Diksha Sundriyal
In Prime Video’s ‘Tyler Perry’s Duplicity,’ lawyer Marley Wells’ trust issues are inflamed for life after she gets indulged in the investigation of a case that is too close to her. It begins with the death of her close friend, Rodney Blackburn, who is shot by a white cop, Caleb Kaine, while on his daily run. Caleb and his senior officer, Kevin Moore, who is also an acquaintance of Marley, say that they were called to the scene by a woman who claimed to see an intruder breaking into her neighbor’s house. The police officers claim that when they asked Rodney to stop and put his hands in the air, he reached out in his pocket, and they thought he was pulling out a gun. This prompted them to shoot him, even though it turned out to be a phone.
Rodney’s loss hits Marley pretty hard, but it’s worse for her best friend and Rodney’s wife, Fela. Despite the challenges the couple had been facing in their marriage, Fela loved him and is devastated by his loss. Marley promises to sue the city for wrongful death, but the more she looks into the case, the more she feels that some pieces of the puzzle are still missing. One of the major revelations about Rodney comes in the form of his affair, but the violent past of Caleb is enough for the city to back down and strike a settlement that costs them north of fifteen million dollars. On the surface, it seems that everything has been settled, but four months later, something happens that leads Marley to uncover the true conspiracy behind Rodney’s killing. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Kevin, Fela, and Tony Killed Rodney Due to Greed and Jealousy
A superficial look at the case places the blame for Rodney’s death on rookie police officer Caleb Kaine. In the end, however, Marley discovers that it was actually Kevin, Fela, and Tony working together to create the circumstances that led to Rodney’s death, and Caleb was just a tool they used to get what they wanted. All three of them wanted Rodney out of their lives, but they couldn’t kill him with their own hands. They had to make his death look like an accident or something that could not be traced back to them. It was important not to raise suspicion because they knew how doggedly Marley would pursue the case and wouldn’t rest until she had the culprit. So, they gave her a culprit in Caleb.
Following Rodney’s death, Caleb is made to look like a racist cop with a violent past. A quick look into his military career reveals that he was charged with beating up a Black soldier and using racial slurs against him. This confirms for everyone, including Marley, that when he pointed the gun at Rodney, he was motivated by racism to shoot at what he perceived to be the first sign of danger. Would he still have shot if Rodney was a white man? When Marley asks this question, no one can answer otherwise, and that’s how she gets the city to agree on a settlement. What really happened was a carefully orchestrated series of events.
With Kevin in the police force, the trio knew that they could use the “white cop shooting black man” scenario to get away with murder. They knew that once the deed was one, all heat would be directed towards Caleb, and no one would think twice about considering any other possibility. However, they had to carefully make it look like it all happened organically. First, they needed to choose the right man for the job. Seeing violence against a Black man in Caleb’s history, it was decided that the rookie should be the one to fire the bullet. Then, under the guise of training him, Kevin told him to join him that day.
Then came the call. Using the internalized racism of a white old lady, Fela placed a call to tell her that a Black guy was breaking into her neighbor’s house. The lady immediately called the cops, and Kevin cleverly placed himself close to the area to ensure he and Caleb were the ones to show up on the scene. The plan worked, and right as Rodney walked into the alley, they caught him off guard, and bullets were fired. When Caleb realized that he had made a mistake, he immediately told Kevin to call the cops. Despite the bullets, Rodney was still breathing at the time and could have been saved. But Kevin took his dear time, and before help could arrive, Rodney was gone, and Caleb had blood on his hands.
Why did Fela, Kevin, and Tony Betray Marley?
With all the trouble that Fela, Kevin, and Tony go through to make Rodney’s death look like the result of a racist cop’s actions, one can’t help but wonder why they would do it. Fela was his wife, Tony was his friend and boyfriend of Marley, who was like a sister to Rodney. From the looks of it, Kevin didn’t seem to have anything to do with Rodney, so what brought the three of them together to commit such a gruesome crime? It turns out that a lot was going on behind Marley’s back, which she was too blind to see.
Marley met Tony through Fela as a client. He claimed that he had been fired from his job as a police officer because of racism, and Marley not only helped him sue the city but also won a substantial amount for him. That’s because she believed he was innocent when, in fact, he really was fired for the bad things he had done. Marley also didn’t know that Tony had a profile under the name of “Kevin” on dating apps. Through one such app, he met a woman named Anna Lewis. He had an affair with her, but he was highly possessive and violent. When Anna tried to leave, he threatened her.
Then Anna met Rodney, who decided to help her. By this time, Rodney’s marriage with Fela was already failing, and in helping Anna, he fell in love with her. When Tony found out about this, he got furious. When Fela found out about the affair, she was furious, too. What’s more, Fela herself had a secret affair with Kevin. In front of Marley, she made a show of shaking off Kevin’s advances and expressing her strong dislike for him. But in reality, she was not only in a relationship with him but was also plotting Rodney’s murder with him.
The trio devised the plan of putting all the blame on Caleb and getting away with it, but then, they got greedy. Considering that Marley had helped Tony sue the city and get hundreds of thousands of dollars out of them, they thought that she could do the same for Fela after Rodney’s death, and that’s exactly what happened. This is why, once Fela gets the money, she stops talking to Marley and doesn’t even tell her that she bought a house and moved from her previous address. They thought Marley would never find out about this, but then Caleb Kaine finds Anna Lewis, putting Marley back on the investigation.
Do Fela, Kevin and Tony Die? What Happens to Caleb Kaine?
As part of the settlement with the city, it is decided that Caleb Kaine would be arrested for the murder of Rodney Blackburn. Already racked with the guilt of having killed an innocent man, Caleb refuses to give in. The more he thinks about the situation, the more he starts to wonder how he ended up killing Rodney. And then, Anna comes into the picture, which is when Caleb realizes that he is being framed by Kevin. He finds Marley and tries to explain the situation to her. To give her proof, Anna tells her about the phone she hid in a house that Kevin (the fake name used by Tony) used to rent and now owns. She gives her the location of the house, and Marley decides to check it out herself.
Shockingly, Marley finds Tony lurking around as well, and he claims that he got a tip-off during his independent investigation. When Kevin drives up to them, he invites them into the house. Marley immediately goes to the washroom, where Anna claims to have hidden the phone. When she finds the phone and sees the videos, she realizes that Anna’s boyfriend wasn’t the police officer Kevin, but her own boyfriend, Tony, who used Kevin’s name while dating Anna. Horrified by this revelation, Marley tries to leave, but Kevin and Tony sedate her and take her on a boat. Their plan is to tie her with something heavy and throw her in the water where she would drown, and no one could find her. Fela, who seemed to have disappeared since she got the fifteen million in settlement, turns out to have been waiting for them on the boat.
Before they can throw Marley in the water, an officer shows up, telling them not to take the boat out any further because the water is shallow. When he notices something off with the unconscious Marley, Kevin shoots and kills the officer. They throw Marley in the water, not realizing that by now, the sedative has started to wear off. While they are busy drowning the officer’s boat and taking care of his body so it doesn’t float up, Marley manages to free herself of the weight and swims up. She hides until she finds the flare gun, and then, one by one, she shoots all three of them before shooting up the fourth flare to call for help. It seems unlikely that the three of them would have died by the flare gun, but they would have been seriously injured, giving enough time for help to arrive and have all three of them arrested and sent to prison for the rest of their lives.
Once the truth comes to light, Caleb is cleared of the charges. He goes on TV with Marley to share the whole story with the world so that his reputation is re-established in public opinion. He had been painted as a racist cop, but he proves that he is not so. Shooting Rodney was a genuine mistake, and he even tried to save the guy. Rodney probably would have survived if it weren’t for Kevin, who prolonged the arrival of help. As for beating up the Black soldier during his time in the army, it turns out that the soldier had been hounding Jennifer, and Caleb got into a fight to protect her. When he left the army, Caleb and Jennifer got together and have been married ever since. Ultimately, with all charges against him dropped, he gets his life back.
Read More: Is Tyler Perry’s Duplicity Based on a True Story? Is Marley Wells a Real Lawyer?
