What really happened between Katherine and Jonathan (and is the show lying about it?)

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Denial episodes 3 and 4.

Apple’s new mystery thriller series Denial Describes a hot story between Jonathan and Catherine that leads to a tragic death. Cate Blanchett leads a talented ensemble cast of Denial Like Catherine Ravenscroft, a hard-working and acclaimed television documentary journalist from London, England. Catherine’s world unravels once a mysterious novel titled The perfect stranger comes to her doorBringing back memories of one of her deepest and darkest secrets. Denial Also starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Robert, Catherine’s husband, Cody Smith-McPhee as Nicholas, Robert and Catherine’s son, and Kevin Kline as Steven Brigstocke, a local London man who has lost his wife and son.

Denial is based on the 2015 book of the same name written by Renée Knight. The Apple series is Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón’s first return to television since 2014. Believe. Cuarón has won two Best Directing Academy Awards, one for 2013’s Gravity Starring Sandra Bullock and another for his 2018 black and white film Roma. Denial earned an impressive Repeat Tomatoes critic score of 78%, which is a satisfying rebound for the 2-time Oscar-winning actress after the massive commercial and critical disappointment of Borderlands. Denial Consists of seven parts with the final episode releasing on November 15.

Did Jonathan really die by drowning after saving Nicholas?

Catherine may know a more exact truth

Denial Episode 4 depicts Jonathan’s death by drowning in the Mediterranean Sea after trying to save Catherine’s 4-year-old son, Nicholas, who is stranded in deep waters on an inflatable dinghy. While the series makes it seem like that’s what actually happened, it is Doubt due to the increasingly unreliable perspective of The perfect stranger’s AuthorNancy, disguised as EJ Preston. While Stephen never explains why he chose the pen name, EJ Preston, it’s obvious that he doesn’t want to attract real-life attention to himself but instead wants to use the book as a means to ruin Catherine’s life. Both Nancy and Stephen believe that this is how Stephen died, but Catherine may know a more accurate truth.

Stephen, who did not change Nancy’s plan The perfect stranger is under the impression that Nancy somehow discovered the truth about Catherine and Jonathan and wrote the manuscript to expose her. He does not think for once that his wife wrote the novel as an expression of grief and a way to cope with the terrible loss of her son, finding relief and even pleasure in making Catherine a monstrous enemy who seduced and abandoned her poor son. Stephen also raises questions about the mysterious and potentially unsolved aspects of Jonathan’s deathOne, that Jonathan did not look like he had drowned because his face was not swollen.

Are we seeing the real Jonathan, or the idealized version of the book?

The series may offer a different version of the same story by the end

After four episodes of DenialThere are a lot of questions about the events that take place in the Italy scenes as to how accurate they are. The biggest consideration of all, which is a central point of the show, is the questioning of reality and truth through the lenses of perspective and bias. The way Jonathan and Catherine’s characters are portrayed in the Italy scenes makes it seem like they are characters in their own novel living out scripted scenes in real time. This dynamic, combined with the glossy, divine tone and bright paradisical visuals, implies that the scenes in Italy are highly romanticized and dramatized, Which may ultimately mean that they are also somewhat fabricated. The series may offer a different version of the same story by the end.

Why Catherine didn’t tell anyone Jonathan was still in the ocean

Catherine thought Jonathan wouldn’t be a problem if he was dead

Catherine is the first to see Jonathan struggling to stay afloat in the sea but does nothing but watch from afar for at least a minute. This could have made all the difference in the world since Jonathan was almost saved by lifeguards, according to the depiction of the events in Denial Episode 4. Catherine stays strangely quiet with a contemplative look on her face, indicating that she is briefly wondering whether to say something. She decides that Jonathan’s death is more advantageous How to keep him alive. This shows how cold-hearted Catherine truly is and how little she cares for Jonathan in the first place, who proves that he won’t take no for an answer and is determined to fall in love with Catherine back in London.

What was the mark on Jonathan’s arm?

The cutting may lead to the truth of Jonathan’s death

The biggest clue to what may have really happened to Jonathan is the mysterious cut on his inner right forearm. It was first noticed by his father, Stephen, when he and his wife Nancy observed Jonathan’s body in Italy to confirm his identity. Jonathan could have been cut by the pocket knife Stephen gave himwhich is seen during two crucial scenes in Denial When Stephen finds Nancy’s manuscript and when Stephen and Nancy collect Jonathan’s possessions in Italy. Although Jonathan may have gotten cut while trying to save Nicholas, it is also entirely possible that the cut represents a completely different and more accurate sequence of events that connects to Catherine and the pocket.

What happened to Catherine and Jonathan was extremely traumatic

Catherine’s side of the story has yet to be told

Based on Catherine’s response to reading The Perfect Stranger, which the series portrays with flashes of the sensual photographs and uncontrollable vomiting, it is evident that everything that happened between Catherine and Jonathan was very traumatic. Although it is difficult to determine exactly why Catherine responds this way, she is likely either overcome with grief for what is surely the worst example of her life, or she is Sick of the thought of printing and sorting your dirty laundry on paper. The biggest mystery next to what happened to Jonathan is what exactly happened to Catherine during these events since her side of the story has yet to be told.

Why the photos are so damaging to Catherine

The photos could ruin Catherine’s career and self-image

Catherine had probably never seen Jonathan’s photos of her before and believed they would remain forever undeveloped. Seeing the photographs creates a new monster that Catherine, nearly 20 years after the events in Italy and Jonathan’s death, thought could not have existed. Catherine buried her involvement in the affair with Jonathan herselfReturning to her successful life and marriage back in London far away from her betrayal in Italy. The photographs unearth not only a dark secret from Catherine’s past, but also her identity and her view of her place in the world. Clearly, she thought she got away with it and now that she has been exposed, she can no longer carry her selfish air of ignorance.

How does Jonathan’s mother know so much about what happened?

It is likely that Nancy filled in the blanks of the story with her pain and grief

Although there would obviously be news and police reports of Jonathan’s death for Nancy to draw information from, she seems so convinced and knowledgeable about it all in a heightened and invisible way. Her convictions to Catherine, that she is a devil who came in and took her son from heris clearly written from a lot of pain, as Catherine points out in her voicemail to Stephen Denial Episode 4. Since Nancy only had the secondary sources of reports and photographs to draw from, it is entirely plausible that she filled in the blanks of the narrative with her own speculation and fiction as a way to find comfort and someone to blame. Denial.