‘Down With the King’ Ending Explained: Did Money Merc Escape His Cage?

‘Down With the King’ is a 2021 drama starring Freddie Gibbs, Bob Tarasuk, and Hernan Orozco. The movie follows a rap star Mercury ‘Money Merc’ Maxwell as he gets tired of the industry and tries to retire to the countryside by becoming a farmer. The movie is slow-paced and it’s filmed more like a documentary. Don’t expect much in terms of the plot but the film does convey some powerful messages. While the messages that the movie is trying to tell are pretty straightforward, the ending is not. This is why we’re here, let’s see what ‘Down With the King’ was all about.

Mercury ‘Money Merc’ Maxwell is disillusioned with the industry

The movie begins with Money Merc and his “neighbor” Bob skinning a pig. It’s hard work but Money Merc manages quite well despite not having too much experience when it comes to farm work. Bob explains that the most important thing when it comes to slaughtered animals is not to pierce the gallbladder as the resulting bile that will come out will make the meat inedible. Money Merc is satisfied with the job well done and retreats back home to work on his latest album. You see Money was sent to the countryside to work on his songs, as he appears to be struggling with writer’s block. But he isn’t feeling it. He video-chats with his fans for a moment but soon gets bored of it and notices that the job no longer fills him with wonder and excitement.

He conveys his worries to his agent Paul but Paul tells him that the album needs to be done in a month, otherwise he can’t keep execs from his back forever. The countryside is a true wonder for Money Merc, and the people adjust to him pretty quickly, as it seems he is quite a novelty despite them not having a single idea about the hip-hop scene. Everybody wants to take pictures with him as soon as they find out that he is famous.

Money’s mother comes to visit, and he subtly hints to her that he would like to retire from the show business but it goes over her head. Money mentions how there aren’t all that many black farmers and wonders why. He also mentions that his grandfather had land and was a farmer but due to not having contact with him, he doesn’t really know anything about business.

Farming is hard, but honest work

Money Merc visits Bob again and helps him out around the farm some more. Bob complains about having too many animals and too little money. He is also not getting younger and earning money in the countryside is hard work. Money offers to help but Bob refuses, he will however receive help in the form of manual work and Money Merc helps him feed his animals, enjoying the job thoroughly, more than he enjoys writing these last few weeks.

Money Merc returns back to his cabin and tries to work on his latest album but he just can’t do it. As soon as he starts rapping about, drugs, money, violence, “bitches,” etc. he seemingly losses his stomach for it. He sends a brief text to his manager saying “I’m out” and Tweets to the whole world that he is retiring. The next day, Paul shows up on his doorstep and asks him what the hell is going on.

Mercury explains that he doesn’t want to rap anymore, he feels like it’s a dangerous job and is sick of it. Paul reminds him that everything he owns is actually under the ownership of the record company and can be pulled in a heartbeat, including his mother’s house. We also learn that Mercury has a daughter and pays alimony. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Mercury decides to continue working on the album and recants his prior statement that he is retiring. Paul tells Mercury that Bob and the farm are a distraction and that without rapping he is nobody.

Later during the day, we can see Mercury watching a live stream of some guy dissing him online.

Mercury’s ties to the community deepen

Mercury is invited to a dinner with Bob and the rest of Bob’s friends and acquaintances, there he meets a younger woman, Michaele who seemingly flirts with him over the course of the dinner. Mercury tries to teach Bob how to rap and has fun in the process.

Most of Merc’s time is spent with Bob on his farm or simply chilling in his house. He tries to write occasionally but he would rather stare into nature in front of him, meditating and contemplating his life. Merc visits the local hardware store and one white man keeps staring at him until Merc calls him out on it, he meets Michaele again and the two exchange numbers, promising to meet up again in the future.

Back at home, Paul sent Leon to Merc so the two of them could work on a new album. Merc doesn’t like Leon’s beats and Leon accuses him of his new songs sounding too similar to his previous album. The two get into an argument and after smoking some weed, Merc opens his heart telling Leon that he lost the will to create music.

He initially started rapping to escape the streets and make a name for himself, but as it turns out rapping brought him back to danger more than the streets ever did. He says that it’s a young man’s game, and he is no longer into it, he doesn’t feel the drive to create. Leon tries to convince him that these thoughts and feelings are temporary and that he will soon return back at the top of his game but Merc is not convinced.

Merc and Michaele hook up

Merc invites Michaele over for dinner and the two discuss their plans for the future. Once again Merc explains how he would like to stay in the countryside to work on the land and Michaele is surprised, considering that she would like to escape it. She explains that she is trying to get into college and hopefully she will be able to escape from what she perceives to be a backwater bigoted town. Michaele also explains that she used to be addicted to drugs, and rehab saved her. So she is starting to turn toward a better and brighter future.

Merc is having a video call with Paul and Paul pressures him into delivering at least something since the execs are even stricter than before since Merc tweeted that he was retiring. Merc promises that he will deliver a track by tomorrow and starts working on the song. In the middle of the recording Merc appears to be having an existential crisis and he stops.

The next day, Merc is by the lakeside with Michaele, and the two further bond, later they have sex together and Merc has one more reason to stay even though Michaele is leaving.

Merc manages to calm down Paul but it’s evident that his priorities are somewhere else

Paul calls Merc the next day and tells him that execs are enjoying his latest song and it will be a hit for sure but Merc is not impressed, instead, he is focused on a skunk that lives somewhere underneath his house, in fact, he isn’t even listening to what Paul is saying to him. Instead of working on more songs Merc picks up a book and starts reading about skunks in order to learn how to catch it.

The next day Merc is with Bob once again and the two of them are working on a freshly slaughtered cow that Bob is preparing for the winter. They are skinning it and everything goes well until Bob leaves to get some beers. While working on the cow’s insides Merc accidentally pierces the gallbladder and despite trying to clean up the mess the meat is ruined, and the entire half of the cow is ruined.

Bob returns and he is pissed, accusing Merc of wasting him a $2000 dollar worth of meat. Merc offers to reimburse him for the cow, in fact, Merc tells him that he wants to be a partner with him on the farm but Bob refuses adamantly. Bob tells Merc that he doesn’t want his cow or his money, he wants his own cow, meat, and money.

Then Bob does something in anger that he will regret. He starts mocking Merc regarding his dreams of becoming a farmer. Bob says that it will never happen, just like it’s never going to happen that he becomes a rap star. Merc gets pissed and starts insulting Bob calling him a “white pussy” he once again repeats that he will get him a brand new cow and just to drive a point home Bob asks him where is the cow usually bought, from whom? How to ensure that it was treated and fed properly. Bob tries to prove a point that Merc can’t be a farmer because he doesn’t have a single idea of what being a farmer entails.

Merc gets offended by this and tells him that the biggest problem that America has currently is that whites are telling blacks what they can or can’t be. Merc drives away and the next day, somebody breaks his windshield. Both he and Michaele have a theory that it’s somebody racist who must’ve seen them together. Michaele asks him whether he still wants to stay in the small town. Merc returns to Bob’s farm once again to leave him $2000 dollars he owes him for the meat and Bob seemingly accepts that silent apology.

Paul has plans and Merc is unsure whether he can deliver

Paul organizes a party at Merc’s house, a small gathering. Michaele is there as well but as soon as the conversation goes in a different direction she leaves. Merc tries to explain that he has a skunk living underneath his house but none of his friends are fascinated with the information as much as he is. At one point, one of the guys brings to the loft a statue of the Roman God Mercury that Merc likes to use for inspiration and they start mocking him.

Merc gets pissed as hell and the party is abruptly over. It’s only later that we learn that the party was actually a prequel to what Paul needs to ask of Merc – to perform in New York City. Paul is really convincing promising money, return to fame yadda yadda yadda, and ultimately, Merc accepts.

The next day Merc asks whether Michaele would like to join him in New York, she declines since she is leaving for Louisiana in a few days. She got into a good college but needs to start working in a restaurant soon in order to avoid getting into too much debt. The two have sex one more time before she leaves. Bob and Merc are once again on speaking terms as Bob can be seen delivering a skunk trap for Merc. Bob apologizes and tells him that he had too high an expectation for someone who didn’t spend a day of his life on an actual farm. Merc accepts the apology and the two are back on good terms joking around.

Merc is out, possibly for good

The night of the performance has arrived and the backstage is brimming with future plans as Merc prepares for the show. Paul already has a European tour in plan despite Merc telling him that they need to see how the night will go and whether he feels like it. Despite letting Paul know that he isn’t interested in a European tour, he accidentally stumbles upon him while he is having a call with execs telling them that Merc has already agreed to tour several big cities in the upcoming future.

Merc is on the stage and he performs, the crowd is wild but in the middle of the performance, Merc asks for the beat to stop. He stops the song abruptly while the crowd is still cheering. Following this, we can see Merc back at his countryside house, living the monotonous but peaceful life far from the everyday stress. He notices that the skunk has been caught and carefully covers the cage with a blanket, aiming to release the skunk in the woods.

Merc reaches the woods and leaves the cage with a skunk open on the ground but the skunk refuses to leave, as long as there are sardines in the cage he won’t leave. Merc starts walking away but he soon hears the familiar click of the trap he turns around, the skunk is gone. The scene goes black.

The skunk was Merc the whole time

Even though the ending seems to be a bit confusing, it’s pretty straightforward that the skunk in question is actually Merc. We don’t really know whether Merc left the life of a rap star, but I guess the skunk proved that he did. The skunk was caged and refused to leave his cage as long as he had sardines inside, we can easily draw parallels between him and Merc. Merc refused to leave his career as long he had access to houses, money, and cars.

At the end of the movie, the skunk decides that he loves freedom more than he loves sardines, and he escapes. This is something that Merc likely did as well, he decided that he loves peace and quiet more than he likes material riches. With the skunk being freed, so is Mercury.

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