It is not often that we come across a movie that makes for a great story but leaves us confused from a perspective of an adaptation for the screen. The confusion, in this case, is not the actual events of the story but the way we don’t receive any closure. A movie, or any story for that matter, has a beginning, middle, and end that wraps it all up for the audience. But when the end is just as messy, then how do we feel satisfied with the narrative? That is what happens with “Catch the Fair One.” Please keep in mind that none of this is criticism. We are simply speculating what the intentions of the makers could have been by opting for the route of the unfulfillment of a rescue mission. Let’s take a look at the events of “Catch the Fair One.”
Spoilers Ahead
Kaylee’s Efforts To Rescue Weeta
Kaylee, aka K.O. Uppeshau, is an ex-boxer who is currently working at a diner and struggling to make ends meet. She sleeps with a blade in her mouth and is evidently depressed. One night, she meets a person named Lisa, who procures girls for a trafficking ring. Kaylee is looking for someone, and she believes that this might be a lead. Lisa offers to introduce her to the ring with the next batch, and Kaylee agrees. We are not sure what her plan is at this point but seeing her training and her interactions with her friends, who seem to be in on it, it must be to make use of her fighting skills to navigate the ring and potentially rescue her sister. After having everything in place, she goes to meet her mother, who is a part of a therapy group for people whose loved ones have gone missing. When Kaylee and her mother talk, we realize that she used to be an addict who got clean recently. She and her mother have some tension between them, and they probably don’t stay in touch too often. Kaylee breaks down crying and tells her mother that she wishes she would just admit that it was Kaylee instead of Weeta who had gone missing. We are introduced to a heartbreaking family dynamic here, one that points towards favoritism towards a child. We come to know later on in the movie that Kaylee’s father was from the west coast of Africa. Do Kaylee and Weeta not have the same father? Kaylee got clean, but when exactly was she an addict? Was it after Weeta went missing or before? Are these the reasons her mother exhibited that coldness toward her daughter? Or is it because Kaylee blames herself for Weeta going missing, and her mother agrees? She was supposed to accompany her back home but was caught up with practice, so Weeta went by herself, and that’s when she was kidnapped. While it is not Kaylee’s fault, grief produces a lot of guilt and anger. That could be what Kaylee and her mother were dealing with.
The next day, as part of her plan, Kaylee goes with Lisa’s batch, and she is called in by a guy to “start the process.” He clicks a few pictures of her and asks whether she has gotten any work done. He injects her with a drug and asks her to turn around while he does his business. At this point in the movie, we can only imagine the situation. There are indications that he must have violated her, and the very next scene shows Kaylee throwing up violently. But her mission is far from over. She is taken by the ring to meet a guy, but there is a surprise waiting for her and she is kidnapped. When she opens her eyes, she finds Bobby, who tells her that she should not have trusted a pimp and a trafficking ring. He lets her know that he has her buyer with him. But Kaylee is a fighter. She has her blade, and just as the buyer is about to violate her again, she cuts the tape she was bound with and slashes his throat. Kaylee escapes and hides in Bobby’s car. When he sees that she is missing, he calls his father, Willie, who is furious with his son and beats him up.
Bobby, hurt and angry, drives home with Kaylee in the car. When we look at his family, we see a wife who is clearly a victim of domestic violence and a son who is unaware of it all and is daddy’s favorite. When he goes to freshen up, Kaylee makes her moves, so when Bobby comes out of his room, he finds his wife and son tied up. Kaylee attacks and subdues him. She ties him up with tape. When he comes back to consciousness, she questions him about her sister, but he is uncooperative. Kaylee waterboards him, but he refuses to break. At one point, Kaylee takes it too far, which results in Bobby’s death. He gets a call, and Kaylee listens to the man on the other end talking about the next batch of girls in the train yard. She goes there and locks the driver in. In the warehouse, she finds a group of girls and is shocked at the extent of it all. Until that point, she had single-mindedly thought only of her sister, but seeing the girls here made her realize that each and every one of them was in a similar predicament to her Weeta. She tells the girls to escape and runs after the procurer. She shoots him and lets him bleed to death when he can’t answer her questions about Weeta. We find that Bobby’s wife and son are in the car, tied up. Kaylee asks them to take her to Willie’s house.
Linda goes in first to check on the situation while Kaylee holds Junior hostage in the car. She texts her from within the house that it is just Willie and his wife. After informing her, she proceeds to call 911. When she steps out, Willie’s wife, Debra, tells Linda that she needs to toughen up as she can’t come there every time Bobby gets aggressive, suggesting that there is a culture of domestic abuse in the family. She also mentions how they have been gracious enough to take Linda in as one of their own. Was she one of the trafficked girls? What else could those words mean? Either way, looking at Linda’s nervous demeanor, Debra notices the security cameras behind her and spots Kaylee entering the house.
‘Catch The Fair One’ Ending Explained: Does Kaylee Rescue Weeta?
When Kaylee steps inside Willie’s study, she tells him that Bobby is dead and asks where her sister Weeta is. Willie replies that he can’t be expected to remember the names of all the girls. Kaylee finds the last of her hope slipping away when she hears the door open. She ducks just in time, and Debra’s bullet hits Willie in the face. Another shot gets her before she shoots Debra. As she is lying there on the ground, her vision slipping away, she thinks back to what her life could have been. She has returned to boxing, and her mother has come to visit her. Life is on track again, and as she prepares for a match, her sister looks at her. Kaylee snaps back to the present, with the sound of the police sirens in the background and her life slowly slipping out of her. Kaylee dies, unsuccessful in finding Weeta but having taken down an entire trafficking ring and rescued scores of girls. It is possible that Weeta is already dead or is still being held captive by a buyer. It is also possible that she might be rescued now, that Kaylee has managed to reopen the case, or that it could just be another thing that the world forgets about as it moves on.
Final Thoughts: What Works For ‘Catch The Fair One’?
This was a gritty and well-written story. We are not entirely sure if we should derive something optimistic from it, but we are unable to stop ourselves from doing so. Kaylee does not find Weeta, but she is still able to reunite many girls with their families. We like the story, and despite our desire for a happier ending, we can’t help thinking that this was probably closer to reality. Kaylee was a woman whose only goal in life was to rescue her sister, and she gave her life for it. It is a hard movie to recommend to others, but this is one of those times when a story is told not for the audience but because it needs to be told, and that should be respected. For that reason, “Catch the Fair One” deserves a lot more hype, and we hope it gets that.
“Catch the Fair One” is a 2021 Drama Thriller film directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka.
