Brazen, Netflix's most recent thriller, stars none other than Alyssa Milano. The Charmed star is joined by The Bold Type's Sam Page for the whodunnit mystery out now.
The movie follows a prominent murder-mystery writer named Grace Miller (Milano) who returns to her family home in Washington DC at the request of her sister Kathleen (Emilie Ullerup). But when Kathleen is murdered, and her double life as an online dominatrix revealed, Grace will have to use her writerly instincts to help Detective Ed Jennings (Page) – who happens to be her neighbour – solve the murder.
As we explore the twists and turns of what exactly went down, and who killed Kathleen, we're going to get into some spoilers so steer clear if you want to avoid them!
Brazen begins with an online dominatrix named Desiree performing for a web camera, before switching to Grace reading from her book. When she leaves the reading, she gets a call asking her to come home.
Upon arrival, her estranged sister Kathleen (who was previously addicted to unspecified 'pills') tells Grace that she's clean, and after asking for a divorce and being kicked out of her home, is going after her husband Jonathan (David Lewis) for custody of their son Kevin. If she can't do it legally, she's going to blackmail him with knowledge of financial fraud he's committing. Grace gets angry with her over the blackmail, but the two reconcile and Grace agrees to help Kathleen in any way she can.
Meanwhile, in a grocery store, we meet Ed who, just trying to buy coffee for his partner (Malachi Weir), stumbles into a robbery and subdues the robber. His partner handily reveals to the viewers that Ed is on a well-deserved break after solving a cold case and Ed will finally have time to finish renovating his house.
In the morning, Kathleen goes to her job as a high school English and Drama teacher – where we see two students interact awkwardly with her. Meanwhile, Grace stays at home and meets her neighbour Ed, who turns out to be a fan of hers, and they go on a date. Kathleen heads home reluctantly, agreeing to film a session for a client.
When Grace comes home after her very successful date, she discovers Kathleen murdered and posed as if she is being crucified on a cross. Ed hears her screaming and comes to the scene.
Grace is convinced her ex-husband either killed her or had her killed, but Ed wants her to stay out of the case for her safety. Grace, now aware of Kathleen's side job as an online dominatrix, goes to the school and speaks to Kathleen's class where student Jerald (Matthew Finlan) awkwardly tells her that the janitor Billy (Aaron Paul Stewart) creeped Kathleen out, so Grace confronts him.
Billy reveals that he knew Kathleen was Desiree and found out because his cousin Richie (Jack Armstrong) is employed by the website Kathleen used to work for, so Grace and Ed confront the cousin – also a student at the school – who says he only showed Billy who Desiree was. Grace is still sure it's Jonathan, so she confronts him and he reveals that he, too, knew about Kathleen's side hustle.
At Kathleen's funeral, student Jerald creepily tells Grace he sent the flowers, but Grace is still preoccupied with Jonathan and confronts him again. Soon, however, there's another murder of another online dominatrix named Roxanne and Grace manages to ingratiate herself into the investigation as a consultant, and is invited to watch the tape of Roxanne's murder, as she had been performing online when she was killed.
Right before the masked man kills her, he says 'Desiree' which leads Grace to believe the murders are still about Kathleen. Grace goes home and discovers in the stuff from the funeral a flower arrangement with a note that seems to have come from another student, Rand.
With Ed, they go to Rand's father, who claims that though the flowers were paid for on his credit card, he didn't send them and Rand denies sending them, too. Later, there's a third attempted murder, but this time the woman, Bethany, managed to cut the attacker before her husband (who is super chill and fine with her job as a dominatrix) comes home and spooks him.
She confirms that the attacker was young and had a fancy watch, so they go back to Rand and arrest him as he has no alibi, a fancy watch, and is a young man. However, his blood isn't the same as the blood on the knife, his shoe print doesn't match the one outside Bethany's house, and it turns out that the watch – though expensive – isn't rare.
Throughout the film, Ed and Grace continue their will-they-won't-they sexual and romantic tension until eventually, they have sex, knowing that it could lead to more feelings.
In addition, it turns out that although Rand knew about Kathleen's side job, it's because he is dating Richie and his father doesn't know he's gay and was out meeting Richie at the time of the other murders. With no new leads, Grace suggests she lures the killer by taking on her sister's dominatrix identity which Ed instantly disagrees with, but the chief okays it, so Grace films a video as Desiree.
Meanwhile, Jerald and Rand get into a fight and Rand accuses Jerald of being obsessed with Kathleen which sends Jerald into a rage and he beats Rand, putting him into hospital. At the hospital, Rand tells the cops that Jerald was calling her "my Kathleen", leading them to their new suspect.
With their sights on Jerald, the captain tells Grace that she doesn't need to bait the killer. However, when they go to arrest Jerald, he's gone, already on his way to kill Grace.
Unbeknownst to Jerald, the webcam is rolling in the background as he turns up to confront and then murder Grace, revealing his motives (that Kathleen was the opposite of his domineering mother, loving and kind, so when he found out she was a dominatrix, he had to kill her) and confessing to the other murders. He then realises he's on tape, tries to kill Grace, but Ed shows up.
Jerald is about to kill Grace when Ed shoots him. Case closed! Grace and Ed continue their relationship and, presumably, live happily ever after.
Brazen is now available to watch on Netflix.
