That twisty ‘Glass Onion’ ending, defined

Warning: the next accommodates spoilers for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller.

It is official: Glass Onion, Rian Johnson’s follow-up to Knives Out, is one killer whodunnit. Johnson guides us by a whole labyrinth’s value of twists and turns earlier than bringing us to a powerful, satisfying conclusion.

However earlier than we unveil the ending, let’s revisit the premise. Tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invitations his closest associates to his personal island for a homicide thriller occasion. His associates embrace 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). Additionally alongside for the trip are world-class detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), and Miles’s ex-business accomplice Cassandra “Andi” Model (Janelle Monáe). Everyone on the island (minus Benoit) has a purpose to need Miles useless, and with tensions greater than ever, it is solely a matter of time earlier than we witness a stunning homicide.

Just like the titular glass onion, this thriller has layers. But in addition just like the titular onion, this thriller is pretty clear about its wrongdoer. We simply should make our well past all of the distraction to see the assassin for who they really are. Let’s placed on our greatest Southern drawls 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 associates to his island to unravel his homicide, however he isn’t our sufferer. No, that honor goes to Duke, who collapses and dies after mistakenly consuming out of Miles’s glass as a substitute of his personal. Miles panics, claiming somebody is trying to poison him. Then, to make issues worse, all of the lights exit. Within the ensuing panic, somebody shoots Andi, bringing our physique rely as much as two.

Besides Andi is not even Andi — she’s Helen, Andi’s an identical twin sister in disguise. Not solely that, Helen is not useless. The bullet lodged itself in one in all Andi’s journals that she was carrying round, permitting her to outlive the homicide try.

Our physique rely stays at two although, as a result of Andi is basically useless — she died earlier than the invites to Miles’s island had been despatched out. This complete time, Benoit and Helen have been making an attempt to unravel her 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. Nonetheless, after going by Andi’s journals and e-mails, Helen has a hunch her sister was murdered by one in all Miles’s interior circle.

Andi and Miles had been enterprise companions at tech firm Alpha, however when Miles wished to launch a risky new power supply named Klear with none testing, Andi walked. Within the ensuing lawsuit, Miles shut her out of Alpha utterly, claiming he had provide you with the primary thought of Alpha. His proof? A cocktail serviette he wrote his plans on. Nonetheless, it was initially Andi who detailed her concepts on a cocktail serviette from the Glass Onion bar, the place the “Disruptors” gang would all hang around. Sadly, she could not discover the serviette in time for the trial — as a result of truthfully, who retains observe of years-old napkins? — giving Miles a chance to pretend his personal. He obtained their associates to perjure themselves on his behalf, with the promise of bankrolling ventures like political campaigns or sweatpants corporations.

Reduce to the aftermath of the trial. Andi finds her authentic cocktail serviette and sends an e-mail to Claire, Lionel, Birdie, and Duke to tell them of her discovery. Helen suspects that one in all these 4 drugged her, stole her cocktail serviette, and staged Andi’s suicide, as a result of if Andi uncovered Miles, they’d all go down too.

So, who killed Andi?

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

In a twist, none of Helen’s authentic 4 suspects killed Andi. As an alternative, the wrongdoer was none aside from Miles, who realized of Andi’s e-mail through a fax from Lionel.

As Benoit factors out, it is nearly too apparent, nevertheless it makes probably the most sense: Who stands to lose extra from Miles being uncovered than Miles himself? Just like the glass onion, the reality was all the time hiding transparently in plain sight.

Wait, so then who killed Duke?

A homicide being deliberate in real-time.
Credit score: John Wilson/Netflix

Imagine it or not, additionally Miles! Everybody who acquired Andi’s e-mail rushed to search out her, however solely Duke noticed Miles dashing away from the scene of the crime in his iconic Child Blue automotive. All through his keep on the island, Duke stored hinting that he noticed Miles leaving Andi’s — the phrase “pancake” does a lot of heavy lifting right here — and making an attempt to leverage Miles for a spot on Alpha Information. When the information of Andi’s loss of life breaks on-line, Duke factors it out to Miles in secret and forces his hand.

Does Miles concoct an elaborate poison so as to dispatch of Duke? Not precisely. He simply takes benefit of Duke’s pineapple allergy, foreshadowed within the scene the place all of the visitors obtain a possible COVID treatment earlier than arriving on the island. Miles offers 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 in selecting up Miles’s glass, shut off the lights, and shoot Helen (who he believes to be Andi) with the pistol he stole from Duke. In brief, Miles has to gaslight, gatekeep, and girlboss his approach out of this.

Benoit is clearly upset in regards to the a number of murders, however hilariously, he is nearly extra enraged by the truth that Miles’s guilt was hiding in plain sight. He all however handed Miles the concept of the lights going out and somebody getting shot. And to prime all of it off, pineapple juice getting used as a homicide weapon? Ridiculous! However that is Miles for you — a tech billionaire fool who’s by no means had an authentic thought in his life.

Does Miles face justice for Andi and Duke’s murders?

Jail!
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix

There’s actually a second 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 to a crisp. Then, all of the island visitors say they do not keep in mind seeing any proof of his homicide of Duke. In fact, they facet with the richest individual within the room… despite the fact that he is an admitted assassin.

However Helen will not again down till Miles pays for what he did to Andi. She wrecks his elaborate glass statues in a majorly cathartic scene, then units his home on fireplace. Take into accout, Miles boasted that his whole home was powered by the hydrogen gas Klear. When that is available in contact with fireplace, we get an explosion that Claire aptly describes in a single phrase: “Hindenburg.”

Within the ensuing blast, Helen shuts off the safety system defending the Mona Lisa that Miles has on mortgage from the Louvre throughout lockdown. Sure, the precise Mona Lisa. The world’s most well-known portray goes up in Klear-powered flames, guaranteeing in a deliciously roundabout approach that Miles will get what he is all the time wished: to be remembered in the identical breath because the Mona Lisa. How’s that immortality on the lookout for you now, Miles?

Seeing the carnage and Miles’s absolute meltdown, his so-called “associates” activate him one after the other and agree that all of them noticed him burn the serviette and change Duke’s drink. As police boats descend on the island, Benoit enjoys a smoke with home visitor Derol (Noah Segan), and Andi prepares to go house figuring out she’s avenged her sister.

So there you might have it: Glass Onion includes a double homicide thriller involving pineapple juice, a purple envelope, two deaths, an explosion, and the Mona Lisa. It is the type of twisty chaos you might solely get from a whodunnit involving our favourite Southern detective. Here is hoping Benoit Blanc and Helen get a great relaxation after getting back from Greece. After peeling again the layers of this wild thriller, it is the least they deserve.

Glass Onion is streaming on Netflix Dec. 23.