Aahana Swrup
The 2001 psychological thriller film ‘The Glass House’ revolves around the horrifying aftermath of the orphaning of a pair of siblings. Ruby Baker’s parents died in a fatal car accident that abruptly and unexpectedly left her and her younger brother, Rhett, orphaned. As a result, the siblings find themselves moving to Malibu to live with their former neighbors, Terry and Erin Glass. Although nothing seems to be out of the ordinary at first, things eventually begin to get more and more insidious by the day. While Rhett is happy to overlook any eccentricities with a few shiny distractions, his teenage sister notices the cracks in the Glass household. Therefore, with a sizable inheritance and a mysterious car accident in the fold, Ruby can’t help but wonder if there’s a more insidious secret behind her and her brother’s current predicament. As she dives further into the mystery, her life with the Glasses becomes all the more dangerous. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Glass House Plot Synopsis
As a 16-year-old, Ruby Baker has mastered the art of sneaking around her parents’ back to have the time of her life with her friends, skipping class, catching late-night movies, and more. Therefore, when she returns home after one such secret wild night to find a police car parked in the front porch, she’s only expecting it to be a dramatic overreaction from her protective parents. Nonetheless, she soon discovers that the police aren’t at her house because of an extravagant missing-person case. Instead, they come bearing the tragic news about how her parents have died in a car crash. In the coming days, she and her younger brother, Rhett, find themselves attending their parents’ funeral. In the aftermath, Jack, Grace Baker’s brother and Ruby’s estranged uncle, tries to talk to the young girl, offering his unconditional help in the trying times. Yet, their alienated relationship prevents Ruby from giving the meeting any serious thought.
As per the Bakers’ will and testament, their kids are meant to be adopted by the Glasses, their former next-door neighbors. The family’s estate lawyer, Alvin Begleiter, tells Ruby as much before she and her brother find themselves on a one-way trip to Malibu with Terry and his wife, Erin. As expected, the first night at the new place is turbulent for the kids. From dinner preferences to the awkwardness of having a temporary shared room and moving to a new school, the Baker kids’ life changes in substantial ways. Furthermore, while Rhett remains oblivious to any complications, Ruby begins to notice the occasional peculiarity. On her first night in the Glass household, she overhears the couple arguing in their master bedroom. Shortly afterward, a conversation with Erin reveals that the latter might be listening in on the teenager’s private phone conversations.
Additionally, a few instances give Ruby a creepy and inappropriate vibe from Terry, and she also begins to suspect that Erin might be an addict. Consequently, the teenager ends up sneaking away after school one day to visit Begleiter to share her concerns and talk about the possibility of alternative guardians. Although the lawyer is clear that the Baker orphans would become wards of the State if this arrangement with the Glasses doesn’t work out, he also agrees to look into the matter. The next day, when Ruby swings by Terry’s office for a ride back home from school, she catches him in the middle of a tense, physically violent meeting with a couple of loan sharks. As these instances begin to pile up, the older Baker gets suspicious about her situation and looks further into her parents’ death. When she discovers that they were driving a BMW during the car crash, she can’t help but wonder if an outside party, namely Terry, had something to do with the accident. Shortly thereafter, Begleiter also puts her in contact with a social worker, Nancy Ryan, who agrees to drop by the Glass household under the guise of a routine house check.
Yet, some last-minute thinking on the part of the Glasses has the social worker leaving empty-handed. However, by then, Ruby becomes confident in her suspicions about the couple and their interest in her and her brothers’ hefty inheritance. Therefore, once Terry’s master plan gets her suspended from school on accusations of plagiarism, the teenager puts her own plan in motion. One night, she steals Terry’s car keys and tries to escape from the Glass house with Rhett. Nevertheless, her plan is eventually foiled, and she finds herself once again trapped inside the house. This time around, she’s kept subdued in a drugged haze. Even so, opportunity once again shines for the Baker kids when Erin’s addiction eventually leads to her demise. Thus, in the end, as a battle between the kids and Terry ensues, all Ruby has to rely on is her own wit.
The Glass House Ending: What Did Terry Do to the Jaguar?
Towards the end of the story, Terry has to leave the kids alone with Erin in order to procure more fentanyl to keep Ruby knocked out and imprisoned. Unlike Rhett, the teenager was harder to bribe and win over, and she had too much information about the reality of the Glasses’ plans. However, this fateful fentanyl run ends up being the catalyst for Terry’s downfall. In the time of Terry’s absence, Erin ends up overdosing on her secret stash. As such, the next morning, Ruby finds herself conscious and alone with Rhett. Unfortunately, Terry arrives before she can make a run for it with Rhett, trapping the kids in a cat-and-mouse chase inside the house against their dangerous guardian. Eventually, the chase ends with Terry overpowering the two kids and stashing them away in the house’s basement.
Fortunately, a hopper window allows the Baker kids to spy on Terry’s movements. They see the frazzled man run around the garage before finally pulling out his Jaguar car to presumably go on a drive. However, he ends up stopping midway and retreating into the house to ice his wounded head. During this time, he ends up getting drunk on vodka and passing out on the couch. Initially, Rhett uses the small basement window to slither out and retrieve the car keys from his guardian’s passed-out person. Yet, Ruby gets suspicious of the entire situation. She can’t make sense of Terry’s actions: leaving the Jaguar within the kids’ range and conveniently passing out to allow them to steal the keys. As such, instead of once again taking off, she decides to bide her time. This ends up being a smart decision since, soon enough, a pair of gunmen arrive at the Glass household. The pair of loan sharks, whom Ruby had called earlier, have had enough of Terry’s excuses and have arrived to collect.
Once it becomes evident that Terry still can’t pay them back, the gunmen end up taking the businessman with them. However, as they’re leaving, the Bakers’ guardian becomes frantically insistent about leaving the Jaguar behind. Concerning his situation, it’s unlikely that the loss of an expensive car is on his mind. Ruby makes the same connection and slashes the other car’s tires so that the gunmen are forced to take the Jaguar despite their hostage’s vehement protests. Halfway through the drive, the reason behind Terry’s objection becomes evident. As it turns out, the businessman had cut the brakes from the expensive car to ensure that it would get into a car crash. Knowing Ruby’s flighty tendencies, he had set up a trap for the kids in a last-ditch effort to get rid of them to preserve his secrets and maybe even have a stake in the Bakers’ estate. Nevertheless, in the end, the cut brakes drive him to his own demise.
What Happens to Ruby and Rhett?
Throughout the film, Ruby remains suspicious of the Glasses and their numerous ominous behaviors. Inversely, Rhett is happy to turn a blind eye to everything for the promise of video games and more. Yet, by the end, the pair of siblings becomes a united front. The teenager’s quick thinking, developed sense of danger, and a deeper understanding of Terry’s psyche help her see the Jaguar car as the threat that it is. Consequently, she’s able to keep herself and her brother safe while the loan sharks carry their cruel guardian away. In the aftermath, the kids have no choice but to hitchhike along the main roads in hopes of making it to a second location where they could possibly find help. It doesn’t take long for the duo to get picked up by a friendly police officer. However, on their ride to the main city, they inevitably pass the place of the accident where Terry’s Jaguar had driven off a cliff.
As a result, the police leave the kids in the car while he goes out to check out the damage. This gives Terry, who managed to survive the accident, an opportunity to claw his way back to the Baker kids. Nonetheless, this time around, when Ruby finds herself on the other side of the steering wheel, with her abuser in front of her, she doesn’t hesitate. In the end, her courage ensured that she and Rhettemergede from the terrifying situation in one piece. In the aftermath, once the kids are taken into police custody, a new chapter of their lives begins. Even though the two kids are still orphans with no official legal guardian, all hope isn’t lost. The kids end up going to their uncle Jack. He may not have been their parents’ choice as a guardian, but he’s more than happy to take the children under his wing. Thus, ultimately, after surviving the Glass household, Ruby and Rhett go under the care of their uncle, likely moving to Chicago, returning to a sense of normalcy.
Did Terry Kill the Bakers? Does He Die?
One of the more prominent mysteries of the story stems from Terry’s motivations regarding the Baker siblings. Off-the-bat, his position as the children’s guardian remains suspicious. The Glasses used to be the Bakers’ neighbors before they moved away to Malibu. Therefore, it’s been quite a few years since the kids have been in contact with them. Additionally, once Ruby begins investigating her parents’ death and the Glasses’ lives, multiple discrepancies show up. For once, the car accident that killed her parents involved a BMW that decidedly did not belong to Grace and Dave Baker. Furthermore, despite Terry and Erin’s reassurances, it becomes clear that the family is in deep debt with dangerous loan sharks. As such, the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall in place.
Terry was an ambitious man who didn’t necessarily have the resources to finance his grand plans. As a result, he ends up getting involved with loan sharks. Initially, he finds a loophole in the system by using his wife, who is a doctor, to steal fentanyl from the hospital in order to pay off his debt in chunks. Nonetheless, this soon becomes an inadequate solution. Therefore, he comes up with a bolder, more sinister plan. He knows that his old friends, the Bakers, have a hefty estate. This estate is bound to go to their kids, Ruby and Rhett, in the event of a tragedy. Consequently, he warms up to Dave and Grace and lets them borrow a BMW from him for their anniversary dinner date. However, unbeknownst to them, the businessman also cuts out the brakes from the car. Thus, the Bakers die, leaving their kids to be exploited in the Glasses’ custody. From there, Terry plans on slowly draining Ruby and Rhett’s inheritance with excuses of non-existent school tuitions, home expansions, and family vacations.
Nonetheless, Terry’s plan is flawed and eventually goes belly-up. As such, the businessman finds himself well and truly ruined. Even after he survives the Jaguar car crash, his chances of coming out on top remain slim to none. The officer he had knocked out had called for backup. Therefore, even if he manages to get to the kids, there’s no way he can return to his old plan without getting caught. Still, when he returns to the road in front of Ruby and Rhett, he’s a threat to the safety of both kids, who have suffered great abuse at his hands. On the other hand, he’s also an object of great contempt and hatred for Ruby, who knows all about his involvement in her parents’ murder. For the same reason, when the opportunity presents itself, the teenager decides to take it. Behind the steering wheel of the cop car, Ruby hits the gas and runs Terry over, ensuring he’s out of her and her brothers’ lives once and for all.
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