‘Down Cemetery Road’ Episode 2 Ending Explained: Ruth Wilson Breaks Down That Crazy “Really Violent” Twist

The first two episodes of Down Cemetery Road both end with devastating twists, but it’s the end of Episode 2 “A Kind of Grief” that might really blow your mind. That’s because the Apple TV+ show reveals that a character who seems so utterly non-threatening has been a stone cold killer lurking in plain sight this whole time!

**Spoilers for Down Cemetery Road Episode 1 “Almost True” and Episode 2 “A Kind of Grief,” both now streaming on Apple TV+**

Down Cemetery Road Episode 2 ends with Oxford art restorer Sarah Tucker (Ruth Wilson) asking her sweet neighbor Rufus (Ken Nwosu) to help her feel safe. You see, ever since Sarah began asking questions about local girl Dinah, the lone survivor of a recent explosion, weird things keep happening. Dinah’s photo has been erased from the press and the hospital has been hiding her away. Sarah is so convinced that a conspiracy is afoot that she enlists the help of local private detective Joe Silvermann (Adam Godley).

Joe winds up doing his job so well that he is apparently murdered for it. The same night Joe tells Sarah of a breakthrough in the case, someone sneaks into his detective agency and kills him in a way that suggests death by suicide. However, the clues are there that Joe was targeted by an assassin. Soon, Sarah is teaming up with Joe’s wife (and fellow PI) Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson) to find out what happened.

Sarah is also aware that a mystery man (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) she spotted at the blast site on the night of the explosion has been lurking around Oxford. Worried that this man could be in her house, waiting to strike, Sarah asks her daffy neighbor’s equally daffy husband Rufus to check the doors and windows. Rufus, a kindly juggler, sticks around to make sure that Sarah feels comfortable. They share wine and giggles. And then, Rufus reveals the truth. He is actually the hit man who has embedded himself in the community for ages on a secret mission that Sarah’s meddling threatens to expose.

Rufus is actually Axel. He planted the bomb that blew up Dinah’s house and he is the man who killed Joe. And now he is going to kill Sarah.

“Ken [Nwosu] played that part so nice throughout the first two episodes,” Ruth Wilson told DECIDER. “Such a sort of wonderful, warm, loving character that Sarah kind of underestimated. Just thought was a bit useless. And then he reveals himself to be the the baddie all along.”

What follows is a tense, violent fight scene that only ends when Nathan Stewart-Jarrett’s mystery man bursts into Sarah’s house with a gun.

“We had a brilliant stuntwoman,” Wilson said. “She was fantastic and she created this amazing stunt sequence, which was really violent. We wanted it to be as violent as possible to sort of go up against what Ken had been before.”

Wilson reiterated that part of what makes the Rufus reveal so stunning was Ken Nwosu’s performances.

“It was great fun to play with him,” she said. “He’s a brilliant actor, Ken. And that was a great scene.”

So what happens next? Will Sarah survive? You’ll have to tune into Down Cemetery Road Episode 3 when it arrives on Apple TV+ next week…