Directed by Justin Chadwick, Fear is a thought-provoking series that leaves you thinking about how you perceive everything in your life. I have always believed that life is not entirely black and white; people are not just straight up right or wrong. What we perceive as wrong or unacceptable might be totally justified to another individual. That’s how the human mind functions. Yes, we do have certain morals and codes of conduct that we use as a yardstick to judge a person, but sometimes moral nihilism prevails. So, let’s find out what happened in the 3-part series and if the protagonists were able to overcome the challenges that came their way.
Spoiler Alert
What happened between Jan and the Berwicks?
Martyn and Rebecca Berwick wanted to make a fresh start, and so they moved to Glasgow with their kids, Fay and Paul. Martyn was an architect, and he was looking for some new exciting projects in his field. He had bought a big house in the posh side of the city, and he knew that he had taken a bit of a risk, considering it was an expensive place, probably a tad out of his budget too. But he also knew what he was capable of, and he believed that it was just a matter of time before he got some big clients and paid off his debt. Little did the Berwicks know that their lives were going to turn upside down in the most unprecedented manner. There was a young man named Jan who lived below their mansion, in the helpers’ quarters. So basically the basement of each and every mansion probably was turned into a small quarter where people could put up. The moment we saw Jan, we realized that he was suffering from some kind of mental disorder and loneliness. His behavior was very obnoxious, and the Berwicks didn’t know what to make of it. That said, the young man was extremely courteous in his mannerisms at first. He sent some cookies for the family, and then later he made a delicious pizza for Paul and Fay. But things got a bit scary and complicated when Jan tried to strike up a conversation with Rebecca in the subsequent days.
So whenever Martyn wasn’t there at home, Jan came out of his house, and he tried to talk to Rebecca. He once made lentil soup for her and told her that her sweater looked really good on her. Rebecca did feel a little awkward at the way he complimented, but then she just ignored all the negative thoughts and made herself believe that Jan was a shy and awkward man who probably had really bad communication skills. All that while, Rebecca never doubted Jan’s intentions, but that feeling changed when he came and made a really lewd remark about her lingerie. Rebecca knew that he had crossed the boundary, but the way he spoke and then left the scene made the former doubt herself. Rebecca, for a moment, didn’t understand what had happened. Then Jan took another step forward and wrote a letter to Rebecca, once again making that same comment and expressing his feelings. Rebecca showed Martyn that letter, and the latter lost his calm. Martyn went to the basement and warned Jan to stay away from his family. The next thing we know, Jan sent a letter to the law enforcement authorities stating that the Berwicks abused their kids and made them do things for money. Martyn and Rebecca were in a state of utter shock. They didn’t know what to make of everything. Martyn tried to threaten the man, but Jan shut himself inside his house and didn’t respond to Martyn or the law enforcement officers.
Why didn’t Martyn speak to his father?
It was Martyn’s father’s 70th birthday, and so Rebecca wanted the entire family to go and celebrate the occasion together. Martyn didn’t want to go home as he didn’t want to face his father. Allan, Martyn’s father, had a very stereotypical masochistic aura. Allan was an extremist; he believed that if there was a problem, one needed to solve it, no matter the cost one ended up paying at the end. For him, his family was everything, and he could go to any length for them. The narrative revealed that Martyn had a brother named Brian, who I believe stayed with their parents, and a sister named Corrine, who’d passed away due to some illness, a few years back. Allan always felt that it was the doctor’s fault that his daughter had died. The moment he realized that Corrine had passed away, he took his gun, and he went to the hospital with the intention of making the doctors pay for their mistake. Fortunately, Martyn was able to stop his father from doing so, but since that day, the former had stopped talking to him. Allan could never understand what he had done so wrong to deserve that kind of behavior from his own son. Martyn, on the other hand, despised his father so much that he didn’t want him around his kids. We saw how enraged Martyn got when he saw Allan teaching Paul how to shoot. During his father’s birthday celebrations, Martyn lost his calm, and he decided to leave his parents’ house at that moment. Martyn was still trying to cope with the traumas of his past life. In a flashback sequence, we saw that one time, Allan was probably going to hurt himself, or maybe even somebody else with his gun, and a young Martyn walked in and told his father not to do any such thing. He must have seen a side of him that made his old man repellent to him. Allan still tried to make efforts; he still tried to mend his relationship, but Martyn, it seemed, had given up. He didn’t want anything to do with his old man.
Why did Rebecca decide to leave Martyn’s house?
Rebecca and Martyn’s relationship deteriorated due to the havoc that had been wrecked on their lives by Jan. The man hacked their wifi, and he could hear them through all the electronic devices present in their house. Martyn and Rebecca were unaware of it for the longest time. There came a time when Martyn felt that Jan had vacated the premises after he realized that he had falsely accused the couple of abusing their children. But Martyn was wrong. Probably Jan wanted to create such an impression so that Martyn didn’t bother him and he could keep an eye on them secretly. There were times when law enforcement officers came and tried to resolve the matter, but their hands were also tied. Jan hadn’t committed any crimes in the eyes of the law, and for the longest time it was his word against the Berwicks. Stalking was a crime, but it was impossible to prove it without any sort of evidence. During the period when Martyn thought that Jan had vacated the basement of his house, the former attended a work-related conference. He met another female architect there, and he ended up chatting with her for the entire evening. The woman invited Martyn to her room, but then Martyn got a call from Rebecca, who told her that Jan hadn’t left, and that he had tried stopping her and the kids when she was going to drop them to school. Martyn rushed back to his home, and Rebecca was pretty disappointed when she found that he was drunk. The next morning things escalated even further, as Rebecca heard a voice note from that same lady, whom Martyn had met the day before. Now I don’t know for sure if Martyn would have taken her offer or not, had Rebecca not given him a call, but since he had rushed back to his home, he could take the defense that he didn’t intend to do anything. Rebecca left the home with her kids and went to stay at Anne’s place as she didn’t feel safe there anymore. Also, she was disappointed in Martyn for being so irresponsible on his part.
Why Did Martyn’s Father Kill Jan?
Martyn was shattered. He didn’t know what to do. So he gave a call to a man whom he knew he could depend upon. Martyn called his mother since his father did not keep a phone on him. Martyn’s mother for the longest time didn’t tell Allan that Martyn had called and was asking for him, as probably she sensed that that was not the right thing to do. But then Martyn met Brian, his brother, and he told him about everything that had happened. That’s when Allan arrived unannounced at Martyn’s doorstep, and he asked him bluntly what his plan of action was. I mean, Allan had a clarity of thought. He knew that there was a man who was torturing his boy and his family and that the law enforcement authorities were helpless since there was no evidence against the perpetrator. Just a day before Allan came to Martyn’s house, Jan had told Martyn that he would retract his statement that he had given to the police as he had realized that the Berwicks were not at fault. Martyn wanted to give Jan some time before he told his father to take charge of things. But then all of a sudden, Jan had a change of mind. He wrote a letter to the law enforcement authorities that he also sent to Martyn. He claimed, using Rebecca’s absence as an excuse, that Martyn was an abuser and that not only his kids but his wife too was a victim. Martyn was just speechless. He didn’t know what to do. He told Allan about it, who took out his gun and gave it to Martyn to do the needful.
At first, in Fear season 1, we were made to believe that it was Allan who went and shot Jan, but in reality, Martyn had a change of heart just at the last moment, and he did what his father wanted him to do. Allan told his son that if he didn’t pull the trigger, his entire life he would feel that he wasn’t able to take a stand for his family when they needed him the most. Also, Allan told his son that no matter who killed Jan, he would happily take the blame for his murder. Martyn didn’t want to kill Jan at first. But when Allan went to the basement, Martyn came up from behind, took the gun from his father, and killed Jan.
Fear’s ending revealed that Allan got sentenced to 18 years in prison since he had killed a man who had been a victim of abuse and who had been battling a lot of mental health issues for a very long time. Jan wasn’t unaware of his mental state, and he was trying very hard to overcome those issues. But time and again the ghosts of his past life kept haunting him, and he just didn’t know what to do. Jan actually felt that the kids were being abused, which is why he reported it to the authorities. Jan acted out of turn and the very next moment realized his mistakes. The problem was that he was stuck in a loop, and there was no denying that his presence did make Rebecca extremely scared and uncomfortable. So in such a scenario, how do we decide whose fault it was? Allan took the law into his hands, but his intention behind doing so was to ensure the safety of his family. Jan also didn’t have the intention of hurting anybody, but he still did end up traumatizing them.
In Fear’s ending, Martyn confessed to Rebecca that he was the one who had killed Jan. Rebecca knew about it, but she chose not to address the issue. I don’t know if things would ever get fine between Rebecca and Martyn, but they had a lot of issues to deal with. It would definitely take a lot of effort and patience to build that relationship of trust they had between them, though I believe that understanding the others’ perspective and not categorizing things as being black or white could help them heal and move ahead in their lives.
