The Reunion ending explained: What happened to Vinca?

The show explores the disappearance of Vinca Rockwell, who went missing one freezing night when her French Riviera school campus was paralysed by a snowstorm.

But 25 years later, when her three former friends are brought back together at their school reunion, they're not only face-to-face with each other, but also the realisation of a tragic secret they've been harbouring for quite some time.

Yet the real question at the heart of the drama is: were any of them responsible for or involved in Vinca's disappearance?

Finished the series and still trying to wrap your head around that ending? Read on for a full breakdown of The Reunion's finale.

The Reunion ending explained: What happened to Vinca?

The finale opens with Annabelle (Dervla Kirwan) visiting St Ex's principal, Deville (Salóme Gunnarsdóttir), at her home, revealing that Deville is actually the mysterious Alexis and goes by her first name as a nickname.

Annabelle calls Manon (Shemss Audat) so that she can stay on the line and learn the truth about what happened to Vinca.

Thomas (Ioan Gruffudd) narrates, telling us that Deville, intent on finding out what happened to Vinca, forced Ahmed to tell her about the body buried in the school's gym.

Ahmed mentioned Francis (Cosimo Fusco) to her, but Francis refused to break under her pressure and insisted that he killed Clement, even though it was Thomas and Max who were responsible.

No closer to figuring out the truth behind Vinca's disappearance, Deville killed Francis.

In flashbacks, we learn that Vinca made an impression on Deville on her first day at the school. We see how Vinca grew close with Thomas, Fanny and Max, but then was overcome with grief, which led her to contemplate jumping off a bridge.

Needing a friend and appearing just at the right time, Deville rescued Vinca and talked her down off the ledge.

Later, we find out that Vinca's parents died in a car crash and she didn't want people to know because the friends she had at her old school couldn't cope with her emotions. Deville soon became close to Vinca and she tells Vinca that her "favourite people" call her Alexis.

Thomas admits that, consumed by jealousy, he misunderstood Vinca's situation entirely. There were rumours of Vinca dating a teacher but nobody knew it was Deville, with Thomas thinking it was Clement.

Hearing about the rumours about Vinca's love affair, Vinca and Deville want to be together away from the school and Deville tells Vinca about a plan she has.

The plan involves Vinca getting close to Thomas's father, Richard (Rupert Graves), and in a bid to quell any of Vinca's concerns about the plan, Deville bribes her with drugs.

Vinca goes out for dinner with Richard, where Fanny captures an image of them kissing and it turns out that Fanny was also part of the plan. As the scenes progress, you can see Vinca becoming more dependent on drugs and alcohol, and when Deville says she doesn't have any of each, Vinca grows agitated.

But when Vinca starts getting sick, the pair are confused about what could be the matter with her. Soon, she takes a pregnancy test and finds out she's pregnant after having sex with Richard. At 18, Vinca doesn't want a child, but Deville tries to persuade her that having a child would be good for them.

In the present, Deville confronts Annabelle about her decision to stay with Richard even though she knew that he had slept with Vinca.

Back in the past, we see that, actually, rather than being Vinca's teacher-turned-lover, Clement was a shoulder to cry on for Vinca, being one of the only people that Vinca had hinted her pregnancy to.

Thomas had seen the pair hugging and misunderstood their dynamic, which eventually led to him thinking Clement had raped Vinca and led to their fight.

Vinca confronted Richard with the pictures of them kissing, blackmailing him into giving her money, and he tells her to "rot in hell".

With the money, Vinca tells Deville that they could move to Madrid and she could have an abortion. But Deville calls her "immature", once again trying to control her actions, but Vinca tells her that they're over.

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That night, Vinca is packed up and ready to leave for the airport, but Clement tells her that it's shut and all flights are grounded. Vinca isn't feeling well and is unable to get up from bed, also induced by the drugs Fanny admitted to crushing into her tea.

But in the present, we see that Deville has turned the tables on Annabelle and asks her what happened to Vinca.

Annabelle admits that she killed Vinca and that nobody will ever find her, but Thomas walks in having overheard his mother's admission of guilt.

In the flashback, Vinca has collapsed on the staircase of the school and commands Annabelle to help her, threatening her with the photos she has of herself and Richard, and also telling Annabelle that she's pregnant with Richard's baby.

Back in Vinca's room, Annabelle tells Vinca that she should take her to the doctor. But on the bed, Annabelle spies the photos of Vinca and Richard, leading to the pair getting into a physical fight over them.

Vinca picks up a statue and tries to hit Annabelle - but drops it. Annabelle then picks it up and hits Vinca in the back of the head as she's trying to leave the room. Annabelle places Vinca back in her bed, cleans the statue and takes the photos before leaving the room.

We then see that when Annabelle and Francis were sharing their moment before Fanny came to them for help, they were actually discussing Vinca's murder.

Francis tells Annabelle that he'll fix it but then Fanny storms in, admitting that she killed Vinca. Of course, Fanny thought she had killed her due to the drugs she put in Vinca's drink, and it seems as though Fanny's problem solved Annabelle's own.

In the flashback, we see that Francis placed Vinca in the school gym, but back in the present, Deville's anger builds with Annabelle and she hits her round the head with an object, causing Manon to call for police back-up while driving to Deville's home.

Deville takes the gun and points it at Thomas, but he tells her that Deville killed Vinca long before Annabelle did. Thomas tells Deville that Vinca's last words were "I hate Alexis", which causes the two to briefly fight over the gun on the floor, with it letting off a shot.

When she gets the gun back in her hand, Deville points it at Thomas, but Manon has crept in and shoots Deville, killing her instantly. Thomas looks over at his mother and sees that the stray bullet has shot Annabelle, and his mother lies dead on the floor.

Later, Thomas and Max attend Annabelle's funeral, with Thomas narrating about his "intense connection" with Max - because we previously found out that Francis is their father after Annabelle had a long-standing affair with him.

At the funeral, we see that Richard is being escorted by prison officers, and is imprisoned so that Thomas wouldn't have to be. Although Manon knows Richard didn't kill anyone, she admits she's not done with them.

Max lives in fear of the mafia members that were pursuing his father, but refuses to stop living life because of it. Fanny admits that she thought she had killed Vinca and can now live freely, knowing she didn't.

Did Vinca die in The Reunion?

Well, after the funeral, we hear that Thomas doesn't want to believe that Vinca's story ended that night 25 years ago. And in the flashback to the past, we see that Vinca stirred when Francis had placed her in the ground of the gym.

Thomas is being driven back to his home in the French Riviera as we hear him ponder these thoughts of Vinca and her child leading a new life elsewhere.

But when he looks in the rearview mirror at the driver, we see that it's Pauline – or could it actually be Vinca? The characters are played by the same actor, which could indicate that Pauline could be Vinca's daughter, although this theory was never explored in the drama.

The only difference between the two characters was a red-haired bob, but with the taxi driver's hood up and them staring intently at Thomas as he gets out, it could very well be Vinca after all.

The Reunion is available to watch on ITVX and continues on ITV1 on Friday 18th August 2023. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV guide and Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.

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