Merv ending explained: Did Russ give up Merv?

Merv on Prime Video turns a simple breakup setup into a clean emotional twist, and the ending hinges on one painful choice. Russ does give up Merv, but not as punishment or a grand gesture. He does it because the week-to-week handoffs keep both of them stuck in the same heartbreak loop, and the dog keeps absorbing the tension. By separating from Merv, Russ forces a real ending to their breakup, which finally clears space for an honest restart.

Merv ending explained: Did Russ give up Merv?

Yes, Russ gives up Merv, and the movie frames it as the most honest thing he does. Back home, the handoffs start again, and he realizes the cycle is the disease. Every drop off feels like reopening the breakup, and Merv becomes the emotional courier carrying pain between them.

So Russ makes the call that looks cruel at first. He tells Anna to keep Merv full-time, because he cannot move forward while their dog keeps pulling him back into the same unresolved story. It is not about choosing Anna’s happiness over his. It is about choosing an ending that is real, even if it hurts.

The film then shows Russ trying to build a new routine, including adopting another rescue dog. That move is not a replacement for Merv. It is Russ proving to himself that life can keep moving, even when the past still matters. The movie uses the new dog as a visual of fresh momentum, then immediately tests it.

The park reunion is the romantic comedy pivot with teeth. Anna runs into Russ while walking Merv, and both of them try to keep it casual for about two seconds. The truth comes out fast. Russ said,

“he still loves and misses her.”

The moment lands because it is finally spoken without a defense attached. From there, the ending becomes a clean reset instead of a messy loop. They kiss, they choose to try again, and the Christmas button reframes the earlier proposal pain. Anna proposes to Russ, flipping the power dynamic and making it clear she is not accepting love out of pity or fear. She is choosing it with her eyes open, and Merv is no longer the bandage holding them together.

In the end, Merv is not a story about a dog saving a couple. It is a story about a dog forcing two people to stop lying to themselves, and Russ giving up on Merv is the move that finally makes that honesty stick.

Why is Merv “depressed,” and what secret is the movie hiding about Anna and Russ’s breakup?

Merv opens on a weird new normal. Anna Finch and Russ Owens are no longer together, but they are still sharing Merv like a schedule they cannot quit. The handoffs are polite on the surface, yet loaded underneath. Every exchange becomes another reminder of the life they were building, and the movie makes it clear that neither person has real closure.

The problem shows up through Merv first. He stops acting like himself and stops responding to the routines Anna obsesses over and the adventures Russ tries to push. At the vet, the tension spills out because the diagnosis is not physical. It is emotional, and both of them hear it as an accusation. The vet said,

“Dogs are very sensitive to anything that throws their routine.”

The vet added,

“Like... A breakup.”

From there, the film starts treating Merv like the honest character in the room. Anna and Russ can dodge the real conversation, but the dog cannot. Russ decides the only way to snap Merv out of it is to break the pattern, so he pitches a warm escape during the Christmas stretch. The trip is meant to be about the dog, but it is also clearly about Russ trying to breathe again without weekly reminders.

The movie keeps one key detail tucked away while the plot moves. It hints that their breakup was not about falling out of love. It was about something that made Anna shut down and made Russ overcompensate. The reveal comes late, after the Florida days start stripping away their defences.

Anna has been carrying the weight of infertility, and she spiraled into the belief that she was holding Russ back from the future he deserved. Russ responded by leaning harder into commitment, including a proposal, and Anna read that move in the worst possible way.

That is the hidden wound that explains everything else. The awkward co-parenting. The defensiveness. The way both of them flinch when the topic of kids or family floats into a scene. Merv is depressed because the two people he trusts keep circling each other with unspoken pain. The dog is not the cause. He is the mirror, and the movie uses his sadness to drag the truth into daylight.

Florida dog vacation recap, jealousy beats, and the parents’ detour that changes everything

Florida starts as Russ’s reset plan, and it immediately turns into a pressure cooker. He gets Merv to the dog beach, tries to coax him into play, and keeps realizing the usual tricks do not work. Merv stays withdrawn, which keeps Russ stuck in problem-solving mode instead of healing mode.

Anna arrives anyway, and that entrance flips the tone. The dog trip becomes a public version of their private mess. They are sharing meals, sharing schedules, and pretending it is normal. Other people notice the odd dynamic and push at it, which is where the movie’s jealousy engine kicks in.

Both Anna and Russ start reacting when attention comes from elsewhere, even when they insist they are fine. The clearest hinge is when Anna finally admits, out loud, that her feelings are not gone. Anna said,

“I think I still have feelings for Russ.”

That confession does not fix anything, but it breaks the fake calm and forces the story toward the real topic. The detour to Russ’s parents is where the film stops playing it cute. His mother, MJ, has her own grief about the breakup, and the family setting makes it harder for Anna to hide behind busyness.

The night turns tender for a moment. There is dancing, old familiarity, and the sense that the relationship did not die so much as freeze. Then the emotional hangover hits, and the beach confrontation becomes the point where they finally name what happened. By the time they head home, Merv is not “fixed.” The dog is calmer because they are together again.

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