Boy Swallows Universe ending sees episode 7 reveal what happens to the Bell family after what has been a rollercoaster of events.
Last episode, Frances and the boys fled to Robert's, their biological father, after Teddy came running after them. He was hellbent on attacking them, but Eli's pen pal Bermuda showed up and took him on.
So they were saved by an unlikely ally, but they're not out of the woods yet, as kingpin Ivan Krull murdered Bich Dang in the final moments of episode 6, and it's very likely Eli and Gus are next on his list.
Here's what happened in the finale of Boy Swallows Universe...
Boy Swallows Universe ending explained: Did Eli survive?
After years of involvement with the local drug rings and plenty of danger, things start to look up for the Bell family. By the time we pick up in episode 7, Robert and Frances have reconciled, and Robert is still sober and seems to be recovering well.
Against all odds, Eli and his family have survived and are trying to rebuild their lives after everything that has happened. There has still been no word from Lyle and the family assumes the worst.
Meanwhile, Bermuda has prevented Teddy from ever harassing Frances again. Robert lands a job working in a bookstore three days a week and Eli manages to secure himself a position at the local paper after his past failed attempts because he wrote a nice piece about Alex Bermuda.
Elsewhere, Gus and Shelley are nominated as Queensland Champions for their work raising money for disabled children. The ceremony will be hosted by Tytus Broz, Lyle's former boss, which makes Eli a little suspicious.
Eli reveals he wants to interview Tytus, and Caitlyn doesn't understand why he has such an interest in him. He comes clean about his past, Lyle's disappearance, and what happened to his finger, knowing that Tytus had some dodgy dealings going on at the prosthetics factory, especially since Ivan got his own prosthetics from there to cover his facial scarring.
But hard proof is needed. After Caitlyn does some digging and finds evidence linking Tytus and Ivan. Naturally, shady Detective Cotton denies everything and goes to Ivan about Caitlyn's investigation. Unfortunately for Cotton, this proves to be a very dangerous decision as it leads to his own death.
Ivan decides to kill him, pushing him to his death and burying the body by using a truckload of cement. Seemingly out of the blue, Tytus then personally requests for Eli to interview him, and he heads to his house with Caitlyn in tow, who poses as a photographer.
Meanwhile, Gus collapses after having some horrifying visions of a knife attack. In the vision, Gus answers the red phone downstairs and wonders if it's him from the future calling but doesn't get a clear response. He worries that the vision is a snapshot of the future and that the knife attack could involve Eli.
At Tytus's home, he begins the interview with Eli, but they're interrupted by a bird that flies into the window and dies. This reminds Eli of the very first episode we saw, where Gus spoke the words "Your end is a dead blue wren". This spooks him but he continues.
However, Eli and Caitlyn soon leave after Tytus confronts him about having an ulterior motive. They leave, and Tytus phones Ivan with an order to get rid of them both and stop them from snooping around.
The duo finds Tytus' research facility and learns the horrifying truth that he is keeping dead bodies and body parts in what appears to be an illegal farm. There, tragically, Eli spots Lyle's decapitated head being used as research and decides to take it, giving himself hard evidence that Lyle didn't simply disappear.
When they're about to leave, Ivan enters on Tytus' instruction and tries to shoot them, but they trap him in the door. Caitlyn grabs an axe and wounds Ivan's foot with it. They eventually escape, with Ivan following close behind.
Eli and Caitlyn rush towards the awards ceremony where Eli dramatically gets up on stage brandishing Eli's severed head to expose what Tytus has been doing. The police arrive, with Ivan following, and he rushes over to stab Eli. He succeeds and Eli desperately tries to run away despite his injury.
Gus and Ivan both follow the blood trail separately, and Eli collapses, seeing a blue wren on the floor which Ivan crushes with his shoe. Ivan is about to kill Eli, but Gus catches up to them and pushes him off the top of the clock tower, killing him.
Eli has survived the ordeal and wakes up in the hospital, after dreaming about the red phone again. Caitlyn is with him and the two almost kiss before his family walks in and interrupts the moment.
In the final scene, we see Eli, Gus, and their parents having dinner while Eli finishes off the manuscript for his book, which he has called Boy Swallows Universe.
