‘The Pass’ Ending Explained: What Happened After the Kiss?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for ‘The Pass’, a 2016 film directed by Ben A. Williams and starring Russell Tovey, Arinze Kene, Lisa McGrillis, and Nico Mirallegro. The film is based on the play of the same name written by John Donnelly. It tells the story of two football players who share a kiss before a very important game. What happens after will change their lives forever. The film is a classic drama, dividing itself into three acts. Each act revolves around one conversation where we see how the characters have developed through the years.

‘The Pass’ has amazing performances. Tovey and Kene kill it in their roles. The actors manage to show a wide range of emotions and say many things while not saying it. Meanwhile, McGrillis kills during her only appearance, showing she is ready to take on anything acting-wise.

Still, the movie feels like it is a play taken to the screen. The movie lacks a lot of cinematic flair, and while the dialogue during this conversation is quite strong, it would have been great to see the visuals stepping up a bit to match it. The theater DNA brings the film down a bit.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for ‘The Pass’. Read at your own risk.

Why does Jason say he is not gay?

Throughout the years, the media has made it very clear that coming out of the closet is a very important moment for someone. Accepting who you truly are is always hard to do, especially when you know there will be consequences. Society moves in a certain direction, and if you try to move in the opposite direction, it will be hard for you. And so, coming out of the closet is a big moment. So people are ready for it, but some others are not. Here is the case of two characters, Jason and Ade, who will face that with each other.

The two of them are football players playing on the same team. We are introduced to them the night before what will be a big game. For anyone watching from the outside, the situation is already quite hot. We see them sharing a hotel room, which is pretty normal, but they are naked in there but also quite comfortable with each other showing their bodies. You could say that tension is in the air.

Jason is quite loud and overconfident, while Ade is quieter. They play and fight with each other, but there is too much touching going on for just two friends messing around.

Their conversation leads to a moment when Jason kisses Ade, and then he goes to take a shower. We don’t see what happens next, then jump five years into the future. We see that Jason is now a big-name player and quite famous.

We see him taking a woman to his hotel room. The woman, Lyndsey, tells us she is not Jason’s wife. We also learn that she has a camera and plans to have sex with Jason, record it, and then sell it to others. However, the situation becomes more uncomfortable when Jason discovers the camera in her bag.

However, there is a twist. Jason knows that Lyndsey was planning on recording him. He was the one who planned the whole thing. But why? It seems there have been some rumors going around that Jason is gay. He has issues with his wife; she wants to take his sons away.

Jason thinks that if a video of him having sex with a woman “leaks,” the rumors would disappear. He doesn’t want to be gay, or at least not labeled like that. He thinks that if people know who he really is, he will lose everything he has built until now. Lyndsey agrees to have sex with him for double her original fee.

What happened after the kiss?

We jump back in time to five years in the future. This time, things seem to be going even worse for Jason. He seems sadder overall, and we learn that his football career is not going as well as he would like. He is still a player, but his fame has greatly dwindled. He also had knee surgery not long ago, so he is ready to move to India to play in a newer league where he can still make money but not work as hard as he would need in the European league.

Jason is in a hotel room. While the video did its job for a time, he divorced his wife anyway, and she took the kids. Now Jason is here, living all by himself. Ade appears, having been invited by Jason.

They catch up, and their shirts disappear again. You can feel that they still like each other but are not brave enough to admit it. Ade doesn’t play professionally anymore and now has a plumbing company. Jason teases him about it. They are back in their shared hotel room from 10 years ago.

Although catching up with an old friend is nice, Ade demands Jason to explain why he is there. To which Jason replies, why would Ade travel so far just to see him? It is quite frustrating because the audience knows these two love each other, but there is a wall between them.

Ade has accepted his gay nature since the moment they kissed each other, while Jason is still denying it. They are both being cautious so as not to get hurt. Jason finally admits that he called because he hoped that Ade would come back to him again.

They get interrupted by a bellboy named Harry, and Jason becomes more and more of an obnoxious prick. Harry, who is smitten by meeting the famous Jason, follows Jason’s orders without question, even making him kiss Ade in the process. Ade is fed up. They dismiss Harry, not before the young man says some very hurtful things to Jason. In the end.

Ade leaves. Jason returns to the shower, and we see what happened after their first kiss. They had a shower together and slept together naked, embracing each other. They could have had more nights like that one, but their defensive mechanism would not allow it.