Season 1 of “One of Us Is Lying” ended on a massive cliffhanger where we saw that the members of the so-called Murder Club got an anonymous “Simon Says,” text sent from the “About That” app. One of the students at Bayview High School, Simon Kelleher, designed this gossip app to expose the secrets of rich and pretentious students in order to reveal their true identity to the world. However, things took a tragic turn when Simon died mysteriously, and by the end of Season 1, it was revealed that his death was staged by his childhood best friend, Jake Riordan, who wanted to take revenge on his cheating girlfriend, Adelaide “Addy” Prentiss, by framing her for Simon’s murder. The Murder Club tried to gather evidence against Jake, but in doing so, they accidentally shot him in the woods on the day of his Halloween party. In a very rushed ending, we witnessed how conveniently the Murder Club proved to the authorities that Jake had run away to Mexico before his crimes could be exposed to the world. Miller, the investigating officer, discovered Simon’s XBOX, on which he had recorded all of his conversations with Jake, establishing that Jake planned Simon’s murder with him in order to frighten the kids at school.
In “One of Us Is Lying” Season 1, we all believed that it was Jake who had been using Simon’s “About That” app after his death, but as we all knew, Jake had never been so tech-savvy, which brought us to the conclusion that someone else had been helping him all along. Apparently, this mysterious person was the one who sent “Simon Says” text messages to the members of the Murder Club at the beginning of the Season 2 in order to take revenge for Jake’s murder. The end of “One of Us Is Lying” Season 2 not only revealed the identity of this new blackmailer but also ended on another cliffhanger that set the stage for Season 3. So, without further ado, let’s expose the killer and explore what mystery lies ahead.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened to Jake Riordan’s Body? What Did The New Blackmailer Want?
It was revealed in “One of Us Is Lying” Season 1 that Addy shot Jake in self-defense, but instead of going to the police, Bronwyn Rojas decided that they should cover up their acts as the authorities would frame them for the murder, which would probably destroy their future. Hence, she took the lead and soon ordered her friends to get rid of the evidence and fabricate a story that Jake escaped to Mexico in fear of being caught. The members of the Murder Club didn’t trust each other, so they hid things from one another. The new anonymous blackmailer took advantage of their misunderstandings and thus revealed their secrets one by one in order to break them apart.
Janae Matthews and Nate Macauley were supposed to get rid of Jake’s body, but instead of dumping it in the ocean, Janae hid the corpse in a freezer on her father’s boat. As soon as the anonymous messages started flooding in, the Murder Club decided to finally dump the body, but it wasn’t the end of their problems. Vanessa Clark, an overly enthusiastic student, enjoyed quite a bit of fame by fabricating conspiracy theories around Jake’s disappearance. It was she who found Jake’s car license plate, which helped the police locate his car and establish the fact that he didn’t escape to Mexico. Later, the police conducted a rigorous investigation and found Jake’s body in the ocean, which made them certain that someone had murdered Jake. It was just a matter of time for them to find out who the murderer was, and that was all the new blackmailer wanted.
The new blackmailer was seeking justice for Jake and wanted to put Addy Prentiss behind bars as she was the one who pulled the trigger on Jake and killed him. The blackmailer sent the murder weapon to Addy in the hopes that she would be reminded of her actions and turn herself in, but her friends reminded her that whatever happened that night wasn’t her fault. Addy pulled the trigger in self-defense. Jake, on the other hand, was a complete control freak who treated her girlfriend, Addy, like a slave and manipulated her like a psychopath. Addy couldn’t understand Jake’s toxic behavior towards her, but her new friends could see those red flags, which is why they warned her against him. Throughout “One of Us Is Lying” Season 2, Addy was traumatized to the core and wanted to turn herself in to end the miseries of all, but her friends knew that their problems wouldn’t end with her. This blackmailer was just another sociopath like Jake Riordan who enjoyed traumatizing people mentally, physically, and emotionally. After Addy’s arrest, she would have found a new person to play with, and thus the only way to stop the misery was to catch the blackmailer and put an end to her.
Who Was The New Blackmailer? Why Was Giselle Ward Murdered?
In “One of Us Is Lying” Season 2, Jake’s elder brother, Cole, had been actively investigating his brother’s disappearance, but after a certain point, he took a backseat because he found out that it was Jake who had murdered Simon. The police had found the recordings on Simon’s Xbox and were building a case against him, and Cole didn’t want his brother’s past to get exposed in public, which would have brought shame to the entire Riordan family. Hence, Cole decided to let go of the case and suggested the same to Vanessa to stop her from digging up the past. During a conversation, he told her that last summer Jake wasn’t in Greece, as he had told everyone, but instead, he was admitted to a rehab center. Cole didn’t share any further details, but we later found out that Jake was admitted to the Wild Awakenings rehab center for the treatment of his sociopathic behavior. It was the same rehab center that Principal Gupta had suggested to Addy’s mother after Addy smashed Giselle Ward’s car, which brought us to the conclusion that whatever Jake had done might be connected to the school. However, if that were the case, Simon would have probably known about Jake’s past, which could be one of the reasons why Jake killed him. Well, “One of Us Is Lying” season 2 didn’t reveal much about Jake’s past actions, and probably season 3 would dig deeper.
Nevertheless, during his stay in Wild Awakenings, Jake met two women. One was Giselle Ward, a stalker, and a compulsive liar, and the second was Fiona Jennings, another impulsive psychopath who had stabbed her math teacher, Mr. Sheridan, in the back. Fiona was the same person about whom Simon had broadcast texts from his “About That” app at the beginning of “One of Us Is Lying” Season 1. Fiona was probably the only daughter of Victor, the man who owned the bar of the same name in the town. As we know Simon, he hated the fact that rich people could get away with things so easily, and thus, when Fiona transferred herself to Bayview High School in order to have a fresh start using her father’s influence, Simon decided to reveal her heinous crime so that everyone would know who she really was.
Fiona was heartbroken about what Simon did to her, and at that moment, it was Jake who eased her pain. Jake probably promised Fiona that he would teach Simon a lesson, and thus he killed him, seeking revenge for Fiona. She, being a sociopath like Jake, was quite okay with it and thus believed that Jake was really into her, which is why she took control of Simon’s “About That” app in order to help Jake in his sinister plan to frame Addy. She started sending anonymous texts to the Murder Club, thereby becoming the new blackmailer. It could be speculated that Fiona had feelings for Jake, which is why she decided to seek justice for Jake’s murder, as she believed that Jake did nothing wrong by killing Simon and that Addy was the main culprit in the entire scheme of things. It was Fiona again who sent the anonymous text to Janae Matthews in Season 1 using Simon’s app, in which she revealed Addy’s locker number where Jake had planted an EpiPen, in the absence of which Simon had died.
It was Fiona who had been helping Jake all along. After his murder, she took matters into her own hands and decided to put Jake’s murderer behind bars. However, there was one person who could have spoiled her whole plan, and that person was Giselle Ward, who was there with Fiona and Jake at Wild Awakenings, and she probably knew about Fiona’s entire plan or might have suspected it. Giselle was quite a talker who could have spilled the beans anytime, and thus Fiona murdered her quite brutally in order to shut her up forever. However, at this point, Fiona could have easily framed the members of the Murder Club for Giselle’s murder, but instead, she framed TJ Forrester. Why? The reason was that Bronwyn’s younger sister, Maeve Rojas, had cracked a deal with Fiona using the “About That” app, whose IP she had tracked to send a message back. Maeve promised to hand Addy over to Fiona, and in return, she had to spare the lives of everyone else. In short, Addy was all Fiona wanted to kill to fulfill her revenge.
‘One of Us Is Lying’ Season 2: Ending Explained – Who Killed Fiona Jennings?
The Murder Club tried their best to link Fiona to Giselle’s murder, but when they failed to find any evidence against her, they decided to frame Fiona for Jake’s murder, and for that, they needed Fiona’s fingerprints on the murder weapon. It was where Maeve’s expertise came in; she wanted to prove to her elder sister that she, too, had some talents. Without telling anyone, Maeve made a deal with Fiona in order to bring the monster out of her cave. While everyone had gone out to plant evidence against Fiona, Maeve was alone with Addy on the boat where she had invited Fiona. As soon as Fiona boarded the boat, she sailed the boat away from the shore and joined hands with Maeve in order to kill Addy. However, the entire thing was a trap that was designed by Maeve in order to get Fiona’s fingerprints on the gun. Fiona tried to burn down the ship with Maeve and Addy in it, but fortunately, both of them were saved by their friends. Fiona, on the other hand, had a one-on-one tussle with Bronwyn near the docks, where the police arrived and arrested Fiona. Cooper had secured the murder weapon with Fiona’s fingerprints on it, which probably made the police believe that it was Fiona who killed Jake Riordan.
In prison, Fiona tried to tell Jake’s brother, Cole, about the video that she had recorded on Halloween night, where we saw the entire Murder Club trying to get rid of Jake’s body, but Maeve had already replaced that pen drive, and thus there was no way for Fiona to prove that she didn’t kill Jake. However, she was indeed guilty of murdering Giselle Ward. At this point, Cole curiously asked Fiona about Jake’s motive for killing Simon. As it had been established so far in the series, Jake staged Simon’s murder to get revenge on Addy, but this particular question changes everything as Fiona ambiguously answers that maybe Simon knew what Jake had done in the past. As mentioned earlier, Cole didn’t want this information to be leaked to the public as it would bring shame to the entire family, and thus he would do anything in his power to keep the past buried. Soon after such a revelation, Fiona was poisoned in prison, and we could speculate that it was Cole who did it. Addy’s mother, Ann Prentiss, had mentioned earlier in the series that the Riordan family owns half of the town, and hence it wouldn’t be difficult for Cole to get rid of someone like Fiona in prison using his influence. He might have believed that a person like Fiona would try to blackmail him, and hence it would be better to get rid of her before any such crisis arose. Though these are mere speculations, it is “One of Us Is Lying” season 3 that will be able to shed more light on the mystery.
What Can We Expect From ‘One of Us Is Lying’ Season 3?
The Murder Club believed that all their problems had been dealt with and thus decided to celebrate a little among themselves. At Janae’s house, Nate Macauley gave a necklace with “Stay” inscribed on it to his girlfriend, Bronwyn. Nate had been quite confused about his relationship with Bronwyn because he believed that she was too good for him, and thus, probably, she would walk out of his life one day. He didn’t want himself to be in such a miserable state, which is why he always held back his feelings for Nate and was afraid to commit. However, by the end of “One of Us Is Lying” season 2, he is certain that they are meant to be together, and he gives her a “Stay” necklace to ask her to stay forever. The reason why this necklace was so important was because on graduation day, a few months after Fiona’s death, the police found this same necklace near a crime scene (a murder scene), which happened to be the corridor of Bayview High School. We saw blood on one of the regional championship trophies, which could mean someone attacked the victim with this trophy, which probably led to their death. Bronwyn’s necklace was picked up by the police from the crime scene, which could mean that she would evidently become the prime suspect in this murder case, which would be further explored in “One of Us Is Lying” season 3.
Our wild guess is that whatever this case is, it has something to do with Jake’s past, which his brother Cole is trying to hide from the public. It can mean that Cole will be the main antagonist in Season 3 and may have murdered someone else to protect his brother’s secret. We can entertain the possibility that Maeve Rojas probably found out something about Jake’s past from either Fiona or Simon (before his death). Bronwyn’s necklace on the crime scene cannot be a coincidence. She isn’t on talking terms with Maeve, and thus, one can link her to Maeve’s murder if that is what happens in the next season. There are millions of possibilities, and I guess we’ll have to wait for the next (and probably final) season to find out.
