What happens to Terry’s cousin Mike? How does he die?

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, the action-thriller ‘Rebel Ridge’ uncovers a web of corruption within a small town’s police force. The film follows a former Marine, Terry Richmond, whose bag of money is confiscated by the authorities after he is accused of a wrongful rape. The protagonist subsequently has to fight tooth and nail to get the money back so he can bail out his cousin, Mike Simmons. However, saving Mike proves to be an ordeal as Terry faces more and more obstacles in his way when he attracts the ire of the town’s police chief, Sandy Burnne. As time goes on, Mike’s fate becomes the central motivating factor for Terry, who has to take drastic measures to rescue his cousin. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Terry’s efforts to save his cousin end in vain.

‘Rebel Ridge’ begins with Terry riding his bike into town with his cousin’s bail money when he is run off the road by a police cruiser. After two officers perform a quick body search of Terry, they discover the bag containing the money, which they confiscate under false drug charges. After the incident, Terry has to overcome several legal hurdles, including trying to strike a deal with Chief Sandy Burnne. When all else fails, he takes the entire station hostage to get the money back. It proves futile when Terry learns that his cousin has been transferred to Samaritan Hospital Center after suffering multiple stab wounds. Mike dies before the protagonist can join him at the medical center, and is only able to view his dead body.

For Terry, the goal of his visit to Shelby Springs is to rescue Mike and hopefully talk some sense into him. He has no interest in the corruption of the local police, seeing it as a minor inconvenience in his path. Therefore, he is willing to negotiate a deal with them to meet his cousin at 9 a.m. on a Monday. However, the chief decides to go back on his word and have the transfer bus leave before Terry can speak to Mike. After flagging down the bus on his bike, Terry attempts to warn Mike to keep a low profile once he arrives at the state penitentiary, fearing that the criminals there will kill him for his actions.

The protagonist is constantly on the defensive as he attempts to rescue Mike. Even after making several extreme decisions, such as taking the chief and Officer Lann hostage at the police department, his actions still prove not to be enough. Terry is captured by the authorities and subsequently released into the Samaritan Hospital Center by the chief himself. There, Terry is distraught to learn that Mike was attacked and mortally wounded in the state prison, exactly as he expected. Terry is subsequently ordered by Chief Burnne and Officer Marston to leave town that night after mourning his cousin. Terry agrees to the deal, but soon finds himself biting back on his choice when the corruption of the Shelby Springs Police Department hurts someone else close to him.

Mike’s death forces Terry to solve corruption in Shelby Springs

Although Terry fails to achieve his primary goal of saving Mike before the worst happens to him, his death proves to be a catalyst for the protagonist to take up arms against Chief Burnne and his people. At first, Terry is too wrapped up in Mike’s death to care about anything else going on in town. However, when trouble follows Summer McBride, a courthouse employee who helps Terry apply for Mike’s bail, the former Marine has no choice but to do something about Chief Burnne’s blatant abuse of power.

Thus, in many ways, Mike’s incarceration and death serve as the incident that sets the story in motion, bringing Terry Richmond into the Shelby Springs Police Department’s web of deceit. Had Terry not traveled to town to bail his cousin out, the corruption in the police ranks would have gone unnoticed. Thus, while Mike’s death is a difficult thing for Terry to process, it forces him to act. However hard he tries, he will never get the chance to reunite with his cousin, whom he clearly loved despite their differences.

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