The Pale Blue Eye | Ending Explained

Publicado el por Carlos Mario Castro

One of the cadets of the most prestigious military academy in the early years of the United States is found hanged and his heart has been removed from his body. A renown detective is asked to investigate the case and searching for clues, he finds a young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe who has his own theories about the murder. Who is the killer? Are more murders on the way? What would Edgar Allan Poe would find at the end? Who are the victims and who are the victimizers?

Netflix new original movie The Pale Blue Eye is a slow-burning thriller mixing drama, family secrets, macabre murders and of course, Christian Bale. But, without further ado, we we’ll take a closer look into The Pale Blue Eye – specially the ending. Let’s start now!

1 ^ Is the Academy Crimes based on a true story?

Although the story takes place in a real place, such as the West Point Military Academy, in New York, and includes the presence of cadet Edgar Allan Poe in 1830, which was also a checked fact, The Pale Blue Eye is not based on a true story. In fact, detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) is a totally fictional character invented by writer Louis Bayard.

Of course, the film is based on the homonymous book by Louis Bayard that makes a fictitious recapitulation of the permanence of the famous American writer Edgar Allan Poe in the military academy, incorporating an invented explanation of some of his poems and stories. Including the writer’s thematic relationship with death.

2 ^ Who is killed in The Pale Blue Eye?

During the film, two cadets are assassinated: the first, cadet Leroy Fry, who appears hanged, and heartless. And later, cadet Randolph Ballinger appears, under the same circumstances. The mystery of the first part of the film revolves around the death of Leroy Fry, and why he was killed. And in the second part the mystery is further developed, when a second cadet appears dead.

3 ^ Why was Augustus Landor hired to investigate the murders? What does Edgar Allan Poe have to do with these murders?

Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) was a renowned detective, famed for solving several high-profile murders in the East Coast area of ​​the United States. Now, when a cadet from the United States’ most prestigious military academy is found dead, the heads of the Academy turned to Landor in hopes that he could quickly solve the mystery and restore the institution’s pristine prestige.

Now, when Landor began to investigate the academy, he found that Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), one of his cadets, had a privileged position: 1) he had known the victim, 2) he knew the main suspects, his classmates in the academy, and 3) he was an intelligent and insightful subject, but at the same time innocent and impressionable. So Landor decided to bring him in as an assistant in his research.

4 ^ Who is the killer in The Pale Blue Eye? Who killed Leroy Fry and Randolph Ballinger?

The killer in The Academy Murders is Augustus Landor himself. The point is that Mattie – Landor’s teenage daughter – had committed suicide months before, unable to live with the shame and stain of having been raped by three guys, one night on the way back to her house. Although Mattie could see that there were three men, she could not identify them, except for a medal that she managed to wrest from one of the rapists.

To avoid embarrassment over the memory of his deceased daughter, Landor went for the first rapist he had identified: Leroy Fry. Landor faked a scene of an alleged suicide, to avoid suspicion, and attacked Fry, unable to extract the names of the other two rapists. For Landor it would have been the end of his plan, except for the fact that someone later ripped out the heart of Fry’s corpse and sought him out to investigate the murder he himself committed.

From there, Landor not only revealed the details that verified that Fry had been murdered, but also sought to identify the people who stole the heart, to blame them for the fact. With the investigation ongoing, Landor obtained Fry’s journal, which helped him identify the second rapist: Randolph Ballinger. To associate the deaths with a satanic cult, Landor slaughtered several animals and removed their hearts; later doing the same job with Ballinger, from whom he extracted the name of the third rapist: Cadet Stoddard.

5 ^ Did Landor kill Stoddard?

Although Landor told Edgar that he had not killed Stoddard, and that he only expected him to run for the rest of his life, it is most likely that he did indeed kill him. The person who claimed that Stoddard had fled, since he did not find his clothes in his room, was Landor himself, and we already know that he has the ample capacity to lie without any problem, specially related to the rapists of his daughter. Landor simply lied to Edgar because he wanted to prevent the young man from accusing him and ending up in jail.

6 ^ What’s the meaning of the final scene of the movie? Did Landor commit suicide?

The strongest evidence that Landor did murder Stoddard is that at the end, on the precipice where his daughter committed suicide, he let go of the lace on her dress, ending his revenge. And the fact that he didn’t confess to Edgar, and that he had occasional relationships with Patsy, indicates that although he was hurt, he wasn’t affected to the level of wanting to end his life. He wanted justice and he got it, now it was time to move on. It would be interesting to see a sequel to this movie, with Landor investigating new murders.

7 ^ And what did the Marquis Family – Lea, Artemus, Daniel and Julia – have to do with these murders?

Oddly enough, the Marquis did not murder anyone during the course of the movie. If they are guilty of anything, it is desecration of corpses and the attempted murder of Edgar Allan Poe.

Lea (Lucy Boynton) was pursued by several of her brother’s friends, including Fry and Ballinger. In fact, it was Fry’s interest in Lea that Landor took advantage of to lure him to the place where he murdered him, forging a note on her part. Upon seeing Fry’s hanged corpse, Artemus (Harry Lawtey) and Lea, with the help of Julia (Gillian Anderson), removed the cadet’s heart and saved it for a specific ritual, in order to cure Lea’s epilepsy.

In fact, Doctor Marquis (Toby Jones), had diagnosed his daughter, and had tried every possible treatment to cure her, without any success. So when Lea claimed to have contacted Henri Leclerc, her great-great-grandfather, and pointed out the existence of the Discours du Diable, a treatise on demonic rites, and actually began to feel better by sacrificing animals, he decided to just turn a blind eye. and let his wife and kids do whatever to help her.

With Fry’s heart, the only thing missing was a human sacrifice, someone who sincerely loved Lea, and the one was Edgar Allan Poe. Had it not been for Landor’s intervention, the Marquis would have murdered Edgar.

8 ^ What happened to the Marquis Family?

Lea and Artemus died in the fire that Lea accidentally started when the ritual was interrupted by Landor. Justice determined that Julia and Daniel had enough punishment with the death of their two children and that public ridicule would be enough for them. In the end, the murders of Fry and Ballinger ended up being charged to Lea and Artemus, who, being dead, could not refute any of the above. And finally Julia was unaware of everything that her two children had done in their entirety to achieve her purpose, so she couldn’t refute either.

9 ^ What does the original title of the film mean? What is the message of The Pale Blue Eye?

Down, Down, Down

Came the hot threshing flurry

Ill at heart, I beseeched to hurry

«Lenore» She forebore the reply

Endless night caught her then in its slurry

Shrouding all, but her pale blue eye

Darkest night, black with hell

Charneled fury

Leaving only that deathly blue eye

The title of the film refers to this poem, which is completely fictional, and which appears in the book as well. The pale blue eye, in the poem, refers to the moon, the only flimsy hope in the midst of a fierce storm. Edgar assumed that Lea needed help, and that he could be that pale blue eye. And Lea took it literally, choosing Edgar as her final sacrifice.

In the book, Landor is depicted as a man with cold, piercing blue eyes, but in the movie that is not the case, as Christian Bale has hazel brown eyes. Now, if there is any message that this film has, it is that having the willingness to go to the last consequences to achieve a goal has precisely that: consequences. Landor risked his career, and his reputation, on the will of Edgar Allan Poe, to get revenge on the rapists of his daughter. The Marquis Family lost everything, wanting to pact with the devil for Lea’s health. And Edgar was about to lose his life, for trying to get Lea’s love.

Although having an objective and a goal in life is important, obsession, not leaving the past behind, and wanting to go against what logic indicates, always brings disastrous consequences, which even lead to losing control of your own destiny.

Questions? Annotations? More doubts? The comments section is open just below this post so feel free to use it. See you in the next installment of Ending Explained here at El Sabanero X.

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7 Women and a Murder | Ending Explained

Publicado el por Carlos Mario Castro

After all the buzz around Glass Onion – Knives Out 2 – suddenly Murder Misteries are definitely trending, and Netflix is more that eager to monetize on that. So, just a week after the second Benoit Blanc’s adventure, another mistery is new on Netflix, this time coming from Italy. And the name cannot be more descriptive: 7 Women and Mistery.

But now, if in the middle of the seven women, the faceless dead body, the numerous secrets, and the not that surprising twist you got kind of confused, do not worry. Without further ado, we we’ll take a closer look into 7 Women and Mistery – specially the ending. Let’s start now!

1 ^ Who are the seven women? What are their names? How are they connected to each other?

The seven women are all connected through their relationship with Marcello, the head of the family, and owner of the beautiful italian mannor where all the action takes place. Now, let’s see who the women are.

Margherita (Margherita Buy): Margherita is Marcello’s wife and mother to Sussana and Caterina. She’s also Agostina’s sister and Rachele’s daughter.

Rachele (Ornella Vanoni): Rachele is Marcello’s mother-in-law. She’s mother to Margherita and Agostina. Also, she’s Susanna and Caterina’s grandmother.

Maria (Luisa Ranieri): Maria is the housemaid and later revealed to be Marcello’s secret lover.

Susanna (Diana del Buffalo): Susanna is Marcello and Margherita’s oldest daughter. She’s Caterina’s sister and Rachele’s granddaughter. She is single.

Agostina (Sabrina Impracciatore): Agostina is Marcello’s sister-in-law. She’s Rachele’s daughter, Margherita’s sister and aunt to Susanna and Caterina.

Caterina (Benedetta Porcaroli): Caterina is Marcello and Margherita’s youngest daughter. She’s Susanna’s sister and Rachele’s granddaughter. She’s single too.

Veronica (Micaela Ramazzoti): Veronica is Marcello’s friend. Veronica’s grandmother sold the house where Marcello raised his family.

2 ^ Who killed Marcello?

None killed Marcello, he was pretending to be dead so he could actually see how the women in his life would react to the news of his passing. Thing is, Marcello was about to change his will, and he needed to be sure how to distribute his money and goods fairly. That’s why he conviced Caterina to help him to fake his death, so he could hear what the women were saying.

3 ^ What were the secrets of the 7 women? What were the reasons to kill him?

Margherita‘s secret is that she was leaving the house and his husband to find a happier life with her lover. Since she wanted to be free, she was a suspect of his husband’s death, but later it was revealed that she did not want Marcello’s money.

Rachele‘s secrets were two actually. 1) She could actually walk, and 2) She refused to give up her business shares to Marcello. She was a suspect precisely because Marcello wanted those shares, and Rachele could react badly to this.

Maria‘s secret was that she was Marcello’s secret lover. She was a suspect because she was the new person in the house and later, because of his clandestine relationship with Marcello, and that maybe she was not taking well the fact Marcello did not included her name in his will.

Susanna‘s secret is that she was pregnant an since she was single. She was a suspect because maybe she wanted a bigger cut of his father wealth, because there was no man to support her. And that’s the same reason why she would want him alive.

Agostina‘s secret and main reason to be a suspect of Marcello’s death was the nature of her feelings towards tha man. Agostina was in love with Marcello, and since he was always pushing her away, that might have caused to feel angry enough to kill him.

Caterina‘s secret was that she was actually helping Marcello to fake his death. Caterina was the most obvious suspect of his father’s murder, because she might have felt pushed back in the will intentions of his father by literally everyone. For instance, she would have lose a nice cut because of Susanna’s baby, and because of Veronica and Maria’s influence on him.

Veronica‘s secret was that she needed money to come back to Paris, and that she actually have asked Marcello this money. She was a clear suspect, because she was the last one to show up in the house, and later because her interest in Marcello’s money.

4 ^ What happened to Marcello at the end of the film? Did he kill himself?

At the end of the film, Marcello was found dead outside, under the balcony of his bedroom. And no, none killed him, he killed himself. To summarize, Maria have taken a look at Marcello in his bedroom when they were outside trying to leave the state. When they all got inside, Margherita and Veronica were making out, and the other women were gathering. Now, you might think Maria could actually, very quickly, go upstairs and kill Marcello, but we have to remember Caterina had the only key with her.

Two things could happen at the end, Marcello could slip when he was taking some fresh air. Or he simply couldn’t stand his financial failure while so many people, the seven women, were depending on him.

What do you think about Marcello’s real death? Accidental or Perpetrated?

Questions? Annotations? More doubts? The comments section is open just below this post so feel free to use it. See you in the next installment of Ending Explained here at El Sabanero X.

The Lost Patient ^ 10 Clues Anna Kieffer is the Real Killer

Publicado el por Carlos Mario Castro

You just watched The Lost Patient and you have already made up your mind about who the killer is? Not so fast, baby. Yes, this french movie is pretty straightforward about the identity of the killer of the Grimauds (Betty, Marc and Dylan), thing is that it’s maybe pretty crystal clear from a story seen from the perspective of a mentally disturbed man.

By the time we see the credits rolling, it seems to be quite clear that Thomas Grimaud is the killer. He murdered his parents and his cousin in a psychotic break, after his parents decided to move Dylan to Laura’s bedroom. A bedroom that was off-limits for Thomas, who was sent to sleep in the basement since he was a baby. But all this is a very elaborated hoax: Thomas did not kill his family. Anna Kieffer did. And here are all the clues we missed.

1 ^ The Hood in the Shadows

First things first. The first hallucination Thomas got to see was the Hood in the Shadows, it’s a reaction of his self-preservation instinct. It was a red flag that this person was dangerous. In fact, one of the first connections Thomas made was that the Hood in the Shadows was in fact his mother’s lover, the one who used to stalk the house and call several times a day.

The fisr clue that something off is going on, is that after pointing that this person was really dangerous, the story was dropped, once Anna started to work on Thomas’ mind.

2 ^ «Don’t try to force your memory»

When Anna was about to leave the first we see her, she insists that Thomas should not try to remember anything, unless she’s there. Even when you see this as a nice advice to recover better, at the end of the movie, Anna herself decides now it’s a good time to force Thomas memory, just before the police decides it’s time for him to talk about what happened the night of the murders. Funny, huh.

3 ^ Dad was killed first

Taking a look at the crime scene, it is clear that Marc, Thomas’ father was killed first. He was just staying in the couch, watching TV, and then Betty and Dylan were close to Marc’s father. If Thomas was so angry, the priority list is wrong. According to broken memories of Thomas, it was his mother, Betty the one that used to be really cold and distant with him, to the point to trash every single gift from him. Then it’s Dylan was was getting everything Thomas was denied to, including his sister’s bedroom. Marc was the only one who seemed to feel some kind of respect towards Thomas, so it wouldn’t be a logic first choice to kill.

But, on the other hand, Marc would have been the first choice of Betty’s lover, the one Thomas remembered stalking the house and calling all day long, in an obsessive and dangerous behaviour. And going on with this, Marc’s killer had to kill Betty and Dylan because they saw who was responsible.

4 ^ Baby’s Memories

Now, one of the weirdest scenes in the movie is when Thomas could actually see his parents ignoring him as a baby. I don’t have to be a genius to notice that it was impossible for Thomas to remember that episode, because in fact he was a baby. So, this is proof that not everything that Thomas remember is true, and that someone is actually manipulating his memories. In fact, the whole «Your parents were assholes» storyline, may just be a very calculated attempt to neutralize Thomas, by breaking his psyche.

5 ^ Why did he come back?

And to add to the mountain of plot holes in the «My parents hated me» story is how is Thomas connected to the hood figure. I mean, Thomas killed three people and he just decides to wear a raincoat, and leave the house, just to come back later and stabbing a knife in his belly. This feels more like a desperate attempt of Anna to convince Thomas he was the hooded shadow and not her.

6 «Pardon him while you’re at it»

When Anna was talking to the nurse close to the end of the movie, he mentions that Anna needs to pardon him, why would she do that? What did Thomas did to Anna for the nurse to mention that. It seems the nurse and Anna actually know each other, enough for the nurse to be the eyes and ears in the hospital. The only thing that Thomas have done to hurt anyone, according to the nurse, is killing three people, and the only people that could be in need to pardon him are Dylan’s mother and Betty’s lover.

Anna is not Dylan’s mother, so we can actually conclude that Anna was in fact Betty’s lover.

7 ^ «I’m sorry, Thomas»

At the end of the movie, we see Thomas has fallen in a catatonic state after realizing that he was the killer of his parents and his own cousin. We see Anna reaching his bed and she tells him that she’s sorry. If Anna was actually just there to help Thomas, she would have realized that he just was crushed by the weight of his guilt, but it seems that she’s sorry she had to break his mind in order to save herself

8 ^ What is Anna doing to Thomas?

Thomas mind is really fragile after three years in comma. But he seems to remembers key things of his past, specially the hood figure, and the stalking. But once he gets his sessions with Anna, all of this disappears and the storyline about how cruel his parents were to him takes over.

Also, the way Thomas remembers doesn’t feel natural at all, in fact is like Anna is hypnotizing, to the point even Thomas suspects she’s just getting things in his mind. We already talked about the memory of him being rejected by his parents when he was a baby, but another interesting scene is when he sees the hood shadow from the window, and he’s taken out of that memory to another. Just like if Anna was not interested in Thomas to remember the hood shadow just yet.

9 ^ The Rings

And the proof that Anna is actually guilty is her rings. Yes ringssss, Anna wears two rings. And it’s funny that Thomas remembers his mother’s ring when he sees Anna’s. It’s not like the rings were special or anything, because they seem quite unremarkable, but it’s interesting he connects the memory. If you ask me, the night of the murders, Anna took Betty’s ring as a way to remember her. If one of Anna’s rings happen to be Betty’s, that’s the unrefutable proof she is the real killer.

10 ^ What really happen the night of the Grimaud’s murders?

This is my theory: Anna Kieffer and Betty Grimaud were having an affair that Betty decided to drop to save her marriage. Anna become obsessed with the idea of getting Betty back and she started to stalk the house. When Betty stopped answering her calls, she decided it was time to take action and kill Marc, thing is Betty actually saw her doing it and she had to kill her, here Anna lose focus and she takes the ring to remember her, but Dylan sees her, Anna misses the shot and she has to strangle Dylan, but now has no bullets.

When Thomas saw what was going on, Anna could not kill him because her gun was empty, Thomas actually used a knife and he got to hurt Anna in her leg (that’s why she has a limp), and proceeded to strangle her, but Anna could reach the knife and could stab him in the belly and leave the house, asking for help.

Anna thought everyone in the house was dead, until she found out later that Thomas was in a comma, maybe she didn’t see a reason to finish the job, but she asked the nurse to inform her if Thomas got to wake up. The nurse probably demanded to know the reason, and here is when she confesses she was Betty’s lover.

Once Thomas is out comma, Anna immediatly gets to the hospital and uses hypnosis to break Thomas mind, preventing from remembering what really happened the night of the murders, and creating new memories, to render him catatonic at the end, so there was no way to connect her to the murders. The new memories she created were that in fact Thomas was the one to kill Betty, Marc and Dylan, fabricating a story of abandonment, joulousy and violence. Probably using information she got from Betty herself.

At the end she wins, but still feels responsible for Thomas’ care. After all it was his broken mind that allowed her to get away with murder.

The Chalk Line, Ending Explained

Publicado el por Carlos Mario Castro

The Chalk Line – one of the 2022 Halloween Season additions to Netflix’ library – is surprisingly a very refreshing film. Mixing terror and some psychological suspense in a very unexplored way for today’s standards, it truly keeps the viewer on the edge. Now if you really want to explore what was behind all the crimes that are knitted in this movie, don’t worry, we we’ll explain this movie and its ending in really good detail starting right now.

What is Paula injecting herself in the bathroom? Why doesn’t she want Simón to know?

Paula (Elena Anaya) injects herself with a hormonal treatment to be able to get pregnant. Paula does not want Simón (Pablo Molinero) to know that she is following this treatment, because for years they both underwent strong rounds of treatment to be able to conceive a child together, however, the stress and anxiety for the treatment to work caused strong conflicts in the couple, who finally decided to take a break before deciding whether or not they would try again.

Paula did not want to wait for the deadline to decide, and she took the risk of continuing with the treatment on her own, hiding from Simón, so as not to generate an additional conflict for not meeting the deadline.

Who are Clara’s parents? Did Eduardo kidnap her?

The plot of the film begins when Paula and her husband Simón find Clara (Eva Tennear). Clara is the daughter of Ingrid Morand and Eduardo Olivares (Carlos Santos), the neighbor and friend of Paula and Simón. And no, Eduardo did not kidnap Clara. Eduardo kidnapped Clara’s mother, Ingrid.

Who is Ingrid Morand?

Ingrid Morand was a teenager who spent vacations with her parents Klara and Christian Morand in Spain, in June 2011. There, in an oversight of her parents, she was kidnapped by Eduardo Olivares, who transported her to the outskirts of Madrid, where he not only kept her captive , but subjected her to cruel torture, sexual abuse, hunger and thirst. What Eduardo did not count on was that Ingrid was going to get pregnant, Eduardo allowed Ingrid to have her daughter, and to accompany her, not out of pity for her, but as one more way to control her.

However, shortly before the events with which the film begins, Ingrid dies in Eduardo’s basement, as a result of the terrible mistreatment to which he subjected her, and to a failure of her organs, specifically her kidneys. Clara remained alone in the basement.

Where did Eduardo leave Ingrid’s corpse?

Eduardo left Ingrid’s body in Bayonne, in France, so he had to have crossed the border with the body. Probably to prevent the local police from intervening, and to keep himself safe.

What was Eduardo doing in the basement?

With Ingrid, we already know that Eduardo subjected her to cruel treatment, including torture and sexual abuse. As for Clara, it is evident that she had a different approach. Basically, with Clara, he maintained a strict relationship of control, which when it failed, triggered strong physical punishment. According to the medical opinion, Clara indeed has serious physical problems, but she was not sexually abused.

Why can’t Clara get out of the chalk? How was she able to run away from the house?

Burrhus Frederick Skinner carried out experiments that proved that humans can also be operantly conditioned, in the same way that dogs sit or stand if they are given a kibble, and hear a whistle, or a code word. Eduardo surely did experiments to reach those results with Clara. The conditioning was simple, if she stayed inside the chalk she received rewards, if she got out,she suffered monstrous punishments.

Now, Eduardo knew very well how to get her out from the chalk without driving her mad, he would simply cover her eyes, thus mantaining the conditioning and taking her out without any problems. Paula herself did something similar when he took her to her house, using a blanket so she wouldn’t see.

Why did Clara have kidney problems?

As happened with her mother, the subjection to cruel treatment (blows, burns, and mechanical suffocation) takes the body to a critical limit that triggers a drop in blood pressure, which eventually triggers organ failure, where kidneys are the first to fail.

In Clara’s case, being so young and being exposed to Eduardo’s torture for so long, her body began to develop those problems. However, apparently, Clara’s problems were not irreversible, because shortly after she stayed with Paula and Simón, she began to improve remarkably.

Why did Eduardo leave Clara on the highway?

Eduardo left Clara on the highway because Clara was showing the same signs of kidney failure that took the life of her mother, Ingrid. Eduardo, knowing how much control he had over Clara, considered it convenient for the girl to receive medical help, without him being suspicious, so he organized everything about so someone would find her on the road. Surely Eduardo knew that Paula and Simón were crossing that point at that time and he tried to get someone he knew to find her to keep informed of her and eventually get the girl back. For her peace of mind, not only did she obtain information about Clara’s whereabouts, but Paula and Simón took her to live with him.

Did Maite betray Eduardo? Why didn’t she give him up when he was in the basement?

Maité betrayed Eduardo because basically it was the only way to get rid of his control and mistreatment, but even more so to protect her own children from their father’s cruelty. Now, the reason why Maite simply did not allow Eduardo to stay in the basement until the police arrived is that there had to be sufficient proof, through Eduardo, that he committed the crimes, and that the prosecution would be overwhelming.

What happened to Paula and Clara at the end?

At the end of the film we see that after Clara and Paula were rescued, Clara was taken with her grandmother Klara to Hamburg, Germany, where she was finally able to lead a normal life, physically healed and now clearly far from the trauma of her birth, and especially the chalk. Paula, despite having received a horrible wound to her collarbone, did not have fatal consequences to the point that she was finally able to get pregnant and start a new life in Madrid together with Simón.

Questions? Annotations? More doubts? The comments section is open just below this post so feel free to use it. See you in the next installment of Ending Explained here at El Sabanero X.

Where the Crawdads Sing ^ Kya didn’t kill Chase Andrews – Here’s Why

Publicado el por Carlos Mario Castro

Let’s go straight to the point. The ending of Where the Crawdads Sing is very straightforward, isn’t it? After years of hiding the truth about the murder of Chase Andrews, Kya finally dies peacefully on her boat, in the middle of the North Carolina marsh and her husband and real and true love – Tate Walker – finds a secret book, where the only piece of evidence of the murder has been hidden: the shell necklace Chase was wearing the same day he was killed.

But maybe that’s not the case. Have you ever thought that Tate’s face when he finds the necklace is not a «OMG, my wife is a killer» face, but maybe a «Geez, all this time my wife was keeping the evidence against me» face? Well if you don’t follow me until this point, let me explain a little.

But first things first. In the novel, in the book, Kya does kill Chase Andrews and when Tate finds the necklace, he also finds a lengthy poem where she beautifully describes every single detail of the murder. But in the movie is not the same.

In the movie, when Old Tate finds the necklace, we do not see any poem or description of the murder itself, and what we actually see is like a short dissertation about morality. Of course, Kya participated in Chase’s murder, but she didn’t committed. Or at least, she didn’t do it only by herself.

Let’s move back in time. The night Tate finds Kya scared outside her house, after Chase tried to rape her, Kya remarks she do not want to live in fear, like her mother. We are compelled to believe that Tate just stop the conversation there and left. But, the rest of this conversation is the key for everything.

Kya knows the «good» people of Barkley Cove and she knows if anything might happen to Chase, she will be the perfect suspect. So the plan she makes up with Tate is quite simple. While Tate murders Chase, she will act like she was guilty, just to reveal later she had a very sound alibi: being outside the town with no possibility of a quick return to find Chase and kill him.

The big question is if Tate was actually on board with this plan at first. After all, if for some reason Kya was found guilty, she would end up in jail. So, this is where the shell necklace comes to place. Tate agreed with the plan because he already owned Kya, and he wanted her back, but in the remote case she was found guilty, the only thing Tate needed to do was to reveal the necklace he took from Chase the night he killed him, in the fire tower, and this way Kya would not go to jail.

After Kya was found Not Guilty for the murder of Chase Andrews, Tate returned the necklace to Kya and she promised to get rid of it. Now, the surprise on Old Tate’s at the end of the movie was that Kya actually did not get rid of the necklace, but she chose to hide it in that secret book with some words about morality.

Kya actually got rid of her predator, but she did not do it alone, and this way she made sure Tate would not just leave her once again, like he once did.

If you ask me why the movie just hinted this explanation, I would say that Delia Owens – author of the novel – insisted so much to respect the ending of the story, that it was contractually impossible to show on screen somebody else besides Kya actually killing Chase. But, fun fact, we do not see Kya killing Chase on screen either. What we see in the movie is Tom Milton building a very strong case, and he makes abundantly clear it was impossible for Kya to kill a man, and cover her prints in just one hour.

Do you agree with theory? Comments below!