The Gorge ending explained: Do Levi and Drasa make it out alive?

Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) are forbidden from contacting each other but do so anyway, bonded by their isolation.

Using notes and their binoculars, the pair get to know each other by playing games such as chess and also the drums (nods to Taylor Joy's The Queen's Gambit and Teller's Whiplash, I'm sure).

As they learn more about each other, we learn that the secret they're guarding is that dangerous monsters known as the Hollow Men live in the gorge below. It's up to Levi and Drasa (#Drevi?) to snipe any that make it through the bomb-laden perimeter and try to escape.

When they're not shooting these grotesque, semi-human creatures, the pair eventually go on a date after Levi zip lines over to the East Tower with flowers in hand. That's not all, though. Levi also wrote a poem for Drasa, but he's too nervous to share it with her now. Still, that doesn't stop them from sleeping together.

The next day is just as explosive as the night before when Levi tries to zip line back, only to fall in the gorge after some Hollow Men trigger the perimeter bombs, severing his cable before he can make it all the way back.

And that's the end! Except, no, of course it's not. So what happens next?

Does Levi survive the fall? And the Hollow Men? Is he reunited with Drasa? And is Valentine's Day a beautiful celebration of love or a gimmicky cash-in that just makes everything worse?

The answers to some of those questions and more can be found by reading on to discover everything you need to know about the end of The Gorge.

The Gorge ending explained: Do Levi and Drasa make it out alive?

Drasa grabs her supplies and dives in after Levi because he's cute and they have a thing. Luckily, he's still alive, fighting off the monsters who bizarrely enough seem to be wearing uniforms from WWII. Yep, these tree-like humanoids are actually the soldiers who used to be stationed here, mutated beyond recognition.

Together, Levi and Drasa discover a secret underground laboratory, the kind where mutated human experiments can usually be found, often with a moustache-twirling psycho in a white coat.

The scientists are all gone now, but the pair do discover an old film which explains that the East and West once collaborated to create a "biochemically destructive missile” towards the end of WWII. But when an earthquake damaged the project, a dangerous chemical was released that merged living beings together. Hence the tree people.

The scientist hasn't seen Alex Garland's movie Annihilation, because if he had, he'd be saying this is a lot like Alex Garland's movie Annihilation. Thankfully, Levi and Drasa aren't about to melt into each other immediately because it turns out the gas takes about five days to kick in.

But why are they still being asked to guard the gorge by their two respective governments? The answer to that is found on a computer nearby, which reveals that their governments aren't involved at all.

Instead, they've actually been hired by a private genetic research company which is studying the creatures to try and create super soldiers of its own. Kind of like Captain America if he was smushed together with Groot.

Oh, and there's also a special protocol called "Stray Dog" which will destroy everything within 4.2km if activated. Just dropping that random fact here for no particular reason that won't become super important later…

Levi and Drasa escape with the help of a jeep they conveniently find that they attach to the snapped zipline cable.

Once out of the gorge, the pair still aren't safe though, because they now need to quarantine for five days in case they're contaminated by the gas. The plan is to stay apart for 120 hours and then meet up again if everything's OK.

Before they separate, Levi takes the chance to tell Drasa that he loves her. Aw, shucks!

When Levi checks in with his boss (Sigourney Weaver's Bartholomew) via radio, she orders Levi to kill Drasa. Drasa plays along and says yes, but Bartholomew is a very hands-on, suspicious manager, so she sends in some guys of her own to kill Levi too.

As the helicopter arrives, Levi and Drasa blow up the cloakers that hide this gorge from the outside world. That sets off the self-destruct protocol which blows everything and everyone up, including the henchmen who don't escape in time.

Drasa makes it out OK but Levi's injured his leg, so he's a lot slower. When the explosion went off, he threw himself into a river nearby.

Did he make it? Drasa doesn't know, so she's forced to wait and think through all the worst-case scenarios while quarantined alone in a cave for five days. And you thought using Hinge was rough!

Five days later, Drasa isn't growing any weird leaf appendages or bark-like skin, so it looks like she's going to be OK.

At that point, Drasa takes out an envelope Levi gave her earlier off screen which he instructed her to open if he doesn't show up at their meeting spot by sunset in one week's time.

When that moment arrives, Levi finally opens the letter, only to discover it's not a letter at all. It's the love poem Drasa wrote earlier but didn't share. What a soppy charmer. Drasa sheds a tear, assuming the worst, and then goes to leave.

A month later, Drasa is working as a waitress in France, arguably a far tougher job than guarding a gorge full of monsters, only for Levi to show up, apologising for being so late because of his injury.

But he made it! That sly dog. The pair tease each other and kiss before going on to live what we hope turns out to be happily ever after, free of gross tree monsters.

The Gorge is streaming now on Apple TV+.

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