Chloe Taylor, the editor-in-chief of the Real Thing magazine, had made a significant mark for herself in her industry. Her recent testimony for the new labor rights bill underlined her dedication towards championing salary transparency and gender equity in the workplace, and she had pretty much become the talk of the town. While Chloe’s life seemed perfect from a distance, she had secrets she never dared to share. The Better Sister is as much about Chloe as it is about her sister, Nicky. The world didn’t know about Nicky because Chloe never mentioned her, and we soon find out this was because her husband, Adam, was also Nicky’s ex-husband. This piece of information is enough to indicate how messed up the family dynamics are, and the more the series unfolded, the more shocking the revelations got. While Chloe was living her best life, things got complicated when Adam was stabbed to death at their own beach house. The investigation uncovered uncomfortable truths, and the worst part was the entire world was watching Chloe.
Spoiler Alert
Why was Ethan suspected of killing his father?
Detectives Guidry and Bowen suspected Ethan from the minute they broke the news of his father’s demise to him. He didn’t look surprised or sad; he simply asked where his mother was. They grew more suspicious when they discovered that Ethan had lied about his belongings being stolen. He clearly wanted the detectives to assume that it was a burglary gone wrong, but Guidry was certain from the very beginning that wasn’t the case. After Adam’s death, Nicky was informed about the situation, and as Ethan’s legal guardian, she was expected to look after him. Chloe and Nicky hadn’t been in contact, and Chloe strongly believed that she was the only guardian Ethan needed, but legally Nicky had to stay. Ethan was raised by Chloe, which was why he called her ‘mom’ and was deeply attached to her. On the night of the murder, Ethan was with his drug dealer friend, Kevin. After Guidry and Bowen threatened to look into his illegal business and expose him to his mother, Kevin admitted that, while Ethan was with him the whole evening, when he stepped out to meet his clients, Ethan chose to spend some time alone at the beach by his house. The detectives concluded that Ethan didn’t have an alibi, and when the lab report stated that Ethan McIntosh’s DNA was found under Adam’s fingernails, they knew he was their strongest suspect.
The detectives discovered that Ethan didn’t share a good relationship with Adam. Adam’s father had spent twenty years in prison for drug possession, and he might have had a heated argument with Ethan over him smoking pot. Adam was a successful advocate, and Guidry strongly believed that he detested his son because he constantly reminded him of a past he desperately wanted to forget. Also, records showed that Ethan was caught bringing a gun to school. Was he simply confused, or had he been planning something for a long, long time?
The detectives were right; Ethan often felt alienated, and he knew he was a constant disappointment to his father. Instead of understanding him and helping him navigate his emotions after being separated from his biological mother, Adam believed being an authoritarian figure in Ethan’s life was the only way his son would turn out to be a model citizen like him. But did Ethan hate his father enough to kill him? The detectives arrived at Chloe and Adam’s Manhattan apartment with a warrant. During the search, Michelle Senders, Chloe’s appointed lawyer, arrived at the scene. Upon questioning Ethan, she figured out that he’d lied to the cops about his alibi, and it was obvious that they’d figured out the truth. Senders strictly asked him not to respond to the cops unless she was present in the room. Meanwhile, after the search concluded, the detectives discovered the belongings Ethan mentioned had gone missing from his room after Adam was stabbed. He’d not only lied about his alibi, but he’d also misdirected the cops by deceiving them about the stolen items that the cops later found in their Long Island home hidden in Ethan’s room wrapped in a trash bag. The shoes that he stated were missing had blood stains on them. Ethan was arrested, and while he had his fair share of secrets, he was clear about one thing—he didn’t kill his father.
Ethan was afraid of Adam, and the reason why he’d brought the gun to his school was because he wanted to get rid of it. He was terrified of the possibility of his father using the gun and hurting the people he loved. During the trial, the prosecutor tried to establish that Ethan hated his father enough to kill him. It was true that there were moments when Ethan couldn’t stand his father, especially after he decided to enroll him in a military school. The prosecutor reasoned that Ethan’s early trauma resulted in his propensity for violence later in life. One of the most startling arguments that the prosecutor laid out was that one of the computers that was used to send threats to Chloe Taylor after her stance about the new labor law went viral was stored in her own house. The system was used by Ethan, who was one of the most regular posters on the site. He engaged with right-wing abusers online who slut-shamed his mother and threatened to ruin her reputation. Ethan commented about killing his father and that he deserved to die. The prosecution had established that Ethan resented his father, but it was still not proven with certainty that he’d killed him. Michelle stated that the only way they could win the case was by introducing the possibility of another suspect.
Why did Adam frame Nicky?
Adam and Nicky fell in love and got married when Adam’s career was just taking off. He once admired Nicky’s carefree nature, but gradually, as he aged, he thought she was rather irresponsible. He hated it when she used to drink at her job at the bistro, and perhaps somewhere deep down he worried that she too would become an addict like her alcoholic father. Adam didn’t feel safe leaving Ethan with Nicky, though she was always quite careful around her son. Instead of trying to understand Nicky, he simply looked down on her. Nicky had a hard time coping with her postpartum blues, and it was gradually revealed in The Better Sister that she struggled all the more because Adam used to physically assault her. Every time he found her in a drunk state, he used to abuse her, and it almost became a vicious cycle. One day, when Adam returned home and found Nicky enjoying a drink by the pool, he decided to use the situation to his advantage. He added Xanax and Ambien to her drink, and Nicky eventually passed out in the pool. Baby Ethan was in a floater, but when Adam narrated the incident to the cops, he lied about finding Ethan nearly drowned. As a lawyer, Adam knew he would not get custody over Ethan if he failed to prove that Nicky was an unreliable mother, so he orchestrated the plan. Nicky was devastated when Ethan was taken away from her. She loathed herself for failing to be a good mother to Ethan, and she resorted to alcohol and drugs to ease her pain. Nicky not only lost her husband and her son, but also her sister.
Adam was attracted to Chloe, and since she was extremely close to Ethan, they often used to spend time together, and they eventually got married. Nicky’s mother understood Nicky’s pain. As a young girl, Nicky was sexually abused by her father, who was too drunk to even realise that he was trying to bed his daughter and not his wife. The incident left Nicky scarred forever, and time and again the trauma would resurface. Nicky always protected Chloe from her father’s temper, and she didn’t protest when her father offered her alcohol on a regular basis while she was still just a kid. She wanted to develop a loving relationship with her father, and she thought maybe a secret would help them bond. Chloe failed to understand Nicky, because she didn’t know what her sister had been through. She blamed Nicky and trusted Adam blindly. During their father’s funeral, Nicky handed Ethan a phone he could use to stay in touch with her. Even though she couldn’t be with him, she wanted to know her son a little better.
Why did the jury find Ethan not guilty?
During The Better Sister’s ending, Chloe made it her life’s mission to introduce a new possible suspect in court. She was having an affair with Adam’s colleague, Jake Rodriguez, and she hoped he could help her find evidence that could establish that the Gentry Group was responsible for Adam’s death. Adam had been working closely with the organization, and they were involved in pretty shady business involving human trafficking and cheap labor. The FBI got a whiff of their business, and they targeted Adam to gather information. Since Adam knew about their sketchy dealings and pretty much helped them cover their tracks legally, he had no choice but to cooperate with the FBI to avoid prosecution. Chloe was so desperate to prove Ethan’s innocence that she even made a deal with an FBI agent, promising to find dirt on the Gentry Group, and in return she expected the agent to testify in court about Adam’s association with the Gentry Group and the possible threat he could’ve been subjected to. But unfortunately, Chloe couldn’t hand over anything substantial, and the agent had no intention of helping her out. So her next best option was Jake. She begged him to testify in court about Adam’s involvement with the organization, but he chose to steer clear of any controversy.
Chloe was left with no other choice but to paint Jake Rodriguez as a suspect. When she was brought to the stand to testify, she confirmed that she’d developed a romantic relationship with Jake. As it turned out, Adam used to abuse Chloe, as he did Nicky. She chose to hide her scars when she went on runs with Jake, but eventually she disclosed her secret. She struggled to accept the truth, and she often felt like a hypocrite who pretended to have everything in control in public and spoke for gender equality while she was being abused at her own house. Jake was the only person she could be vulnerable with. In the eyes of the jury, Jake had the perfect motive to murder Adam—he could get rid of his competitor at work, and he would be free to date Chloe publicly after Adam’s death. The jury announced that they found Ethan innocent because he was no longer the only one with a strong motive.
Who was the killer?
Nicky and Chloe celebrated the win. The case brought them closer together, and they realized that even though they went through a rough patch, they cared deeply about each other. After Ethan returned home, Chloe had an honest conversation with him. While Chloe assumed Ethan had murdered his father, Ethan thought it was his mother who’d killed him. Ethan broke the window from inside to make it look like a burglary and it was a rookie mistake. He knew that Adam abused Chloe, so he didn’t really blame his mother for killing him. Moreover, if Ethan had called for emergency help, he believed Adam could’ve been saved, but he didn’t want his father to survive, so he simply walked away. Chloe revealed that, when she returned home, Adam was already dead. So, they both wondered—who killed him?
The ending of The Better Sister revealed that Nicky was the killer. Ethan had mentioned that his father had physically assaulted Chloe, and Nicky immediately knew she had to rescue her sister. Even though they’d not been in touch for a while, Nicky felt responsible for Chloe. She hadn’t had anyone to save her from Adam, but she didn’t wish for her sister to experience the same. Nicky knew how suffocating it could get and how impossible it might feel to get out of an abusive relationship. When Nicky showed up at their Long Island house, Adam opened the door. He was shocked to see her, and he refused to let her interact with Chloe. Nicky made it very clear that she would not leave without seeing Chloe, and she also told him that she knew that he abused Chloe. Desperate to silence Nicky, Adam attempted to choke her. Nicky acted in self-defense. Her trauma resurfaced, and she was desperate to push him away. She ended up stabbing him, and while that was not her intention, she believed she didn’t have much of a choice. After Nicky left, Ethan entered the house and found his father lying in a pool of blood. And last of all, Chloe discovered his body and contacted the police.
Why was Detective Guidry taken off the case?
The only person who got a whiff of the truth was Detective Nancy Guidry. She was convinced that the killer wasn’t a professional, which meant that the murder was not well planned, and therefore probably a crime of passion. Since she didn’t have enough evidence against Chloe or Ethan, she decided to find out more about Nicky. She was a little surprised when she learned that Nicky had stayed in touch with Adam’s mother, who lived in Ohio. Her son didn’t care to visit her, but Nicky did. She brought her food and other necessities time and again. When Guidry visited Adam’s mother, she discovered that Nicky was there on the day of the murder. According to Debbie, Nicky received a call, and she left her house in a hurry, leaving behind her phone. She returned the next morning and told Debbie that Adam had been stabbed. Guidry grew suspicious because she clearly remembered not telling Nicky the details about Adam’s murder. When Guidry tried to record her statement, Debbie backed out and instructed her to leave. Guidry figured Nicky’s phone location was not reliable proof because it was not on her when she left. All she had to do now was find out if Nicky’s DNA was found on Adam’s clothes to prove her theory. Just when Guidry thought she was about to crack the case, she learned that her past mistake had made it to the headlines. Guidry was once involved in apprehending an innocent, thinking he was her suspect, and the victim was left paralyzed after the incident. Since the public would not consider her a reliable cop anymore, her boss, Lou, took her off the case.
How did Chloe frame Bill Braddock?
The moment Chloe discovered that Nicky had murdered Adam, she knew she needed to frame someone else to protect her sister. While she’d used Jake to prove to the court that Ethan alone didn’t have a motive, she cared about him enough to not frame him for something he didn’t do. Moreover, Jake was in a similar position as Adam. The FBI agent, Oliviero, wanted him to hand over the information that Adam was supposed to deliver. But Jake was not as involved with the Gentry Group as Adam, and he had no idea what the secret files were. Jake was afraid that he would become the target of both—the FBI and the Gentry Group. After he was fired from his job by his boss, Bill Braddock, he was all the more petrified. Chloe managed to discover the files and recordings Adam had safely kept hidden in his locker, and the evidence proved Bill’s involvement with the Gentry Group.
Chloe pretended to be on Bill’s side, and she arrived at his house offering an olive branch. She expressed how regretful she was for trying to go against him. She handed Bill all the files Adam had on the Gentry Group, stating that she didn’t wish to have anything in her house that had to do with the Gentry Group or the FBI. She explained that she was tired of living in fear because whatever Adam knew resulted in his death, and she was afraid that she would end up becoming the killer’s next target. While Bill didn’t know what to think at first, he eventually bought her lies. He genuinely considered she was planning on getting back in the business, and smoothing their relationship was crucial to doing so.
In The Better Sister’s ending, Bill Braddock was arrested after Chloe submitted a copy of the evidence she’d found from Adam’s safe to Detective Matt Bowen. He later handed it to the FBI agent in the hopes of getting a favor later on. Bowen had enough evidence to prove that Bill had every reason to plot Adam’s murder. He and his team stormed into Braddock’s house and dragged him out of there. As it turned out, Chloe had planted the murder weapon in his office during their brief meeting. Once Nicky figured out what Chloe was up to the entire day, she realized that her sister finally had her back. They did what was best for both of them, and while some might argue that not all of it was morally justified, they did it to protect each other and Ethan. The sisters realized that they were the only family they ever needed, and they decided to raise Ethan together. Also, Chloe and Nicky decided to work on a book together to document their experience and allow the public a peek into their world. Well, they will have to hide a few details forever, but nonetheless, revisiting their past together will help them heal.
Who killed Jake Rodriguez?
In the final scene of The Better Sister, the camera focuses on Jake Rodriguez’s lifeless body lying on the beach. Maybe he killed himself once he figured out that since Bill had been arrested, the FBI didn’t need his help, and the Gentry Group would hunt him down. Or perhaps the Gentry Group murdered him because he would’ve testified against the group and Bill now that the truth had come to light. Jake had no idea who’d killed Adam, but since he was already fired, there was nothing to stop him from speaking out against his boss and the people he was closely associated with. Since the Gentry Group was extremely influential, they will surely try everything in their power to settle the matter. Maybe Bill would end up the scapegoat, and the actual people pulling the strings would continue with their illegal operations. While Chloe and Nicky were finally relieved, their happiness might not last long. Chloe was responsible for the exposé, and since Adam was the only one who had the incriminating documents, the Gentry Group would figure out eventually that she was responsible. They might try to seek revenge on her, but hopefully they’ll choose not to, considering both the cops and FBI would definitely suspect them if something goes wrong.
