There are many things that can be said of Netflix’s latest streaming sensation, mystery thriller series Fool Me Once. Far-fetched to the point of straining credulity? Suffering from a too-short series finale? Check and check. But boring? Definitely not.
As the latest limited series from the platform to be based on the works of author Harlan Coben, Fool Me Once keeps on piling on the shocking plot developments, ending each and every one of its eight episodes on a massive cliffhanger that keeps you wanting more. And even though its final installment is only just over half-hour long, it still packs in even more twists and turns that we didn’t see coming.
True to form for a crime thriller, this includes another shocking death. But who’s the killer of this latest, and most mind-blowing, victim?
Who is responsible for Fool Me Once‘s final surprise death?
They say a story should put its protagonist through the ringer, and that’s definitely what Fool Me Once does with Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan). Her sister and husband have been murdered and her career in the military has been ended by a whistleblower… and that’s just her backstory! Luckily, she also possesses an enviably copious coat closet otherwise her life would really suck.
Things only get tougher throughout the season, too, as we learn that Maya is also carrying around some serious guilt over causing the deaths of civilians during her last military mission. Not to mention the fact that she killed her husband. But only because he was the one who murdered her sister first, due to her uncovering all about his family’s dark secrets.
Armed with the truth, and ready to come clean about her own crimes, Maya confronts her in-laws, the Burketts, over the secrets Joe was willing to kill to keep hidden: that he murdered two boys as a teenager (including his own brother, Andrew) and that Burkett Global, the family’s pharmaceutical firm, has been selling dangerous drugs that pose a serious health risk.
While matriarch Judith (Joanna Lumley) attempts to strike a deal with Maya to conceal the truth, a furious Neil (James Northcote) — the last surviving son of the Burkett family — grabs Maya’s gun and fatally shoots her. He thinks he’s solved their problems, but actually Maya had hidden a secret nanny cam in the room, which was livestreaming online, capturing the Burketts literally red-handed for the world to see.
So, yes, Neil is Maya’s killer. Although only a minor character throughout the show, it’s clear that Joe being his mother’s favorite child had fostered in Neil a dangerous inferiority complex and he was clearly eager to take over the business now that his older brother was out the way. Likewise, it becomes apparent that he shares Joe’s murderous tendencies.
Although Fool Me Once‘s final flashforward scene skips over exactly what happens to the Burketts, with actual video evidence of his crime available, no doubt Neil was sentenced to a lengthy stretch in jail for the murder of Maya Stern. RIP Maya, I hope you got to take your coats with you to heaven.