Let's Talk About Disclaimer's Wild Ending (SPOILERS)

[@TheGigmeister]

I think her withhelding of the info regarding her SA could be attributed to the fact that she didn’t want to relive the event. Because the evidence was so damning, any claims of SA would require tons of explaination. “I was assaulted” Robert wouldn’t have believed it and neither would I tbh. I understand her not wanting to have to go through the emotional tax of proving her assault.

[@marshallstannus]

This is a fair interpretation, particularly the photos However she ends up telling the grandpa who tells Robert who ends up believing it the moment he hears? Maybe you could make the argument Robert was a bad dude because he heard the dad out and not cate?

[@HEP0516]

Some points from the show 1. The mother wrote that the son’s girlfriend left because of a death or sick relative which is shown to be a known lie by the father because when they come home from Italy & call the girlfriend’s mother she is aloof and it is mentioned that the girlfriend never comes around to pay respects. 2. The husband is in charge of funneling family money into fake charities to avoid taxes and could be considered lawbreaker ,dishonest/dishonorable because of this so it is hypocritical of him to judge his wife on allowing someone to drown. 3. The wife tries multiple times to have a conversation with her husband but he is going to meet their son and cuts her off with condensing remark , to meet the dad while saying something vile. He packs her luggage in their shared home . He absolutely plays the victim and the martyr. 4. She is a journalist and has her own integrity and personal autonomy and if her husband can not sit down like a grown adult and listen to her based on the years of marriage and shared trust he has no right to hear her explain sexual assault in a non supportive enviroment.4. About calling the police at the end while racing to the hospital . Remember that she has been drugged most likely has slurred speech , altered mental status and has had no one believe her or listen to her so she is probably at the point of feeling and thinking that the system is not on her side. I do enjoy your show talks! Keep them coming 😊

[@marshallstannus]

All very good points, thank you!

[@luckyplvys]

I hope you do white lotus season 3 when it comes out, maybe even go back and cover the first 2 seasons, seems right up your alley.

[@zazi_555]

Omg I ve been WAITING for this video !! I checked your channel for an update at least 10 times the past week, thank you ❤

[@annawild9679]

Hi, Marshall! Don’t know if you’re reading the comments but I wanted to write this anyways. Just watched your video about Sweatpea and honestly your channel is !very! underrated. Actually I was going to DM you but your account is private so I decided to write my thoughts here. I love cinematography and was always looking for someone with intelligent and analytical point of view on the series and films that I’d watched. But most content creators in this field were just not it. In seemingly endless search for a valuable opinion and analysis I somehow found your channel. Tell you for sure the next few days I’m going to binge watch it! The way you structure your information, the way you give audience right amounts of psychology, actual plot, your own opinion, great attention to small details…. Is basically brilliant. And also it’s quite visible how passionate you are about this channel and cinema itself. I never right comments like this, but I guess never say never) Honestly wish you big success and hope that you’ll get the recognition you deserve. Thank you for great entertainment, really enjoyed every second of your videos) P.s. I’m not a native speaker so sorry for any grammar mistakes

[@suzetteanthony5181]

Disclaimer was amazing. This first version of the interaction of the sex scenes was juicy but I felt that Jonathan was more nieve than what I saw with his girlfriend. Also, Catherine seemed like a responsible mother, and when she told Jonathan, "Don't worry about my son, he sleeps through anything" didn't seem right. I waited for Sasha to return, an obvious lie about someone dying. I kept wondering what happened the night before she left. This movie was all about assumptions people make and cling to without questioning the source.

[@aputsiaq6070]

Marshall you should review Bad Sisters! This next season is so different from the first. It is a hilarious and very thought provoking show.

[@CarmellaASMR]

Thank you for doing this recap for the people!!! Ok so I had a lot of thoughts about this show- Firstly, I thought the show took a dive after episode 5. With the exception of Cate telling her story, the last two episodes stretched credibility too much for my liking. I found the scene at her workplace in episode 6 genuinely baffling and somewhat embarrassing to watch. No one acted like a normal person except for Cate, which made everyone else seem like a bizarre set piece to make a Point about Cancel Culture™️. And then, like you said, her not calling the police or hospital staff as she ran to her son was ridiculous. And I don’t think it can be explained away in-show; I think it was just lazy writing. And while I appreciated what they were getting at regarding the hospital staff viewing the dad as an adorable old grandpa, I found it hard to believe someone saying “this is not my grandfather do not let him in the room” wouldn’t raise some alarm bells. Regarding some other things you touched on: - I think that the son’s overdose was actually because on some unconscious level he knew that what was written in the book wasn’t correct (we know based on the scene where the dad was burning photos that the son witnessed some part of the assault) but he couldn’t quite wrap his head around the idea considering how poor his relationship with his mother was currently. This is supported imo by his warm reception to her after he wakes up from his overdose and his rejection of Robert. - I, too, thought it stretched credibility that she didn’t crack earlier and tell Robert during the fights BUT I also think it’s hard to fully understand how someone who has repressed that much trauma would act. I think being treated with disgust for the WRONG reason would genuinely cause someone to shut down even if they knew it wasn’t for the reason they truly feared. - Re: the divorce, I think Cate’s proclamation was fair enough considering he didn’t counter it; I think Robert knew she was right. And as viewers, we did too, because we got all those third-person voiceovers where he assigned all this negativity to his wife (“she was the kind of person who always got what she wanted”; him reminding her that his family didn’t like her) at the FIRST chance he could. It’s almost like he was waiting for an excuse to take all the things he supposedly liked about her (her ambition, her somewhat obsessive and aloof personality, etc) and turn them into negatives. In that sense I agree that a few more scenes between them could have helpful. But I do not agree that the show or characters were too hard on him. - I know this was based on a book, but I thought the assault lasting three and a half hours was excessive. It almost felt like the message was that the kid had to be like a literal psychotic monster to deserve what he got. I think it could have been more interesting if he did stop the assault after the photos and left OR if the affair started consensually but ended with an assault (that’s what I originally thought was going to happen; that the beach bathroom scene ended with an assault and her storming out was actually her running away). It could have made the concept of her letting him die a little more thorny and interesting, even if it was still ultimately understandable. - I thought the voiceovers changing from first to second to third person was an absolute mess and didn’t justify itself in the end. - I’m honestly embarrassed that I didn’t clock earlier that the “past” scenes were book scenes and not actual flashbacks. But perhaps that was the point. Thanks as always for the rec and the videos! Would love ur thoughts.

[@marshallstannus]

Hey! I’m just at work but love this comment and will respond to all of it when I get a chance! I do completely agree about the assault scene when people were filming though, felt like it belong in the mean girls musical or something

[@CarmellaASMR]

@@marshallstannus yes take ur time! and lmao yes def teen movie "hello fellow kids" vibes. trying to tackle external canceling/internet criticism was just one too many things for this show to handle

[@marshallstannus]

Okay so I agree the great part of Robert cracking it was a bunch of issues he had with her through the marriage and just deep seated insecurities came out He clearly had disdain for her and other things bubbling and the affair served as an outlet, And I think that reasoning for her ending it makes total sense I guess just the literal conversation of her saying you seemed more upset or angry about cheating than being raped felt like it disregarded a more compelling point she could’ve made, as well as the insane manipulation happening to both of them. It just felt rather simplified and a strange thing to say given what we’ve seen, would’ve preferred a back and fourth Even if she said the things that came out about how you feel about me well prior to you thinking I cheated shows this marriage is broken etc etc I also agree the 3.5 hour run time of an assault was….a lot? It’s sort of like yes I’m sure this has happened before but you can really feel the writers jumping through the screen rather than a story that feels authentic Something thornier could’ve been a lot more interesting, But yeah the ending really did have this feeling of see you misjudged her, same as all these other characters, how could you, but the show had clearly positioned us to be that way, similar to characters in the show being positioned to do that too. However i agree her responses and mannerisms will probably make a lot more sense on rewatch with trauma response in mind I spent the whole show thinking the flashbacks were book scenes and maybe they were inaccurate, but given how cate read the book, didn’t want anyone to read and rather than being furious at the lies seemed scared her secrets were exposed, again the audience and characters are sort of positioned to take them at face value

[@CarmellaASMR]

@@marshallstannus yeah that's such a good point that her reaction set us up to take the book scenes as truth. If the book was literally THAT incorrect then why would you try to burn it? I could see someone reacting with anger, sure, but she literally said to her husband "it's about me." like-in many ways it ISN'T about her bc it's SO wrong. I think that's another point in favor of the real story being closer to the book which would have made some of her behavior make more sense (even with trauma in mind). I think at the end of the day they were asking us to suspend disbelief a lot, and I don't think the story necessarily warranted that. I would be interested to hear what a second watch was like for u if u ever get around to it.

[@mmem4264]

So they did follow the book. I did think she was being unfair to the husband during their talk. That seemed like an odd way to view his reaction, not to mention a weird comparison to make. I'm sure he was relieved she didn't betray him, that he hadn't misjudged their relationship, but he can feel relieved and it not be about her being raped. Like she made something nuanced more simple. Then again, I'm just basing this off the clips you showed so I could be wildly off! Considering she kept this from him for yrs their marriage probably needed some couples' therapy if they choose to stay together anyway. I think your takes make sense. Thanks for the video.

[@madelinepurvis7037]

Robert never let her speak when he confronted her. I caught that each time. I wanted her to have a chance to say what happened and I kept getting frustrated that he spoke over her each time. When the ending was revealed I said aloud "I could never forgive him for that" - before Catherine even said it. Not necessarily for the reasons she gave but simply because he wouldn't let her speak. I understand it's the viewer's response that she should've just said "it was rape!" but as a trauma victim that is much easier said than done, especially when you're being spoken over.

[@susanmehalick4664]

She could have written it out in a text or email if she really wanted him to know at that point.

[@madelinepurvis7037]

@@susanmehalick4664 way to victim blame.

[@madelinepurvis7037]

@@susanmehalick4664 or mayyybe.. he could let the woman he's been married to for almost 30 years explain what happened... just a thought

[@susanmehalick4664]

@@madelinepurvis7037 Agreed. I think both can be true.

[@susanmehalick4664]

Also, it seems somewhat unrealistic that he wouldn’t have listened at all-even if only out of masochistic curiosity. ??

[@ianvjones]

I just watched. Some great responses in the comments, so apologies if I’m going over old ground. For the sake of drama, I can appreciate that some reality was bent to maintain the flow. The glaring issue, of course, is the lack of police involvement or, at the very least, “legal advice,” but I think the two “gotcha” moments at the end-regarding the believing of the story and the feeling towards his wife when the narrative changed from infidelity to sexual assault (SA)-left me a bit cold. To assume that he was relieved that it was SA and not infidelity, is really presumptuous. SA is very different and obviously changes the response from disgust to empathy. Calling it “relief” was a bit of a cop-out by the writers. The writer has turned her into an object of ownership where she is either pure or tainted, rather than the narrative of being in control of her situation or a victim of her situation. The latter would naturally garner a far more empathetic and remorseful response as was the case with the husband. Yes, the marriage wasn’t great and you could argue that this was the straw that broke the back etc, but I feel like they were trying to end with a poignant message surrounding victim blaming and it left me feeling a bit empty. If I were to zoom out, I could rationalize it by saying that the son made everyone the victim and, because of his actions, created a flow-on effect of everyone involved becoming damaged and then going on to damage other people, but stating that “you feel relieved because it was SA and not infidelity” presents a shallow narrative, in my opinion.

[@user-iu4ws6vh5s]

The effort to keep her side of the story as a big reveal led to her outrage feeling unfair to the viewer. We never see her try hard to tell her husband the truth, or even struggle with it (or the depiction of her in the book), and this was a deliberate storytelling choice. It was plot-driven and sacrificed the authenticity of that moment.

[@marshallstannus]

Yeah I’m with you I think with a few changes there’s a really interesting story about a woman being pu shed by everyone around her for being the victim But the writing to get there required so much contrivance I thought that it just feels unfair to finger wag at the audience and other characters tbh

[@CarmellaASMR]

@@marshallstannus yes exactly!!

[@susanmehalick4664]

@@marshallstannusRight, like if you are desperate for your truth to be heard, why not write it in a text or email? I think it’s entirely unrealistic to think after all the pushed calls, etc. she wouldn’t have resorted to this-especially since she’s a journalist/writer.

[@kassygo1375]

It was amazing!!!

[@thorstonmanderlay5010]

Robert is an absolute asshole (in my opinion)!. Don't forget, the alleged affair & those photos didn't happen a few weeks ago, but 20 years ago. He completely overreacted!! And he didn't let her get a word in edgeways when he found out. Robert was jealous. He had never seen his wife be this 'sexy' & 'sesxual' with him. Possibly due to the trauma the assault caused her. I'm a guy & no spring chicken, but I would have left Robert if I was her.

[@marshallstannus]

So this is actually totally fair, and I think the reasons you cited are super duper valid for her leaving I just through the actual conversation was like….? I thought him using her cheating to justify bringing up random deep rooted issues he had with her a bit tasteless

[@syntheticsilkwood2206]

​@@marshallstannusI felt that it was supposed to indicate that the feelings we see robert experience have always been there And the affair was just the cherry on top for him to explode Like when kevin kline's character asked him why didn't he question it and also I personally don't think that robert's fair reaction in the moment means that he doesn't feel relieved that cate was assaulted as she puts it Two things can be true at once but I do agree that all of this could'be been executed better especially given how amazing the show was overall

[@kenziii5973]

I dont think the ending concerning her husband's reaction to what really happened was fair ? the way he was refusing to hear her out and how he was treating her was beyond cruel and she telling him he cant really accept it is so unrealistic

[@pattip2639]

some of your points are super invalid. Like "Why did she not call the police as she was rushing to save her son" 🙄

[@marshallstannus]

No I mean why would she not have yelled out to literally anyone there to call the police once the boy was out of the water

[@pattip2639]

I am talking about when he is referencing Cate Blanchett rushing to the hospital after being drugged. Not the beach. That is not what he was talking about in this video about this. @marshallstannus because there was no time to do that. Obviously you do not understand writing or showrunning. 🤷‍♀️

[@marshallstannus]

She couldn’t have called when she was in the taxi? Or while running?

[@Jav7927]

He made this for me