Abhiroop Das
Developed by Dorien Goertzen, Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Lie‘ begins with Karen and her family moving to a new town and befriending a wealthy, hedonistic group of friends who go by “The Dinner Club.” As Karen spends more time with them, she slowly becomes attuned to this new lifestyle, in all of its gray shades. Things change, however, when she is met with the sight of a burning villa and the death of one of the members. That’s not all, though, as the circumstances behind this death soon give way to a bigger mystery, one that forces the twisted secrets of everyone out into the open. Among these friends is Hanneke, who arguably wants to know the truth the most, but inadvertently finds herself at the heart of the conflict. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Patricia May be the One Who Attacked Hanneke on the Fateful Night
While ‘The Perfect Lie’ reveals the truth about Evert’s death, there is one mystery that is still left unanswered, that of Hanneke’s fall. All we know so far is that she was heard having an argument with someone shortly before she fell several stories and nearly lost her life. With Hanneke still in a coma, it is up to the viewers to figure out what happened to her before the truth is ultimately revealed, especially given how ominously the season finale ends. To begin with, it’s almost certain that the attacker is among our core group of characters, as it doesn’t make a lot of narrative sense for an outside force to be introduced in the last minute. From there, we can start the process of elimination to determine who is the most likely culprit.
Both Karen and Simon can be ruled out, given that we see them at a completely different location, just as Hanneke falls off her balcony. However, the first complication arises when we take Patricia’s version of the story into account. Though she claims to have been with Simon at the time of the fall, we know that is impossible. At the same time, we do distinctly see the back of a woman watching over Karen and Simon that night as they share a kiss, and it is likely that this woman is none other than Patricia. However, we don’t know where she was before this moment, and given that she is the only other person with the keys to the house, there is reasonable suspicion here.
Hanneke’s Fall Can Also be Interpreted as a Suicide Attempt
One also cannot forget that Patricia also attempts to actively attack Karen with a sword at one point, and that too without any clear reason. Regardless of whether she was of sound mind at the time of the attack, this raises the possibility that she might have gotten into an argument with Hanneke and attacked her. However, a similar argument can be made about Babette, who is the actual person the police end up arresting in this case. Though her role in Evert’s murder is proven beyond doubt, Babette staunchly claims that she had nothing to do with Hanneke’s fall, and this might just be true. The final episode indicates that the culprit might still be at large, eager to finish the job they started.
While virtually all the details point towards Hanneke being pushed off the balcony by an unknown aggressor, there is a slim chance that the real story might be something else entirely. In the last scene we see of Hanneke from that day, she is seemingly alone on the balcony, with no one arguing with her as per the neighbors’ claims. Given how this scene runs parallel to Karen and Simon sharing a kiss, it’s unlikely that the timeline of things has been tampered with. As such, there is a possibility that Hanneke may have jumped off her own volition, choosing to end her life in the face of everything that has transpired. However, the final scene of the season does suggest that there might be another party involved, and until then, fans can only guess what truly happened.
Read More: The Perfect Lie Season 1 Ending Explained: Will Hanneke Die? Who Killed Evert?
