The Pale Horse viewers left confused by ending

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

From Digital Spy

Note: Contains spoilers for the final episode of The Pale Horse.

The Pale Horse came to its conclusion tonight on BBC One (February 16) after two dramatic episodes – and it left more than a few viewers scratching their heads.

Based on the 1961 Agatha Christie mystery novel, the drama focused on Mark Easterbrook (Rufus Sewell), who has money, a beautiful home and a young wife, Hermia (Kaya Scodelario).

But he's still grief-stricken over the death of his first wife Delphine (Georgina Campbell) – and when his name is discovered on a piece of paper in a dead woman's shoe, his life starts to unravel as the other people named on the list start to die.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

Related: The Pale Horse cast explains why the witches aren't what you expect

A mystery soon began involving an old village called Much Deeping and a group of apparent witches working in a place called The Pale Horse, who Mark believed were responsible for the deaths.

But tonight, it was revealed to Mark and the viewers that the deaths had actually been caused by pharmacist Zachariah Osborne (Bertie Carvel), who had been poisoning people with an undetectable substance.

After Zachariah taunted Mark by saying that he was still going to kill him – and that he'd never know what food or drink had been poisoned – Mark snapped and killed Zachariah by hitting him with a crowbar.

Photo credit: BBC - YouTube
Photo credit: BBC - YouTube

But that was when things got very confusing, because after Mark returned home, he picked up a newspaper only to read about his own apparent death.

He then saw his dead wife Delphine in front of him and said "Not again" before the credits rolled.

There was quite a lot of confusion among viewers when it came to the ending:

And many weren't happy with the differences between the original novel and this adaptation:

But there were others who were very impressed with the adaptation:

No matter what you thought of the adaptation, you're sure to be impressed by writer Sarah Phelps' hidden Easter egg...


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