The latest entry in the seemingly never-ending Knives Out murder mystery movie series on Netflix, Wake Up Dead Man, is live as of yesterday. At two and a half hours, it’s no small commitment, and by the end, you might be in a bit of a daze during the two-part explanation of the unraveling of the ending.
So, you want to see it all laid out in front of you? Let’s make it a bit easier to follow, going in chronological order. Obviously spoilers follow, and here’s the ending of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, explained
The Fortune Backstory
- Prentice Wicks, grandfather of Jefferson Wicks, had an allegedly greedy, promiscuous daughter named Grace.
- The idea was that she was just waiting for him to die so she could take his vast family fortune, though later she becomes a sympathetic figure as it’s revealed how much she was shamed and lied about when she was alive (and it’s strongly implied she was murdered).
- We learn that a young Martha knew the secret of the fortune, where it had been condensed in the purchase of a single, $80 million diamond, which Prentice swallowed (this killed him) to take the “evil” money with him to his grave.
- Grace tore the church apart to find it, but Grace knew it was hidden inside Prentice’s corpse, which was inside the tomb, for decades.
The Wicks Murder
- The events of the thrust of the movie were mainly inspired by one interaction between Jud and Martha, where he questions her unflinching loyalty to Jefferson Wicks, asking if she’s confess her darkest secret to him.
- She does that, but as she says later, it’s to the “wrong priest,” and immediately he starts putting things in motion to open the tomb, take the diamond and leave, seemingly cutting his illegitimate son Cy into things, perhaps prepping for a larger rise to political power.
- Martha hears about the booking of the construction equipment to open the tomb and decides Jud has to die, but in a way that draws eyes to the church, which could allow for its continued operation.
- The “storytelling” she concocts is an impossible “locked room” murder, where she and Dr. Sharp arrange to knock Wicks out via his secret flask, switch a fake devil’s head knife hilt for a real one, committing the actual murder in a split second when Martha distracts everyone.
- Then, to tell the “miracle” narrative, Martha convinces her husband Samson to dress as Wicks, hide in the casket, then emerge three days later, caught on camera. He would have the diamond from the tomb, but the public narrative would be Wicks resurrecting in an inexplicable, Christ-like fashion (albeit he would obviously never be seen again, he was dead since the stabbing).
- Everything was thrown out of balance when Jud saw all this happen and ran to find fake-Wicks and Dr. Sharp. He’s knocked out, but Sharp rejects the supposed plan to destroy the diamond and fortune, kills Sam, and frames Jud for it. It’s important to realize that it was never actually Martha’s plan to frame Jud for either murder, although she obviously didn’t speak up when the accusations started flying.
- Marsha confronts Sharp at his house, and pulls a Princess Bride, making him drink his own poison and dissolving him in his own acid tub, setting the scene so he’s strangled by Wicks’ corpse.
- She then takes the poison herself and manages to explain all this (which Benoit Blanc had figured out already, but wanted her to be able to tell it) before she dies, revealing she has the diamond.
- The diamond is never found again, and Cy makes sure that Jud knows he can’t even try to give away the fortune to charity, suspecting he has the diamond, so once again it rests in the church, this time inside a statue of Christ that Jud carved himself.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Netflix
The long and short of it
- Wicks’ only plan was to ever to get the diamond and leave, that was it. None of this had anything to do with a “move” against Jud, as Jud originally thought it was some elaborate event planned by Wicks to frame him.
- Jud was not meant to be framed for Wicks’ murder by Marsha. The story was supposed to be Wicks being killed by the devil and rising again, ridding the church of Wicks, but no doubt making the church a holy pilgrimage site, securing its future.
- The weak link in the plan was Sharp, who was able to take advantage of Jud’s accidental interference, but not for long.
- Characters like Lee Ross, Simone Vivane and Vera Draven mainly existed as red herrings with a reason to hate Wicks, but had nothing to do with his murder or any of the rest of this.
- Nothing happens with the diamond, and seemingly can’t happen because of the eyes on Jud. He will stay and deal with the crazy fallout of running the “miracle” church, even if that miracle had been disproven by the facts, which many won’t believe.
- Jud is a good priest.
The end.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.