Did you see that coming? Most likely not, unless you’ve read Renee Knight’s novel. I’m obviously talking about the Disclaimer finale here, which not only neatly wraps up every single thing—yes, including the ‘X’ mark—but also changes your perspective about everyone. Cuaron’s mastery of direction is at its peak here, and so is Cate Blanchett’s phenomenal acting skill. What else can you possibly ask for?
Spoilers Ahead
What really happened to Jonathan?
We’ve been asking this question since the very beginning of Disclaimer. And all we’ve got to see so far is Nancy’s version of it. Sure, there’s no doubt about three things: Jonathan is indeed dead; he did die trying to save Nicholas; and Catherine wanted Jonathan gone (by her own admission to Robert); these are the absolute facts. But the rest might not be how it seems. Now, the show gives us Catherine’s version, and we’ve already concluded from last week’s episode that her version is actually what happened. So, now Catherine has barged into Stephen’s home and is drinking the spiked tea (as you wonder if she’s going to meet the fate of her book version soon), as she goes on telling Stephen Brigstocke what exactly happened. He now has to listen to her as Catherine raises her voice to show her authority. She has finally taken control of the narrative, at least until the tea kicks in.
One very noticeable thing about Catherine’s version of events was her exchanging zero words with Jonathan, at least till the point we have seen so far. She had a nice day with Nicholas at the beach. This handsome stranger, who must be a decade younger than her, had looked at her with desire in his eyes, which she had enjoyed, but that was as much she would entertain this whole thing. Back in her room, Catherine tucked Nicholas in, drank another glass of wine, and decided to go to bed. Because of the long day and probably the alcohol, she forgot to lock the door. Little did she know that would become the reason for the worst ever experience of her life!
Jonathan followed Catherine and came to her room. She was not expecting anyone; naturally, upon realizing this stranger from the bar downstairs had arrived, Catherine freaked out. Unlike the beach or the bar, the innocence in Jonathan’s eyes was gone. All Catherine could see was hatred and lust. She realized that he was up to no good, and her first thought was to protect Nicholas no matter what. Soon he was holding a knife up to her face, threatening her to comply with whatever he was about to do to her. We finally see Jonathan marking his arm with the ‘X’, and then making Catherine lick that blood off his skin. Shocked at the nightmare she was being forced to live through, Catherine had no other choice but to follow Jonathan’s order. When Nicholas woke up in the middle of his sleep, it became even more trouble for her. By now she knew this guy in her room was nothing but a psychotic creepy person, and she would do anything to keep him away from Nick. Once Nick was put to sleep again, Catherine returned under the guillotine. Jonathan now took out the camera and made her pose for the photos (that all of us have seen already). Ironic how Robert (and the audience) imagined the situation as something completely different when it was this only!
Sadly for Catherine, her hell didn’t end there. She probably shouldn’t have asked Jonathan to leave; older Catherine contemplates, while a visibly shocked-to-the-core Stephen looks at her with disbelief. But Catherine has to finish telling what Jonathan did to her. After everything Stephen has done to her, he deserves to know. So she goes on to describe how Stephen Brigstocke’s (now) dead son raped her in that hotel room for at least three hours before finally coming to the point where he was finished. The next morning, Catherine was in no position to get out of bed, but for little Nicholas, she had to. Nick was also very excited about getting a dinghy on that day. At the beach, Catherine accidentally fell asleep, and when she woke up, Nicholas was away, floating on the dinghy in the middle of the ocean. Even in such a condition, Catherine rushed to save her son, but the ferocious waves seemed a bit too much for her to be brave. That was when she saw Johnathan jumping in the water and moving towards Nicholas in order to save him. One might wonder why Johnathan would try to save Nicholas, which is a legit question to ask. My guess would be that given Johnathan was a psychopath, unpredictability was one of his traits. But it might as well be him deliberately taking the opportunity to help Catherine out when she needed it the most, so that she couldn’t blame him afterwards. Or even if she did, nobody would believe her because how on earth could the man who saved her son do such a terrible thing to her?
Catherine’s admission of her wanting Johnathan to die now makes complete sense. Considering what he had done, he completely deserved it. To Stephen, Catherine admits about deliberately not calling for help when Jonathan was asking for it and people were focused on Nicholas. But quite naturally, she doesn’t feel guilty about it. Not to mention, her continuous refusal to let Nancy see her son also doesn’t seem to be a cruel decision anymore. Nobody in their right mind would make their minor son meet the mother of their rapist!
Does Stephen kill Nicholas?
Stephen, as you would expect, doesn’t take the big revelation well. Not only does the truth make everything he has done after he got fired absolutely pointless, it also changes his status from victim to criminal. Twenty years ago, his psychopathic son raped and tortured this woman, and now he has done everything to ruin the life she has built after that. The Brigstockes are truly despicable, as the jury’s verdict stands for now. So what does Stephen do? He decides to finish it all for good. Catherine, in the meantime, finally goes down, thanks to the tea. She’s both angry and horrified (for Nicholas) but can’t do anything about the situation. Taking this opportunity, Stephen takes flight. He does assure Catherine that she’ll wake up eventually, though, indicating that he’s sedated her, not poisoned her.
Stephen has always been a man who has moved forward with no fixed plan. He did have revenge on the cards, but he kept improvising. So I don’t think he had any definitive thoughts about killing Nicholas on his way to the hospital. He had to see the boy, though. Does the thought of going ahead with the original plan and murdering Nick occur to him while on the journey? I bet it does, but I suppose on his way to the hospital, Stephen also gets the opportunity to assess everything Catherine has told him last night and come to the conclusion that she was telling the truth after all. It is a painful truth for him to hear, as he now has to live whatever’s left of his life knowing the fact that his dead son was a maniac and his dead wife was a lunatic (at this point, we can at least confirm the Oedipal angle, at least from Nancy’s side). Had Stephen done anything bad to Nicholas after all this, it would have made him nothing but a terrible villain. Thankfully, upon reaching the hospital, he chooses to do the right thing. Is that because a really drowsy Nick asks Stephen to let him go and also confuses him with his mother? We can’t know for sure, but it definitely affects Stephen. Outside, he sees Robert, who has no idea about what’s going on, and in his usual apologetic self to Stephen. But Stephen has had enough of it already. So he goes on to tell Robert everything.
What happens to Catherine?
I bet the scene of Cate Blanchett chugging iced coffee (which is literally just hard ice and coffee) from the beaker is going to become viral in the near future. Anyway, it wouldn’t have made any sense for Disclaimer (both movie and novel) to give Catherine an undeserving ending after everything that happened to her. Had Stephen killed Nick, it would have been pointlessly bleak. So Catherine had to get up, ransack Stephen’s kitchen, and put that ice and coffee mixture into her system in order to function. Given Stephen is ahead of her, Catherine now has to race against time if she has to save Nick from the madman. Quite naturally, she tries calling and texting Robert to warn him about Stephen Brigstocke, which is of no use. In no time, she gets into a cab and heads towards the hospital. I feel the whole arc of Catherine facing so much trouble on the road and finally having to run towards the hospital on foot is the author’s attempt to deliberately bring some drama to the climax. But the way Cuaron handles it, you do get to feel all the anxiety Catherine is going through; that’s some brilliant filmmaking there.
When she reaches the hospital, Catherine sees Robert, who, for the first time in a while, seems to act like the caring husband she has known all these years. He obviously now knows everything and feels both guilty and mortified. He says sorry to Catherine, which is something he truly means. Catherine, still shocked as hell, runs to Nick to check if he’s alright. When she finds out he is indeed unharmed, Catherine is finally relieved. Outside the ICU, she sees Stephen again, who finally apologizes for everything his family has done to Catherine. Stephen, at this point, is beyond any redemption, but the heartfelt apology to Catherine might just save him from eternal damnation.
Meanwhile, after she gathers herself, Catherine has a conversation with Robert, who is still deeply ashamed of how he chose to believe a fictional book over his own wife. It is really commendable that this story doesn’t give Robert a free pass, as Catherine chooses to not forgive him. It’s not that she doesn’t intend to, but forgiving the husband who had no faith in her is a deal-breaker for Catherine, as it should be. The fact that Robert is relieved after knowing that she was raped (instead of having consensual sex) is also something that bothers her. Robert is obviously devastated at the outcome, but he has no other option but to accept. We also need to remember that Catherine did try to tell him the whole story, but it was he who stormed out of the house, refusing to hear her out. If you further think about it, had both the men—Robert and Stephen—listened to what Catherine had to say before, a lot of terrible things could have been avoided, including Nicholas ending up in the hospital in such a state. Lastly, Robert and Catherine’s marriage was not particularly in a good state anyway, so a divorce does seem like a step to the right path.
Disclaimer also doesn’t hesitate to disturb us by revealing another shocking detail: that little Nick did watch what Johnathan did to her mother, as his reflection on a mirror can be seen in one of the photos. He was only five years old, but something like this would leave anyone scarred for life. And it’s only fitting for the audience to know this through Stephen, who is horrified to see that photo back at home. One might wonder why Stephen didn’t notice it before, and the simple answer would be that it was not something that he was looking for. For his entire life, Stephen lived in denial about both his son and wife. Deep down, he had always known what they were, but he chose to ignore so many things (for instance, Sasha breaking up with Jonathan and Nancy going berserk at Sasha’s mother for that) – mainly because of how deeply he loved Nancy. Him finally burning the photos and every single copy of “The Perfect Stranger” is symbolic in a way, as it suggests he is finally free from them. Life is not going to get better for Stephen Brigstocke, but at least on his deathbed, he can tell himself that he did the right thing in the end. The show ends with Catherine and Nicholas, both of whom are recuperating, this time together, from everything. They deserve nothing but good, from this point on.
