WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for the series finale Disclaimer.
The shocking ending of Apple’s thriller series Disclaimer leaves several questions unanswered about Jonathan’s motivations and Catherine’s next steps. Cate Blanchett leads a talented cast of Disclaimer as Catherine Ravenscroft, an acclaimed and hard-working television documentary filmmaker from London, England. Catherine’s world unravels when a mysterious novel titled The perfect stranger arrives at your doorbringing back memories of one of his deepest, darkest secrets. Disclaimer is based on the 2015 book of the same name written by Renée Knight.
The majority Disclaimer episodes cast Catherine as a villain responsible for the death of a twenty-something vacationing American named Jonathan. Disclaimer is told primarily through the fictional lens of Catherine and Jonathan’s experience in Italy, through the imagination of Jonathan’s grieving mother, Nancy. The perfect stranger The novel is the culmination of Nancy’s grief and denial of a painful truth she learned about Jonathan from her girlfriend Sasha’s mother. Stephen finds out The perfect stranger and interprets this as true, which triggers his journey of revenge against Catherine. In the end, however, Stephen Couldn’t Be More Wrong About His Son.
As portrayed at the end Disclaimerthe shocking twist at the end is that Jonathan sexually assaulted Catherine against her will. This is essentially the opposite of how Nancy framed the experience in The perfect stranger with Jonathan as the helpless victim caught in Catherine’s provocative hands. Catherine reveals to Stephen that Jonathan sneaked into her room uninvited and held her at knifepoint. He threatened Catherine and Nicholas and abused her for three and a half hours. The photographs Jonathan took of Catherine were in no way consensual. He despicably forced Catherine to pose and smile for the camera or else he would hurt her and Jonathan.
8
Why did Jonathan try to save Nicholas?
He had threatened to hurt him the night before
One of the most confusing aspects about Jonathan is why he tried to save Nicholas’ life the day after brutally assaulting Catherine. This point made sense in Nancy and The Perfect Stranger memory of things, which was mostly fantasy-based, considering Jonathan had told Catherine he was in love with her and wanted to start a life together in London. Given that Jonathan is revealed to be a predator and rapist, his attempt at heroism doesn’t make much sense after what he did to Catherine.
The most reasonable explanation is guilt. Maybe Jonathan creepily followed Catherine and her son to the same beach where he first encountered them. This would imply that Jonathan’s pursuit of Catherine continued even after the night he despicably abused her. Perhaps in Jonathan’s twisted mind, he convinced himself that he could be redeemed in Catherine’s eyes by saving Nicholas. It also alludes to the unpredictability of a criminal like Jonathan, one day committing a heinous crime and the next rushing to save the day in some idiotic attempt to absolve himself.
7
What exactly happened between Jonathan and Sasha?
It is implied that Jonathan assaulted her, but little is revealed
Disclaimer episode 6 revealed that something else happened to Sasha in Italy that caused her to leave Jonathan. The scene where Nancy receives a phone call from Sasha’s mother turns Jonathan and Sasha’s previous scenes upside down, revealing that Sasha didn’t leave Jonathan because of a death in the family after all. Sasha’s mother is clearly furious and distraught on the phone. Nancy can’t believe what she’s hearing, as if she heard a horrible truth about Jonathan that is too painful to believe.
The series suggests that Jonathan sexually abused Sasha in Italy but never confirms this. After watching the ending and learning about the truth between Jonathan and Catherine, it seems like this is the most plausible outcome. What’s unclear is how far Jonathan went with Sasha, as it was evident that they were dating at least casually and that their parents knew each other. The first few scenes between Jonathan and Sasha seemed consensual, but whatever actually happened between them clearly wasn’t.
6
Will Catherine remain married to Robert?
She is unable to forgive the way he handled everything
Catherine and Robert’s relationship regains composure in the final scenes of Disclaimer, after Stephen’s attempts to ruin Catherine’s life and kill Nicholas are thwarted. After discovering the truth, Robert becomes fully accepting of Catherine again, but to her it seems too little, too late for her to see her husband the same way again. Although the photographs looked quite revealing, the fact that Robert’s ego is more hurt than his heart says a lot about your character.
Catherine states in one of the final scenes of Disclaimer what she can’t forgive Robert, even though she feels like she should. Catherine could be reduced to finding empathy for the way Robert reacted, but ultimately feels betrayed by the way he handled everything. Odds are that Catherine won’t be able to forgive Robert, at least anytime in the immediate future. She leaves it in the book so that sentiment will likely be reflected in the series as well.
5
Will Catherine return to work?
All her co-workers turned against her
Although the series doesn’t take place very often in Catherine’s workplace, she is still an established and renowned documentary filmmaker who is certainly on many people’s radar. It would be difficult to return to the same office with the same co-workers, most of whom are subordinates, after they were so quick to pull out the pitchforks and throw Catherine out of the office. It would be very difficult to return to that environment after what happened. However, Catherine’s reputation and accolades should help her establish new relationships in the workplace.
4
Does Stephen take his own life?
He does this in the novel Disclaimer
Things looked pretty bleak for Stephen during his final scene, which has one of the most tragic arcs in the entire series. Unfortunately for Estêvão, his love for his son and his wife prevented him from seeing the truth about Jonathan until it was almost too late. Stephen ended his career and made it his life’s purpose to bring Catherine down, thinking she was a terrible person responsible for his son’s death. Stephen could not have imagined that he was so mistaken and completely wrong.
Unfortunately, Stephen dies by suicide in Disclaimer romance and leaves his property to Catherine as a sign of his guilt. When Stephen burns his wedding ring, it seems to be a sign that he truly has nothing left to live for and has accepted the dark truth that he has completely wasted his life. The final straw may have been when Stephen took a photograph of the fire to reveal that young Nicholas had witnessed Jonathan assault his mother, which could have been too much for Stephen to live with.
3
Will Catherine go public with the perfect stranger?
She may want to clear her name and reveal the truth about the book
Catherine remained silent about being sexually abused by Jonathan to prevent it from consuming her life. She could at least have the power to decide whether or not she wanted to talk about it, which she evidently never did. If she had reported Jonathan or told Robert when she returned from Italy, she would have had to endure reliving the situation over and over again. Catherine’s silence allowed her to bury the horrible memory and return to your fulfilled and happy life.
Now that Catherine has revealed the truth to Robert, and that Stephen has forced her to play a hand and damaged her reputation as a result, Catherine may decide to finally speak publicly about her abuse. It would mainly be for the reason of clearing his name to invalidate the bad publicity he received after hitting one of his former co-workers. It would also be possible to achieve The perfect stranger books off the shelves, especially at your favorite bookstore. Ultimately, Catherine will probably do what brings her the most peace.
2
Will Catherine tell Nicholas the truth about Italy?
It may help Nicholas deal with his unprocessed childhood trauma
The most important thing for Catherine at the end of Disclaimer is her healed relationship with Nicholas. It appears that Nicholas has made a full recovery and will no longer need to return to drugs to escape his reality. It is possible that Catherine may have told Nicholas the truth about what happened in Italy before the final scene began in which they talk and hug each other by the living room window. Jonathan says “I don’t remember” and “I’m sorry”, implying that he can now see his mother in a different light. The final note of the series is that Catherine and Nicholas have regained some kind of normality in their dynamics.
1
Could Stephen and Catherine become friends?
Both could strangely heal each other
It is possible that Stephen is still alive at the end of the Disclaimer series considering he doesn’t give Catherine his assets like he did after her death in the book. If this is the case, it is also possible that this is the beginning of an unusual and unlikely friendship between Stephen and Catherine. They could heal from their horrible experience through each other, in a strange way.
Deep down, Stephen is not a treacherous man, but was driven by love and revenge, which Catherine could certainly understand. Stephen was only a danger to Catherine and her family because of what he thought he knew about herwhich he discovered to be a total fabrication. Stephen, if he were alive, would no longer have a person or purpose for living and would benefit greatly from Catherine’s kindness and forgiveness. Disclaimer ends before any kind of resolution between Stephen and Catherine happens, but a newfound compassion between the two characters would be a hopeful end to a dark and tragic story.