Top Boy season 2 ending recap: what happened between Jamie and Sully in finale of penultimate Netflix series?

Top Boy returned to Netflix for the fourth season in March 2022 following a long break. The series aired for two seasons on Channel 4 before Netflix picked it up and reset the clock. The Netflix series continues directly on from where the Channel 4 show ended but has been branded as a seperate show despite the continuing storyline.

The final season of Top Boy will land on Netflix tomorrow (7 September) and will follow the dramatic events of the previous season and the repercussions they will have for the shows main characters, including Dushane, Sully, Jaq, and Stefan.

The final season also sees the introduction of The Banshees of Inisherin star Barry Keoghan as an upstart Irish gangster.

Season two, (or four, depending on how you're counting) did not leave fans disappointed with the eight part series ending in an exhilarating climax that left one of the show's main characters dead.

Ahead of the release of Top Boy's final season, recap the season two ending and what happened to Sully, Jamie, and Dushane.

*Spoilers for Top Boy season 2 ahead*

What happens in season 4 of Top Boy?

Season four - which is season two of the series under Netflix’s stewardship - begins with Dushane basking in his success. Having won the fierce gang war against Jamie in the previous season of the show, Dushane is making serious money and may finally be able to move away from the gangland environment, which has been the only home he has known.

Meanwhile, Sully is still reeling from his killing of Dris, who betrayed the Summerhouse crew in season three, and is trying to get his head together. Jamie isn’t doing so well either. He is facing up to 15 years in jail for possession of a firearm, one crime of which he is actually innocent.

Dushane holds the keys to get Jamie off the weapons charge, but nothing is free in Top Boy, and Jamie would have to place himself deep in Dushane’s debt to call in the favour. And here lies the conflict at the heart of the season - after pledging loyalty to Dushane in exchange for CCTV footage clearing him of the crime, Jamie isn’t quick to make good on his end of the bargain.

Top Boy season 4 ending explained

Believing he has neutralised one of his former enemies, Dushane starts to look forward to a life on the straight and narrow. Well, the relatively straight and narrow -, Dushane still plans to live off all the bloody drug money he gained through his career in crime, and plans to invest it in Summerhouses so that he has a legitimate income.

When Dushane’s contact abroad quits crime, Dushane has to find a way to keep his shipments coming in unimpeded. When Sully turns him down, Jamie steps up… for about five minutes until he realises a well timed betrayal could line his own pockets.

Sully is brought back from his hermit-style retirement when his niece asks for help diffusing a gang beef of her own. Getting himself beaten and captured, Sully is ultimately rescued by Dushane.

When Sully finds out about Jamie’s double dealing, it’s clear that the schemer will have to prove his loyalty to Dushane beyond doubt. And now it really gets complicated. The body of Ats, one of Dushane’s dealers, is discovered, prompting Dushane and Jamie to hunt down his killer/s.

Eventually, it emerges that Kit, Jamie’s best friend, ordered Dexter to beat up Ats and take him down a peg, but Dexter went beyond his brief and killed him. Furious, Dushane orders Jamie to kill Kit, a move that would remove another enemy and bring Jamie irreversibly under his thumb.

And just as a sense of calm - or at least stability - enters the estate, in a shock twist Sully puts three bullets in Jamie, killing him. And scene.

Why did Sully kill Jamie?

There’s no clear explanation given to Sully’s actions in the season finale, but there’s certainly plenty of room to speculate. Sully mentions many times in this season that he is his own man and Dushane is not his mouthpiece.

It’s also clear that Sully never trusted Jamie and may have even resented the lofty position Dushane put him in. The three gunshots could be a manifestation of Sully’s voice too. He is clearly speaking for himself now, ignoring Dushane’s orders to put the past behind them and leave Jamie alone.

It’s also possible that the killing was influenced by Sully’s own demons - his mental state has been sorely tested by guilt over his killing of Dris, and by being pulled back into the criminal world he had tried to leave behind.

Whatever the motivation behind Jamie’s execution, it will certainly have ramifications for Top Boy season five. Dushane is not the kind of guy to let insubordination go, especially when it comes to carrying out hits on people he has protected.

The strained relationship between Dushane and Sully, which looked to be healing after Dushane’s dramatic rescue operation, is likely to be damaged beyond repair. Then there’s the small matter of Stef, Jamie’s younger brother, who saw Sully riddle Jamie with bullets. Revenge may be the order of the day in season five.