The central premise of the show has been how the Barbers unite against all the odds. Andy confronts his father over his apparent involvement. The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. Whatever you want, just slow down, please., This is what Laurie, and the audience, have been waiting to hear, and yet its validity is still in question. Laurie gets distant from Andy and Jacob and goes to Rifkin's'to confess about Jacob. But Bens mother Joan was struggling to cope. It shows the negative impact of wrongful accusations. WARNING: Major spoilers concerning the source materials ending revealed below! In Defending Jacob Episode 7, the trial begins, and the prosecution does not hold back. Jacob Barber has been accused of murdering his classmate, Ben. According to Billy, Andycan either be a good man or be a good father; hegets to "choose." I dont think that our ending is any less bleak than the ending of the book, Bomback added. He was initially spotted by the couple in town, leaving them unsure about his motivations. Here we break down the ending of Defending Jacob, including how it differs from the book. After seeing Mrs Rifkin, she feels so upset she wants Jacob to tell Andy he did it so she can relax. Andy admits that his father is a murderer named Billy who is in prison. Ann Warman I believe that Jacob not only killed Ben, but Hope as well. Laurie begins to think that Jacob is really Bens killer. Surely Patz would have struggled, or left other evidence, something in the note perhaps to suggest he was being coerced? The book and the show end differently but both come with a crushing blow. Just as one single thought crushed Andy's psyche in Mexico, a few simple words destroy Laurie's frame of mind, resulting in a near-fatal accident after swerving off the road. At this point, Andy reveals to his wife that his father, Billy Barber, is currently serving a life sentence in prison for rape and murder. Even in the book on which the show is based leaves it open for interpretation. His father, Andy, and mother, Laurie, do everything in their power to prove his innocence. Car finance with Flow Car -Configure multiple finance quotations in seconds - Manage your application entirely online - Finance a car without receiving unwanted sales calls - Get the best available rate Feed with access to over 380,000+ available vehicles nationwide for you to choose from. During the holiday, Jacob befriends Hope Connors - a 16-year-old from Toronto - and the pair go to a New Years Eve beach party together. I dont think Jacob did it because usually someone would confess when their life was on the line and he kept saying it wasnt him. Then again, the final image shows Andy sitting in his son's room, still in the dark, which suggests that Jacob's potential off-screen death essentially closes the door on clarity - not only about Ben's murder, but also about whether hecould forgive his own mother, Laurie. Also, Derek Yoo claims that Jacob wrote a story on a website called "Cutting Room" that greatly resembled the murder of Ben Rifkin. But logic suggests that he's a quiet teenager who was bullied by classmates, and made some questionable comments for attention. She herself does not know how to get her own family back. However, towards the end, the pressure gets to them. Billy tells Andy he can either be a good man and turn Jacob in, or be a good father and remain quiet. We review, recap and give our theories on the ending of Defending Jaco. Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. It premiered on April 24, 2020. The subsequent car crash suggests that Laurie felt purely isolated from reality - even from her husband and son. Fox doesnt think hell live to be 80: Every day its tougher, Jerry Springer kept his aggressive cancer a family secret in his final months. But it was interesting playing something that is ambiguous, because as actors, sometimes I feel like I like that certainty. How is the shows finale different from the books ending? Andy had always suspected Patz, and after the police get the note confirmed to be that of Patz, Jacob is acquitted. And then of course, the tragic irony is, Hope is found and he really never needed to tell [Laurie] any of this. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? Jacob told his parents that Ben bullied him, and he did own a knife that he took to school. Any difficulty or complexity that your child brings into this world becomes a part of your own life. And then of course the scene then that follows is open to interpretation. So thats what I was going for, and it is different than the book. Defending Jacob: Who Is The Real Killer Of Ben Rifkin (Spoiler Alert ). "Now we have this new thing that they're both going to live with, which is: 'When [Jacob] wakes up, what will he think? Since the show has Hope alive, the situation is even muddier. Her body turns up several weeks later, and an autopsy discovers that her windpipe had been crushed. Jacob dies on impact and Laurie suffers critical injuries. Was she trying to kill Jacob or herself? The one sees the best in the child and the other only sees the worst. During a car ride withJacob, the internal and external "noise" becomes too much to bear for Laurie. In the car while they wait for Andy and their lawyer, Laurie decides to tell Jacob the truth, unaware he saw the whole thing. Naturally, Laurie panics about the reveal, and once again believes that her son is indeed a killer. And sometimes you really have to leave it up to the people around you and take that pressure off yourself, and then it will all unfold onscreen., For his part, Evans says he doesnt think the crash was a hugely premeditated move: I do believe its born of a subconscious choice. Who knows. MCU superstar Chris Evans portrays the patriarchal figure, a lawyer named Andy Barber. The story follows an assistant district attorney named Andy Barber, who's investigating the murder of 14-year-old Ben Rifkin. 3. 4. Yes, she did. Jacob keeps declining and Laurie believes he did kill Ben so she crashes the car deliberately. She is currently working remotely alongside her dog, Oliver. If you havent watched every episode, youll want to turn back now. Anyways, Bye. Jacob refuses again and again. Laurie drives in full speed, crashing the car into a tunnel wall, possibly killing them both. She offers to pay him even more money if he calls Andy and tells him about this without saying. Hes pulled off the case after his son Jacob, a classmate of the victim, is arrested for the crime. However, there are some major changes in the series. Andy knows how tensed Laurie has been earlier, so he decides not to tell her anything. Yep, once again, we dont know! The Barbers happy ending, though, is cut short when new information comes to light. And with Hope missing, he mightve killed again. Andys journey has been this challenge to own up to everything that hes been trying to conceal: He comes clean about who his father is, and he tells Laurie the truth [about the forced confession], even if it means destroying everything hes been fighting to preserve this whole time. More:Is Defending Jacob A True Story? Defending Jacob is streaming now on Apple TV+ check out what else is on with our TV Guide, Try 12 issues for 1 today - never miss an issue. ALSO READ | Homecoming Season 2 Ending Explained | How does Walter gets his final revenge? If Jacob survives (and thats not a given) he will know that his mother believes hes a murderer and tried to kill him. His grandfather is a convicted killer but his father is an upstanding member of the community, albeit one with a tendency towards reckless behaviour. I like that its ambiguous, that it could have been premeditated or that shes trying to put them both out of their misery, Dockery says. When the ending rolls around, Jacob's mother has become convinced of his guilt and attempts to get . She may not have specifically been trying to kill him or indeed both of them but the crash wasnt an accident. When Laurie sees the henchmans car. If the central question of Defending Jacob is what happens when your child is accused of a horrific crime, the natural follow-up lingering in the background of every episode is potentially even more important: Did he do it? However, Laurie becomes increasingly preoccupied with the idea of Jacobs guilt and on a drive, crashes the car into a tunnel, killing Jacob and leaving herself in a critical condition. In addition, Andy discovers a knife in his son's room - a possible murder weapon - which is what kicks off the story, as the Barbersaren't fully convinced their sonis innocent. Jacob, afraid of his mothers gradual speeding on such a rainy day, says, Fine, I killed him, OK? Jacobs friend Derek Yoo (Ben Taylor) also revealed - during the trial - that Jacob had written a story that was eerily similar to Bens murder and posted it online. A later deposition reveals that Laurie began the day by calling attorney Joanna Klein early in the morning, along with Dr. Vogel. Jacob reveals that he found Ben's body and didn't tell anyone. Laurie decides to kill them both by crashing into the side of a tunnel. Cookie Notice All Rights Reserved. Did Jacob do it in 'Defending Jacob'? She cleans the knife in the water and goes home. While that is completely understandable as a parent, that is the turning point.. Andy tells Laurie the truth about Patzs death. The monster cannot be killed. Laurie starts to doubt Jacobs innocence, causing a rift between her and Andy. Reply. A few days later Jacob writes a story about what happened between Laurie and Ben, calling Ben Brent and changing Laurie to a boy called Jason. and our Coupled with Lauries memories of a young Jacob almost dropping a bowling ball on another childs head, it was enough to persuade her that he did it. If the TV adaptation stays faithful to the book, then viewers will be left guessing when it comes to Jacobs guilt. Its more just a process of elimination.. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! She decides to go to Billy saying she did it and needs him to help her defend Jacob and they made a plan: If Jacob is found guilty, they get someone to kill and frame Patz. But will Laurie ever be forgiven by Jacob, who clings to life in a separate hospital room? Andy and Laurie seem to believe that nobody knows who they are in Puerto Vallarta, when in fact a 16-year-old girl named Hope Connors (Jessi Case) immediately recognizes Jacob. When Laurie wakes up in the hospital, she insists that the crash was an accident, but Andy isn't so sure. Onscreen, Hope turns up alive. Voting closed. Its ultimately left up to the viewer to decide, however frustrating it may be that we dont get the closure we feel we deserve. Originally, I wanted an unresolved ending, where Andy, Laurie and Jacob are on the plane home, all three of them knowing what Jacob is, and we simply see them side by side on the plane, and then it cuts to black, said Landay. Next: Apple TV+ Is Most Divisive Streaming Service. Andy finds out that a pedophile named Leonard Patz may have killed Ben. Thats the crux of the problem Laurie is facing: Shell never, ever get the truth. The viewer is meant to feel the frustration of never really knowing if he is guilty or innocent. She asks Jacob about it while they are in a car. This event echoes the ending of the 2012 book on which the show is based. "He's doing the right thing for the very first time in the story by being completely honest with her, even at the risk of destroying everything that he's just saved," Bomback explains. Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell and Chris Evans star in "Defending Jacob," the latest series to mention a "murder gene.". Jacob immediately befriends a fellow teenager named Hope who, the morning after a party, has mysteriously gone missing. Before you give us your thoughts on Episode 1, let's break down what happened in the series premiere: Based on William Landay's 2012 novel, Defending Jacob stars Evans as Andy Barber, an . The conclusion to the gripping limited series delivers some answers, but also poses more questions. After that, all evidence already points towards Jacob so she decides to convince Andy that he is the murderer, since she already has a plan to make sure hes found innocent. Defending Jacob book ending is also open-ended, with Laurie driving Jacob and crashing the car. While driving Jacob to get his haircut, Laurie asks him if he killed Ben. Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery and creator Mark Bomback explain what happens and why the series ends on a more ambiguous note than the book. This we do know in the TV show at least. The teenagers plan to spend time together on New Year's Eve, andit's ultimately revealed that Hope went missing, with the implication being that Jacob could be a serial killer. The show keeps you guessing right up to the end (and beyond) about exactly what did happen to Ben (Liam Kilbreth), to Hope (Jessi Case), with OLeary (William Xifaras) and Billy Barber (J.K. Simmons) and of course what the future holds for Andy, Laurie (Michelle Dockery) and Jacob. The book is told from Andys point of view while the show has made changes to retain the spirit of the ambiguity without being tied to an unreliable narrator. He's also the founding editor at Vague Visages, and has contributed to RogerEbert.com and Fandor. We don't yet know the story behind Tucker Carlson's firing. The following story contains . But what starts as a cut-and-dry procedural soon turns personal, as Andy's own son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell), is arrested and charged with the murder. But it wasnt written with that intention, and its not really something Im actively working on right now.. WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED DEFENDING JACOB!!! I felt like the ending was really interesting largely because I thought the show was highlighting her ability to see Jacob's darkness because of some darkness within herself. The whole town starts to treat them differently, and they end up becoming outcasts. Patz commits suicide and leaves a note confessing to killing Ben. OLeary is his right hand man on the outside and we know hes been tasked with looking out for the Barber family but that does not mean he murdered Patz. While Jacobs trial is going on, Patz commits suicide after confessing to have killed Ben in a letter. It stars Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, Cherry Jones, Pablo Schreiber, Betty Gabriel, and Sakina Jaffrey. Jacobs classmate, Ben Rifkin, is found stabbed to death in a park. For more information, please see our He finds a knife fitting the description of the murder weapon and, in his shock, hastily gets rid of it, but Jacob is arrested when his fingerprint is found on the inside of Bens sweater. It's up to Andy and his wife, Laurie (Michelle Dockery), to protect their son from a firestorm of media attention, combative prosecutors, and neighborhood gossipall while privately questioning whether their own child could be capable of the unthinkable. We dont know But we can guess. The Apple TV+ crime drama web series - based on Willian Landays novel - has had viewers wondering whether Jacob Barber (Jaeden Martell) killed Ben Rifkin or not. 38. I was always interested in this idea that you can build your whole life on a foundation that has a lie within it, Bomback continued. Jacob dies instantly in the car crash. Related:Defending Jacob Cast Guide: Where You've Seen The Actors Before. The story follows an assistant district attorney named Andy Barber, whos investigating the murder of 14-year-old Ben Rifkin. Stabbed three times in the chest, his body was found on a dirt path in Cold Spring Park by Paula Gianetto . The finale of the Apple TV+ declines to answer that question, instead leaving viewers just as in the dark as Andy and Laurie Barber, the parents of the titular character who spend the series defending their eighth-grader against charges that he murdered a classmate. But in Defending Jacob, Jacob is shown to be using . However, Andy finds out that his father had arranged for Patz to be threatened into writing a confession and be killed. Laurie survives and lives to explain what many would consider an unforgivable act. Jacob is set free. But then Hope show up, unharmed, after being drugged by vacationers. She freaks out because she is becoming more and more paranoid that someone will find out she killed Ben. But if I didnt, if I went too far the other way, it just looks like shes completely bonkers. A.I. Jacobs comatose status arguably leaves the story open for a second season. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. You really feel that shes unraveling, said Defending Jacob director Morten Tyldum of Michelle Dockerys character, Laurie. In the end, it is shown that Jacob is in a coma. Jacob reveals that he found Bens body and didnt tell anyone. But in the series, everythings still up in the air. Andy then confronts his father Billy about this. The novel begins with Andy (played by Chris Evans in the show) suspecting the perpetrator to be local pedophile Leonard Patz. Apple TV+ From left, Chris Evans stars as Andy Barber, Michelle Dockery as Laurie Barber and Jaeden Martell as Jacob Barber in the miniseries "Defending Jacob," streaming on Apple TV+. Again, its completely ambiguous. But you dont have anything conclusive. Just like Andy, as a viewer of Defending Jacob, we start to doubt again whether Jacob really killed Ben or not. The show starsChris Evans,Michelle Dockery,Jaeden Martell,Cherry Jones,Pablo Schreiber,Betty Gabriel,Sakina JaffreyandJ.K. Simmons. But is the high school student really a killer? Defending Jacob Cast Guide: Where You've Seen The Actors Before, Is Defending Jacob A True Story? Would it really be that easy to fake a mans suicide by hanging? Laurie gets mad and kills him. The next morning, Hope cant be found. At the end Andy is alone at his home. The fact is we just dont know. Andy gets drunk and revealshis fathers involvement with Laurie. Andy finds out that a pedophile named Leonard Patz may have killed Ben. Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the final episode of Defending Jacob. Ultimately, however, Andy learns that Patz's confession was coerced, and Andy's father (J.K. Simmons)who himself is incarcerated for a decades-old murderordered an accomplice to frame and murder Patz, all to protect the youngest Barber. Jacob told his parents that Ben bullied him, and he did own a knife that he took to school. I wouldnt extend it to another season just to simply spend more time with these characters. Landay never had a problem with the idea of making changes from the novel. < Defending Jacob ending explained: Did Jacob Barber murder Ben Rifkin? Unsettled, Andy visits Billy, who indeed arranged for a blackmailed confession and suicide. Andy comes to know from Lynn Canavan that some eyewitnesses had seen an old blue Lincoln car outside Leonards home the night he had died. We did that scene quite a lot in the car because if it was too on the nose, it was too obvious that she was doing something that she thought through. Patz because of some pedo infatuation. The big reveal is foreshadowed by various meetings between Andy and Billy, with the latter refusing to offer any help. The finale of Apple TV+s limited series Defending Jacob had more twists and turns than that wet, cold road Michelle Dockerys character drove. Driving even faster now, Laurie says, I will never know over and over again an improvised moment from Dockery in that soundstage, with the machine-created weather conditions and projected landscape moving at full force. Hope is found safe and Jacob had nothing to do with her disappearance. During one last prison chat, Billy admits that he orchestrated thePatz murder, and just so that hisgrandson couldlive a relatively normal life. DEFENDING JACOB Ending Explained Breakdown & Spoiler Talk Review | Did Jacob Kill Ben? It sort of strained credibility, especially in the way that I had written the character.". The suicide, confession, and photographs of Ben that Patz deleted from his phone - in episode two - all point towards him murdering Ben. The Barbers were on a holiday when Jacob meets Hope Connors. Published: Friday, 29th May 2020 at 11:52 am. When Jacob is officially exonerated, Father O'Learyprotects the Barbers from a still-angry Dan Rifkin (Patrick Fischler),the father of the teenage murder victim, Ben. Andy tries to forget his fathers involvement, but the truth eventually comes out. Laurie begins to think that Jacob is really Ben's killer. America So She Could Breastfeed Privately, Michael J. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action Little Mermaid with a new generation's Ariel. Billy confesses to hiring a hitman to kill Leonard and make it look like a suicide so that Jacob doesn't suffer the same fate he did. The Defending Jacobendingdoes not unveil whether Jacob did kill Ben. The ending of AppleTV+'s 'Defending Jacob' series diverts from William Landay's 2012 novel in two key ways. A few days later, he was murdered. And thats exactly the point. With the amount of context involving what Jacob said regarding the murder, it does not persuade me to believe that he did actually kill him. It did bother me, that the night during the trial that Andy and Laurie heard an animal being . Hope cannot be found the next day and the Mexico police think of Jacob as the prime suspect. However, Sarah was livid as she doesn't know what he did or what drama he was pulling her into. In Landay's source material, the Barbers go to Jamaica (rather than Mexico), and Jacob does indeed meet a girl named Hope Connors. An area sex offender who was always the obvious suspect, according to Jacobs father, Andy (Chris Evans) has hanged himself, and left behind a written confession: He was the one who killed Jacobs classmate, Ben. She embraces this lie, you know, it must have been an accident. The eighth episode, which premiered Friday, begins with a big development: The murder charges that troubled teen Jacob (Jaeden Martell) had been facing all season are suddenly dropped. Is Defending Jacob Based on a True Story. The finallesson reinforces the underlying theme of faith in Defending Jacob. Unable to hide the truth any longer, Andy gets drunk and tells Laurie about his fathers involvement. Thank you for reading this. Defending Jacob ending explained: Here is a detailed explanation of what happens at the end of the limited miniseries Defending Jacob starring Chris Evans. Laurie, in the hospital, tells Andy that she wants her family back. Jacobs case is dismissed. Flashbacks are shown where he can be seen involved in this, but he refuses it in front of Andy. AppleTV+'s new crime drama Defending Jacob is a twisty turny tale which focuses on a father (Chris Evans) whose 14-year-old son Jacob (Jaeden Martell) is accused of murdering . The main takeaway is that danger always lurks withintight-knit communities, andthat having a friendly smile can't be used in court as proof of innocence. He left the party early after arguing with her, and didnt text her once hed left like he promised. As the Barbers prepare for a vacation to Mexico, Andy is told by District Attorney Lynn Canavan (Sakina Jeffrey) that the Patzs case had some inconsistencies.

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