Disclaimer’s penultimate episode pulls off a nifty balancing act

“The book was a work of fiction, but it released the truth from its ballast,” says Stephen Brigstocke. What truth? Whose truth, Stephen? He would like to believe that it’s the truth regarding the maliciousness of the last woman to know his son, but the tone of this episode makes clear that the real truth released from its ballast is the depths of Stephen’s own vengeful malevolence. This is an episode in which we’re clearly supposed to reach the point where, if it hasn’t happened before now, loyalty has shifted. If Disclaimer was ever read as a show about a woman who was receiving a long overdue comeuppance, that has changed to a show about a woman fighting to save the lives of her son and herself while her worthless husband repeatedly lets the fox into the hen house. 

What’s most important about “VI” is how completely it reveals that the flashbacks to Italy in past episodes were lies. Alfonso Cuarón & co. do this not just by presenting an alternate version of events from the Italian coast but through confirmation that we have seen a lie, with an admittance from Stephen himself that “the book was a work of fiction.” The key scene that unlocks so much of the show comes with a phone call from the mother of Sasha, Jonathan’s girlfriend who we saw leave Italy due to family tragedy in the first episode. That’s not what happened, which means all of the flashbacks can no longer be trusted. It’s not only that but that Sasha left under mysterious circumstances, hiding something so awful, seemingly on the part of Jonathan, that she didn’t even seem to care when he died. What did Jonathan do to Sasha? And do you think her parents ever considered writing a book about it? 

Before that, “VI” opens with a trio of shots in motion. A car speeds up to an ER and dumps a comatose Nicholas on the front step; a young Catherine glides through Italy in revised flashbacks; and a present-day Catherine rushes home to find her son. She pushes Robert awake to find out what Nicholas knows, and Mr. Ravenscroft is almost unrealistically worthless. He knows his son has been struggling, but he’s taking time to yell at Catherine over his petty emasculation? He is a truly bad father, one who doesn’t even know that Nicholas has lost his job or taken up smoking again. There’s a great beat that ends this scene when Blanchett reaches out to make contact with Cohen after getting the news about Nicholas. She almost pushes and comforts him at the same time, displaying both blame and empathy.

We learn that Nicholas had a stroke and may have permanent neurological damage. As Catherine sits at his bedside and Robert spirals into his own stupid self-pity, Stephen puts his final plan into motion. The question over how far Stephen is willing to go to destroy all the Ravenscrofts becomes clear this episode: He’s planning to kill Nicholas. “Time to begin tidying up,” he says, overjoyed by pain, misery, and death. Again, it doesn’t feel like even the grieving Nancy Brigstocke would approve.

Not only does the Stephen-generated flashback to the call about Sasha reveal the artifice of the Italian scenes in previous episodes, but there’s a key difference this week: Catherine narrates them. She hasn’t before. Her segments were narrated by an unseen observer, voiced by Indira Varma. Having Catherine tell her story gives it truth. And so we know that the photos Jonathan took on the beach were voyeurism instead of foreplay. And we know that he saw her at the bar later that night and was not seduced with discussions of sex with Kylie Minogue. As of this episode, it was a creepy guy on a beach who had a little ego boost from his attention at a bar. It’s not even close to what Nancy Brigstocke imagined in The Perfect Stranger. So what will we learn about the drowning in the finale?

The reveal of how much of Nancy and Stephen’s version of their son’s final days were a lie shades everything he’s doing today, including filling a syringe with drain cleaner to finish the job on Nicholas Ravenscroft. He’s going to commit murder in the name of his son. And Catherine doesn’t even see him as he passes behind her into the hospital. Again, the dialogue and narration gets even darker with lines like “The only thing that mattered was for Catherine Ravenscroft to suffer the way Nancy and I did.”

As Catherine returns to the hospital, she is told that her father is in with Nicholas. She races to the room just as Stephen is removing his syringe and pushes him out of the way before he can inject it. It allows his near-murder to go unseen, turning Catherine into the villain again. To the people in the room and the nurses who pull her away, Catherine just assaulted an old man. But the truth is she stopped a murder.

In the final scenes, Stephen is literally invited to come back to finish the job, but Catherine may have something to say about that. The two most important characters on the show finally interact directly as Catherine comes to Stephen’s house. The coward is willing to let her in this time, probably planning to kill or at least drug her too. He puts pills in her tea, which Catherine doesn’t even consider drinking before giving Stephen a well-deserved slap. She takes a gulp before saying, “It’s time for my voice to be heard.” Will she be able to speak long enough for that to happen?

Stray observations

• • Christiane Amanpour said in the first line of the show: “Beware narrative and form.” It’s really the key to the show, one that’s drenched in form (different narrators, color palettes, etc.) that should be teaching us how to interpret it if we don’t get caught up in the emotion of the narrative.
• • There’s nothing accidental on a show like this so pay attention to the seemingly tangential scene in the hospital waiting room of someone overcome by wailing grief. As Catherine speaks to an employer, it’s a moment where even she seems to realize none of that matters. Life is about the living and those we love.
• • The editing in this episode deserves praise. It’s one that really jumps across the timelines and realities more than most, filling in some gaps about Italy while pushing forward the thriller momentum of potential murder. That balance of looking back and moving forward at the same time is much harder than it looks.
• • There’s only one episode left! Is anyone still rooting for Stephen? Hasn’t Catherine suffered enough? And maybe for nothing more than a quick European affair?