More than a decade after the story began with Top Boy: Summerhouse, it concludes with Netflix’s Top Boy Season 3. “Everything has to come to an end,” Jasmine Jobson, who plays Jaq, told Tudum in a set visit to the series last year. “To come back and actually be able to close this chapter, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s exciting.”

Ashley Walters, who plays Dushane, feels a sense of pride and finality. “With something as great as this, you should end on a high, and that’s what we’re doing,” the actor told Tudum on set in September 2022. “We’re all battling on a daily basis to make sure we give our audience the most amazing ending that we can.”

Now that Top Boy Season 3 has brought that battle to its conclusion, let’s take a look at how the entire story played out.

If you recall, Season 2 concludes with an all-time gut punch when Sully (Kane Robinson) kills Jaime (Micheal Ward) in his own home as a shocked and devastated Stefan (Araloyin Oshunremi) looks on. Season 3 doesn’t even stop to catch its breath, opening up with Sully on the move and Dushane learning what he’s done. When the two confront each other, Sully pressures Dushane into accepting a generous cut of money to “step back from the road,” aka leave the role of Top Boy solely to Sully. However, Sully’s reign as the man in charge quickly goes awry with the arrival of Irish mobsters Tadgh (Brian Gleeson) and his nephew Jonny (Barry Keoghan).

Who are Tadgh and Jonny?

Tadgh is a high-ranking member of an Irish gang empire; Jonny is his violent nephew who helps keep business in order. They first make contact with Sully after killing his Moroccan suppliers, sending him their chopped off heads along with a cell phone to make contact. Sully is reluctant to work for them but quickly learns they’re capable strategists who rule with an iron fist, forcing him to reach back out to Dushane for help getting out from under their thumb.

Ana Blumenkron/Netflix

Where are Aaron (Hope Ikpoku Jnr) and Stefan?

While we don’t see Aaron in Season 3, Stefan mentions that he’s off working in marketing. Stefan begins hanging out with the Fields gang, where Si (Dudley O’Shaughnessy) serves as a sort of surrogate older brother, inviting Stefan to hang out and helping him retrieve his chain when a bully steals it. While Stefan often seems shut down and skips school, he has a soft spot for Erin (Savanah Graham), and the two develop a romantic relationship.

So, what happens with Sully and Dushane?

After Sully pressures him to take his cut of money and move on, Dushane is fully prepared to do just that, making plans with Shelley (Simbiatu Abisola Abiola) to help fund her business endeavors (including buying a bunch of nail shops that could be used to launder his money). Unfortunately for Dushane, a significant chunk of his money was in Jeffrey’s (Shaun Dingwall) possession, and he loses access after Lizzie (Lisa Dwan) locks Jeffrey out of their joint accounts. Desperate for cash, Dushane insists on helping Sully sort out things with the Irish gang so he can get what he’s owed. “This ain’t the time for my money to come up short, this has to get done right. I need to come,” Dushane insists.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey learns that Lizzie transferred all of the money out of their shared accounts and he has no way of retrieving it. When he explains this to Dushane, Dushane snaps and beats Jeffrey to death, leaving behind a messy crime scene that will come back to bite him.

Sully and Dushane ambush the Irish gang as they celebrate a birthday party in a nursing home, outgunning and outmaneuvering Tadgh and Johnny and killing them both execution-style. 

When Shelley tries to get a stressed Dushane to open up to her about his doings, he yells at her angrily, and Shelley packs her belongings and moves out

Ali Painter/Netflix

What’s going on with Jaq?

Jaq is quite busy all season following orders from Sully, as well as helping lead a Summerhouse-wide protest to block Kieron’s (Joshua Blissett) deportation to Rwanda. She’s also trying to look out for her sister Lauryn (Saffron Hocking) and her newborn child, but when Lauryn dies, Jaq is left caring for the child with her girlfriend, Becks (Adwoa Aboah). 

How did Lauryn die?

Despite Jaq’s efforts to uplift her sister, from helping her brainstorm names for her baby to doing yoga with her and taking her to get her nails done, Lauryn remains troubled, occasionally using drugs. One night, Lauryn uses and falls asleep in the bathtub, and is dead by the time Jaq and Becks find her. Jaq takes time to grieve before making a bold decision to steal drugs from Sully’s stash.

Why did Jaq steal Sully’s drugs?

Becks urges Jaq to stop selling drugs and prioritize looking after her nephew, as does Sully, who even advises her to not be like him. But after Lauryn’s death, Jaq steals 25 kilos of drugs from Sully’s stash house, hoping to sell them and use the money for her nephew. Sully and Dushane suspect her, and Kieron is forced to lie on her behalf to buy her time.

Dushane, on the hunt for the missing drugs, is also on the run after police find his fingerprints and DNA at the scene of Jeffrey’s sloppy murder. Dushane’s lawyer, Wilson Lee (Christopher Fulford), has a connection that can get Dushane out of the country, to Turkey, but it will cost a large chunk of money up front.

While Dushane hides out in Summerhouse — which is overrun with pandemonium as police clash with protesters once again — he gets a call from Jaq, who intends to return the drugs in the hopes that her life will be spared. Sully has Kieron killed for lying on Jaq’s behalf.

What happens to Dushane?

Dushane is desperate for money to make his great escape before the authorities close in. Amidst the chaos of the riots, Sully and Dushane receive the same text message, setting a time and place for Jaq to return the stolen drugs: "COMMUNITY CENTRE 8PM.” Thinking quickly, Dushane intercepts the dropoff, attacks Jaq and takes off with the two bags of drugs.

Now Sully is after him. Dushane makes a run for it, but as he climbs up a tall fence on the edge of the Summerhouse estate, Sully shoots him. He falls to the other side in agony, and the two have one final emotional exchange from opposite sides of the fence. Sully tells Dushane, “If we are not monsters, we’re food, and I could never be food. How do you think we survived all this time?” as Dushane slowly dies.

What happens to Sully?

Sully hops the fence and retrieves the valuable bags of drugs, momentarily pausing to take in the sight of Dushane’s dead body. He still has enemies: Stefan plans to kill him as revenge for Jaime, and he trails Sully after he drops off his daughter at school. Sully realizes he’s being followed; when Stefen points the gun at him, Sully seems to accept his fate, saying, “You gotta do what you gotta do. I’m okay with it.”

Stefan chooses not to shoot Sully. “You’re not worth it,” he says before walking away. As Sully returns to his car and sits for a moment, presumably processing what’s just unfolded, a shooter walks by, firing a single round into Sully’s head, leaving him face-down on the horn that blares until the credits roll.

Who killed Sully?

Though the shooter can momentarily be seen through the window right after the shot is fired, their identity isn’t entirely clear. Who do you think it is?