Alternative Ending
In Boris Starling's novel, just as in the TV adaptation, Red is attacked by Jez in his flat. However, in the book there are some differences from the TV series. The final action in the novel takes place at Easter, traditionally the time when Judas Iscariot (who Jez likens Red to) hanged himself. Red manages to haul Jez over the banister, and they both crash to the floor. With Jez injured, Red strips him and crucifies him across a doorway, in an act of poetic justice (if Jez thought he was Christ, then he should die like him). In the TV adaptation, Jez is about to hang Red in Red's staircase, but just about to, he is interrupted by Red's deaf wife, starting to fight against Jez who falls down the staircase together with Red. Red survives paradoxically because of the rope around his neck which he manages to grab, while Jez (ironically) gets no grip and falls to his death, shaped like a cross. In the book adaptation, after having killed Jez, Red hands himself in to the police, with DS Beauchamp and is sent to prison. Though bleaker, this ending correlates with the tone of Starling's book. By the end, Red's marriage to Susan (who, in the book, is not deaf) has collapsed and the case has driven him to near madness.
Read more about this topic: Messiah (TV Series)
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