Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer, starring Cate Blanchett as the lead, is an adaptation of Renée Knight’s book by the same name. The seven episode long series aired its finale on November 8, 2024 and it sure does pack a punch.
Viewers who have already been familiar with the source material should know that the show is headed to a devastating finale. Over the course of the last six weeks, Cuarón’s masterful direction had set the stage for the ultimate shocking twist that changed the whole narrative of Disclaimer.
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In short, till that finale episode, Disclaimer followed a younger Catherine (Cate Blanchett), on vacation, with her son, Nicholas, in Italy. There she met a young man named Jonathan (Louis Partridge) who met an unfortunate end while trying to save Nicholas from getting drowned.
Following this incident, years later, Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline), Jonathan’s father, published a book recounting this whole ordeal.
Throughout the series until the finale, the whole story is seen from the point of view of Stephen’s book and the viewers see only glimpses of Catherine’s vacation where she is apparently enjoying a relationship with Jonathan while cheating on Robert, her husband. Despite enjoying her time with Jonathan, Catherine is seen to abandon him carelessly just before his death.
However, it is only in the finale that Catherine breaks into Stephen’s house and demands him to hear her side of the story. Stephen agrees, but since he has spiked Catherine’s tea, she is really low on time.
As Catherine starts telling what really happened between her and Jonathan, the narrative changes its tone and themes of sexual exploitation instead of pleasure come forth.
Let us now discuss in detail what happened in the finale of Disclaimer.
The following article contains major spoilers.
Catherine reveals the truth in Disclaimer finale
Before the sedatives hit, Catherine manages to tell Stephen what had actually happened in Italy. Stephen’s book shows that Catherine was flirting with Jonathan and it seemed like he was coerced into having sex with a married woman and when that meek young man got too attached to her, she let her die.
However, Catherine dispels the whole account. She says that while Nancy (Lesley Manville), Stephen’s late wife, based the book on a series of photographs, everything else was fabricated by her.
One of the pictures that served as the source material of the book showed Catherine posing in her lingerie. However, in contrast to Nancy’s assumption that Catherine did so willingly, she was actually held at a knifepoint by Jonathan.
The evening that the photograph was taken, Jonathan had broken into Catherine’s room after stalking her from afar. He threatened to harm both her and her son if she did not do as he told.
Being scared and fearing for the safety of her son, Catherine listened to Jonathan when he asked her to strip down to her underwear and did not protest when he started taking her pictures.
Though Catherine believed that if she did whatever he asked her, Jonathan would leave, that did not happen. After clicking her pictures, he sexually assaulted for three and a half hours.
Hearing this side of his son’s behavior makes Stephen flinch, who finds it difficult to accept that his son, despite having a track record of poor character, would do something so heinous.
When he accuses Catherine of lying, she tells him that she had taken pictures of her injuries and collected his sperm. She even thought of calling the police, but then Jonathan died and she destroyed all the evidence.
It means that Nancy was right when she said that Catherine had let her son die.
Catherine had let Jonathan die not because she did not want to save someone who assaulted her, but because she was so bruised and tired from the assault that she could not do anything when the violent sea took Jonathan.
Upon coming back home, Catherine discovered that she was pregnant. However, suspecting that Jonathan might be the father, she got an abortion. By the time she finishes telling Stephen all this, the spiked tea does its job and Catherine passes out on the floor.
Also Read: Who is Jonathan in Disclaimer? Exploring the character in the Apple TV show
Does Stephen kill Nicholas in the Disclaimer finale?
With Catherine passed out, Stephen goes to the hospital to kill Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Even after learning the truth from Catherine, Stephen, blinded by denial, love for his son, and a sense of loss, still wants to make Catherine and her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) feel whatever he and Nancy felt.
Reaching the hospital, Stephen somehow manages his way to Nicholas who is now awake. While killing him had seemed fine when he was out cold, seeing him awake, Stephen finds the idea of murdering him a little strange.
However, dedicated to his cause, Stephen goes forward with making the poisoned syringe ready and initially Nicholas mistakes him for his mother and reaches out for his hand. But, he soon realizes that he is actually with a man who wants to kill him and that makes him tell Stephen to finish the job.
This brings Stephen out of his frenzy and leaving the vial on the table, he leaves Nicholas’ room. While he is on his way out of the hospital, he meets Robert and profusely apologizes to him. Catherine on the other hand wakes up and after chugging some coffee she reaches the hospital as well.
Seeing her, Stephen apologizes to her as well, which makes her think Nicholas is dead. However, upon finding out that he is fine, she runs to her son, leaving Robert and Stephen behind.
What happens between Robert and Catherine in the Disclaimer finale?
As Robert and Stephen are left alone, the former scolds the latter for refusing to verify the claims made by the book before he sent it out.
This happens off screen but it seems that Stephen informs Robert that whatever Nancy said in the book was not true. As Robert asks him, why did he not question it, Stephen asks him the safe question and it puts the final nail in Robert and Catherine’s marriage.
The whole time that this was happening, it never occurred to Robert that his wife might be telling the truth. He got so distracted by the idea of Catherine cheating him, that he never even bothered to ask her what actually happened.
After Catherine checks on Nicholas, she finally has an honest conversation with Robert, even though he barely deserves it. She tells him that she never mentioned anything to him because she didn't want him to see her differently or to think about that particular incident whenever he looked at her.
Robert says sorry to Catherine multiple times, but it is too late as their marriage seems to be over. Catherine tells him,
“I know I should forgive you, but the truth is, I can’t. You’re managing the idea of me having been violated by someone far more easily than the idea of that someone bringing me pleasure. It’s almost like you’re relieved that I was raped. I don’t know how to forgive that.”
Also Read: What happened to Larissa Genrette in Outer Banks? Exploring her death on the Netflix show
What happens to Stephen at the end of Disclaimer?
Coming back from the hospital, Stephen starts a fire to burn all the copies of the book The Perfect Stranger along with his wedding ring and Nancy’s sweater. As he does so, the omniscient narrator of Disclaimer speaks to him, saying,
“You always knew Nancy dressed Jonathan up into someone he was not, and you colluded with her, ignoring all the clues that should have made you uneasy about him. Your only defense is that you did it out of love, but that’s not much of a defense.”
As Stephen notices one of Jonathan’s pictures burning, he picks it up and notices that at the corner of the picture, there is a reflection of a young Nicholas as he stands and witnesses his mother’s assault.
There is also a shot of Catherine telling Nicholas what actually happened in Italy and while he does not remember anything, he believes her.
As the series concludes with the mother and son embracing each other, it can be hoped that their fraught relationship would be eventually mended.
Disclaimer can be streamed on Apple TV+.
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