Willoughby is the film’s moral fulcrum. He is a good man dying of pancreatic cancer. The billboards wound him deeply because he wants to solve Angela’s case. His decision to take his own life is not framed as weakness but as a final act of control over a failing body. His letters to Mildred and Dixon function as the film’s philosophical thesis:
McDonagh defended the film as a “dark comedy” about people’s capacity for change. He noted that Dixon does not become a saint – he merely stops being a monster. threebillboardsoutsideebbingmissouri2017u
What did you think of the film's controversial ending? Let me know in the comments! or perhaps focus on a deeper character analysis Willoughby is the film’s moral fulcrum