Aahana Swrup
Netflix’s Spanish comedy murder mystery film, ‘A Deadly Invitation,’ has all the makings of a compelling whodunnit, complete with an eccentric, scheming millionaire and a quirky detective on the case. Agatha, the host of the podcast “Unsolved Crimes,” receives a cryptic invitation from her half-sister, Olivia, to a yacht party in Los Cabos, Mexico. Upon arriving at the location, Agatha finds that she has been invited to the event alongside Olivia’s clutter of acquaintances, from her recent ex-husband, Carlos, to her former business partner, Sonia. However, the night comes to an unexpected end when Olivia is found dead on the lower deck.
While confined to her cliffside island by the police, everyone is a suspect in Agatha’s investigation to get to the bottom of her sister’s death. If you’d like to discover how this peculiar case unfolds, here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘A Deadly Invitation.’ SPOILERS AHEAD!
A Deadly Invitation Plot Synopsis
When podcaster Agatha drives down to her half-sister’s cliffside Villa, she isn’t sure what to expect of the impromptu gathering she has been invited to. The sisters haven’t spoken in a long time, but given Olivia’s inclination toward secrecy, Agatha concludes the invitation is likely another one of her sister’s games. At the Villa, Agatha meets some known faces, such as Olivia’s exes, recent divorcee Carlos & actor Cary, alongside some new people, Figue, a doctor, Olivia’s former business partner, Sonia, and her boyfriend, Naram, the spiritual yoga instructor.
Yet, there is no sign of Olivia herself. Eventually, Cristina, the Villa’s housekeeper, shares a message from Olivia informing the group that they will be attending a dinner on her yacht the following night. Finally, Olivia greets the group at the yacht and emphasizes their instrumental contributions to the good and bad in her life. However, at dinner, a tense atmosphere takes over the group once Olivia proclaims that one of them will not return to the dry land alive.
Everyone at the table has reasons to kill at least one of each other. Sonia used to be Carlos’ girlfriend when he cheated on her with Olivia and pulled out of funding the former woman’s perfume brand. Likewise, Cary has a motive to want Carlos dead since he owes him a lot of money as legal fees for covering up his deadly mistake at a set involving a gun. Likewise, a terrible incident between Figue and Carlos, his former employer, had left them as beholders of a secret that could undo the other party.
Meanwhile, Agatha has a widespread target on her back since she’s the sole heir of Olivia’s estate. Although the dinner ends with no one taking Olivia seriously, the woman insists she isn’t playing any games and takes her leave. Afterward, Agatha has another ominous conversation with her sister, wherein she brings up her and Carlos’ adopted daughter, Elisa’s death, citing the five-year-old incident as the reason for Agatha’s invitation to the yacht.
Still, when midnight arrives, it trumps the day’s peculiarity after a loud noise informs everyone of Olivia’s death, who seems to have toppled off the upper deck and broken her neck. The next morning, Police Captain Jamie restricts the guests, including Olivia’s house staff, Cristina and Gustavo, from leaving the Villa until the case can be assigned to the department with proper jurisdiction. Since the death happened in the ocean between Cabo San Lucas and Port of Mazatlán, everyone remains stuck in Villa Elisa for the time being until an official decision is made.
Furthermore, due to a random explosion at the transmission tower, there isn’t any signal. As a result, the Captain leaves with Lieutenant Juliana in charge. However, after Naram gets shot in the arm in his room’s bathroom, Julian decides to equip Agatha’s help to solve the case, chasing after a promotion for his career. Thus begins Agatha’s investigation, which brings her to the truth.
A Deadly Invitation Ending: Why Did Olivia Invite Everyone To The Yatch?
The story’s narrative equips a mysterious atmosphere from the get-go with the reason behind Olivia’s Invitation, forming the earliest puzzle to solve. Olivia’s speech at the dinner makes it seem like she’s trying to start a fire between everyone else at the table, encouraging them to kill each other. Yet, by the night’s end, Olivia is the one who perishes. Due to Olivia’s abrupt and unforeseen death, Agatha is still in shock when the others return to the Villa to be investigated by the cops.
Therefore, when the mystery persists with Naram’s near-death, Agatha finds the opportunity to throw herself into the case of her half-sister’s death, which points toward a murder. Furthermore, Julian’s presence and willingness to help Agatha carry out a non-official investigation helps Agatha in convincing the others to comply. Agatha isn’t a real detective, but her career as a true crime podcaster has honed her skills and instincts for crime-solving.
As a result, using Julian as the front, Agatha puppeteers every guest’s interrogation and asks them questions about their connection to Olivia. Agatha is instantly distrustful of Gustavo. After interviewing him, she convinces Julian to drive her to a phone booth, where she contacts Iris, her partner in personal and professional lives and asks her to look into Gustavo.
Likewise, Agatha suspects Naram of hiding something since he is the only one without a close connection to Olivia. Consequently, the makeshift detective wants to know why he was invited to the Villa with everyone else and asks Iris to look into him as well. Another clue emerges after Agatha finds Figue sneaking around Olivia’s room at the yacht, where she learns that Olivia was on medication for cancer before her death.
Agatha also finds a booklet with several certificates of babies who had died during labor. Thus follows an epiphany about a past overheard conversation between Carlos and Cristina about Governor Tomas Guzman and his wife Clara, who were recently in the news for their issues with having a baby. With Iris’ exceptional research skills, Agatha finally sees the entire picture and receives proof of her theory as well once the transmission tower gets fixed.
Gathering everyone in a room, Agatha finally divulges Olivia’s reasons behind inviting them to the yacht. Olivia’s ex-husband, Carlos, owner of a big hospital, has an unethical business in which he lies to single mothers about their baby’s deaths during labor only to sell the kids to wealthy people. The death certificates Agatha found in Olivia’s room belong to such kids, who were announced dead illegally. Cristina, the housekeeper, helps Carlos in his scheme by forming connections with the mothers and then gently breaking the fabricated news to them about their kids’ deaths. Olivia’s daughter, Elisa, was also one such kid.
Furthermore, Elisa’s biological mother, Renata Godoy, was actually Naram’s teenage sister. Therefore, after Elisa’s actual death, Naram, whose real name is Ramiro, came across one of the several news coverings of it and recognized the kid as a spitting image of his sister. From there, he decides to take revenge on Olivia and Carlos and tries to seduce Sonia to get close to Olivia. Nevertheless, Sonia doesn’t fall for his trick but agrees to take down the couple with him. However, after confronting Olivia, the pair learned she was oblivious to this situation.
Yet, after meeting Naram, Olivia uncovered Carlos’ entire operation but knew she couldn’t report her husband since he would use his power to make it disappear. Therefore, Olvia hosted the party, inviting everyone to her yacht. She left trails of clues behind for Agatha to recognize the truth and bring it out in the open. In the end, Agatha does just that. Upon Agatha’s initial arrival at the Villa, she became suspicious of Cristina since the woman insisted on putting Naram and Sonia in a specific room.
As such, Agatha planted a hidden camera and mic in Naram’s room and hallway, which caught footage of Cristina using secret passages to shoot Naram. Ultimately, the authorities arrest Carlos and Cristine for their misdeeds.
Who Killed Olivia?
Even when Olivia’s motivations come out in the open, the overarching mystery of her death remains. Nonetheless, Agatha solves this mystery quickly once she learns about her sister’s cancer diagnosis. Olivia had kept her disease from everyone else and medicated it in secret with Figue’s help.
By the time she hosts her yacht dinner, her cancer had reached a critical stage, spreading from her lungs to her back. Furthermore, before their final conversation, Agatha had even seen her sister putting on a wig due to her immense hair loss caused by chemotherapy. Olivia knew that her death was imminent one way or another and chose to make sure something good came from her demise.
Therefore, she had chosen to sail into a jurisdictionally ambiguous ocean with everyone else before jumping off the railing to her death. By doing so, Olivia ensured that her guests would be trapped in her villa while the police sorted things out, during which Agatha would find the time to solve the case and learn the truth about Carlos and Cristina.
Carlos and Cristina were about to smuggle another baby to the Guzman couple, and by trapping them in her house, Olivia effectively saved another family from going through what Renata and Ramiro/Naram went through. Still, Olivia wanted a painless death, so she asked Figue to inject her with some morphine. The doctor complied with her last wish as a show of gratitude for helping him with his big secret.
Why Did Figue Quit Working For Carlos?
Olivia brings up Figue and Carlos’ contentious professional relationship early in the plot, only for the detail to get lost in the background after everything else happens. Nonetheless, the meticulous Agatha doesn’t let the mystery escape her. Once the dust settles, Agatha approaches Figue to ask him one last question.
Iris and Agatha procured Olivia’s autopsy report and discovered the high morphine concentration in her bloodstream before her death. Since Agatha noticed Figue’s bagful of medicinal drugs, including morphine, she instantly made the connection between him and Olivia. Thus, Figue reveals Olivia’s final secret.
Years ago, when Figue worked for Carlos as the youngest surgeon in Mexico, he got a call about an emergency C-section from the hospital. Even though Figue was partying before the call, he decided to perform the surgery, which resulted in the woman’s death. However, Carlos tried to buy Figue’s silence, dreading the following lawsuits.
Although Figue tried to walk away, Olivia convinced him to take the money and put it to good use to open a clinic for women in similar situations. Since Olivia had kept Figue’s secret and helped him turn a grave mistake into something helpful, she asked Figue to do the same for her, and he had no choice but to agree.
Read More: Best Murder Mystery Movies Ever Made
