Seven years after Emily Nelson, aka Hope McLanden, was arrested for the murder of her father and her twin sister, Faith, in A Simple Favor, she is reunited with her ‘best friend,’ Stephanie, in the sequel. Starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, Another Simple Favor is all about the strange friendship Stephanie and Emily share. Two opposing personalities, but in some way, they were somewhat obsessed with one another. After exposing Emily to the world through her vlog, Stephanie penned her experience, but the novel didn’t become the breakout success that she thought it would be. But all of a sudden, one day, Emily walked into one of Stephanie’s book signing events, and she announced that she wanted her best friend to be her maid-of-honor and attend her wedding at Capri. Did Stephanie accept the proposal? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Who murdered Dante Versano?
Stephanie decided to attend Emily’s wedding at Capri, fearing a legal battle, and, well, she was intrigued to find out what Emily was up to. Her agent, Vicky, was convinced that the trip could help boost their book sales, and she was not wrong. Stephanie soon realized that the Italian man Emily was marrying was Dante Versano. It was impossible to find information on him, and after reaching Capri, she discovered that he was part of the mafia. This explained how Emily managed to get out of prison on appeal. She also mentioned her new attorneys were trying to prove evidence tampering in her case, angling for a lenient sentence. It became obvious that everything was funded by Dante, her would-be husband. Things took a turn in Capri when Emily’s ex-husband, Sean, was found dead in his room. The local detective concluded that it was an accident—Sean was too drunk; he slipped and died. But Stephanie refused to believe it. Sean despised Emily, and he’d publicly shamed her the very day he was murdered. Stephanie was convinced it was Emily, but she didn’t have any proof. The murder didn’t stop the lovebirds from getting married. Emily and Dante shared their vows, and they were declared man and wife. Stephanie suspected that there was some mystery at play, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. On the night of the wedding, Dante was shot, and Stephanie was a witness. She had noticed Dante leaving the party, and she was curious to find out what secret he was hiding. But she didn’t expect to witness a murder. Dante’s mother, Portia, had disapproved of Emily from the start. After Dante was killed, she was all the more convinced that Emily had a hand in it. He had destroyed the prenup to establish his faith in their love, and Portia knew it would backfire, but she didn’t expect that to happen so soon. The problem was that there were enough and more witnesses to confirm that Emily was at the party when Dante was killed.
The only person who was missing at the time was Stephanie. She was suspected of murdering Dante out of spite/her strange obsession with Emily/simply for her book sequel. Stephanie was put under house arrest, but the sleuth in her refused to rest. She figured out what was going on when Emily came to visit her. She was not the woman Stephanie knew, her behaviour was distinctly different. Stephanie managed to sneak out of her room, and she met Margaret, Emily’s mother. She was an eccentric woman, lost in her own thoughts, but when Stephanie asked her about her daughter, Charity, she was intrigued. She explained that Charity was a stillborn, and that her sister, Linda, had cremated her. Stephanie realized that Margaret had only heard of Charity’s cremation and hadn’t witnessed it—therefore, she was convinced that Charity didn’t die at birth. She was raised by Aunt Linda and was at present impersonating Emily. Emily suspected Charity of killing Dante, but what was her motive, and most importantly, where was Emily?
How was Aunt Linda involved in the murders?
When Linda figured out that Stephanie had gotten a whiff of what was going on, and that Margaret was indirectly responsible for it, she suffocated her sister to death. She despised Margaret because she believed her sister should have been grateful to her for giving Charity a good life. Linda was a con woman, and she used Charity to run her business. Charity was groomed to always follow her advice and instructions, and it had worked to her advantage. So, what was Linda’s will? Well, after she figured out that Emily was marrying a mafia boss, she realized she could happily retire. She blackmailed Emily and Dante for $20 million.
What was the arrangement between Emily and Dante?
Aunt Linda knew about Emily and Dante’s secret arrangement. While the couple seemed to be madly in love with one another, it was a front. They met a long time back in Italy when Emily was working as a bartender. They immediately bonded and became the best of friends. Dante felt safe with Emily, and he’d shared with her his secret—he was in love with Matteo Bartolo. Matteo belonged to the rival family, and Dante knew that if Portia ever found out his secret, she would kill him. So, Emily helped Dante and Matteo to meet in secret away from judgmental eyes. Eventually Emily left Italy, and they were no longer in touch. But as a result of the murder case, Dante once again heard about Emily, and he decided to reconnect with her. He offered to provide her the best attorneys to fight her case and proposed that they get married so that she could be let out of prison on appeal. Since Emily was the only one who knew his secret, he believed she was his and Matteo’s only hope in keeping alive their secret affair. Emily agreed to the deal, but unfortunately Aunt Linda discovered their secret and threatened to expose them. When Emily refused to entertain her, she introduced Charity.
Raised by Linda, Charity was mentally unstable. She was obsessed with her siblings and believed that they were as one. She had told Emily how she’d sensed Faith die because she knew that they were all connected. Charity loved Emily to the point that she believed that they were meant to be together and that they must not allow anyone to come between them. Charity killed Sean because she refused to let go of anyone who dared to insult her sister. She had convinced herself into thinking that she was saving Emily, and killing Dante was her way of getting close to Emily. Charity drugged her sister, kept her locked in a room, went ahead with the wedding, and eventually murdered Dante. Aunt Linda figured that since Dante had gotten rid of the prenup before Charity killed him, she stood the chance to inherit a good portion of Dante’s wealth.
What happened to Charity and Emily?
Emily planned on running away with her son, but Stephanie thought that was a terrible idea. She was the prime suspect in the murder case and couldn’t let Emily just disappear. Emily clarified that she knew the people around her would try to kill her, and that she’d invited Stephanie to her wedding because she assumed that if she was murdered, Stephanie would dig deep and ensure that the truth was not suppressed. Charity used Stephanie’s phone to log in to her account, and she started a live video, indirectly threatening to kill Emily’s son, Nicky. Stephanie and Emily confronted Linda and Charity.
Linda held Nicky at gunpoint. She explained that she’d drugged the young boy and he would not have any memory of the conversation they were about to have. Linda was determined to replace Charity with Emily, and she believed that Charity could win the trust of the Versanos by killing Stephanie. After Dante’s death, Charity had been at her best behavior, and Portia was taking a liking towards her. Linda knew that once she killed Stephanie, Portia would trust her all the more, and she would forever have access to endless wealth. While Charity was ready to watch Stephanie die, she hadn’t thought Linda’s plan would involve killing Emily. She loved her sister, and she refused to murder her. Linda tried to explain the situation to Charity, but she would rather die for her soulmate (Emily) than watch her get murdered. As the situation got tense, Emily and Stephanie managed to force Linda to let go of Nicky. They tried to grab her gun, but she refused to let go. Nicky used his drone to hit Linda in her head, and Charity used the moment to her advantage to snatch the gun from Linda. She shot Linda and pushed her off the cliff, and that was the end of the con artist. After killing Linda, Charity was determined to shoot Stephanie, because she held her responsible for coming between her and Emily. But Emily spoke sense to her. She reminded her that she didn’t want Stephanie to die because she was innocent. Emily convinced Charity that she too believed that they belonged together, and therefore Charity had to do a favor for her.
In Another Simple Favor’s ending, we learn that Stephanie had published a sequel titled ‘Dying for Love: A Killer in Capri,’ and it had topped The New York Times Best Seller list. The ending confirmed that Emily had been rearrested, but this time it was actually Charity who went to prison. Emily had told Charity to pretend to be her and confess to all the charges, and this allowed Emily to escape. It was a selfish move, but Charity was not innocent, and Emily had never been a selfless person. Stephanie knew the truth, but she didn’t protest. Emily had realized that she was not a good influence on Nicky, especially now that she had to spend the rest of her life in hiding. She asked Stephanie for another favor— to raise Nicky with love and care. Stephanie promised to do so, and Emily confirmed that she would be around and she would keep an eye on them.
Another Simple Favor’s ending hints at an unexpected new bond—Portia figured out the truth; she had enough reliable sources to decipher what was going on. While she knew Emily had nothing but love for Dante, she believed she was, in a way, the reason why her son was murdered. But since she now considered Emily a part of her family, she expected her to prove her loyalty and carry out ‘a simple favor’ for her. Portia handed Emily a white envelope; presumably, it held the name of someone she wanted Emily to eliminate. This exchange indicates that Portia and Emily will work together in the future. Emily’s ‘killer’ instincts would help her business, and the financial security would allow Emily to live a good life and provide for her son. Another sequel is of course a possibility— Stephanie will never run out of interesting stories to write about, especially with Emily joining the mob, but is a third installment necessary? Well, it remains debatable.
