect the inspector to stay alive. Also, Pierre shoots Gamache outside the “chest kill zone”, which also indicates that Pierre doesn’t necessarily want to kill his best friend, but just to stop him.
Who killed James Hill/Arthur Ellis? Why?
Mike and Angela Blake killed James Hill aka Arthur Ellis. While attending university, Mike and Angela drove a truck that killed James Hill’s wife and daughter. After the incident, Hill has been trying to hunt down the couple and two of their friends to get revenge on them. But before he can find them, Mike and Angela end up in Three Pines to put their past behind them and open a new chapter in their lives. Still, Hill ended up in the sleepy town, looking for the killers of his wife and daughter. But he is unable to identify the couple as it has been years since he last saw them, which buys Mike and Angela some time.
But soon Hill finds Mike and Angela and must have tried to kill them. However, it is Hill who ends up dead, as the couple kill him fearing their own death. While the couple don’t explicitly mention that they are the killers, they do talk about how they were defending themselves against Hill, which sheds light on the former teacher’s cause of death. Gamache, when investigating Hill’s murder, initially does not consider the need to find two killers, but later realizes that one cannot kill and hang a healthy man like Hill without any help.
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