A Couple of Lies Ending Explained: Who Killed Tom?

In four episodes, Netflix’s ‘A Couple of Lies’ spins a mysterious tale of secrets and lies, unleashing a violent turn of events for the characters. The story begins with two seemingly happy couples swapping houses for their vacations. However, each starts to feel increasingly unsettled in the other’s house. The search for answers causes them to pull at the threads, and as the truth unravels, it threatens to tear everything else apart. The finale, particularly, makes for a thrilling watch as long-hidden secrets come to light and some shocking revelations pave the way for brutal actions on everyone’s part. SPOILERS AHEAD.

A Couple of Lies Plot Synopsis

Scarlett and Adam swap their villa in Sicily for a house over a cliff in the Swedish archipelago. While they settle into their new, temporary setting, Helene and Carl occupy their sun-drenched Sicilian villa. For Scarlett and Adam, it’s a break from their normal life, especially focused on his upcoming exhibition. For Helene and Carl, it is supposed to be a much-needed vacation, especially since they have a baby on the way. Carl, however, is a workaholic, which has caused strife with his wife, who thinks he needs to focus more on his family. He, on the other hand, is even more desperate to prove his worth at work because of a humiliating incident that occurred some time back.

The stress of the situation seems to be getting to Carl because he has been having blackouts for a while. He also seems unable to relax, as he is hounded by strange noises late at night while his wife doesn’t hear anything untoward. There are also posters of a missing tourist all over town, and the investigation brings two police officers to their door. When they ask about Carl’s whereabouts around the time the tourist went missing, he claims he was away. However, Helene reminds him that he not only came to Italy for business but also visited the villa to see if it could be swapped later. His phone, too, confirms he was there, but he has absolutely no memory of ever having been in the villa before.

Meanwhile, Scarlett is a bit unnerved by the many cameras in Carl and Helene’s house. To make matters worse, they have a nosy neighbor named Silvia. While Adam assures her everything is fine, she feels something is off about the house and wonders what kind of people they have gotten entangled with. Her concerns are also raised by her brother Tom’s lack of response. Some time ago, she had cut him off because of his bad financial habits. But now, when she tries to reach him, there is no answer. A couple of days later, a dead body is found in the well in the Sicilian villa, which raises several questions about the place’s owners as well as its current inhabitants.

A Couple of Lies Ending: Who Killed Tom?

When the body is found in the well of the villa, Carl assumes that it is the missing tourist the cops have been looking for. Because he doesn’t want any problems before signing a major new deal for his company, he refuses his wife’s repeated pleas to go to the cops. When the deal is signed, Carl discovers that the tourist has actually been found and is very much alive. This confuses him even further, and he wonders: then to whom does the body belong? Eventually, Helene calls the cops, and it turns out that it is Tom’s body. Suspicion immediately falls on Carl, particularly since he claims not to remember his previous trip to the villa, even though his wife repeatedly states that he did. The cops use his phone to confirm his location at the time of the murder, and he is arrested.

Despite all this, Carl claims his innocence. He is particularly stunned when he discovers that Helene has been telling the cops everything, making him an even stronger suspect. The more he thinks about it, the clearer it becomes that his wife is trying to set him up. He thinks this is because, with him out of the way, she will have all of his wealth, which is quite a considerable amount. He is right on that count, but he still doesn’t understand who killed Tom. The truth remains out of his reach even when he is let go because the cops fumbled on a legal technicality. What he doesn’t know is that his wife has been involved in an affair with Adam, who is also the father of her unborn child. Adam and Helene crossed paths years ago and fell in love.

At the time, he was still a struggling artist, wishing to use Scarlett’s money and connections to establish himself. As a result, despite wanting to leave Scarlett, he ended up marrying her, sending Helene her way. Three years later, their paths crossed again, and this time, Helene was married to Carl. But past feelings resurfaced, and Adam and Helene started a secret affair. The only person who doubted them was Tom, who eventually caught them at the villa. He threatened to tell Scarlett, and in an attempt to stop him, Adam pushed him down the stairs. This was a major fumble on his part. But then, Scarlett told him she’d cut off Tom earlier that morning, and the fact that his wife was not expecting to hear from her brother for a while gave him enough time to come up with a plan.

Is Silvia Dead? Does Scarlett Die?

When the cops arrest Carl for Tom’s murder, Scarlett wonders why he would return to the same house where he had killed her brother. Something feels off to her, so she seeks a second opinion from Carl’s neighbor, Silvia, who used to work in Major Crimes. Silvia agrees that the details don’t make sense, and things take quite a turn when Scarlett comes to her with Adam’s secret phone. She reveals that she found it after following her husband into the forest, suggesting he went to great lengths to hide it. Silvia asks a former colleague for help breaking into the phone. At this point, both women suspect that Adam is having an affair. However, when the phone’s contents are revealed, the whole picture comes to light.

Reading through Adam’s messages, the former detective realizes that Adam and Helene have been in cahoots since the beginning. They not only killed Tom, but also staged the house swap to frame Carl for the murder. She leaves a message for Scarlett, warning her to leave the house immediately, but by then, it is already too late. Adam has made up his mind to kill Scarlett, so he spikes her drink, which leaves her unconscious on the floor. In the meantime, he goes to Silvia’s house and, taking advantage of its secluded location and the loud music her husband plays, Adam drags her to the cliff. Her cries for help go unheard. Adam smashes her head on the rocks, throws her into the water, and returns home to finish what he had started.

Meanwhile, Helene comes to the house just as Scarlett regains consciousness. Helene gives her some water and helps her get up, while Scarlett wonders what she is doing back home. At this point, she hasn’t yet heard Silvia’s message, so she has no idea of the danger she is in. Having met the house’s host for the first time, Scarlett also wonders where she has seen Helene before. She starts piecing together old memories, but it isn’t until she listens to Silvia’s message that she realizes the full extent of her husband’s betrayal. Scared and worried that she, too, will be killed, she tries to escape. But by then, Adam has returned, and he and Helene corner her, fully committed to the idea of killing her and removing the last hurdle between them.

Is Adam Dead? Why Does Scarlett Let Helene Go?

When Adam accidentally killed Tom, he came up with an idea that could finally bring him and Helene together for good. The only reason he was still married to Scarlett was for her money. So, if Helene could get Carl’s money, there would be no reason for Adam to stay in his marriage. He already knew about Carl’s blackouts and wondered if it could be used to trick him and the others into thinking that he was the one who killed Tom. Thus, for the next few weeks, he and Helene set things up such that when the cops finally arrive, every single thing points towards Carl as the murderer. And that’s exactly what happens. With him gone, all his money goes to his wife, leaving her free to be with Adam.

However, this plan meets a hitch when Carl is released, and Helene ends up killing him. She stages it so that it looks like she killed him in self-defense. However, when the time comes to have Carl’s wealth signed over to her, she is in for a surprise. Right before he is killed, Carl calls his friend and business partner, Ragnar. He leaves a message, expressing his suspicion of Helene. Moments later, she kills him, and the whole thing is recorded in the message that is delivered right to Ragnar. Instead of turning her over to the authorities, Ragnar makes Helene sign over all of Carl’s shares to him, leaving her with basically nothing. With the shares gone, the whole point of doing away with her husband is nullified, which is why it becomes even more important to kill Scarlett.

At the Stockholm house, Helene hits Scarlett in the head, and Adam tries to drown her. However, it is previously established that Scarlett can hold her breath underwater for several minutes. So, just when Adam thinks she is dead and he lets down his guard, she attacks him. He slips on the stairs, hits his head, and dies on impact. With her cheating husband gone, she turns her attention towards his mistress. In different circumstances, Scarlett might have wanted to kill Helene as well. However, since the latter is pregnant, Scarlett decides to let her go. For all her anger, she is not really a stone-cold killer. She killed Adam accidentally and in self-defense. With Helene, she doesn’t face the same threat, at least not immediately.

Scarlett asks her if it is Adam’s child, and when Helene says yes, Scarlett asks her to run away. The next morning, the cops swarm the place. They find Adam and Silvia, and Scarlett fills them in on everything. Adam’s phone is evidence enough to prove everything. This means Carl’s name is cleared as well, while the cops will be looking for Scarlett. The last we see of her is driving away on the boat, crying because she knows she has lost everything in a matter of days. Her husband is dead, her lover is dead, and any money she could have gotten from Carl is also gone. With a baby on the way, there is only so long and so far she can run. With the Swedish and the Italian police after her, it is only a matter of time before she is caught. And even if she evades arrest, she doesn’t really have anywhere left to go.

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