Karen Pirie has come to a climactic ending, and it didn’t disappoint.
The ITV series concluded with episode 3 (Sunday October 09 2022), and A LOT went down…
So if you need the ending explained, here’s our handy recap.
The episode focused on Alex Gilby, the last in the group to be investigated.
We finally learned exactly what happened to Rosie and, most importantly, who really killed her.
Here are all the clues laid out and the ending of Karen Pirie on ITV explained…
***Warning: spoilers from Karen Pirie episode 3 ahead***
Why was Alex’s DNA on Rosie’s cardigan?
New forensic evidence on Rosie’s previously lost cardigan revealed that Alex’s sperm was on it.
This immediately made him look like the guilty party, and Karen arrested him.
However, during his questioning, Alex finally opened up.
He revealed that he and Rosie were in a secret relationship, and only Weird and Ziggy knew about it.
That’s why Ziggy was yelling at her – he was protective of Alex, who was upset about Rosie trying to hide their relationship.
Alex said that he and Rosie had sex in Weird’s car before they got into an argument about why their relationship had to be a secret.
Alex asked Rosie if she didn’t want anyone to know about them because he was black.
Rosie didn’t have a good answer and stormed off.
Alex said that was the last time he saw her, storming off from the car, as he headed to town.
Karen Pirie ending: Why did the boys lie so much about that night?
They thought this would make him the biggest suspect.
Alex admitted that Ziggy and Weird lied about their alibis and Rosie’s presence at the party in a bid to protect Alex.
They both saw how Alex was treated by the police because he was black.
The boys were worried that the whole case would get pinned on Alex and that he would be treated worse because of his race.
While Karen was sympathetic, she said she had to keep Alex under arrest, as he was the last person to see Rosie alive.
Of course, he had also admitted to having an argument with her, just before she was killed.
Alex told Karen that they thought if they told the truth, Alex still would’ve been charged for her murder, even though he didn’t do it.
Who killed Ziggy?
Once Bel’s podcast fans found out the identities of Ziggy, Weird and Alex, any one of the fans could’ve tried to take justice into their own hands and killed Ziggy.
But episode 3 revealed the truth.
Grace Galloway, Rosie’s daughter, tried to take justice into her own hands and killed Ziggy.
She later confronted Alex and shot him, before abducting his newborn baby.
Karen went to Grace’s farm to tell her she knew who killed her mother – and found Grace (Bobby Rainsbury) armed with a gun.
Grace was arrested for the murder of Ziggy, the attempted murder of Weird and Alex, and the kidnapping of his daughter.
Grace said she got so angry at the boys because she saw their successful lives, and was heartbroken her birth mother could never experience that.
So, she killed them for revenge.
Karen Pirie ending explained: Who killed Rosie?
All the clues finally started to come together when Karen had the paint from Rosie’s cardigan analysed.
It was acrylic paint – the type found on boats and caravans.
Of course, viewers had seen one character in his caravan in several flashbacks…
CS James Lawson, known back then as DS Jimmy Lawson.
Karen (Lauren Lyle) eventually put all the clues together.
The BMW that Rosie was spotted getting into belonged to Lawson’s mother and he was in the bar that night.
But she needed to visit Lawson’s caravan for proof.
Karen and Murray went to the caravan and she recognised the paint that was found on Rosie’s cardigan.
It was chipped off from the door because of how Lawson carried Rosie’s body.
After Karen talked down Grace, she arrested CS Lawson in a dramatic scene.
She told him that she knew that Lawson offered Rosie a lift, that Lawson was the father of Grace, and that he murdered her out of rage because she rejected him.
He dumped her dead body in the graveyard to mirror another unsolved murder and hid the evidence box which had Rosie’s clothing in it.
Karen asked if he also killed Maclennan, but he insisted that was an accident.
He admitted he only put Karen on the case because he thought she’d never be ever to solve it.
Well, he made a mistake, that’s for sure!
While Phil, Murray and Lees all tried to hold Karen back, she never gave up and was finally able to give Rosie and the Duff family justice.
Read more: Karen Pirie viewers all have same complaint after first episode of ITV drama
Did Alex and Weird survive?
While it looked like Alex would not survive his gunshot wound, he did.
Weird also survived his overdose.
A short clip showed them at Ziggy’s funeral, before sharing a tearful embrace.
As DI Simon Lees (Steve John Shepherd) said, the ending was “bittersweet”.
At least the boys got the truth and Rosie finally got justice.
The episode ended with Karen celebrating solving the case, and her romance with DS Phil Parhatka was in full swing.
All episodes of Karen Pirie are now available to catch up on the ITV hub.
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