The truth about Catherine and Jonathan revealed

The end of Apple Disclaimer reveals what really happened between Catherine and Jonathan in Italy and finally reveals Catherine's account of the story. Cate Blanchett leads a talented cast of Disclaimer as Catherine Ravenscroft, an acclaimed and hard-working television documentary journalist 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.

Catherine was sexually assaulted by Jonathan in Italy

The photographs Jonathan took of Catherine were not consensual

The shocking twist in Disclaimer The ending is that Jonathan brutally 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 raped 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.

All the Clues to the Truth About Catherine and Jonathan in Disclaimer

Nancy revealed herself to be an unreliable and biased author

There are several hints that allude to the shocking twists at the end of Disclaimer that are much clearer in retrospect. On the one hand, the series opens each episode with content warning about sexual violencewhich had not been shown in the series until the final episode. Catherine's traumatic reaction to seeing the photographs in the current timeline, after Robert confronted her with them, also suggested that something much worse had happened than an affair.

Since The perfect stranger novel was written from Nancy's limited point of view, it was always more than likely that she had altered the truth or never known it. Most importantly, the novel's portrayal of Catherine does not in any way align with the current, accomplished and respected version of Catherine. Since glimpses of Catherine's story and the truth about Sasha appeared in episode 6, the book quickly began to lose all credibility as a factual account.

Why Stephen Didn't Kill Nicholas and What Made Him Accept the Truth

He was no longer blinded by the fabricated image of Jonathan that Nancy had created

Denial plays a key role in understanding Nancy and Stephen's actions in response to the troubling news about Jonathan. This could have been Nancy's main motivation in writing the book. For Stephen, it was undoubtedly a truth even harder to accept, knowing the pain he inflicted on Catherine and his family was unforgivable. After learning that his once-heroic son was actually a vicious and detestable predator, Stephen could no longer lean toward lying like Nancy had when she wrote the book.

Denial was what drove Stephen to return to the hospital and try again to end Nicholas' life, even after hearing Catherine's story. Stephen was driven by so much hatred and revenge that it consumed him and almost prevented him from accessing the truth in Catherine's words. He finally makes the right decision after hearing Nicholas call out for his mother. In part, this seems to remind him of the Jonathan he knew and loved, while also forcing him to confront the dark side of his son that he was afraid to accept.

Why did Robert never question the truth about Catherine and Jonathan?

Robert was driven by selfish rage after seeing the photos

Stephen makes an excellent point to Robert on his way out of the hospital that offers some redeeming value to his terribly misguided character. Robert asks Stephen why the thought that the novel The Perfect Stranger was a work of fiction never occurred to him. In response, Stephen asks the same question, which leaves Robert desperate and perplexed. It highlights the glaring truth that Robert did not hesitate to believe Stephen and Nancy's account of Catherine's adultery after seeing the photographs.

Since the photographs were quite revealing, Robert chose to attack Catherine with them instead of approaching her with sensitivity and due respect. Ultimately, it says more about Robert than anything else and makes him one of the worst people in the series, especially since Catherine confirms that she couldn't forgive him in the series' final moments. Catherine felt this Robert was more relieved that she was raped than that he was cheated on.

Why Jonathan's Mom Nancy Invented the Perfect Stranger

She wrote to heal and preserve her idealized view of Jonathan

Grief can be one of the most powerful and mysterious forces a person can experience, and it can inspire all kinds of actions and behaviors. For Nanci, The perfect stranger it was the best way to preserve her son's memory as she remembered himdespite the worrying news Sasha's mother shared with her about Jonathan. It is also quite common for a parent to write about the life of a lost child, as writing brings many benefits that can help in the grieving process. It can provide a feeling of closeness to the person and can be used as a visitation method after completion. Most notably, Nancy could not accept that her dead son was a monster capable of committing such heinous violence against women.

Why does Stephen burn his wedding ring and Nancy's cardigan

Stephen tries to completely erase Jonathan from his life

The narration of the scene in which Stephen burns Jonathan's photographs, the Perfect Stranger novels, Nancy's cardigan, and even her wedding ring, touches on the idea that Stephen is beyond the point of regaining his purity. The series concludes that Stephen lived a wasted life which is totally irremediable and tragic. Stephen's shame at being so wrong about Jonathan leads him to destroy all evidence of this terrible circumstance.

The fire represents Stephen abandoning the enormous lie he has lived by since Nancy's death and doing what little he can to make things right with himself after nearly killing Nicholas and destroying Catherine's life. There is certainly some contempt for Nancy for writing The perfect stranger firstly, what he believed to be fact. In her defense, she hid it in a locked table and didn't ask Stephen to publish it and go on a revenge trip.

What does the photo Stephen takes of the fire mean?

Nicholas had seen what Jonathan had done to his mother

The final revelation in DisclaimerJonathan's ending answers the question of whether Nicholas was affected by Jonathan's horrific abuse of Catherine. As Stephen burns all of Jonathan's photos in a bonfire in his backyard, he quickly takes one down after spotting something he apparently hadn't noticed before. In the reflection of a large mirror in the corner of the room, young Nicholas observes the frightening scene between Jonathan and Catherine. Catherine never mentioned that she saw him looking at her, meaning she either didn't realize it or couldn't remember. It also reveals that Nicholas probably blocked everything out of his memory, as he couldn't even remember the trip to Italy at the beginning of the series, harboring deeply internalized trauma for most of their life.

The biggest changes to the disclaimer in the story and the end of the book

Stephen dies by suicide and leaves his assets to Catherine in the book

The end of Disclaimer Renée Knight's novel is almost identical to the Apple series. Catherine finally manages to reveal the truth about Jonathan to Stephen, who finally stops wreaking havoc on Catherine and her family. It's important to note that the book shows Catherine and Nicholas on vacation in Spain while the series is set in Italy. A major omission left out of the series is the fact that Stephen dies by suicide and gives his home to Catherine and her family as proof of his guilt. Catherine and her family move into Stephen's house in the book, which clearly isn't necessarily so judging by their beautiful home in the series. Catherine also leaves Robert permanently at the end of the Disclaimer romancealthough there is more ambiguity in the series.

The True Meaning of Disclaimer Explained

Catherine suffers various forms of abuse from selfish men

The end of Disclaimer warns about perception, belief and the power of a good story. Despite The perfect stranger being almost entirely a work of fiction, both Stephen and Robert interpreted it as fact with supporting evidence from Jonathan's photographs of Catherine. It is clear that neither Stephen nor Robert were objective parties to this scenario and both felt deeply wronged by Catherine. They chose to run with the supposed evidence, and even band together, rather than approach Catherine with the benefit of the doubt. Neither of them offered him a fair chance to clear the air, focusing only on their pain without the possibility of the pain of others.

Disclaimer cleverly deceives the audience into believing that Catherine is the despicable person who should be exposed when in reality, she was the victim of a horrendous crime. The ending sends a crucial message about how fragile the concept of truth can be in an age that hardly adheres to due diligence. The series also demonstrates different forms of violence used against women by men, particularly with regard to sexuality as forms of empowerment and devaluation of women, depending on the context. It also explores the complex and often silent process of dealing with such horrific physical violence, with the possibility of enduring further emotional abuse when talking about it.

At the end, Catherine discovers that Robert's notion of love for her can be reduced to mere possession.as his ego is more devastated by the news of his potential adultery than by his sexual abuse. Stephen also draws some straws and follows them through their particular form of misguided betrayal, going so far as to accuse Catherine of lying after telling the truth. Worst of all is Jonathan, who will likely never be known as the criminal predator he is due to the privilege and plausible deniability he inherits from his protective and irresponsible mother. Disclaimer.