Over the past weeks, Apple TV’s Disclaimer has revealed its secrets to us. We now know what happened in Italy, exactly how Jonathan Brigstocke died, and what part Catherine Ravenscroft played in that. With all that out in the open, the final three episodes could have only been about the repercussions of the past mistakes. Going by what happens in this week’s episode, it can safely be said that the show has started doing exactly that. This episode also benefits from not having a non-linear narrative that keeps shifting between the past and present. That was becoming a bit gimmicky to be honest, and without it, Disclaimer gets to breathe much better this week, making the fifth one the best episodes yet. Cuaron’s directorial skill is on full display here. The way he handles the whole ‘Stephen revealing everything to Nicholas in an extremely dramatic manner’ part is quite remarkable and justifies his stature as an auteur. Let us get on with the discussion.
Spoilers Ahead
Where does Catherine go?
I like how this show tends to pick up exactly where it left us the week before. So this week’s episode was supposed to start with Catherine only, following Robert pretty much forcing her out of their home. And there’s only one logical place for her to go for the time being—her mother’s house. The old woman having dementia also means Catherine doesn’t have to explain everything to her and can just get away by giving some lame excuse for her stay. Though in the middle of the night, Catherine confesses everything to her mother. Except her mother is most likely asleep, and even if she were awake, the poor woman is in no state to process all that.
I guess riding in a bus when you’re going through something and looking out of the window morosely has become quite a statement for the show. After Robert last week, we see Catherine going to work on a bus. She calls Nicholas to check up on him, but he seems extremely disinterested in having a conversation with her. And the moment she brings up the trip to Italy, he gets mad and disconnects the call. That’s on Robert though, as he has already gotten on Nick’s nerves by mentioning it so many times. Nick is not a child after all and clearly understands something has happened between his parents. Of course, he has no idea how that trip to Italy that he doesn’t even remember factors in.
What is Stephen up to?
It has become a norm for us to ask that question (or something similar) every week. And this is the week where the old man does most of the damage to Catherine and also her family. His plan has already been in motion for a while, but it finally seems like he is reaping the rewards of what he sowed. His first target is Catherine Ravenscroft herself, and this time around, he walks right into her office. Pretending to be an old helpless man, he quickly earns the sympathy of Jisoo Kim, aka Catherine’s assistant (she is a junior colleague actually, which we realize this week only). The moment Jisoo hears the name Stephen Brigstocke, she pays him all the attention. Stephen knows Jisoo would do anything for a story, and we know for a fact that hearing the name of her award-winning senior colleague has already enticed her. Stephen does what we expect him to, which is telling Jisoo how Catherine is harassing him and leaving threatening messages for him because he wrote a book. He does mention she is only doing it because the book exposes her past wrongdoings. When Jisoo presses him further, Stephen hurriedly leaves, pretending to freak out. But he has done what he came to do, which we realize when Catherine walks into her office and is immediately questioned by her editor, Simon. Jisoo has gone to him, and now Simon wants to know what’s going on. He may be higher than Catherine rank-wise, but clearly, she is in no mood to answer his questions. Instead, she attacks Jisoo for lying about her having labeled Stephen as a pedophile (we know she is right, it was Jisoo who wrote the p-word on paper). However, Simon, Jisoo, and Catherine’s other colleagues are in no mood to listen. All they want are answers. But Catherine refuses to give them any and storms out of the office. Simon annoys Catherine so much that he ends up getting slapped by her. This eventually becomes viral, which is good enough to ruin Catherine’s reputation. Clearly, Stephen is going to have a gala time looking at the video. But the old man has other businesses to attend to.
Does Nicholas find out the truth?
Inarguably the highlight of this episode is Nicholas finally getting to know what his mother did on that trip to Italy. From the very beginning, we have seen that Catherine would do anything to protect her son from the truth. But that fear of her finally comes true, all thanks to a certain Stephen Brigstocke who is out there to ruin her life. Remember the fake Facebook account of a teenager that Stephen wanted to create (not without the help of this random young fellow Justin hooked him up with, of course)? Well, he goes ahead with the plan, and since only old people are on Facebook nowadays (that’s a bit too much though), he ends up on Instagram. It doesn’t take long for Jonathan Brigstocke, a nineteen-year-old taking his gap year, to come alive on social media. Soon we find out the reason behind that when Nicholas receives a message and a follow request from fake Jonathan. And he turns out to be gullible enough to fall for that. Given the show has already established Nicholas Ravenscroft as a depressed junkie, it is not hard for us to accept that he would do just that. We have already seen him sneaking out of the house just the night before for his occasional drug-fueled adventure at that shady place. Even though Nick is convinced that he only does that to take the edge off, you know for a fact that the guy is just about to explode into pieces.
For someone like Nicholas, who has been a disappointment throughout his life, even a tiny bit of validation from a nineteen-year-old boy means the world. So he jumps on the opportunity to impress the kid who has just found his Instagram feed hot. He tells fake Jonathan all about how cool and happening his life is, talking about attractive women and exploring America (which he hasn’t done; actually, Nick was only accompanying Robert on a work trip). In no time, Stephen keeps Nick waiting by taking his sweet time to frame the replies. He also brings “The Perfect Stranger” into the conversation, a book (the only one) he and Nick both happened to read. They both hate the fictional woman in the book, who is so careless that she forgets about her child and falls asleep on the beach. Had it not been for the perfect stranger, the kid would have drowned. Nick has read the book, but initially, he is not exactly interested in talking about it. He thinks watching porn is better than reading such books. Fake Jonathan purposely changes the subject until he brings it up again. This time around, Stephen is not going to let Nick go. So he starts bringing out the knives and sends Nick all the photos of Catherine before breaking it to him that Nick is the boy Jonathan saved and the despicable woman in the book is none other than Catherine Ravenscroft. Once that’s done, Stephen leaves Nicholas on the brink and leaves for his all-important dinner with Robert.
Nicholas expectedly doesn’t receive the truth well. Not only does it fuel the belief that his mother did not want him, he now thinks Catherine would choose a stranger she was having sex with over her own son. It’s another matter that that’s not exactly what Catherine did, but in Nick’s head, she is already the villain (for the right reasons, I’ve got to say). So we see Nick ending up at that drug hole again, doing terrible things to himself and calling Catherine. He is unable to say anything though, other than doing a mix of grunting and sobbing before hanging up. Catherine is understandably worried, and at this point, she is completely helpless. Robert is not going to listen to her, and she doesn’t have any more allies left. Earlier, we have seen her make an attempt to see Stephen and talk to him face-to-face, but the man doesn’t open the door. It is as if Stephen has decided that he won’t give Catherine a say in this matter. He is going to run the show, and she has to see her perfect world go up in flames. Why else would he not see Catherine when she is at his doorstep to apologize about whatever she did? It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Stephen Brigstocke a madman who’s looking for blood. In this episode Stephen has clearly taken the ‘son for a son’ thing too far. Has the man managed to catch the second season of House of the Dragon by any chance? (Bad joke, but I couldn’t resist.)
Why does Robert meet Stephen?
Robert seems to have come out of his sulking mode and has now slipped into ‘even I’m a victim of Catherine’ mode. No wonder he requests Stephen and Nancy Brigstocke (he thinks she is still alive) to meet him. Stephen graciously accepts the invitation and shows up on time. Robert is extremely cordial with him. He is very sorry to hear about the death of Nancy Brigstocke. When Stephen lets him know that his dying wife’s last wish – which was only seeing Nicholas one time – repeatedly got rejected by Catherine, Robert is visibly ashamed. He assures Stephen that he is on his side, as Catherine has been cruel to him and Nicholas as well. Robert also mentions that he has left his wife for good. He doesn’t know that he is getting played by Stephen, who sees him as a pawn, but given that Sacha Baron Cohen is playing the part, is it possible that Robert is only pretending to be a pathetic loser? We will find out over the next two weeks, for sure.
Some Notes
- We don’t see the X-mark appearing anywhere in this episode. There’s no explanation behind Jonathan having that on his arm. I am still wondering if it’s actually significant. I guess we are going to find out what it means by the end.
- The second-person narration has to be one of the most fascinating things about Disclaimer. It clearly sets the show apart from everything else and makes it at least ten times more exciting. We need to acknowledge Indira Verma for that, who is obviously doing terrific work as the narrator.
- There are too many cats in the show, which I found to be a great thing (being a cat person). We have already seen the British shorthair at Catherine and Robert’s house and Stephen’s orange cat, and in this episode, we meet another one at Catherine’s mother’s house as well. I do not think cats have any particular significance in this story, and they might just be something very random, either coming from Cuaron or author Renee Knight. Maybe one of them is a cat person, and this is their way of telling the world. I am not at all complaining.
- This show is clearly Catherine versus Stephen, and it doesn’t make any sense to be on Team Catherine, but at this point, is it logical to root for Stephen Brigstocke? I’m not denying the man has suffered, but does that warrant what he does to Nicholas, an already troubled person who has been failed by his own parents? No way Nick deserved to see his mother like that (I’m talking about the photos here), especially considering the guy is already living a pretty miserable life. Not cool, Mr. Brigstocke.
