Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
As dark as John's final outing gets, there still a little light.
- Despite the danger and Winston encouraging him to leave, Charon chooses to stay by his side when they first meet the Marquis. Even as he lays dying, Charon doesn't blame Winston, simply smiling and telling him it's been an honor as he dies with dignity.
- Despite wanting to keep up a strict demeanor, Akira lets Nobody keep his dog in the hotel. Koji's reaction to her doing this makes it clear this isn't a rare occurrence.
- Despite not having a marker, and thus no obligation to do so under the High Table, Koji still chooses to help John regardless of the risk.Koji: Friendship means little when it's convenient.
- Even after how things ended between them in the last film, John still worries and asks about Winston's survival when Koji tells John that the New York Continental was deconsecrated.
- Before the final duel, the topic comes up of what John wants on his tombstone if he should lose. After some discussion with Winston and the Bowery King, John decides on two words: Loving Husband. After a lifetime of killing and amazing accomplishments in the world of assassins, John only wants future generations to know how much he loved his wife.
- After killing the Marquis and sustaining a mortal wound, John has only one question for Winston: "Will you take me home?" The look on Ian McShane's face when he gives a quiet "Of course" is heartbreaking. As promised, he buries John alongside his wife, with his tombstone inscribed as requested.
- John's last word on-screen: "Helen". Moments before, bleeding out and exhausted but finally free from the High Table, he closes his eyes... and thinks of his wife, the happier times they had together. After four films of slaughter and treachery and regret and rage, the love for his dear departed was never so much as scratched. In his final moments, he was no longer John Wick, the Baba Yaga. He was Jonathan, husband of Helen, and he died holding onto that peace.
- After a grueling fight across Paris, John manages to get to the top of the stairs near the Sacré-Cœur...only to be kicked back all the way to the bottom by Chidi. John looks up to see Chidi and a small army standing between him, and then looks at his watch to realize he has less than 5 minutes to reach his goal. It's John's Darkest Hour, as even he can't get past all of them with no ammo, climb the stairs and beat the deadline so he and Winston aren't executed. It genuinely looks like John's about to give up... until Caine extends a hand to him. Even though John not showing up would mean he wins by default and guarantees the safety of his daughter, Caine decides to help his old friend reach the duel so that he can have a fighting chance at finally being free of the High Table, even if that means his own life will be lost. They then team up, kick a metric ton of ass, and just barely manage to reach everybody else before sunrise.
- It might have been partially driven by simple distaste for the Marquis' methods, but after John's Batman Gambit successfully wins him the duel without killing Caine, despite earlier stating it would mean people would lose faith in the High Table and their authority, the Harbinger chooses to not ask that the match continue, instead considering the matter settled and honoring the deal made with both men, meaning Caine and John are finally free of the High Table.
- Caine is thus far the only named character in the series who, during a massive fight scene, actually opts to disable the hapless mooks going up against him non-lethally whenever a chance presents itself, rather than just put a bullet in their heads and move on. Granted, this applies to the Continental staff whom he'd very much rather not be fighting; he offs Killa's mooks without a second thought.
- The Bowery King apparently adopted John's dog after Charon's and John's deaths.
