The Split: Barcelona ending explained – Do Hannah and Archie get together?

Heading into episode 2 of the acclaimed BBC show, there’s a lot to resolve after Gael’s father’s mistress turns up to the wedding as Archie’s (Toby Stephens) date, leading Gael (Alex Guersman) to call off the picture-perfect wedding to Liv (Elizabeth Roberts) at his parent’s house.

Not to mention Gael’s mother Valentina (Romina Cocca) threatens divorce his father Alvaro (Manu Fullola), Rose hasn’t told Glen she’s pregnant and Nina kisses the wedding planner, while Hannah (Nicola Walker) feels conflicted about starting a relationship with Archie.

With so much to unpack in the final special, here’s The Split: Barcelona explained.

Spoilers ahead!

The Split: Barcelona ending explained

As episode 2 opens, Nathan (Stephen Mangan) and Hannah pull together to support their heart-broken daughter, Liv, as Gael is MIA and the wedding seems to be called off. The co-parents reflect on their own regrets and mistakes in marriage with Hannah concluding that the wedding day is not what a marriage is about, it’s about every small and big moment after that.

While Alvaro searches for his son, Valentina packs up all the extravagant wedding decorations from their vineyard. Frustrated by her husband’s infidelity and desire to flaunt his new fiancee around, she speaks to Hannah about a divorce.

Hannah advises her to act swiftly so she does and hires Hannah, Nina (Annabel Scholey) and Ruth (Deborah Findlay) this colossal marriage case in Valentina’s defence, while Archie represents Alvaro.

After Alvaro made promises he can’t deliver on, such as giving his mistress Valentina’s vineyard, the formidable matriarch Ruth steps in to strike a deal with her to make it worth her while for the trip, but to leave the family alone.

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It is the Defoe's team work that leads Valentina to file for divorce, without owing her husband a dime after striking up a signed contract one evening – with Archie present – on a napkin that Alvaro would get nothing.

As the case resolves, Nina returns to the vineyard and just as she’s suspected, Julien proposes to her. Though she doesn’t tell him about the kiss with the wedding coordinator Lola, Nina says she can't marry him as she wants to feel more about the person she and Cora spend their life with and they both deserve that.

It’s an amicable ending and a fresh start for Nina.

The warm-hearted conclusions continue as, after being short-tempered all weekend, Rose (Fiona Button) tells Glen (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) that she is pregnant, but insists she doesn’t want to get married. In a sweet sermon of his own, Glen says that anyone who falls in love or gets married are “fools” who are “blindly hopeful” in the search for love.

In awe of him, Rose softens and Glen says their future can look however they want it too. He also reveals that the girls weren’t seeing if he was going to propose to Rose, but they asked if Rose and Glen would formally adopt them as their own children.

There’s more cause for celebration as Nathan finds Gael, who reveals he hasn’t changed his mind about Liv, but he always thought he wanted his marriage to be like his parents. Nathan reassures Gael that it won’t be, instead Liv and Gael will make their own mistakes, but that "doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing".

Liv phones Gael, surrounded by her family, and they giddily agree the wedding is back on but they’re doing it on their own terms. The couple ditch the family vineyard and instead get married on the beach together.

Before the ceremony, Ruth offers Hannah some advice as she is still conflicted about starting something new with Archie and encourages her to "not waste anymore time" but to give it a chance.

As the family dances the wedding night away on the beach, Hannah takes a moment with Nathan to ask him "what life after this" is like, as she doesn’t know how to start a new one. He says it’s different and confesses he rode the bus to their old house, only to see Hannah sat on the sofa watching TV and he so badly wanted to come in.

Through tears, he says “you’re not my person anymore and I’m not yours”, instead he’s now Kate’s, and he tells her to "go and find yours". This final resolution with Nathan leads Hannah to speak to Archie candidly on the beach about her fears of starting something new, as she hasn’t “forgiven herself” for failing to uphold her marriage vows.

She breaks down her facade and admits she’s both scared to be alone and be with someone, and terrified of being naked as she doesn’t like the fifty-something body that looks back at her in the mirror. Archie reveals he shares her fears as a man whose body has “probably never” seen “sunlight or a gym” but states that "anything worth doing is terrifying".

The special ends with the duo on the beach. Archie takes her hand and kisses her as they finally jump into this relationship together.

The Split: Barcelona is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer. Seasons 1-3 are also available to stream now.

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