Winston’s Rise to Power: The Continental Episode 3 Ending Explained

The Continental has ended its three-episode arc with a thrilling finale that reveals many secrets and surprises. Episode 3 features the culmination of the series’ main plot: Winston’s assault on the hotel that bears his name. After assembling a team of allies in the second episode, Winston unleashes a barrage of action sequences that surpass the previous episodes in intensity and spectacle.

The third and final episode also sheds light on Winston’s backstory as the owner of the New York branch of the underworld network. It hints at his relationship with the High Table, explains the origin of the coin press that started the series, and resolves the mysteries around KD and the Adjudicator, two key characters in the series. Here’s a complete breakdown of The Continental’s ending.

1. Why did Winston kill the Adjudicator?

The Adjudicator came to The Continental after Winston defeated Cormac and announced that the hotel was temporarily closed until the High Table could investigate the situation. But Winston surprised everyone by killing the Adjudicator with a bullet to the head. This makes us wonder why Winston did that and what consequences he will face for his actions.

The most likely reason for Winston’s action was to challenge the High Table. By killing their main representative, Winston showed that he was not afraid of them and that he wanted to keep his position as the manager of the New York Continental. He also sent a clear message to the High Table that they had to accept his authority or deal with the same fate as the Adjudicator and Cormac.

The final episode of The Continental also had a shocking revelation about the Adjudicator’s face. When Winston kills her, her mask comes off, and we see a horrible sight: her mouth is horribly scarred and her skin around her teeth is gone. It becomes evident why Carmac was scared of her face.

2. Why was KD looking for Frankie and Winston?

The reason why KD was after Frankie and Winston was revealed in the final episode of The Continental. It was connected to a crime they did for Cormac when they were kids. They threw a firebomb into a building, killing a family inside. They did not know there was a family there, and they felt guilty for years. The family was KD’s family, and she was the only one who survived.

KD wanted to get revenge on Frankie and Winston for killing her family. But she also learned that Cormac knew her family was there, and he wanted them dead. He used Frankie and Winston to do his dirty work and make them cold-blooded killers. So, KD killed Cormac for what he did and let Winston live because she saw he was sorry for what he did.

3. The Meaning Behind the Location of the Coin Press

The mystery of the coin press that Frankie took was one of the main puzzles of the show since the first episode. In the last scene of the first episode, Frankie jumps out of a helicopter with the coin press, giving it to Cormac and dying in the process. But it turned out that Frankie had swapped the coin press with a fake one and hid the real one somewhere else. The location of the real coin press was not revealed until the last episode.

Episode 3 of The Continental showed more details of the crime that Frankie and Winston committed in 1955. Winston hid in the trunk of a car, which was also the last place he saw his mother. He used the same car to hide the coin press at Charlie’s place. The episode also revealed the true power of the coin press and why the High Table wanted it so badly.

Winston used the coin press to help Mazie and her Bowery agents get into The Continental. They made coins to buy a room in the hotel and join Winston’s army. This showed how easy it was for Winston to have an army inside The Continental with the coin press. It also explained why the High Table was ready to kill anyone to get the coin press back.

4. Who died at the end of The Continental?

The final episode of The Continental had a lot of deaths of important characters. The most obvious one was Cormac, who had to die so that Winston could take over the hotel and connect the series to John Wick. KD killed Cormac to avenge her family, but she let Winston live as he was guilty of what he had done. Another important character who died was Lemmy, who was a friend of Lou and Miles and helped Winston and his team get into the hotel.

Some of the bad guys of The Continental also died in episode 3. The twin killers were both killed in great fight scenes. Lou and Miles killed the male twin, while Yen fought the female twin. The female twin was the one who shot Frankie in the first episode, so it was very satisfying to see Yen – Frankie’s wife – get revenge on her. Yen put a bomb on the twin and blew her up, ending the twins for good. The last big death of The Continental was the Adjudicator.

5. How The Continental Serves as a Prequel to the John Wick Films

The final episode of The Continental also prepared the ground for the John Wick movies, but not as much as some expected. The series still ended in the 1970s because the story happened in three nights. The main connection between The Continental and John Wick is that Winston became the manager of the hotel by the end of the series. Winston and Charon also became friends, which continued in the John Wick movies.

Another thing that the John Wick movies showed about Winston was that he was not scared to go against the High Table when he had to. This was hinted at by his shooting of the Adjudicator in the last scene of The Continental. Besides these things, the only other link between The Continental and John Wick was the friendship between Winston and the Bowery, which could be explored more in a possible second season of the prequel series.

6. About The Continental: From the World of John Wick

The Continental: From the World of John Wick (or simply The Continental) is an American crime drama television miniseries developed by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward and Shawn Simmons that serves as a prequel spin-off in the John Wick franchise.

Coolidge and Ward writes and serves as showrunners for the series. The first and third episodes were directed by Albert Hughes, and Mel Gibson stars in the show.

The series premiered on September 22, 2023 on Peacock in the United States.