Before the second season of Netflix’s mockumentary series premieres, we break down the mystery of American Vandal season 1 and reveal the best answer to the question: Who really drew the dicks? Last year, the debut season of American Vandal hit Netflix and became a sleeper hit as viewers tuned in to watch the show that riffs on true crime documentaries like Serial and Making a Murderer. Season 1 followed aspiring documentarians Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck) as they investigated a crime committed at their high school: A vandal spray-painted 27 faculty cars with images of penises. The school’s resident prankster Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro) was accused of the crime and eventually expelled, as he additionally faced criminal charges for the vandalism. However, Dylan maintains he’s innocent.

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Throughout the season, Peter and Sam investigate the evidence against Dylan, trying to poke holes in the school’s case against the prankster. They look into key witness Alex Trimboli (Calum Worthy), an attention-seeking student who claimed to have seen Dylan in the parking lot committing the vandalism, as well as teacher Mrs. Shapiro (Karly Rothenberg), who claims she was targeted by Dylan for giving him detentions. As Peter and Sam also search for who could have possibly been the vandal other than Dylan, their investigation takes a number of twists and turns that kept American Vandal so compelling.

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However, while American Vandal season 1 does see Peter and Sam get Dylan cleared of all charges, the show doesn’t take a hard (pun intended) stance on who the perpetrator of the dicks really was. Dylan is cleared of vandalism on the faculty cars after a video from his girlfriend Mackenzie Wagner’s (Camille Ramsey) Twitch account gives him an alibi. Heartbreakingly, Dylan vandalizes Mrs. Shapiro’s driveway, thinking he can use the previous false accusation against him and other evidence to get away with it – but a camera catches him in the act. So he becomes the vandal everyone originally thought he was.

In the American Vandal season 1 finale, Peter and Sam are still without an answer to the question of who drew the dicks. That is, until a party where Christa Carlyle (G. Hannelius) reveals she can’t do CPR. This is important because Christa’s alibi was that she was getting her CPR certification at the time of the incident – and that her leg was broken. Then, Peter and Sam discover Christa’s certification was signed off on by camp counselor Van Delorey (Hunter Clowdus), who’s also her boyfriend. Quickly, Peter and Sam put together a theory that Christa and Van could have pulled off the prank together.

Christa held a grudge against Coach Rafferty – one of the faculty members whose car may have been the first vandalized – and she had access to delete the security footage of the parking lot. Further, Van is of a similar height and build to Dylan, which may have caused Alex Trimboli to mistake Van for Dylan. To make Christa more suspicious, she refuses to speak to Peter and Sam until after she graduates, and then won’t confirm or deny whether she was involved with the prank.

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American Vandal season 1 concludes with Dylan exonerated of the crime, then caught committing a crime similar to the one he was originally accused of, but without a definitive answer as to who the true perpetrator was of the school vandalism. In voiceover, Peter says he’s hesitant to offer any kind of answer without concrete proof, since he saw how the false accusations affected Dylan’s life. This ending is meant to let viewers draw their own conclusions – as is the case with many true crime docs – but if viewers look at all the proof, it seems Christa is the most likely culprit, with help from her boyfriend. So, Christa Carlyle did the dicks.

Next: American Vandal Season 2 Trailer Introduces The Turd Burglar

American Vandal season 2 premieres Friday, September 14 on Netflix.

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Molly Freeman
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Molly Freeman is the lead news editor of Screen Rant and one of Screen Rant’s Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved movie critics. She’s been writing for Screen Rant since 2014 and has appeared on the Total Geekall podcast. Previously, she’s written entertainment news for Bustle and had personal essays published on HelloGiggles and Femsplain.

A graduate of Ithaca College’s Journalism program, Molly originally planned to be a music journalist before moving into entertainment journalism after spending so much of her downtime binge-watching all manner of movies and TV during her formative years. Still, she enjoys every chance to put her music and musical theater knowledge to good use, particularly when it intersects with her love of superhero movies.

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Beyond that, Molly spends her free time reading young adult and romance novels, rooting for the New York Rangers hockey team (LGR!) and going out to brunch. Follow Molly on Twitter and Instagram @mollyrockit, or contact her directly: molly(at)screenrant(dot)com.

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