In the second episode of Disclaimer, it was revealed that Nancy Brigstocke did confront Catherine Ravenscroft regarding her involvement in her son, Jonathan’s death. Nancy lambasted Catherine for not even showing up at Jonathan’s funeral, even though the teen had died saving Catherine’s son, Nicholas. To make things worse, when the authorities questioned Catherine about whether or not she knew Jonathan, she denied having any connections to that kid, despite having posed for some explicit pictures that were found on Jonathan’s camera. Talking about the photos, Stephen personally sent a copy of them to Robert, which caused him to spiral out and leave Catherine. Stephen had also laid the foundations of furthering the discord between Catherine and Nicholas by delivering a copy of The Perfect Stranger to the young man at his workplace, thereby following through on Nancy’s “a son for a son” crusade. In today’s episode of Disclaimer, we learn more about what went down between Catherine and Jonathan, and whether or not Stephen’s revenge plan saw any progress.
Spoiler Alert
Jonathan Was Seduced By Catherine
Jonathan and Catherine’s story was picked up where it was left off at the end of Disclaimer episode 2 with the teenager helping the mother and the kid get to their hotel. Initially, Catherine planned to part ways with Jonathan in front of the hotel, but then she walked back on that decision and decided to have a drink with him. Jonathan accepted the offer, because he was clearly infatuated with Catherine. Now, from here onwards, I am going to be a little vague about what actually happened between Jonathan and Catherine because it’s too explicit to be put into words. Let’s just say that Jonathan fulfilled his sexual fantasies about Kylie Minogue and Catherine did everything that she couldn’t do with her husband. In the previous episode of Disclaimer, Catherine had tried to paint her affair with Jonathan as some kind of a complicated albeit emotionless fling that shouldn’t be taken very seriously. But based on what we got to see, nothing about Catherine’s decisions seemed “complex.” She was dissatisfied with her post-marriage sex life. She couldn’t ask Robert to do the things that would make her happy. She saw an impressionable and lustful teenager who had just parted ways with his girlfriend and she made the most of it.
At one point during Catherine and Robert’s argument, Robert asked Catherine if Nicholas had caught her in the act, and that was why they were so distant from each other. Catherine said that she had ensured that Nicholas knew nothing about what she was doing with Jonathan. However, this week’s episode showed that Nicholas probably did hear what his mother was up to and figured out that she was cheating on Robert with Jonathan. By the way, it’s still unclear if the whole sequence of events that happened between Jonathan and Catherine is the truth. You see, Jonathan died before he could talk about his affair with Catherine. Unless he sent a postcard to Nancy, detailing his sexual escapades with Catherine, which I doubt he would have, then we aren’t seeing his time in Italy from his point-of-view. Catherine largely stayed mum on this affair. She could’ve talked about it with Nancy, in the hopes of giving her some form of closure, because she never predicted that Nancy would write an entire manuscript around it. So, if neither Catherine nor Jonathan is the POV character, then I’m guessing that the depiction of Catherine and Jonathan’s affair is a result of Nancy’s imagination that she has pieced together from the photos from Jonathan’s camera.
Stephen And Nancy Get Vague Details Of Jonathan’s Death
While chilling in their backyard, Stephen and Nancy received the heartbreaking news of Jonathan’s death in Italy from DCI Duggins and PC Davis of the Metropolitan Police. Duggins said that Jonathan died in an accident, but Nancy seemingly didn’t buy it. Duggins then said that the parents would have to go all the way to Italy to confirm whether or not the dead body was that of Jonathan, or else the Italian authorities wouldn’t release the body for burial, and Nancy hoped that that meant there was a chance that the wrong person had been identified as Jonathan. But Duggins assured them that Jonathan was indeed dead and all that was left for the parents to do was go through the formalities of performing his last rites. So, the grieving Brigstockes landed in Italy where they were received by Richard Perkins, from the consulate, and he took them to the morgue. While Nancy was overwhelmed at the sight of Jonathan’s body, Stephen processed the situation by taking note of some details about the state of Jonathan’s corpse. Stephen pointed out that, even though the police said that Jonathan drowned to death, his face wasn’t swollen. The coroner said that the body wasn’t submerged in water for long enough to have such an effect. Then Stephen noticed a peculiar “X” mark on Jonathan’s right hand. The coroner theorized that Jonathan sustained the injury during the “accident.” Realizing that there was no point in conducting his own investigation at this point, Stephen joined Nancy to mourn the loss of their son.
The following day, Perkins took Stephen and Nancy to the dingy hotel that Jonathan was staying at to collect all his belongings. Almost paralleling the scene where Robert visited Nicholas’ room, Stephen and Nancy were sort of shocked to see the state of Jonathan’s room. Stephen found the knife that he had gifted him as a birthday present to gain his affection, because his bond with his son was not as strong as the one Jonathan shared with his mother. Stephen found it surprising that Jonathan had taken up smoking (I don’t think that the cigarettes and lighter belonged to Jonathan, because we never saw him smoking) and Nancy was quick to blame Jonathan’s girlfriend, Sasha, for it; thereby underscoring her hatred for the girl and the mother’s inability to see that maybe her son was flawed. Before leaving the hotel, Nancy quickly stuffed the film from Jonathan’s camera into her bag, which we all know would be used to torment Catherine and her family. Perkins then takes the couple to the beach where Jonathan allegedly drowned accidentally and that’s where the information about Jonathan sacrificing himself to save Nicholas was reiterated. Nancy refused to accept that Jonathan simply drowned to his death because he was an expert swimmer. Perkins assured Nancy that multiple witnesses had corroborated the fact that Jonathan’s death had nothing to do with his skills; it was an accident. While talking about the mother of the child that Jonathan saved, Catherine’s name finally came up, and when Nancy learned that the woman had not only refused to acknowledge Jonathan’s act of selflessness but also fled the country, she was livid. She told Perkins to make sure that he arranged a meeting with Catherine, but we all know that happened when Nancy was in the final stages of cancer. Anyway, Nancy and Stephen spent their last moments in Italy allowing the waves of the Mediterranean Sea to wash away their endless sorrows.
Catherine Thinks Stephen Has Written ‘The Perfect Stranger’
In the present day part of the narrative of Disclaimer episode 3, we see Catherine still trying to contact Robert but to no avail. The narrator states that Catherine had chosen to stay silent regarding her affair with Jonathan because she wanted to “protect” Robert and Nicholas from the truth. Since Jonathan passed away, Catherine never felt the need to dig up the past because that would’ve complicated her picture-perfect life where everyone was under her microscope for her documentaries, not the other way around. But, as evident from Robert’s drunken stupor, Catherine’s plan has failed and her husband is suffering from a severe bout of existential crisis. He ditches his car, which he was driving while getting drunk out of his mind, and decides to take the bus, something that he has not done in the entirety of his privileged life. During his trip, he assumes that a Black woman who works shifts to provide for her family probably doesn’t have the time to cheat on her husband. He then projects his racist and classist thoughts onto a sleeping man based on the fact that he can smell what he has packed for lunch and he is snoring on public transport. As Robert reaches his destination, he realizes that he is not only unaware of the reality of the state of his marriage, but he is also out of touch with reality as a whole. So, he steps into a cafe to read the book so that he can get some idea about his wife. By the way, do make a note of the “X” mark on the window next to which Robert was seated in the bus, which sort of looked like the scar on Jonathan’s arm. It might be something or it might be nothing.
The focus then shifts to Catherine, who is writing down what she wants to say to Stephen (now that she has figured out that he is alive and is the one who has published The Perfect Stranger) to prevent him from doing any more damage to her and her family. As Stephen is enjoying his breakfast, Catherine leaves a message on his voicemail. She doesn’t exactly say that she has figured out the connection between the protagonist of the book and herself, but her thoughts about the book’s content sound like a vague acknowledgement of Stephen’s plan to avenge his son, and that she wants him to stop. Of course, this tactic doesn’t work on Stephen as he becomes even more determined to ensure that Catherine suffers as much as Stephen and Nancy have. And we see Stephen increasing the reach of his book, thanks to Banks, by agreeing to a reading of The Perfect Stranger at a bookshop which is a hub for high-profile readers and writers. Stephen is well-aware of the fact that Catherine mingles with upper-class people, and if he gets to dent her reputation in those circles, then she won’t have an opportunity to resurrect her career in this lifetime or the next.
