Abhiroop Das
Created by James Wood, Prime Video’s ‘Malice‘ pits Adam Healey against the wealthy Tanner family in a battle with seemingly no victors. The former is a tutor cum nanny who lands a job just in time for the Tanners’ summer vacation in Greece, but with each passing day, his actions grow darker, culminating in stripping each and every source of joy from Jamie Tanner’s life. As such, this psychological thriller turns into a race between the two, with the latter doing everything in their power to get to the truth before it’s too late. Adam, however, does not get left behind either and amps up his nefarious tactics to ensure that his secret vengeance plot comes into fruition. Although his charm initially tricks everyone into buying his persona, we soon learn that Adam is hiding his real identity, which is key to unraveling the entire mystery and making sense out of it, both for us and Jamie. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Adam Tilderman, Not Healey, is the Serial Killer’s Real Name
In the season finale of ‘Malice,’ Jamie unearths the truth about Adam’s parentage, and it is revealed that his real name is Adam Tilderman. The surname Healey, with which we have been familiar thus far, turns out to be a fake and merely one of several monikers and personas he has adopted over the years. While scouring the internet, Damien finds out that Adam had a third identity, Paul Grenson, which he used for over ten years while in Thailand. Incidentally, the truth only came to light when Adam was arrested for allegedly murdering a male sex worker, following which he seemingly had a brief stint with the police. The name Adam Healey is, in this sense, narratively framed as his attempt to do things over, without completely losing touch with his original name and identity. This also explains why his sister, Sophie, had no issues referring to him as “Adam” while talking to Damien, but could not recognize the name “Paul,” which is entirely made up.
Although Adam’s history of shifting through names and identities can be partially explained as an attempt to evade police attention, a deeper look into his backstory reveals several additional layers. While talking with Sophie about his deceased parents, he finds a stark contrast between his experience and hers. When the conversation takes a grim turn, discussing the abusive nature of their father, Colin Tilderman, Adam willingly turns a blind eye and instead claims that Sophie is lying. This suggests that his present conception of self is deeply connected to his fragile memory, and the constant changing of names can double as an expression of his ongoing identity crisis. As such, the name Adam Healey is loaded with symbolic meaning and can be interpreted as him taking charge of his past and the baggage that comes with it. However, in order to deceive the Tanner family, it is essential for him to keep his real surname, Tilderman, under wraps for most of the story.
Adam’s Parents Died in a Tragic Murder-Suicide
While Jamie’s life begins to crumble all around him, a major clue in the mystery comes in the form of a suitcase. While from the outside, it appears to be a luxurious piece of luggage by a company called Tilderman, opening it paints a different story entirely. The inside contains human excrement, which indicates that this was a calculated show of hatred. Although Jamie doesn’t figure things out immediately, the name Tilderman scratches his memory, leading him to recall a business partnership he once had with them. With no way to reaccess his office, he seeks Ingrid’s help in recovering some of his older files, especially those from 2010. Here, he finally lands on the complete information surrounding the Tilderman luggage company, which was a relatively successful business prior to joining hands with Jamie. From there, the company nosedived quickly, and some time later, both Colin Tilderman and his wife, Susan, died in a house fire accident, leaving behind two children.
It takes Jamie no time to connect the dots that the two children are Adam and Sophie Tilderman, the former of whom has grown up to be the Tanner family’s sworn enemy. Although we do not get a clear account of how the Tildermans’ luggage business failed, Jamie claims that it was a personal failure on their end, and he had little to do with it. For Adam, however, this is far from the truth, and in the final confrontation with Jamie, he reveals a whole other dimension to the story. Although the newspaper reports claim that the fire was an accident, with only Adam surviving, and Sophie being away, Adam reveals that he saw an entirely different scene unfold. Colin Tilderman killed his wife, Susan, before setting the entire house on fire and consuming pills to take his own life. As such, the Tilderman family’s tragedy was not accidental, but a mortifying murder-suicide that left Adam scarred forever.
Read More: Malice Ending Explained: Does Adam Get Away With Killing Jamie?
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