WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Fatale

Summary

• Fatale's ending may be messy, but the story adds up upon rewatch, just like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct.
• Valerie frames Derrick for murder to blackmail him into killing her ex-husband for full custody, but her plans ultimately backfire.
• Derrick avoids prison in the end by recording Valerie's confession and exposes the perils of infidelity through the movie's story.

While Fatale’s ending is a little messy, the Netflix movie's story does all add up on a re-watch. Fatale is a psychological thriller released in 2020 and inspired by Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. The movie tells the story of a sports agent named Derrick, who runs an agency with his friend Rafe and is married to Tracie. Derrick becomes suspicious of his wife and convinced that she's been unfaithful. Rafe encourages Derrick to cheat too, and on a whim, Derrick has a one-night stand with Valerie. Derrick never expects to see this woman again after their tryst, but life has other plans.

After Derrick returns home to Tracie, someone breaks into their house. Like the ending of the 2022 movie Shattered, also written by David Loughery, Fatale’s plot takes a turn for the convoluted here. The detective investigating the case is Valerie, who has lost custody of her daughter after an accident involving a firearm left the child paralyzed. Valerie continues to communicate with Derrick, leading him to a beach house where he discovers Rafe and Tracie having an affair together. When Rafe and Tracie turn up dead the next day, Derrick is arrested. Valerie offers to pin this crime on Derrick’s cousin if he kills her ex-husband, guaranteeing her full custody.

Is Valerie Really Dead In Fatale’s Ending?

In Fatale’s ending, Valerie kills Tyrin and his friend after they break into her apartment and try to find evidence of her crimes. Meanwhile, Derrick tries to warn Carter that Valerie wants him dead. Thanks to an unfortunate misunderstanding, Derrick ends up shooting Carter in self-defense. When Valerie and Derrick meet at her apartment, Valerie admits that she killed Rafe and Tracie to frame Derrick. This forces Derrick to kill Carter, allowing Valerie to get full custody of Hayley while Derrick takes the blame. Fortunately, Derrick shoots Valerie before she can kill him. Like 2023’s The Tutor, Fatale ends by teasing that its villain might return.

Valeria comes back after Derrick shoots her, and she stabs him repeatedly. However, Fatale's closing radio clip confirms Derrick’s second gunshot killed her. Fortunately, Derrick survives Fatale’s ending. He lost his wife, his cousin, and his former best friend, but he did defeat Valerie and stop her evil plan from coming to fruition. To Valerie, Derrick was only a pawn in an elaborate chess game she was playing against her ex-husband. However, since Valeria underestimated Derrick’s intelligence, he could outsmart her in the movie’s ending and survive his ordeal. Fatale confirms Valerie is dead with a clip from The Shade Room wherein the show’s hosts discuss the perils of infidelity.

Why Valerie Framed Derrick For The Murders

Valerie framed Derrick for the murders of Rafe and Tracie so that she could blackmail him into killing her ex-husband, Carter, a corrupt politician. This would have ensured that Valerie would get full custody of their daughter Hayley, but it is clear that Valerie never intended to fulfill her side of the bargain. She told Derrick that she would pin the killings on his cousin Tyrin, but she then killed Tyrin when he broke into her apartment. Thus, it's clear this was only an empty promise designed to manipulate Derrick. Similar to the ending of the Netflix thriller Paradise, Fatale’s villain relied on manipulation and deceit to get her way.

Did Derrick Go To Prison In Fatale’s Ending?

Derrick did not go to prison in Fatale’s ending since he wisely taped Valerie’s confession when he met up with her. By this stage, Derrick knew it would be hard for him to avoid prison. After all, Valerie was a detective, and she had used her power to frame him for Rafe and Tracie’s murders. Not only would it be difficult for Derrick to convince anyone he was innocent, his situation was worsened by Valerie blackmailing him to kill Carter. Since Derrick’s attempts to warn Carter about his ex-wife’s plot resulted in the man's accidental death, Derrick needed a full confession from Valerie to exonerate him. Luckily, he got one.

Why Did Valerie Tell Derrick About Tracie & Rafe?

Valerie needed Derrick to know about his wife’s affair since this would make it easy for her to frame him for Tracie and Rafe’s murders. Derrick was an obvious suspect in the murder of his wife and her lover, but the fact that he had visited the beach house where the pair conducted their affair looked even worse for him. Of course, Derrick would have had a hard time convincing the police that he was led to the location by one of their detectives. Thus, Derrick was put in a catch-22 when Valerie informed him about the affair since he couldn’t claim that he never suspected Tracie and Rafe.

What Happened To Valerie’s Daughter?

After both of her parents spent the movie fighting and plotting to keep each other from getting custody, Hayley’s fate was ultimately left unclear since they were both killed. Much like Full Circle’s ending ultimately forgot about the valuable painting that the show’s plot originally focused on, Fatale’s ending never mentioned what became of Hayley. However, viewers can rest assured that the child’s fate would have been worse if her parents survived. Her father, Carter, was a corrupt politician as proven by a mention of scandals earlier in the story. Meanwhile, Valerie was a ruthless killer who saw nothing wrong with murdering innocent people over a custody battle.

What Fatale’s Ending Really Means

The real meaning of Fatale’s ending is helpfully outlined by two of The Shade Room’s hosts in the movie’s closing scenes. From Rafe’s affair with Tracie to the tangled web that Valerie weaves around Derrick after his cheating, Fatale is a movie about the perils of straying from a relationship. None of the movie’s heroes would have ended up framed or murdered if they had avoided the temptation of breaking their partner's trust, and Fatale’s story could have been a lot less bloody if Derrick hadn’t decided to cheat on Tracie. However, Tracie cheated on Derrick, Derrick cheated on her, and the movie’s story soon unfurled as a result of these betrayals.

In an era when social media has made it easier than ever to shed light on hidden truths, Fatale’s story warns viewers not to repeat the same mistakes that Derrick made. He assumed his indiscretion would be a one-off decision, but the choice soon came back to haunt him as Valerie’s machinations took over his life. Thus, Fatale warns the audience not to cheat, unless they can handle some seriously scary consequences.