The Ending Of Coming Home In The Dark Explained

While Tubs spends much of "Coming Home in the Dark" acting as Mandrake's mostly silent, obedient right-hand man, he ends up being the only character in the film that we absolutely know makes it out alive. It is implied early in the movie that Tubs was also a student at the boys' school where Mandrake was abused, and he later confirms that fact when he tells Alan that he "hates this place" right after killing Mandrake. Given their shared history together, it's undeniably surprising that Tubs is the one to kill Mandrake instead of Alan, and it leaves viewers with something interesting to think about. 

Essentially, there are two reasons why Tubs may have chosen to kill Mandrake, someone who had experienced the same trauma and abuse he likely did. Firstly, it's possible that Tubs may secretly have resented Mandrake for making him relive his past experiences by seeking out the teachers who hurt them. After all, we can safely assume that Alan was not the only former faculty member that the pair sought out. 

Alternatively, Tubs may have taken Mandrake's own philosophy more seriously than his partner realized. In other words, Tubs may decide in the film's final act that, by simply letting Mandrake torment Alan and his family, he was doing exactly what Alan had done all those years ago: letting violence occur without stepping in.

But no matter what Tubs' reasons are for killing Mandrake, his final decisions in "Coming Home in the Dark" add an interesting wrinkle to the film's thematic questions about which actions — or inactions — may warrant punishment, and which don't. Those themes and questions will probably linger in viewers' minds long after they finish the film, as will its closing shot of a teary-eyed Tubs looking out over the water, likely thinking about the fact that, over the course of just one night, he played a role in the deaths of several people.