Disclaimer season 1 finale ending explained: What happens to Catherine in the end?

The seventh and final episode of Disclaimer season 1 was released on Apple TV+ on November 8, 2024. The season finale features Catherine confronting Stephen directly for the first time in the series, providing a resolution to the major character and plot elements of the story.

By the end of the episode, Catherine tells Stephen the truth regarding what transpired between her and Jonathan, his son, in Italy. Although Stephen is initially skeptical, an interaction with Nicholas in the hospital convinces him that Catherine has not lied.

As the Disclaimer season 1 finale comes to an end, Catherine is able to disprove the allegations against her. However, she and Robert divorce, as the whole affair concerning her and Jonathan’s past has taken a massive toll on her. She now only wants to focus on her and her son’s future.

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Disclaimer season 1 finale ending: Catherine is not guilty, after all

The Perfect Stranger, the fictional text penned by Nancy that creatively reconstructs what happened between her son Jonathan and Catherine in Italy decades ago, accuses Catherine of having s*xually exploited the naive and young Nicholas. As per the book, she abandoned him to die once her need was fulfilled.

However, picking up from where the last episode ended, episode 7 of Disclaimer season 1 shows Catherine telling Stephen her version of what happened in Italy all those years ago. She starts by saying that much of what Nancy wrote in the book is pure fabrication.

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Startling truths emerge

Catherine informs Stephen straightaway that she never flirted with Jonathan, as the book claimed she did. Instead, it was Jonathan who took matters into his own hands.

After returning to her room on that fateful night, Jonathan sneaked in through the open door and s*xually assaulted Catherine. He threatened her with a knife and forced her to undress, taking several photographs of her while coercing her to smile and pose seductively.

Once he was done with this, he proceeded to r*pe her. Catherine recounts the trauma of having to endure the assault for three and a half hours that night. When Stephen asks her why she never brought it up, she says that she believed it was better kept a secret since Jonathan died the next day.

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Catherine did have some hand in Jonathan’s death

The book also claimed that Catherine made no effort to save Jonathan’s life when he jumped into the sea to save her son Nicholas. This bit is absolutely true, as Catherine herself tells Stephen.

After the assault of the previous night, Catherine saw no reason to help Jonathan, even though she had the chance to. As a result, the lifeguards did not notice him struggling to stay afloat in the water. By the time they did, it was too late.

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Catherine divorces Robert

By the end of the Disclaimer season 1 finale, the narrator explains that Catherine and Robert have discussed the terms of their divorce. Robert has come to know the truth and feels deeply ashamed for never caring to ask his own wife about the incident, instead choosing to readily believe third-person accounts.

Catherine frankly tells Robert that she will not be able to forgive him for that. She knows that her future is uncertain and wants to concentrate on healing herself and reconciling with her son now.

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What happens to Stephen?

Stephen initially does not believe Catherine at all. In fact, when she collapses onto the floor due to the sedatives he mixed into her tea, he takes a taxi to the hospital. His aim remains the same: to kill Nicholas and make Catherine suffer the loss of a child.

The vengeful old man is quite close to achieving his goal. However, just as he is about to inject the poisonous chemicals into the tube connected to Nicholas, he hears the boy groaning and calling for his mother. Something about this makes Stephen pause.

Maybe in this moment, Stephen finally realizes that Catherine has been telling the truth after all. Or maybe he is not heartless enough to kill a boy, especially when he himself was a father. He leaves the hospital after telling Robert the truth and apologizing.

Later, he burns everything associated with Nancy and Jonathan in a fire. He comes to realize the fact that, as parents, he and Nancy never acknowledged the disturbing sides of their son’s personality. Instead, they always tried to hide it.

While burning the photographs, one particular picture catches his attention. He pulls it from the fire and, upon close inspection, sees that in one frame Nicholas is visible. Thus, the young boy witnessed the r*pe of his mother at Jonathan’s hand. This knowledge makes things all the more painful for Stephen.

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What happens to Nicholas?

Since episode 6 of Disclaimer season 1, Nicholas' condition has been critical, with doctors speculating that even if he survives the present ordeal, he might have to live with permanent deformities.

However, in the finale, he is shown to have recovered well enough. Upon waking up, it is his mother he wants to see. As the episode approaches its end, a fully recovered Nicholas shares a poignant moment with his mother, and they each apologize to the other for their past mutual treatment.

It is clear that Nicholas was a witness to what happened to Catherine all those years ago in Italy. One can guess that maybe the bitterness of this memory soured his relationship with her, preventing them from bonding well with each other. However, now they seem to be much more comfortable around one another.

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