WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Defending Jacob's Season 1 finale, "After," now streaming on Apple TV+.
Many fans expected Defending Jacob's Season 1 finale to wrap as many plot threads as possible to reveal if Jacob Barber (Jaeden Martell) should be convicted of murdering a classmate in Newport, Boston. However, the show throws in a few more twists and turns to ensure that the final verdict is indeed clouded by smoke and mirrors.
As a result, there are a few mysteries and questions left unanswered by the time the Barber family try to attain closure and the town tries to move on from a shady confession.
DID JACOB KILL BEN?
This is the biggest question we don't get an answer to and while you might feel short-sold, it's open-ended to reflect the nature of so many crimes in the real world. Here, Leonard Patz (Daniel Henshall), a sex offender, is forced into a confession and then killed by William's (J.K. Simmons) contact, all so his grandson could go free.
Eventually, when Jacob's mom, Laurie (Michelle Dockery), tries to grill him on if he really did do it, the untrustworthy Jacob still denies. He says yes at one point but it's only to get her to stop speeding on the wet roads. Laurie snaps and crashes the car as she knows she won't ever get the truth. Jacob ends up in a coma so we never get closure but thanks to his story on a bondage porn site about killing a kid, it seems to be a confession of murdering Ben.
Many fans think Jacob did it as he lied about finding the body and kept making online comments about people faking grief. We also know Ben made homophobic remarks and bullied Jacob, so he does have a motive. Couple that with his violent streak as a kid and there are many red flags. However, it has to be beyond reasonable doubt.
WHY WAS LEONARD'S CASE POORLY HANDLED?
When Andy resigns and picks up his things at the D.A.'s office, he's told Leonard's suicide has only just been wrapped up. He thinks it should have been straightforward and when he digs into the files he realizes there are sketchy details. Andy deduces William framed the man and gets confirmation from a prison visit.
But this leaves fans wondering why the Newport cops and more so, Duffy didn't bring these issues to light. Duffy was the lead cop keeping Andy in check and she's a good, thorough one, so was she just trying to wrap the case up? Maybe her friendship clouded her judgment and she didn't want to put the Barbers through any more stress. The fact Andy could see the death was framed, though, says a lot and this feels unprofessional.
Even his supervisor, Lynn, tries to underplay the suicide, not to mention she keeps Andy on payroll until he leaves town and is even found begging him back. It seems the legal department, on the whole, might have wanted the trial out the way just to rehire the talented Andy.
WHAT HAPPENED IN MEXICO?
Jacob befriends a young girl, Hope, on a vacation in Mexico after the trial but comes back to the hotel room with a vest. His shirt's missing, though, and he plays it off as his parents quiz him. He says he and Hope had a small argument so he left early. And fans are more than likely eager to know what happened.
In the book, Jacob killed her and his mom saw blood on his clothes, so it seemed like the missing shirt was being set up as something big. Yet it's never brought up again. This could have informed who he left her with, or why he had that psycho look in his eyes when he's back in. The fact he didn't kill Hope even indicates there's some hope he might not have murdered Ben so it's just weird to see no payoff.
Clearly, something went down as Jacob regressed into his cold, isolated ways for a bit and this is what convinced Laurie no matter what, he killed Ben. It's why she crashes the car with him in Boston to kill Jacob, so some clarity would have been nice on what transpired.
Written by Mark Bomback and directed by Morten Tyldum, Defending Jacob stars Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Pablo Schreiber, Cherry Jones, Jaeden Martell, Sakina Jaffrey, Betty Gabriel and J.K. Simmons. The miniseries is available on Apple TV+.