We discuss the ending of the Netflix film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which will contain spoilers.
The story now follows Daniel Craig‘s Benoit Blanc, a Hercule Poirot type who has been in quite a rut of late, primarily because of isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. He’s depressed, spends long hours in bubble baths, and practically becomes despondent. The mindful and heedful private detective isn’t happy unless he’s trying to solve a complex murder or mystery of some sort. He is then invited to a Willy Wonka of tech geeks in the form of a giant puzzle in a beautifully gift-wrapped box. If you can solve the puzzle, you are invited to a tech magnate’s home – Miles Bron, an Elon Musk type. He has invited all his closest friends, The Disrupters, for a murder mystery weekend. But why was Blanc invited?
Benoit Blanc arrives on the island with Bron’s friends; the billionaire pulls him aside and asks why he came. It turns out he did not invite him. But who did? It was Andi’s twin sister, Helen. Wait, why was Blanc invited to Bron’s Glass Onion? Yes, Blanc being invited was a setup between him and Helen, who is pretending to be Andi. Helen hired Blanc to find out which one of these friends killed her sister. How did he get the invite he handed Bron? It was from Helen, who opened her sister’s package when the invite came to Andi’s home.
Here are the members invited and the secret they are carrying:
- Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) brings her assistant, Peg (Jessica Henwick). She is a fashion designer who can’t send one tweet without sticking her foot in her mouth. We learn that Bron helped finance a sweatshop to make her clothes, but when Birdie was told it was, in fact, a “sweatshop,” she thought that meant “sweat pants.” Bron needed her to release a statement saying this was her fault, which it was.
- Claire DeBella (Kathryn Hahn). She is the governor of Connecticut and is now looking to take a seat in the Senate. Yes, she relies on Bron’s finance through campaign donations and influence to complete her political aspirations.
- Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a research scientist looking to make gigantic strides in clean energy. Bron has him create “Klear,” clean energy, but he now wants to rush it out for mass consumption worldwide.
- A loveable meathead Duke (Dave Bautista) made a living preaching men’s right-wing rights on Twitch and was turned into a social media personality because of Bron’s influence and money. Duke dies during the party when someone poisons his drink.
- The sane of the bunch seems to be his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline). Duke has her sleep with Bron to help convince him to make the jump to the news.
- The final invitee is Cassandra “Andi” Brand (Janelle Monáe), a woman who had a falling out with the group.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery ending explained
The two mysteries in the film are why did the group turn on Andi and who was the one who killed her (and Duke). It turns out Bron stole the company from Andi by producing a piece of evidence, a napkin with the original formula of her first invention, which the company was founded on, and had all of their friends testify to that effect. They were all paid off with the promise of fame and fortune, which we explained above. To keep it, they must comply with his wishes or fear losing it. But why did he do it? Because he wanted to invent Klear, which Andi knew to be hazardous.
Bron came across the napkin when Andi found it, proving the company was her genius. However, he poisons her before she can announce this to the world. That’s when he takes it for himself and hides it in the Glass Onion. When Duke discovered Andi died during the party, in which Helen was still pretending to be her sister, he extorted him. Big mistake, however. Bron poisons him a few moments later by giving him a drink with pineapple juice — something we knew he was deathly allergic to. Miles isn’t finished because he later shoots Helen in the chest, thinking he killed her, but Andi’s journal in her coat packet saves her. Blanc then has her play dead in front of the group.
Eventually, Blanc and Helen can have Bron admit to the killings, but he destroys the napkin and the only evidence that Andi started the company. Since Blanc is not the police, he leaves home but gives Helen a parting gift — a piece of Klear that Miles tossed to him earlier in the film. Helen throws it into the small fire and starts to the based products (and other items) that will function as an accelerant. This way, the hydrogen-based energy will become combustible. When it eventually does blow, it ruins the entire property, which will make noise across the internet that his invention destroyed his own home. But he also had a priceless piece of art, the Mona Lisa, and his energy will always be known to have destroyed it.
The energy will never be marketable, and Miles Bron is effectively ruined.
What did you think of the ending of the Netflix film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery? Comment below.
