Humans are deceiving. “Black Snow” is a 2023 psychological crime drama series that revolves around the murder mystery of Isabel Baker. This series will make you question every character present in it, as none of them can be trusted. There are several angles to the story of “Black Snow,” and each angle leads to Isabel’s ambiguous death. According to Isabel, her friends were untrustworthy, and they used her innocence to plot their own benefits. “Black Snow” begins with the introduction of our lead character, Detective Sergeant James Cormack. In 1994, Isabel’s murder became a cold case and never brought in any clues that could provide justice for her death. Now, after 25 years, James is all set to unearth the scary secrets of Ashford that hide the crimes and cruelty against Isabel. She was very close to her sister Hazel, and her death had caused her great trauma. For years, Hazel worked in Brisbane, leaving her daughter Kalana behind with her grandparents. Isabel and her friends, Chloe, Hector, Anton, and Tasha were always punished with detention. To make their sessions interesting, their teacher gave them a community project that involved them creating a documentary of their school life and submitting their aspirations into a box that everyone referred to as the “Time Capsule.” In 2019, the box was finally opened by the teacher and the students themselves. Isabel’s friends paid tribute to her, and Kalana stood forward to read her predictions. But the predictions were disturbing and heavily pointed toward the fact that Isabel had been threatened by someone she knew all along.
The predictions talked about the “Ankou,” which killed people with its scythe. At some point, Isabel’s predictions hinted towards her friends being liars. The story takes a different angle when viewers are introduced to James. He was very interested in this case and decided to solve it despite all the incomplete clues. Once he entered Ashford, he started working with Troy Turner, the senior sergeant. He gave him his angles to the story, and every clue led to a blue station wagon with a white door. It followed Isabel everywhere before she passed away. On the night of her murder, the same car was found following her in the town’s CCTV camera footage. Isabel’s friend Chloe noticed the wagon but couldn’t figure out the plate number. After the Year 12 formal at the school, Isabel and Chloe walked home together and changed paths around the Riley Street intersection. Moreover, she even gave directions to the person present in the blue wagon. Isabel’s lifeless body was found outside Ashford Cemetery.
Spoilers Ahead
What Were The New Clues?
The case received a different perspective when a part of Isabel’s plaited hair was mysteriously found in the Time Capsule. James invited Hazel over for questioning, and she happened to open the box, where she found a t-shirt that contained her hair wrapped inside it. This provided a breakthrough for James. Back in 1994, Hector used his camera to record the documentary, and James got all the copies digitized. He carefully watched every clip until he found a common similarity in each one. The blue station wagon was found following Isabel everywhere, and luckily, one clip got him the plate number as well. Amidst every scene, “Black Snow” takes us through a series of flashbacks that provide us with a better understanding of Isabel’s sudden change of character. Isabel used to be a cheerful and brave young lady until something changed her attitude completely. James wanted to study more about this behavior, and he went around questioning each one of Isabel’s friends and family in the town.
James believed that Isabel had connections to witchcraft, and for some reason, Hector followed her everywhere around Ashford. Meanwhile, some of her friends believed that he was involved in Isabel’s murder as well. Isabel’s ex-boyfriend Anton, and James decided to meet in the factory for questioning, and Anton was badly hurt. Even though he couldn’t figure out the perpetrator, it was pretty clear that someone had tried to kill Anton. James had another breakthrough; the details of the blue wagon had not been renewed since 1994. The wagon’s owner is a pastor in regional New South Wales. James predicted that Isabel’s father and the wagon owner were somehow connected. Meanwhile, Hazel was hiding something and secretly met a stranger to keep up with her lies. Now, James wanted to question Hector since the police didn’t have his records. He moved to Sydney two days after Isabel’s death and didn’t stick around for her funeral either. Now, absurd rumors are spreading like wildfire around the town, stating that Isabel’s father, Joe Baker, was the killer.
What Happened In James’ Past?
Detective Sergeant James Cormack worked for Whang, his detective boss and is known to be one of the best detectives in town. Strangely, he was fascinated by Isabel’s murder case and was attracted to her death date. He had the same date, December 3, 1994, tattooed on his hand. Even though the case was difficult to solve, James somehow convinced his boss to hand it over to him. Later, it was revealed that his brother Ritchie went missing on the same day. He had spent countless nights thinking about his brother and trying to find him. James suffered from sleep deprivation and always used violence against his body to calm his anxiety attacks. Things worsened when his father invited him to meet him in jail, and James somehow worked up the confidence to meet him. There, his father revealed that Ritchie had met him, James started digging for more answers, but his father refused to share any.
James and Hazel found closure with each other and decided to share their thoughts. He has also lost someone close to his heart. Over these years, he’d grieved his disappearance. James revealed that on Ritchie’s birthday, both the boys celebrated it with their mother at Timezone and played several games together. The following night, they came back to their house and planned on having a movie night; everything was ready until James’ father arrived, and he had been completely drunk. James and his father got into a huge fight, and after hitting James, hs father decided to hurt their mother. James tried to find Ritchie, but he was hiding in the closet. Accidentally, Ritchie slashed him with his fishing knife and ran away from the house. To save himself from his father, Ritchie attacked him and couldn’t bear the guilt. On the same night, James lost his mother, who was killed by his father, and also lost Ritchie.
How Was Isabel Connected To Ezekiel Iesul?
Meanwhile, the same stranger texted Hazel to confess the truth within a week. On the other hand, James found new clues from Isabel’s older evidence. For some reason, her clothes contained traces of mysterious red soil, and James couldn’t find it anywhere. At the same time, Isabel’s bird necklace went missing too. Isabel’s flashbacks suggested that she was fascinated by the satanic rituals and often read books related to them. On the same day, Hazel approached James and shared her part of the story, in which Isabel tried contacting Hazel and her family. Hazel misunderstood her sister’s attempts for help, as Hazel believed that she was drunk and partying somewhere. New clues began emerging, and they hinted at Isabel’s new boyfriend. Pastor Tim Foster was the owner of the blue wagon, and he had sold it to a young man named Ezekiel Iesul. He is the same guy who joined Isabel’s community as a new member. Moreover, he doesn’t have any proof of his identity, so locating him is a difficult task.
In one of the flashbacks, Isabel visited Shell Bay beach, and they spent their time chatting about their communities and families. Things took a different turn when Isabel spotted a distinctive tattoo on Iesul’s chest. Isabel found the same tattoo on the chest of a stranger who was trying to save himself from a random biker around the sugarcane fields. Iesul claimed that it was his cousin. Meanwhile, Hazel managed to find Iesul’s address. He had passed away from a fatal illness. James got to know about Iesul’s cousins who went missing in Vanuatu in 1994. According to him, there was darkness in Ashford, and in the pain and guilt of losing his brothers, Iesul hurt someone. Iesul’s wife, Mary, didn’t know that person’s identity, but James predicted that it was Hazel. Here, they discovered the painful truth that Joe was connected to Iesul all this time. James questioned Joe. He was not ready to share any detail about Iesul’s conversation with Joe. Even though he didn’t hurt Isabel that night, Iesul hurt someone else from Ashford. In reality, Iesul got into a fight with Chloe’s father, Steve Walcott, and his worker, Billy Hopkins. On the night of Isabel’s murder, Iesul was with Joe.
Is Anton The Murderer?
Another important clue is that Chloe and Isabel had a huge fight on the same night as well; they met at the park and had some drinks until Chloe kicked her out at 11:30 am. The next day, James tried questioning Billy. He didn’t answer any of his questions. Little did he know that Billy had the old footage of Steve and Isabel’s fight, where she accused him of messing with Iesul’s cousins. Billy tried to blackmail Chloe with the footage, but her father’s loss didn’t bother her. James was pretty annoyed by the whole situation since everyone had lied. Also, Hector had Isabel’s bird necklace but didn’t share it with James either. Moreover, the next day, Billy was found dead in the cane fields. He met with an accident and lost his life. On the other hand, Tasha was sure that Billy was killed by someone related to Steve. Nonetheless, Chloe stole the video camera that contained Steve and Isabel’s video about Iesul’s brothers and warned her father to resign. Chloe took over the whole mill peacefully and hid the footage.
Things started to unravel when the past revealed that Isabel hated that Joe controlled her life. Her family wanted her to be their protector and future. Isabel just wanted to live her life like all the other teenagers. Furthermore, James found a familial DNA match to Iesul’s blood, as the same blood was found on Isabel’s body. Things took a strange turn when Chloe found the passports of Iesul’s cousins, and she burned them to save her family and business. In the same fields, James found Isabel’s shoes placed inside an old washing machine in a shed. Back at the police station, James played Anton’s music tape that Tasha made for him. It was recovered from the time capsule. But there’s a catch; Hazel confirmed that it was the same music that played in the wagon on the night of Isabel’s murder, and Hazel heard it over the phone. It had the same glitch and the same flow.
‘Black Snow’ Ending Explained – What Happened To Isabel Baker?
There was a huge possibility that Anton was the actual murderer. So, James approached Tasha to confirm if Anton had spent the night of the formal with her. Tasha remembered that he was there, except for the next morning. On the night of the formal party, Iesul and Isabel met each other, and he got into a huge fight with Steve. Isabel convinced him to meet Joe, and he did so. Now for the final breakthrough, the forensics team found samples of Chinese Wisteria flower in Isabel’s hair. This flower was found in the same shed where Anton and Isabel spent most of their time. At the formal party, Anton and Isabel got into a huge fight. They were already on the verge of breaking up with each other, and James believed that Anton must’ve followed Isabel into the fields when she tried to help Iesul’s cousins. Anton took Kalana with him since he was Kalana’s father. Hazel and Anton became close to each other after Isabel’s death. For years, she didn’t share this secret with anyone, and Anton was the stranger who sent her threatening messages all this time.
James and Hazel left for the shed immediately since Kalana might be in huge danger at this time. Back at the shed, Anton shared everything that happened with Isabel on the night of the formal party. Chloe and Isabel got into a fight since she decided to drop the road trip plan. It’s just that Iesul’s case and Anton’s betrayal were hurting her too much, and she just wanted to take a break for herself this time. She tried to open up about Iesul’s cousins and all the atrocities that Steve had committed against them, but Chloe kicked her out. So, she made her way back to the school, rewrote her predictions, and placed them inside the box again. When Isabel called Hazel that night, Anton approached her and tried to apologize for everything that had happened at the party. Well, Anton’s father, Victor, managed to free Kalana from his son. Anton kept repeating the same thing: that he loved Isabel, and that she had died instantly without any pain. Victor pointed the rifle at him and convinced him to step away from the knife. The moment Victor let his guard down, James took the gun away and pointed it at Victor.
Victor abused Anton to hide all the secrets. After Isabel placed her predictions in the box, Isabel spotted the same biker who followed Iesul’s cousin in the cane fields. It was none other than Victor. Isabel found out the truth and went to the shed to save Iesul’s cousins. Isabel found them in the shed. Before she could save them, Victor killed them. There he found Isabel’s handkerchief, and when she tried to contact her family, Victor killed her in front of Anton. All these years, Anton couldn’t keep up with the pain and suffering that he held inside. The forensics team found Isabel’s bicycle and the boys’ bodies in the fields. Both the boys, Namin and Kalip, worked in the fields for Victor. Kalip lost his balance and went back to Victor’s place for water. There he found out that Victor’s baby daughter was crying alone. Kalip tried to comfort her, but Victor misunderstood and attacked them. In this process, Namin was hurt, and Victor locked them up in the shed for a whole week and didn’t help them. Victor didn’t trust them, but he still got the medicines for them to save Namin. He couldn’t survive. Out of anger, Victor killed Kalip as well.
Moreover, Victor was also responsible for Billy’s death. Somehow Anton was responsible for all the breakthroughs, as he was the one who placed Isabel’s hair in the box. Anton couldn’t leave her like that, and he hoped to face his father’s mistakes one day. Months passed, and James visited Hazel again with Isabel’s hair. Hazel wanted to keep it, so he got it cleaned from the forensics. “Black Snow” ended on a peaceful note, even though Kalana was still angry with Hazel. She accepted everything gradually, and Joe placed a huge tribute to Isabel, Namin, and Kalip. The series might come back with a new angle on James’ past as he arrived back at his company and found a pen drive on his table that contained his brother Ritchie’s footage from the jail where he visited their father.
Final Words
“Black Snow” Season two is surely on the way since an entire episode on James’ past remains. Towards the end, James was happy to have his brother back. Meanwhile, it might bring in new challenges for the Sergeant as James and Ritchie need to fix their strained relationship. Meanwhile, back at Ashford, James finally cracked the cold case and brought peace to Isabel and her family. Hazel found closure in James, and it was pretty clear that they shared their whereabouts. Finally, Anton was freed from his guilt, and little by little, he was becoming a part of Hazel and Kalana’s lives. “Black Snow” is all about trust and betrayal. We are surrounded by predators, and sometimes it’s difficult to recognize them. Despite all the complications, Isabel fought against racism and liars. Even though she lost her life in this process, the truth was finally out. Isabel finally exposed the cruelty around her and brought justice to Niman and Kalip. James was the only person who fought to voice Isabel’s opinion in public.
