The Ending Of Saw X Explained
John Kramer is back. The man who first became known as the infamous serial killer Jigsaw in 2006's "Saw" has returned to the franchise after a lengthy absence. The last "Saw" movie took things in a new direction, but for the most part, "Saw X" leaves "Spiral" behind in favor of returning to the franchise's roots. Tobin Bell is back as the movie's star, and director David Greutert is running the show for the first time since 2017's "Jigsaw."
Somewhat surprisingly, that sharp pivot has given fans what just might be the best "Saw" film in the entire franchise. "Saw X" has all the devious traps and gratuitous gore that fans have come to expect, but it couples its thrills with a story that takes a deep dive into the mind of John Kramer. The movie is not quite a sequel and not quite a prequel, but even though it's stuck between two other "Saw" films, it manages to add some real depth to its main character.
Not everyone is going to watch nine other films to get caught up on the lore, and even though "Saw X" somewhat works as a standalone, it doesn't waste any time explaining things to newcomers. Luckily, whether this is your first foray into the world of "Saw" or you just can't remember what happened in another movie that came out more than a decade ago, here's a breakdown of the ending and what it all means for the franchise going forward.
What you need to remember about the plot of Saw X
Most "Saw" movies are fairly straightforward. Bad people get caught by Jigsaw and put into horrific traps. "Saw X" follows the same basic formula, but it asks the audience to invest way more in its plot and characters. At the heart of the movie is John Kramer himself. He may have been the figure looming over every movie in the past, but this time around he's the center of attention in a way he never has been before.
The movie opens with John struggling to deal with his cancer treatment. He sees doctors and goes to support groups, but he refuses to really accept what's happening to him. His rage boils over and occasionally takes the form of daydreams about punishing wrongdoers. John runs into a man named Henry (Michael Beach) who used to attend his support group but now has been miraculously cured. Henry tells John about the special, illegal treatment he received from an experimental doctor, and John is sold.
After doing some research online, John connects with Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), the daughter of Henry's doctor. Cecilia tells John that she's continuing her father's work at a secret medical facility in Mexico City. John wastes no time going there, but a few days after his treatment, he figures out that Cecilia faked his surgery and stole his money. Enraged, John taps into his inner Jigsaw and begins laying plans.
What happens at the end of Saw X
With the help of a mysterious man on the phone, John finds the scammers. Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) comes to Mexico to help John carry out his plans. They capture Valentina (Paulette Hernandez), Mateo (Octavio Hinojosa), Gabriela (Renata Vaca), and Cecilia. While John and Amanda force everyone into their traps, another victim of the scam named Parker Sears (Steven Brand) shows up trying to get his money back. He's horrified by what he sees but gets roped into John's games.
Valentina and Mateo both die in their traps, but Gabriela manages to survive. As John is getting ready to prepare Cecilia for her trap, the movie's big twist happens. It turns out that Parker was working with Cecilia all along. The two of them capture John and Amanda, and Cecilia kills Gabriela herself. Then she captures a young boy from the fake clinic who befriended John, and she puts the two of them into John's final trap together.
While John and the boy are basically drowning to death in blood, Cecilia and Parker search John's makeshift office for all the money from the scam. When they find it, the trap turns off. John and the boy are freed, but Cecilia and Parker are locked in the office while toxic gas fills the room. Cecilia murders Parker to fulfill the trap's game and save herself. The movie ends with John, Amanda, and the boy leaving Cecilia barely alive in the office.
What does the ending of Saw X mean?
As both a sequel and a prequel, "Saw X" finds itself in a strange place. Its story needed to fit between "Saw" and "Saw II," so the ending couldn't introduce any wild changes for the franchise as a whole. That doesn't necessarily mean that the entire story was pointless, though. The ending of the movie might actually have a big impact on how people view John Kramer and his serial killer persona.
The events of "Saw X" prove that John is fully committed to his demented moral code. His twisted mind doesn't view what he does as actually killing people. He really does think putting people in these horrible traps makes them atone for their sins. When Cecilia kills Gabriela, John is horrified because he genuinely views her murder as different from his trap.
When Cecilia takes things a step further by threatening a child, John is outraged. Whereas Cecilia is a true sociopath who cares about no one but herself, John is apparently able to form real connections with people. He helped that boy fix a bike earlier in the movie, and he really does care about the boy's wellbeing. The ending of "Saw X" tries to show us that John isn't exactly a monster. That might be hard to swallow after nearly two decades of "Saw" movies, but who's to say that psychotic killers can't also have hearts of gold?
Did Jigsaw already have a reputation?
The first "Saw" introduced the world to John Kramer, and he'd already racked up a concerning amount of victims by the time that movie ended. Jigsaw was an established serial killer, but that didn't mean that people outside of his city would know who he was. After all, a killer might be able to terrorize a town pretty easily, but how likely are they to become known all over the world? We now know that Jigsaw was a famous killer before the franchise had a chance to really get rolling.
Near the end of "Saw X," Cecilia has John stuck inside one of his very own traps. She spends some time gloating over the fact that she's now beat him twice, and her villainous monologue holds a little surprise. It turns out that Cecilia knows exactly who Jigsaw is and is somehow familiar with his unique methodology. As a sociopath herself, Cecilia is a bit star-struck to be dealing with Jigsaw, and she's particularly delighted to have bested a famous serial killer.
Maybe it isn't surprising that Jigsaw gained worldwide infamy so quickly. After all, there are hardly any other famed killers who use methods as specific and grotesque. Now, it is clear that John's reputation doesn't just help him acquire loyal acolytes; it also creates psychotic rivals for him to compete with.
Was Henry in on the scam?
Henry is the man from John's support group who first told him about the secret cancer-curing treatment supposedly developed by Cecilia's father. After setting John on the course to Mexico City, Henry basically disappears from the movie. The back hour of the film is dedicated to John locking all the scam artists in gruesome traps, but Henry is nowhere to be seen. Only the most patient audience members get to find out what eventually happens to Henry.
A man as smart as John Kramer isn't about to forget when someone has wronged him. A mid-credits scene reveals that John circled back to Henry after returning to the United States. John has Henry trapped in the very same bathroom from the original "Saw." Henry has a nasty-looking bladed device strapped to his body, but the scene cuts to black before his game gets underway.
None of this is to say that all the questions surrounding Henry were answered by the movie. If he was in John's support group, does that mean Cecilia specifically scouted John for her scam? If Henry was in the United States, how was he ever going to get his money from Cecilia? His involvement in the scam might introduce some minor plot holes to "Saw X," but what's important is that John didn't forget about him.
How exactly does Saw X fit into the timeline?
You don't need to understand the entire "Saw" franchise timeline to follow what's happening in "Saw X." A newcomer to the franchise could still enjoy the movie, though they might walk away with a few questions about how John's associates fit into the story. After watching the movie, even franchise super fans might have some questions about how "Saw X" factors into the larger timeline.
"Saw X" is set between the events of "Saw" and "Saw II," but there are a few moments in the movie that confuse that chronology. After getting his fake treatment, John is doodling in his notebook, working on a sketch of The Rack from "Saw III." It's possible that he's working on an improvement, and because he scraps the drawing, there's a solid explanation for why that trap never made a return in the franchise.
In the movie's mid-credits scene, John is back in the room from "Saw," and it does seem strange that he would return to a place that could potentially be considered an active crime scene by investigators. There is actually very little time between the events of "Saw" and "Saw X," so John still has his old workshops available to him. "Saw X" happens over the course of only a few days, and that might explain why this story from John's past has never been alluded to before now.
Who was John's other collaborator?
John wouldn't have been able to pull off his scheme in Mexico City without help. Amanda Young, one of John's acolytes, gets some time in limelight, but John's other collaborator is a bit more mysterious. On multiple occasions throughout the film, John gets on the phone and asks someone on the other end to help him locate one of the scam artists. A man's voice replies, but it doesn't say much, and even the most hardcore "Saw" fans might not have recognized the character from the voice alone.
The movie itself doesn't reveal the identity of John's mysterious man on the phone, but the mid-credits scene finally puts him on screen. It turns out to be Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), a man with whom longtime "Saw" fans are intimately familiar. Hoffman made his first appearance in "Saw III," and he went on to have an extremely important role in the series. He's able to help John because he works for the police, and that also makes him an especially dangerous man to be a serial killer's loyal follower. The ending of "Saw X" shows us that Hoffman's history with John goes back even further than initially thought.
Does Cecilia really get to live?
Traps aren't the only things that sets Jigsaw apart from other serial killers. John Kramer justifies his actions by only choosing to test his traps on evil people, convinced that his victims kill themselves by refusing to successfully play his games. Though some "Saw" viewers might argue otherwise, John believes that he never puts someone in a trap without giving them a legitimate way to escape it.
In "Saw X," Cecilia proves to be John's polar opposite. She has no problem whatsoever with killing people, and she'll kill just about anyone for no reason at all. As a character, Cecilia's main role is to put John's philosophy to the test. She lies to him, steals from him, and then goes on to murder (and attempt to murder) innocent people right in front of them. If John was ever going to break his own rules, killing Cecilia would seemingly be a justifiable reason to do so.
Despite that, at the end of "Saw X," Cecilia is still alive. She played John's game and killed Parker to save her own life. As far as John is concerned, Cecilia's experience should have changed her as a person, and there's no reason for him to torment her any further. Whether or not John's traps really change his victims for the better, clearly Cecilia's experience with Jigsaw scared her away forever.
What have the filmmakers said about Saw X?
The "Saw" franchise has had an impressive lifespan. Not many film series get to stretch out for nearly two decades. What makes the longevity of "Saw" even more impressive is that the people working behind the camera have stuck with it for as long as the fans. Kevin Greutert directed "Saw X," and previously directed "Jigsaw," "Saw 3D," and "Saw VI," but long before any of those movies existed he worked as an editor on the original "Saw."
Few people understand the "Saw" franchise as well as Greutert. In our exclusive interview with the filmmaker, he talked about what sets "Saw X" apart from its predecessors.
"It's a little bit of a slow burn by 'Saw' standards," Greutert said. That isn't a detriment to the film, and it was actually the slowed down script that pulled Greutert back into the director's chair. As with any "Saw" movie, there's plenty of disgusting traps and shocking gore, but "Saw X" is really all about exploring John Kramer as a character. That means the audience needs to get settled in for a longer ride than usual at the beginning of the film, but according to Greutert, "Once it starts paying off, it delivers at a pretty relentless pace."
What does Saw X mean for the future of the franchise?
As far as the story is concerned, "Saw X" makes some revolutionary changes to the franchise's formula. Because it's set between the events of two previous movies, it really isn't able to tread much new ground, and doesn't do very much to set up yet another installment in the series. In fact, because the movie spends so much effort returning to the franchise's roots and exploring the inner mindset of John Kramer, it would actually make for a pretty great send off to the entire series.
Chances are good that "Saw X" won't be the end of the franchise, though. While the in-universe future of "Saw" may very much be a mystery, it's pretty clear that "Saw" still has some life left in it. Upon release, "Saw X" is the best reviewed movie in the entire series, and the first movie in the series to get a positive score on Rotten Tomatoes. That could mean "Saw" is turning a new leaf, and there could be a slew of critically successful movies yet to come. Ultimately, like everything else in the movie business, the future of "Saw" depends on how much money it can generate. If enough fans spend their hard-earned cash catching "Saw X," you can be sure there'll be more Jigsaw to come.