Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Fool Me Once.
Julia Robertsdidn’t end up producing and starringinHarlan Coben’s book-to-screen adaptation ofFool Me Once, but the thriller did get developed as a limited series for Netflix. The project just came out on January 1st, kicking off the new year with a suspenseful investigation and a major reveal in the season finale. Coben’s latest series has been one of the most viewed shows on the streaming platform since its release, and with so many twists and turns, there is a lot to unpack. Here is a breakdown of everything that went down after the murderer was identified.
Fool Me Once
Widowed mum Mya is disturbed by an image of her late husband captured on her toddler’s nanny cam.
What Is ‘Fool Me Once’ About?
Before going over what happened in the end, it is important to know what the series is about in the first place.Fool Me Oncefollows ex-soldier Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan), who has seen her fair share of dead bodies in the past few years. After leaving the military when a video of her involvement in the killing of civilians in the war ended up online, Maya also had to mourn the loss of her sister Claire Walker (Natalie Anderson) and her husband, Joe Burkett (Richard Armitage). As she tries to carry on with her life and raise her daughter,the protagonist gets freaked out when looking back at a video from her nanny camera and sees her late husband in it. Unsure of what to believe, Maya goes on a spiral and urges for answers.
In the End, Who Killed Joe and Claire?
Towards the end of the series, the whodunit is finally uncovered. In a conversation with her former military colleague Shane (Emmett J. Scanlan), Maya admits that she had suspicions that Joe had killed Claire after she found out some shocking information about his past and his family’s pharmaceutical empire. Apparently,Joe had a lot of blood in his hands since his high school days, when he killed a classmate and his own brother. Later on, it is revealed that he indeed killed Claire after she found out that the Burkett family was withholding information about the harmful side effects tied to their medical products.
After she confirmed that her sister’s death wasn’t a robbery gone wrong,Maya grabbed her gun (the one she didn’t show to the police investigating the case) and killed Joe at the park. Since there were bike riders stealing people in the park that night, Maya told the police that they were responsible for her husband’s death. Although the nanny cam video did confuse her about whether she had killed Joe, Maya later discovers that her nanny andthe nanny’s partner used deepfake technology to fool her. They did this as a way for Maya’s mother-in-law (Judith played byJoanna Lumley) to finally get the chance to prove her suspicions about the protagonist were correct.
Every Harlan Coben Netflix Show (So Far), Ranked
The master of mystery has had eight Netflix adaptations so far, with more on the way.
What Happens to Maya After the Truth Comes Out?
Now that the police are finally aware that Maya killed Joe, Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce (Adeel Akhtar) catches up to her. Instead of simply arresting Maya,the detective lets her finally tell him the whole truth about that night and gives her a last opportunity to collaboratein exposing the Burkett family once and for all. With not a lot of time on her hands, the main character gets inside her in-laws' household and confronts them about the secrets and lies they’ve been hiding for years. She reveals to them that she did kill Joe, only to avenge her sister’s death. Maya also says that even though they struggle to believe that Joe was a terrible person,he did kill his own brother without remorse, along with his former classmate, and Tommy Dark(the person who operated the boat the day that Joe killed Andrew).
Unable to believe in her and fearful that Maya’s revelations could harm the success of their pharmaceutical company, Joe’s brother Neil (James Northcote) aims a gun at her and shoots her in cold blood. Although they momentarily think that they’ve dodged a bullet when it comes to their family being involved in a scandal,the Burkett’s find out that their whole interaction with Maya was livestreamed online via a nanny camerathat the protagonist purposefully installed in their living room prior to her death.
Did Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce Recover From His Illness?
After finding out the truth about the medicine distributed by the Burkett company, Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce finally connects the dots about his own health struggles. Ever since he began to take the pills fabricated by the family’s pharmaceutical business,the detective had been having fatal side effects from the medication. Throughout the investigation, he was passing out and hallucinating about his dead fiancée at various moments, leading him to believe that he would never get to marry his newfound love Molly (Clara Indrani) or see their unborn child grow up. The very thought that his life was on the line made the detective consider suicide as an option halfway through the series. However,18 years later, he shows up looking healthier and happier than ever as he goes to meet Maya’s daughterat the hospital. Maybe after he quit taking the medication, the side effects stopped, and he no longer had to fear for his own life.
Sami Kierce’s visit to the hospital at the end not only showed viewers that his health was in check, but that he still maintained contact with Maya’s family after her death. As he chats with Maya’s brother-in-law Eddie (Marcus Garvey) about her passing, it is clear that the detective still reminisces about her. At the end, we see him visit Lily (Maya’s daughter), who just had a baby.Years after what happened to her mother, she decides to name her newborn child Maya.
After watchingFool Me Once, watch other Harlan Coben onscreen adaptations on Netflix in the link below.
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