Abhiroop Das
Created by James Wood, Prime Video’s ‘Malice‘ introduces Adam Healey, a seemingly affable tutor, into the lives of the wealthy Tanner family during their summer vacation in Greece. Before long, however, it becomes evident that Adam is hiding the darker sides of his personality, and they manifest in the most malevolent ways. As he secretly plots one vengeful scheme after another, the Tanner family’s patriarch, Jamie, finds himself stripped of everything of value. However, one integral piece in this elaborate puzzle is Damien, who, along with his wife, Jules, is also a part of the vacation. While Adam was initially hired to tutor his daughter, Damien soon grows suspicious and begins digging into Adam’s past. As one thread leads to another, Damien realizes that the truth is far more harrowing than anything he expected, and this makes a clash with Adam inevitable. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Damien’s Death Might Falsely be Ruled as a Suicide
In episode 4 of ‘Malice,’ Adam brutally murders Damien before seemingly dumping his body in a river. From there, Damien’s disappearance becomes an ongoing mystery, one that remains unsolved by the end of the inaugural season. However, even without a clear conclusion in sight, it can be reasoned that Damien’s body is eventually found sometime in the future, possibly washing up on the riverbank. Subsequently, the police are likely to find the blunt force trauma to his head, opening the doors to a potential murder investigation. Jules, who has been struggling to locate her husband for quite some time, might begin to see his final voicemail message in a new light. Earlier, Adam convinced her that Damien had discovered her affair with him, and that seemingly contextualizes his vague voice note about figuring out Adam’s secrets. With the suspicious circumstances surrounding Damien’s death, Jules might connect the dots herself.
Notably, Adam’s most successful ploy in the entire murder plot is purely coincidental, as the night after the act, he learns that Damien possibly attempted suicide sometime ago. Nat recalls that on one occasion, he simply left his home and headed to the mountain in freezing cold, and was rescued barely in time. She further reveals Damien is currently on medication due to his mental health conditions, and is incredibly sensitive to any negative turns in his life. This enables Adam to weave the entire narrative as Damien takes his own life after learning about Jules’s affair. Moreover, it also has the bonus effect of putting much of the emotional responsibility on Jules’ shoulders, allowing him to escape blame altogether. To that end, it is possible that Adam is also banking on the body being discovered in the river, which can then be conveniently ruled as Damien dying by suicide.
Mounting Evidence Against Adam Points to His Possible Arrest
A key detail in this entire saga is the fact that Damien appears to be alive by the time Adam is ready to dispose of him. This is indicated by the constant movement in Adam’s car, which is likely Damien trying to escape or be noticed. This means that neither the blow to the head nor Adam’s attempt to suffocate him can be ruled in as the cause of the death, and drowning is the most probable reason. Although it does add one too many steps to the investigative process, the entire context behind Damien’s death is suspicious enough to redirect the police’s attention to murder. As Dexter Tanner and his friends are also technically witnesses to the crime, having heard Damien struggle inside the car’s trunk, their input might come in handy in building a case against Adam. In the same vein, the traffic officer who flagged Adam’s car might also play a key role, as he is the person with the most concrete grasp of the situation.
Towards the latter end of the season, Adam’s concoctions against the Tanner family take center stage in the narrative, and Damien’s disappearance only gets a passive mention on some occasions. The last update we got was from Jules, who informed us that her husband has not been located. As such, although the case seems to extend beyond the scope of the season, the clues already presented are sufficient to form a possible trajectory for what might follow. As the open scene of the show confirms that Adam is under suspicion for the murder of Jamie Tanner, it is likely that Jules has pitched in with her own allegations. Additionally, his sister, Sophie, might end up being the wild card in this cat-and-mouse chase, as she is the last person, besides Adam, to interact with Damien. Whether or not she chooses to be an accomplice in her brother’s crime can either delay, accelerate, or outright doom the investigation into Damien’s death.
Read More: Malice Ending Explained: Does Adam Get Away With Killing Jamie?
You must be logged in to post a comment.