What actually happens
A tape that has already moved to Oregon
Six months after the first film, Samara Morgan's cursed videotape has made its way around Astoria, Oregon. Jake Pierce, seven days past watching it, talks a schoolmate named Emily into watching it too. While she supposedly watches, he steps into the kitchen, takes a call from the friend who helped plan the trick, and is relieved. Then dark liquid starts coming under the kitchen door. He runs to the living room and finds that Emily closed her eyes during the tape, and Samara kills him.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
Burning the tape solves nothing
Rachel Keller and her son Aidan, who is nine, have relocated from Seattle to Astoria, and Rachel works at the Daily Astorian for an editor named Max Rourke. She hears about Jake's death and inspects his body, and Samara appears to tell her she has been searching for her. Rachel breaks into Jake's house, finds the videotape and burns it. Aidan dreams that Samara drags him into a television, then develops hypothermia, with bruises appearing on his arms. At a county fair he wanders into a restroom and takes photos of his own reflection, and Samara shows up in them. On the way home wild deer attack them. Rachel works out that Samara may be trying to possess Aidan.
A hospital visit with unhelpful paperwork
Max takes them in. When Rachel tries to bathe Aidan, he has become afraid of water. Samara makes the water drain from the tub and puts herself where Aidan was, which scares Rachel into trying to drown her. Max walks in and sees Rachel drowning Aidan, and makes her take him to the hospital. There the psychiatrist Dr. Temple sees the bruises, suspects Rachel of abusing him, and sends her away. Rachel goes to Moesko Island, finds evidence about Samara's birth mother, Evelyn, who attempted to drown her as an infant, and visits Evelyn in a psychiatric hospital. Evelyn tells her to listen to her baby. Meanwhile Aidan, possessed by Samara, kills Dr. Temple in front of police officers, runs off, and goes back to Max's house. Max grows suspicious and tries to take secret photos of him.
One bath, drained on purpose
Rachel arrives to find an affectionate Aidan who is acting out of character. She steps outside and finds Max's body in his truck. She falls asleep, dreams of Aidan telling her she has to exorcise Samara, and wakes up ready to try. This is the scene people dread most, near the end, so here is exactly what happens: Rachel drugs the possessed Aidan with sleeping pills, puts him in the bath, and drowns him just long enough to drive Samara out. It is temporary. Samara then appears on the television, and Rachel lets herself be dragged in. She ends up at the bottom of the well where Samara died, sees that the lid is partly open, and starts climbing the wall while Samara chases her.
The ending, explained
Rachel climbs out of the well and pushes the lid down on Samara, which locks her out of their lives. She wanders through the woods to a cliff, the place where Anna, Samara's adoptive mother, died, hears Aidan's voice, and falls off into the water. She returns to the real world and is reunited with Aidan. Jake, Dr. Temple and Max are dead, and Samara is shut inside the well.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Ring Two scary?
Yes, The Ring Two is a 5 out of 10 with medium dread. It leans on jump scares and on Samara turning up in water, televisions and reflections, with some injuries and not much gore.
How does The Ring Two end?
Rachel drives Samara out of Aidan with a drowning bath, follows her into the television and climbs out of the well, then pushes the lid shut on her. Rachel returns to the real world and is reunited with Aidan.
Does the dog die in The Ring Two?
No dog dies in The Ring Two. A boy's goldfish die, and a herd of deer attacks Rachel and Aidan on the road, but there is no dog death.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Ring Two?
Nobody has confirmed whether The Ring Two has a scene after the credits.
Why does Samara want Aidan in The Ring Two?
Samara tells Rachel she has been looking for her, and Rachel works out that Samara may be trying to possess Aidan. Later Samara, inside Aidan, kills Dr. Temple.
