A Spanish remake of the British psychological thriller Liar, Netflix’s Lies and Deceit is a classic he said/she said mystery set in Mallorca.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Summary
Just out of a 15-year long relationship, Laura (Angela Cremonte) is a high school literature teacher. Xavier (Javier Rey) is a single parent and a reputed surgeon. His son, Lucas (Óscar Ortuño) is a student in Laura’s class. In their very first scene together, Laura agrees to go out on a date with Xavier.
Their date goes seemingly well but Laura wakes up sore and traumatized with blurred memories of non-consensual intercourse with him.
She talks to her sister Cata (Manuela Velasco) about this and breaks down when she realizes that she was raped. Cata is also Xavier’s colleague. They immediately report the incident to the police.
After a series of blood tests and physical examinations, her case is taken up by detectives Daniela Bauza (Itziar Atienza) and Victor Silva (Paco Tous). After her testimony, they interrogate Xavier who denies all allegations.
Laura decides to stay with Cata till she gets better. Here we meet Sergio (Victor Dupla), Cata’s stay-at-home husband who is deeply attached to his role as a parent and a spouse. Laura does not take a break from her work and blurts out at Lucas in class.
Later that evening, she meets her former partner Ivan (Miquel Fernandez), a cop.
He reassures her that she’ll get justice. The very next day, the detectives inform that her case lacks evidence and might get dismissed at court.
She also realizes that she was drugged scopolamine, a drug that disappears out of the blood in less than 12 hours, an answer to why her results were negative. It is revealed that Ivan and Cata are having an affair.
After losing faith in the police, Laura seeks to investigate the case on her while also seeking justice via social media. Xavier, distracted at work, takes a temporary leave and is offered help by his lawyer friend, Rafa.
Laura breaks into Xavier’s house and finds a box of drugs, not knowing what they were. She reports to Ivan who requests a premise-wide search warrant at Xavier’s house. However, the only drug found was insulin that Xavier’s mother needed for her diabetic condition.
Additionally, Ivan tries to probe deeper into the case of Xavier’s ex-wife’s suicide case.
Lucas’ relationship with his girlfriend Amal (Sofia Oria) gets affected severely because the latter believes Laura. When Amal gets a miscarriage, both Xavier and Laura come together to help. Xavier reasserts his innocence and Laura claims that she won’t be deceived by his professional repute.
In a flashback, Xavier is shown to have drugged Laura’s wine, therefore revealing the “truth” to the viewers.
Curious about Xavier’s past, Laura goes to Madrid. Her convictions and fears are reaffirmed. Xavier had drugged his ex-wife’s friend and raped her as well. His wife, unable to handle the situation, had committed suicide.
Detective Daniela, dissatisfied with the case considers a transfer and retraining. But her pregnancy-related medical examination proves her to be a victim of sexual assault. Her blood tests reveal the presence of scopolamine.
She correctly assumes the assaulter to be Xavier and tracks the position of his car through GPS. Meanwhile, Laura has acquired a gun from Ivan. She seeks to kill Xavier but fails. Xavier attacks and tries to rape her again.
Daniela comes in time and lets Xavier go because there is no evidence.
The characters attempt to move forward with their lives. Laura begins to date a cello player and Daniela reunites with her partner, but Xavier’s freedom continues to haunt them until he is proven to be guilty.
If you have any doubts about the ending, here’s a detailed breakdown.
Lies and Deceit ending explained in detail (Episode 6: We’re so Close):
Remedies and revelations
In an attempt to move on from her past trauma, Laura attends weekly therapy sessions. Sergio and Cata live separately but confess they still love each other. Laura goes on a date with the cellist she once met at the police station.
In the pub where he plays the cello, they meet Xavier and his date.
Xavier leaves immediately after seeing her. Laura cannot concentrate on anything after coming back home and creates a fake profile to stalk Xavier’s date, Julia. She opens up to her therapist and decides to let Julia know about his true character.
In their short meeting, Julia acts like she trusts Xavier but is a detective assigned to observe his actions. Meanwhile, Daniela feels too overwhelmed to talk about her assault.
Fatal flaw
Julia tells Xavier about her meeting with Laura. Xavier stands before Laura’s house asking her to stop meddling in his personal life and brings up very specific details about the night they slept together.
Laura, frightened, suspects that he had recorded the night. She asks Cata to check the hospital lockers and Ivan to access Xavier’s texts.
After going through Xavier’s chats with Mia, his mother’s caretaker, she speculates that he might have stored the drugs and the tape recordings of his exploits at his mother’s house. She pretends to be Xavier’s coworker and searches his shed thoroughly for the items.
While she finds them, Mia comes to know the truth about her false identity.
Escape and exultation
Mia tries to stop Laura but she escapes. Xavier arrives late and finds the video camera gone. Laura checks the recording and takes them to the police. There was evidence of him drugging and assaulting seventeen different women.
The detectives assure her that the recordings will incriminate him.
The police get a warrant to arrest him but find that he has escaped. Some days later, a jogger finds him lying dead on a beach and informs the police. The cause of his death is not specified.
The series ends with Laura laughing with her friends, jovial for the first time since the night of her assault.
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