The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’s ending hinged on a final confrontation between Caitlin and Polly because of the latter’s repeated attempts at pushing Caitlin away from Miguel, Emma, and Josie. Caitlin was having a hard time balancing her work life and her personal life, especially since Miguel wasn’t all that involved in parenting. When Polly showed up and offered her services as a nanny, Caitlin was hugely relieved. But every day, little by little, Polly began chipping away at this perfect family image that Catilyn had created. Polly began hurting her and her family members, but made it look like Caitlin was the crazy one for assuming that Polly was behind it all. Finally, when Caitlin’s best friend, Stewart, found damning information about Polly’s past which explained why she was doing what she was doing to Caitlin, Polly straight-up killed Stewart. This caused Caitlin to lose her composure and attack Polly. Since Polly had formed a bond with Emma, the little kid came to Polly’s rescue, and Caitlin ended up hitting her own daughter. Because of that, Caitlin had to stay away from her family, and that was unbearable to her. Therefore, she chose to have a chat with Polly, who was permanently staying at Caitlin’s, and well, things took an unexpectedly dark turn. So, let’s talk about it.
Spoiler Alert
The Reason Behind Polly’s Revenge
Caitlin and Polly grew up in San Bernardino as Jennifer and Rebecca, respectively. Rebecca’s father allegedly sexually assaulted Jennifer. And since Rebecca’s father was not convicted for that crime, she decided to set Rebecca’s house on fire. Rebecca’s father, mother, and sister died in that fire. Everyone knew that Jennifer was the one who had killed Rebecca’s family, but since she was a little child, her name was changed to Caitlin, and she was sent away. Meanwhile, Rebecca created a new identity for herself and became Polly. Now, not much is known about what happened in the lives of Caitlin and Polly after they left San Bernardino. Caitlin supposedly used her sob story and privilege to live the high life in Los Angeles. She married Miguel, had two kids, and things were as close to perfect as they could be. As for Polly, she lived a life of abject poverty. As per Rosanna, a member of an AA community, Polly was an addict. She had an abusive boyfriend who once beat her up so bad that she had to be hospitalized.
Hence, Rosanna decided to help Polly in any way she could, even if it meant lying to Caitlin that Polly had looked after her kids to get her that job at Caitlin’s house. That said, there’s no way to say for sure whether Polly was actually poor or if she had painted herself in a sympathetic light to make her way into Caitlin’s life. I don’t even know if Amelia was Polly’s actual girlfriend or someone she had hired to irk Caitlin and also make her jealous because Caitlin had chosen the straight life despite being queer, while Polly was free to be whoever she wanted to be. The bottom line was that Polly did whatever she could to infiltrate Caitlin’s life because that’s the life that she probably would have lived if Caitlin hadn’t killed her whole family. Regardless of what Caitlin had done in the past, and even though she knew that she was guilty of the crime she was being accused of, she couldn’t accept the fact that she was being separated from her family against her own will by Polly. She empathized with Polly once she knew that Polly was actually Rebecca, and that’s why she tried to reach some kind of a middle ground with her so that both of them could live peacefully.
Polly Died
It’s pretty evident that the 2025 remake of the original The Hand That Rocks the Cradle that was released in 1992 is pretty different. Apart from the “nanny trying to steal the life of the woman who ruined her life” aspect, everything has been changed. But the biggest change so far is the fact that Polly was probably a victim of child molestation as well. Yes, during Polly and Caitlin’s final confrontation, the latter said that she knew that Polly had been sexually abused by her own father because when he abused her, he’d talk about how similar Polly and Caitlin looked. He apparently even said that Polly and Caitlin could have been sisters. Now, you could say that Caitlin was gaslighting Polly in order to get her to do something drastic so that Caitlin could use it as an excuse to get Emma and Josie away from her. However, based on Maika Monroe and Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s performances and the overall tone of the scene, I think Caitlin was telling the truth and Polly knew it. So, did that make Caitlin some kind of a hero because she had taken matters into her own hands and killed a child molester? No, because she was still guilty of killing Polly’s mother and sister.
Hence, even though Caitlin thought that that revelation would compel Polly to understand why she had taken such an extreme step, Polly went for the kill by stabbing Caitlin in the gut. Caitlin didn’t give up and retaliated in kind. In the time it took Polly to come back to her senses, Caitlin tried to escape from her house with Josie. She put Josie in her car, boarded it herself, and began backing out of the driveway when Polly jumped on the bonnet and tried to break through the windshield. Miguel and Emma got home at this moment and saw Polly’s unmasked face. A car that always sped through the neighborhood crashed into Caitlin’s car, causing Polly to be flung several feet into the air and hit the asphalt pretty hard. While Caitlin and Josie survived the crash, Polly bled to death. In her final moments, Caitlin cradled Polly’s head in her arms so that she knew that she wasn’t alone. So, yeah, technically, Polly is dead, but her legacy will probably be carried on by Emma. I think it’s pretty tragic, though, that the sexually abused woman tried to avenge her family by going up against another sexually abused woman and then died so brutally. It’s just sad.
Polly Lives On In Emma
In The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’s ending, the narrative jumped forward in time by a few months or a year, as evident from the healed wound on Caitlin’s hand that she had sustained while fighting with Polly. Caitlin was sitting at the fireplace and was joined by Miguel. She asked him if Emma would be joining them as well. Miguel said that she was with Josie, and he assured her that all of them will be fine. But what was Emma doing in front of Josie? She was reciting Polly’s story about eating tuna out of a can, like a cat, because she couldn’t afford mayonnaise, lettuce, or bread. So, even though Polly had died, she had passed her values and her worldview onto Emma, who would probably pass them down to Josie. If Emma and Josie ended up becoming more like Polly and less like Caitlin or Miguel, then that’d be a win for Polly, right? It’d be a real shocker for Caitlin when she’d realize that even though she had killed the original Polly, she was living with 2 more Pollys. Now, what are these “values” and “worldview” that Polly has transferred to Emma?
For starters, class consciousness. I mean, that’s one of the biggest themes of the movie. Emma never has and never will know what poverty is because of the life of privilege that Caitlin and Miguel have provided for her. However, Polly’s backstory—regardless of how true it is—will make Emma aware of the class she belongs to. Hopefully, that’ll compel her to use her privilege to help others, especially displaced or orphaned girls, instead of hoarding it like Caitlin. Then there’s the queer angle. It’s apparent that Caitlin has essentially exorcized the bisexuality out of her body for some reason or other, and she probably wants Emma to be straight as well. Sure, she said that she was angry about Emma talking about queerness because she was too young to think about such things. But I feel that the real reason why she was miffed was because Polly, a queer woman, had inspired Emma to be open-minded. So, yeah, if Emma ends up being as queer as Polly, that’d be a “W” for her and an “L” for Caitlin. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the film. If you have opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
