Disclaimer
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Nickys asleep because exhaustion is a hallmark of the contented child making core memories is hard work.
Balcony doors are flung open to the salty Mediterranean breeze.
Its the last day in the last place Catherine Ravenscroft will ever live without secrets.
Its an insult that Stephen Brigstocke is the first person to really listen to Catherines awful story.
He is the father of the villain of her life.
Perhaps its for Stephens sake that she chooses to Tarantino her story.
Nancy was right about the drowning, Catherine admits right away.
Catherine fell asleep, and when she woke up, Catherine was paralyzed by her fear of the sea.
I didnt risk my life for my child and that is something I have to live with.
Ten points to Nancy.
But Jonathan did risk his.
No one but Catherine noticed Jonathan struggling in the water at first Nancy was right about that, too.
I didnt do a single thing to help him, Catherine adds tauntingly.
This is the scene you hire Cate Blanchett to play.
By the time Catherine explains to Stephenwhyshe let his boy drown, it feels almost merciful.
But she doesnt approach it as a practiced documentary-maker might as a series of facts presented sequentially.
Putrid smells and bad tastes in her mouth.
Its been twenty years, and she still cant utter it all.
She doesnt describe how he stood at her ear, the blade positioned at her eye, and screamed.
When Jonathan finally pulled out his camera a gift from Mrs. Brigstocke Catherine remembers feeling relief.
Maybe all he wanted was the photos.
Maybe if she did what he asked, hed leave her son alone.
So she put on the red clothes and posed as best she could.
She did what he told her.
Bite your lip, open your legs.
just go now, Catherine asked Jonathan after he dropped his camera.
A mistake, she thinks.
Twenty years later and shes still wondering if theres something she could have done to change it.
He did not go.
Stephens son raped Catherine over and over again for three and a half hours.
When he was finally through, he told her how nice it had been.
Catherine considered phoning the police.
She took photos of her injuries and collected Jonathans semen.
But when Jonathan drowned the next day, Catherine saw another way forward.
She could pretend it never happened.
She could delete the pictures.
She even secretly aborted a much longed for pregnancy, fearing the baby might belong to her rapist.
Its only as she finishes her story that Stephens sleepy time concoction overpowers her.
Catherine falls to the floor; Stephen hovers with a paring knife.
He tells her hes heading to the hospital to end this once and for all.
What must it feel like to be at another Brigstocke mans feet in this way?
Here Catherine is again, unable to stay awake and protect her son.
Stephen is in a taxi; his obstacles are a chatty driver and roadworks.
Theres something about the sound of it that arrests Stephen.
A man begging for his mother becomes a boy again.
Nick reaches out for Catherines hand and finds a perfect stranger instead.
Did Jonathan whisper for his own mum as the sea battered him?
If Stephen kills Nick, what did his son die for?
Does it make more sense to him now?
Is it easier to imagine Jonathan as an atoning predator than as a hero?
There was no affair; there was a rape.
There was no murder; there was something closer to justice.
His son was brave.
His wife was talented.
Why would anyone question it?
But all she cares about is Nicky.
Its okay, her son tells her as she cries.
Hes tender with her.
If episode three gave us Alfonso CuaronsPieta, this is his nativity.
Everyone is born into some new form.
Why didnt you question it?
Robert asks Stephen by way of accusation.
Stephen asks Robert in turn.
Why didnt you trust your wife?
Why was it easier to imagine Catherine as an adultress than to let her speak?
None of it matters to Catherine anyway.
What must it feel like to hug your son for the first time in forever?
But can we know things we dont remember?
Its Nicky, frozen in fear and watching.
Theres a whole causal chain implied by the image, which Cuaron allows to linger.
When Jonathan swam out to the dinghy, Nicky screamed no.
Before I watchedDisclaimer, I read an interview in whichCuaron claimednot to know how to make a TV series.
Seven episodes later, though, I agree with him.Disclaimeris not a very good TV series.
Its plotted like an extra, extra long film.
These could be manifestations of her defensiveness or the instincts of a trauma survivor.
TV also tends to be a bit tidier than film, especially at the end.
Nancys novel kickstarted the events ofDisclaimerbut her name is barely uttered in the series finale.
Remember her version of Jonathan?
How young and timid he was.
What did Nancy understand about her son?
But Nancy didnt show that book to anyone, not even her own husband.
Beware of narrative and form, Cuaron warned us in the series premiere.
In truth, the revenge scheme that nearly ended the life of Nicholas Ravenscroft started with Stephen.
A trained English teacher who over-identified with made-up characters.
Who was unable to distinguish possibility from reality.
Who reduced the world into fallen heroes and secret villains.
Really, we should beware of bad readers.
