Disclaimer – Season 1 Episode 7 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

VII

Episode 7 of Disclaimer begins this finale in the past. A young Catherine heads back to her room, and admits that she’s not really missed Robert that much. She slipped into being a mother so effortlessly and felt satisfied from a simple day with her son. Catherine wonders if this is the last time she was truly happy, with the other moments simply being pretend.

That day, she could barely move but they went to the beach and on the way, after drinking that night and “drained” from sleeping with Jonathan, she bought him a dinghy. She woke up feeling the sand on her and knew something was wrong. The sea was rough but Nicholas was smiling. With the boat getting further out, she scrambled into the water but as it reached her chest, she froze and believed she’d drown. However, she was consumed with guilt since she didn’t go out herself.

Jonathan ran out to help him and pulled Nicholas back, saving him. However, when two lifeguards came and saved Nicholas, they believed Jonathan was okay and left him in the water. Catherine did see him struggling in the waves but didn’t do anything about it. Catherine was frightened ever since but Nicholas never mentioned it once.

What happened the night before Jonathan’s death?

It all comes back to these photographs, and here we understand what happened. At least, from Catherine’s perspective at least. She claims to have left the key in the door and next thing she knows, Jonathan was in with a knife. She can still smell his aftershave and the reason she felt pain is because she was hurt.

Jonathan cut his own arm and forced Catherine to taste his blood. While threatening her with a knife and smacking Catherine in the mouth, he forced her to put Nicholas back to bed again. The pictures were done while being forced to by Jonathan, with him making her put on underwear that Robert bought. She did exactly what he asked her to, resulting in him ejaculating inside his shorts.

Catherine was terrified and eventually he sexually abused her. 3 and a half hours she went through this, and it also explains why she struggled to wake up in the morning. Jonathan finishes by retorting “that was nice”, which really sealed the deal, so when he drowned, the only thing Catherine felt was relief and walked away.

How does Stephen react to the news?

Stephen though is not sure this is true, until Catherine brings up she has evidence, where he ejaculated inside her, and photos of all the bruises too. She did all of this to save herself and not relive the horror of it. Only, Stephen obviously brought all of this back to the surface again. She ended up pregnant when she got back, and not wanting it to be Jonathan’s, she decided to have an abortion.

However, Catherine suddenly starts to spiral and collapses on the ground. It turns out the pills that Stephen crushed up in episode 7 was actually for her, and while Catherine remains incapacitated on the floor, Stephen gets a taxi to the hospital. There, Nicholas awakens and seems to be okay.

As for Catherine, she eventually awakens and gets a cab to the hospital too. But not before having a massive jug of coffee to try and wake up. She texts Robert and tells him he needs to be careful of Stephen, but he simply scoffs at it. Unfortunately for him, Stephen is already there and he heads up to see Nicholas with murderous intent.

Does Stephen kill Nicholas?

The syringe shaking in his hand, Stephen looks set to kill Nicholas but when he hears Nick call out “mum” he stops. Instead, he holds Nicholas’ hand and watches as he cries. This, in turn, makes Stephen cry as all the pain and anguish built up comes out and he decides not to do this. He walks away, apologizing to Robert and telling him he was wrong about everything.

Instead of destroying their lives any more, Stephen decides to try and mend the bridges he burned. Catherine races into the ward and finds Nicholas still alive. Robert also apologizes for getting everything so wrong. Stephen explains that he only found out the truth now, hence why he never said anything before. But we’ve seen signs of Jonathan being this way, given how Sasha’s mum reacted. It’s clear Jonathan did something to her that caused her to leave.

When Robert questions Stephen about his son, wondering why he didn’t know what he was capable of, Stephen turns it around and asks the same thing about Nicholas.

While the family try to get their life back together again, Stephen burns everything belonging to Nancy. All the pictures of the pair together, her pink cardigan and everything else. He ignored all the clues from the past, realizing that he was deluded into believing these lies. However, one of the photos from Italy shows that Nicholas was awake while Jonathan had his way with Catherine.

How does Disclaimer end?

Back at the hospital, Robert apologizes to Catherine, pointing out he had no idea. She never told him because she didn’t want it to enter their lives and she tried to shield him from everything. Catherine didn’t want him to see her differently, and apparently she tried to talk to him before about it but didn’t know where to start. Robert was so angry about the whole situation, and talking to him made her feel guilty.

Catherine turns it around and tells Robert she can’t forgive him for accepting rape more than infidelity. Catherine and Robert eventually finalize their divorce off the back of this. Catherine doesn’t mind having an uncertain life and decides that she’s going to concentrate on Nicholas and the present. Catherine wants to try and be honest with her son now and be there for him, after he recovers fully from what happened to him. Nicholas tells her he loves her and then the episode ends.

The Episode Review

So Disclaimer comes to an end after wrapping everything up, with Catherine and Nicholas together, and Robert just forced to live in misery because he’s relieved his wife hasn’t cheated on him but doesn’t have a strong enough reaction to her rape, despite talking to her softly and trying to understand? Unless I’m misreading the situation of course.

The twist is actually a good one and it’s very shocking too, especially seeing the true series of events playing out in this way. Of course, if you’ve been reading my recaps every week then you know I haven’t read the book and this sexual assault definitely caught me off guard.

However, there are a few holes in this story that feel like they needed to be addressed. And again, it all comes down to communication. Catherine never once communicated with Nicholas or Robert about what happened.

I’m not justifying what happened because it was awful and you obviously sympathize with Catherine, but the misunderstanding trope is one of the laziest plot devices and it’s used in abundance to keep this one ticking over.

If it wasn’t for Catherine not saying a single word to anyone, not even in an unmarked letter sent to her husband and Nicholas for fear of being seen, it would have resolved the entire conflict. Instead, she’s happy to destroy every single aspect of her own life just to keep the secret. I know it must be painful but would you destroy your entire life, to the degree of your son having a drug overdose, you lose your job and your husband thinks you’ve cheated, rather than tell the truth?

The little reveal that Jonathan saved Nicholas seems to be hinting that deep down he felt ashamed that he abused Catherine in front of her mum. But then that doesn’t hold weight with the idea of this guy being a sociopath, so it feels like a bit of a jump in logic. Why did he save Nicholas? Was he trying to impress Catherine?

There are a couple of nods that things aren’t right along the way with the story, but largely this has only started in the past few episodes. Regardless of the logical holes, this has been a really solid thriller but the ending is definitely a point of contention, despite its powerful sentiment.