“Disclaimer” Finale Recap: Episode 7

When Catherine refutes this report, she points out that Stephen’s late wife Nancy wrote the book based on a series of photographs – but she invented everything else. In one of the pictures in question, Catherine poses in lingerie. Nancy assumed she had willingly posed for Jonathan, but in reality he had held Catherine at knifepoint.

That evening, Jonathan – who had been stalking Catherine from afar – broke into her room. He threatened to harm her and her son if she didn’t do exactly what he said. So when he forced her to strip down to her underwear, she listened – and when he started taking photos, she complied. She feared Jonathan and the idea that her son might wake up and find himself in more danger. “I did exactly what he asked,” Catherine tells Stephen, “in the hope that he would be satisfied…that he would leave.”

But he didn’t. Jonathan then sexually abused Catherine for three and a half hours. As Stephen listens to her story, his expression changes from shock to defiance. Although his son has a track record of bad behavior, Stephen is unwilling to accept that he has become the father of such a monstrous person.

Stephen accuses Catherine of lying and is horrified to learn that she photographed her injuries and took a sample of Jonathan’s sperm. She had planned to report the crime, but then Jonathan died, so she destroyed the evidence. Later, back home in London, Catherine discovered she was pregnant – but suspecting the father was Jonathan, she had an abortion.

Nancy Was I’m right in thinking that Catherine let Stephen die. But her supposed motivation was completely wrong. Catherine didn’t call for help because she didn’t want to help her attacker. He dove into the water to look like a hero, but as she says, “The sea wasn’t on his side.” Just as Catherine finishes speaking, the sedative takes effect and she falls to the ground.

The fight between Stephen and Catherine is finally over.

Stephen goes to the hospital

With Catherine incapacitated, Stephen goes to the hospital to kill Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). You’d think the man would take a second to think about what he heard, but no – deception, denial and pain have completely taken over. Murder is still on the agenda. Somehow he manages to sneak past the reception and go straight to Nicholas. There’s just one problem: he’s awake. When Nicholas had a cold, Stephen felt less guilty about injecting Drano into his IV. But now that he’s conscious, the idea of ​​killing him isn’t entirely right. Needless to say, Stephen is so far away.

Nevertheless, he tries to kill Nicholas. When Stephen has the poisoned syringe ready, Nicholas mistakes him for his mother and grabs his hand. When Nicholas realizes he’s dealing with a man who wants to murder him, he delivers the hundredth punch in the gut of the episode – he asks Stephen to finish the job. It’s what brings him to his senses. He puts the bottle away and decides to finally leave the boy alone.

On the way out, Stephen meets Nicholas’ father Robert and apologizes. “I was wrong about everything,” he says. Meanwhile, Catherine wakes up, drinks a coffee and rushes to the hospital. When she arrives, Stephen apologizes again – and Catherine mistakenly believes Nicholas is dead. She falls to the ground in sadness. Moments later, when she learns that Nicholas is actually alive, she runs straight towards him, leaving Stephen and Robert behind.

Karma is coming for Robert

Robert scolds Stephen for refusing to verify the book’s claims before sending it out. It happens off-screen, but it appears that Stephen told him that Nancy’s story was false. “Why didn’t you question it?” Robert demands. Then comes the nail in the coffin. “Why not? You“Stephen replies.

All the while, Robert never once believed that his wife was innocent. He was too distracted by the idea of ​​her cheating on him to even ask what had happened. After checking to see if Nicholas is really okay, Catherine finally has an honest conversation with Robert – even if he doesn’t deserve it. “I didn’t want you to see me differently,” she says. “I didn’t want you to think about that every time you looked at me.”

Robert apologizes repeatedly, but it’s too late. Your marriage is over. “I know I should forgive you, but the truth is, I can’t,” Catherine says. “You can handle the idea of ​​me being hurt by someone far easier than the idea of ​​someone giving me pleasure. It’s almost like you’re relieved that I was raped. I don’t know how to forgive this.”

Stephen’s photographs

When Stephen comes home from the hospital, he makes a fire and burns every specimen The perfect strangeralong with his wedding ring and his wife’s sweater. While he does that, Disclaimer*‘S The omniscient narrator speaks to him. “You always knew that Nancy was dressing Jonathan up to be someone he wasn’t, and you cooperated with her, ignoring all the clues that should have worried you about him,” the voice says. “Your only defense is that you did it out of love, but that’s not much of a defense.”