Netflix’s Stay Close: 8 Biggest Plot Twists

Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Stay Close.

Netflix’s Stay Close has been a thrill for viewers as it is so full of twists and turns. Early on, it’s revealed Megan (Cassie) has a secret past life and it’s the first of many surprises within the show.

Harlan Coben is no stranger to a jaw-dropping twist as seen in his previous shows, Safe and The Stranger, which are both filled with surprising plot developments. Even after Stay Close delivers its huge killer reveal, it still has one last sting in the tail with an even bigger twist closing out the series.

Kayleigh Has Carlton’s Necklace

At the start of the season, Broome and his colleagues are investigating the disappearance of Carlton Flynn. An early Chekhov’s gun is the mention that Carlton wears a distinctive necklace — that he never takes off.

It’s clear that this necklace will become important later but it doesn’t take long for this to be confirmed. At the end of the first episode, Kayleigh is shown with Carlton’s necklace. While this is obviously designed to make Kayleigh look suspicious, it’s quite clearly a double-bluff. Despite this, it is an effective way to end the first episode and add to the mystery going on; plus, this does directly lead into the climactic final twist of the season.

Barbie And Ken Kill Tawny… And Then Do a Dance

When Tawny is introduced at Vipers, she tells Broome that the job is temporary and she hopes to be a nurse. It feels like she’s being set up to be an important character but unfortunately, that isn’t to be. Tawny is followed by the mysterious Barbie and Ken who question her at her doorstep and then suddenly attack her.

She is shown tied up and being interrogated by the pair with the implication that they are torturing her for information. Ken and Barbie pull up in their car later, planning to dispose of Tawny’s body; it is the casual nature in which her murder is revealed that makes this so disturbing. If that wasn’t shocking enough, Ken and Barbie then partake in an unusual dance number that leaves the viewer feeling like they’re trapped in a fever dream.

Goldberg Is In Cahoots With Barbie And Ken

Goldberg is Broome’s superior in the force but he comes across as incompetent and bumbling. Broome is blatantly irritated by him and it’s easy to see why; however, there is more to the character.

Goldberg is revealed to be working alongside Barbie and Ken, which ultimately leads to his downfall. The corrupt detective is one of the most common tropes in mystery TV shows and certainly isn’t unique to Stay Close. As a result, this isn’t the biggest shock of the season by any means but it certainly helps to take the plot in a new direction and add some tension.

Barbie And Ken Kill Harry

Another face from Megan’s past who plays an important part in the season is Harry. He is a lawyer who has a functioning addiction, but it’s clear he cares deeply for Megan and is prepared to go to great lengths for her.

His association with Megan soon lands him in danger, though, as he attracts the attention of Barbie and Ken. Coben is no stranger to killing a major character off early as The Stranger also does the same but this doesn’t make it any less shocking here. As Harry is set up as a key character early on in the season, it’s certainly unexpected for him to be taken out in this manner.

Erin And Broome Find The Murder Bunker

Erin and Broome are two of the best characters in Stay Close  and certainly have an interesting working dynamic. It is mentioned several times between the pair that they used to be married, yet they still work together. At several points, Erin has fun teasing her ex about his love life and his new relationship with Lorraine which provides some much needed light within the show.

A big shock towards the end of the season involves the pair coming across a bunker in the woods that is full of skeletons. It soon becomes clear that these are the missing men they’ve been looking for, confirming Broome’s theory that they were all linked. While it did seem likely that the disappearances would have a common thread, it’s a shocking moment to see the massive stack of skeletons.

Ray Disposed Of Stewart’s Body

Megan’s former lover Ray is highly suspicious throughout the season and because of his drunken blackouts, he even suspects himself at times. Fester recalls how Ray turned up on his doorstep covered in blood, which leads the audience to assume he killed Stewart all those years ago.

However, viewers later learn that Ray stumbled across Stewart’s dead body and assumed Megan/Cassie had killed him. Showing his loyalty to her, Ray chopped up the body and then disposed of it. This moment is particularly shocking as it means the real killer is still out there, even though the show’s attempt at making Megan look suspicious here is rather superfluous.

Lorraine Reveals Her Big Secret

When Lorraine is introduced, she is watching Megan from afar and it feels like she’ll be a major threat for the season. However, it transpires that the two were friends and Lorraine still cares deeply about Megan and wants to help her. This is a clever double-bluff considering the end reveal which is a twist that actually shares a lot of similarities with another 2021 mystery-thriller — Last Night in Soho. 

Lorraine’s killer reveal at the end of Stay Close actually makes her strangely similar to one of the best characters in Last Night in Soho. She reveals to Broome that she has been killing men at Vipers for many years in order to keep herself and “her girls” safe. The show has cleverly already made the audience sympathize with Lorraine by the time this is revealed after she is diagnosed with terminal cancer, which makes this ending all the more jaw-dropping.

Megan Realizes A Shocking Truth

During her final interview, Lorraine also confesses to killing Carlton Flynn, despite his body not being in the bunker. Just when it feels like this is about to be left open-ended, flashbacks reveal Kayleigh confessing to Megan that she left Carlton in the trunk of his car. This is followed by Megan’s husband revealing that he pushed the car into the river, meaning he unknowingly killed the missing man.

This was a plot twist audiences didn’t realize was being foreshadowed earlier as they did see Dave mysteriously pushing the car into the water but were unaware Carlton was in the trunk. The final shot of Megan realizing what her husband has done leaves viewers wondering whether she will tell him everything or keep yet another secret in order to protect him.

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