WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Defending Jacob's Season 1 finale, "After," now streaming on Apple TV+.
As Defending Jacob wraps its first season, it looks like a glimmer of hope has been offered to the accused Jacob Barber (Jaeden Martell) for the murder of a classmate, Ben. Despite shocking revelations, Jacob might be a sadist, and new developments with a sex offender in Newton by the name of Leonard Patz (Daniel Henshall) shook things up.
It seems to pay off weeks of stalking by Jacob's dad, Andy (Chris Evans), but in the finale, "After," a few more twists and turns play out to create a massive emotional rollercoaster and shocking ending no one saw coming.
THE PATZ PROBLEM
In the previous episode, viewers see Leonard writing a confession about Ben's murder although circumstances seemed sketchy. Nonetheless, "After" starts with the cops finding the confession but also, Leonard hanging in his apartment. This exonerates Jacob with his mom, Laurie (Michelle Dockery), finally letting go of the guilt she felt thinking he was a killer.
However, as the family plans a move away to Colorado, when Andy picks up his belongings at the district attorney's office, he's informed there were some minor hiccups, but the Patz case is officially closed. He thought it was a cut-and-dry deal so he investigates the files on his own, which leads to him visiting his dad, William (J.K. Simmons), in jail. Andy asks if William had connections on the outside kill Patz and frame him, which his dad denies.
Unfortunately, flashbacks show it to be true as the gangster, Father O' Leary (William Xifaras), that Andy thought was stalking his family was actually looking out for them for William. He forced the confession at gunpoint, strangled Leonard and pinned the murder on him. This breaks Andy but as per his dad's taunting, he decides to be a good father rather than a good man, hiding the truth.
A WORLD CRASHES DOWN
The family vacations in Mexico for Christmas with Jacob making friends with a young girl, Hope (Jessi Case). Her mom's cool with Jacob but after a nighttime bonfire at the beach, things go downhill for the Barbers again. Jacob returns to the room on New Year's Eve with his vest but no shirt and is very somber. He tells his parents he and Hope fell out, so he left her at the party, but the next day he's held for questioning.
Hope hasn't returned to the hotel and Laurie starts getting suspicious. She finds Andy later that night drunk, spilling his guts on the Leonard issue. She's aghast but a sobbing Andy tells her that doesn't mean Jacob killed Ben. The next morning, Hope's surprisingly found as she was drugged and kidnapped, so Andy's able to breathe a sigh of relief. But Laurie remains distant when they get back to Boston to pack.
She stalks Ben's mom and sees her grief, which leads to Andy finding Jacob's baby album in the trash the next day. Laurie's taken him for a hair cut but she really wants to know the truth. It gets heated on the rainy roads as she grills Jacob, who becomes scared as she speeds up. He denies killing Ben but he does say yes one time just to get her to stop. Wracked with the frustration she'll never know the truth, Laurie snaps and pulls the wheel, slamming the car into a tunnel wall. It appears to be a fatal crash, with her phone in the debris showing Andy's calling.
THE BROKEN BARBERS
The series jumps forward and fans see what the scenes of Andy being grilled on the stand were about all along. He's being questioned by Neal, the same man who prosecuted Jacob, as Neal wants to put Laurie away for trying to murder herself and Jacob. Andy maintains it's an accident, despite Neal pointing out Laurie called Liz (Jacob's therapist) and Joanna (Jacob's lawyers) on the day of the crash.
He contends she wanted to confess something, which seemed to be a breaking point. Andy denies it, though, not revealing the issue with the baby album. He makes it clear his wife would never do that, and that there's no reason for her to want to kill her son. Laurie's deemed innocent and Andy visits her in the hospital, where she admits she just wants her family back.
Luckily, Jacob survived but he's in a coma, and from time to time, Laurie actually checks in from the room next door. Andy assures her everything will be okay and heads home to continue his drinking habit. Engaged, he heads to Jacob's room, reminiscing in the fights the family had there during his case. The episode ends with a despondent Andy in the dark, sipping and pondering the future.
Written by Mark Bomback and directed by Morten Tyldum, Defending Jacob stars Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Pablo Schreiber, Cherry Jones, Jaeden Martell, Sakina Jaffrey, Betty Gabriel and J.K. Simmons. The miniseries is available on Apple TV+.