That twisty ‘Glass Onion’ ending, defined

Warning: the next accommodates spoilers for Glass onion: a thriller at loggerheads.

It is official: Glass OnionRian Johnson’s sequel to Knives out, is a killer thriller. Johnson guides us via a maze of twists and turns earlier than bringing us to a robust and satisfying conclusion.

However earlier than we reveal the ending, let’s assessment the premise. Tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invitations his closest buddies to his non-public island for a thriller occasion. Her buddies embody Congresswoman Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), sensible scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), former mannequin Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), her assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), right-wing streamer Duke Cody ( Dave Bautista), and his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline). World-class detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) and Miles’ ex-business companion, Cassandra “Andi” Model (Janelle Monáe), are additionally on board. Everybody on the island (minus Benoit) has a motive to need Miles useless, and with tensions increased than ever, it is solely a matter of time earlier than we witness a surprising homicide.

Just like the titular glass onion, this thriller has layers. But in addition just like the titular onion, this thriller is fairly clear about its perpetrator. We simply must battle our well beyond all distractions to see the killer for who he actually is. Let’s put our greatest Southern slogs in honor of Benoit Blanc and break it down.

who dies in Glass Onion?

RIP Duke.
Credit score: John Wilson/Netflix

Miles might have invited his buddies to his island to unravel his homicide, however he is not our sufferer. No, that honor goes to Duke, who collapses and dies after mistakenly consuming from Miles’ glass as an alternative of his personal. Miles panics, claiming that somebody is making an attempt to poison him. Then, to make issues worse, all of the lights exit. Within the ensuing panic, somebody shoots Andi, inflicting our physique to depend to 2.

Besides Andi is not even Andi — it is Helen, Andi’s similar twin sister in disguise. Not solely that, Helen just isn’t useless. The bullet lodged in one in every of Andi’s journals she was carrying, permitting her to outlive the tried homicide.

Our physique depend stays at two, nonetheless, as a result of Andi is actually useless – she died earlier than the invites to Miles Island had been despatched out. All of the whereas, Benoit and Helen have been making an attempt to unravel his homicide, however Duke’s loss of life is an added complication. A donut gap inside one other donut gap, if you’ll.

How did Andi die in Glass Onion?

Andi deserved higher.
Credit score: John Wilson/Netflix

Authorities believed Andi died by suicide. Nevertheless, after going via Andi’s diaries and emails, Helen has a hunch that her sister was murdered by one in every of Miles’ kinfolk.

Andi and Miles had been enterprise companions in tech firm Alpha, however when Miles wished to launch a brand new risky energy supply named Klear with none testing, Andi walked. Within the ensuing lawsuit, Miles kicked her out of Alpha altogether, claiming he got here up with the primary concept for Alpha. His proof? A cocktail serviette on which he wrote his plans. Nevertheless, it was Andi who initially detailed her concepts on a cocktail serviette from the Glass Onion bar, the place the “Disruptors” gang all frolicked. Sadly, she could not discover the serviette in time for the trial – as a result of actually, who retains observe of napkins which can be years outdated? – giving Miles the chance to pretend his personal. He tricked their buddies into perjuring themselves in his title, with the promise of funding ventures like political campaigns or sweatpants firms.

Lower to the aftermath of the trial. Andi finds her unique cocktail serviette and emails Claire, Lionel, Birdie, and Duke informing them of her discovery. Helen suspects that one in every of these 4 drugged her, stole her cocktail serviette, and staged Andi’s suicide, as a result of if Andi revealed Miles, they might all fall too.

So who killed Andi?

Helen (not Andi) looking for her sister’s killer.
Credit score: John Wilson/Netflix

In a twist, none of Helen’s unique 4 suspects killed Andi. As an alternative, the perpetrator was none aside from Miles, who discovered of Andi’s electronic mail through a fax from Lionel.

As Benoit factors out, it is virtually too apparent, however it makes probably the most sense: who has extra to lose from Miles’ publicity than Miles himself? Just like the glass onion, the reality at all times hid transparently in plain sight.

Wait, so who killed Duke?

A homicide deliberate in actual time.
Credit score: John Wilson/Netflix

Consider it or not, additionally Miles! Everybody who obtained Andi’s electronic mail rushed to seek out her, however solely Duke noticed Miles dashing away from the crime scene in his iconic Child Blue automotive. All through his time on the island, Duke saved implying that he had seen Miles go away Andi’s – the phrase “pancake” made a plot to raise heavy right here – and attempt to leverage Miles for a spot on Alpha Information. When information of Andi’s loss of life spreads on-line, Duke secretly experiences it to Miles and forces his hand.

Is Miles concocting an elaborate poison with the intention to dispatch Duke? Not precisely. He is simply benefiting from Duke’s pineapple allergy, introduced within the scene the place all of the visitors are given a possible COVID remedy earlier than arriving on the island. Miles fingers Duke his personal glass, containing a tropical cocktail with hints of – you guessed it – pineapple juice. Then all he has to do is persuade everybody that Duke merely made a mistake by choosing up Miles’ drink, turning out the lights, and taking pictures Helen (who he believes to be Andi) with the gun. which he stole from Duke. In brief, Miles has to gaslight, guard the portal, and get away with it.

Benoit is clearly upset by the a number of murders, however hilariously, he is virtually extra enraged by the truth that Miles’ guilt was hiding in plain sight. He virtually gave Miles the concept the lights exit and somebody will get shot. And to high it off, pineapple juice used as a homicide weapon? Ridiculous! However that is Miles for you – a tech billionaire fool who by no means had a brainchild in his life.

Does Miles face justice for the murders of Andi and Duke?

Jail!
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix

There actually is a degree the place it appears to be like like Miles goes to get away along with his crimes. Helen finds Andi’s cocktail serviette, however Miles burns it. Afterwards, all of the visitors on the island say they do not bear in mind seeing any proof of her killing Duke. After all, they facet with the richest particular person within the room…even when he is a convicted assassin.

However Helen will not again down till Miles pays for what he did to Andi. She destroys her elaborate glass statues in a largely cathartic scene, then units her home on fireplace. Remember that Miles bragged that his complete home was powered by Klear hydrogen. When this comes into contact with fireplace, we get an explosion that Claire aptly describes in a single phrase: “Hindenburg.”

Within the ensuing explosion, Helen turned off the safety system defending the mona-lisa that Miles loaned to the Louvre in the course of the lockdown. Sure, the actual mona-lisa. The world’s most well-known portray ignites in flames fueled by Klear, making certain in a deliciously roundabout manner that Miles will get what he is at all times wished: to be remembered in the identical breath because the mona-lisa. How is that immortality on the lookout for you now, Miles?

Seeing the carnage and absolute collapse of Miles, his so-called “buddies” activate him one after the other and agree that all of them noticed him burn the towel and alter Duke’s drink. Because the police boats descend on the island, Benoit smokes with guest of the Derol house (Noah Segan)and Andi prepares to return residence understanding that she has avenged her sister.

So that is it : Glass Onion includes a double homicide thriller involving pineapple juice, a pink envelope, two deaths, an explosion and the mona-lisa. It is the form of meandering mayhem you’ll be able to solely get from a whodunit involving our favourite Southern sleuth. Hoping that Benoit Blanc and Helen relaxation effectively after their return from Greece. After peeling again the layers of this wild thriller, it is the least they deserve.

Glass Onion airs on Netflix on December 23.