fool me once ending explained plot summary who killed joe kierces illness

Fool Me Once Ending Explained & Plot Summary: What Happened?

Based on Harlan Coben’s novel, Fool Me Once is the latest viral sensation from Netflix. The murder mystery keeps viewers hooked right unlit the very end before providing a few shocking yet satisfying twists. Here is Fool Me Once’s ending explained with a plot summary.

What happened at the end of Fool Me Once?

In the end, Maya sacrificed herself exposing the Burkett family and the fraudulent activities of their company, Burkett Global.  

Maya entered the Burkett family estate with a gun but decided to put it down close to Neil. She then confessed to her crimes against Joe and made the Burketts confess to all the deaths and side effects caused by their company’s medicines. Following that, Neil picked up Maya’s gun and shot her in cold blood to keep her quiet.

But little did the Burketts know, that Maya had planted a nanny cam photo frame in their living room. Furthermore, she convinced Detective Sami to ask for Corey’s help in hacking into the nanny cam. As a result, the whole world saw what transpired at the Burkett’s estate. Not only did the world watch Caroline, Judith, and Neil confess to Burkett Global’s falsified drugs, but everyone saw Neil murder Maya.

It was enough to take down the Burketts for all their crimes. Followed by this twist ending was the epilogue that takes place 18 years after Maya’s death. Sami met Eddie at the hospital where an older Lilly gave birth to a little girl and named her after Maya.

Many burning questions were finally answered at the end of Fool Me Once. These include:

Who killed Joe in Fool Me Once?

Maya Stern killed her husband Joe Burkett because he killed her sister, Claire.

Maya figured out that Joe shot Claire and staged her death as a robbery gone wrong. So she decided to avenge Claire and staged a similar death for Joe as well. She told the cops that he died because of a mugging gone wrong. But it was Maya who shot her husband.

After that, she also found out how Joe caused the deaths of his brother Andrew and another one of their schoolmates named Theo. Not wanting to live with a murderer, she killed Joe, confessed her crimes in front of the Burketts, and made Neil shoot her. That was her penance for what she did to Joe and a civilian family earlier in her life. But most importantly, she exposed the crimes of the Burketts with her death.

What was Detective Kierce’s illness and did he get better?

Detective Sami Kierce was living with a serious brain disease that caused various episodes of blackouts and temporary paralysis.

Kierce presumed that his previous alcohol addiction led to his brain damage. However, it was all the result of the medicine produced by Burkett Global. It caused him to hallucinate and talk to his dead fiancé. It also made him suicidal and caused his blackouts.

But after he stopped taking the medicine, Kierce recovered. He was seen to be alive and well in 2041 when he met Eddie on the day little Maya was born.

For more updates, check out whether Fool Me Once will get a second season.

Movie News

Marvel and DC

X