Netflix's thriller The Guilty starring Jake Gyllenhaal has a twist-filled ending, and here's a breakdown of the movie's different twists. The film is a remake of a Danish movie by the same name that received stellar reviews in 2018. Gyllenhaal partnered up with Antoine Fuqua for the American remake of The Guilty, which also reviewed positive reviews ahead of its limited theatrical release and wide rollout on Netflix.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Joe Baylor in The Guilty and is in almost every single shot of the crime thriller. The movie follows Joe's last night shift as a 911 call operator, which begins with him handling a series of calls ranging from theft to drug use. However, Joe's night changes drastically once he gets a call from a distressed Emily Leighton (Riley Keough). Joe figures out that Emily has been abducted by her ex-husband Henry (Peter Sarsgaard) and becomes determined to do whatever he can from behind his desk to help locate and save her. This includes talking to Emily and Henry's daughter and calling in some favors with his former partner and lieutenant.
As Joe continues to make calls and gather information, though, The Guilty builds towards a conclusion filled with surprises. Several mysteries that the movie previously established are explained in the end, but there are also further shocking revelations. Some of them change everything Joe and audiences thought was going on in The Guilty, so here's a detailed explanation of each of the movie's twists.
Emily Was Responsible For Hurting Oliver
Joe immediately had an interest in helping Emily escape her husband's grasp, but he only became more determined to help her and get the husband arrested once he learned about their children. Joe sends officers to Emily's apartment to make sure the kids are okay, but they find out that is not the case. While the daughter Abby talked to Joe on the phone, the cops found her covered in blood. This leads to the discovery that Emily's son Oliver is bleeding in another room, which doesn't sound good. The cops immediately call an ambulance but hang up on Joe. He immediately believes that Henry was responsible for hurting Oliver, but The Guilty delivers a major twist by revealing that Emily was responsible.
Joe learns that Emily is responsible for hurting Oliver while talking to her on the phone, as she mentions that Oliver had snakes in his stomach that she wanted to get rid of. The Guilty goes on to reveal that Emily was previously in a psychiatric treatment center. She was on heavy medication in the past, but she and Henry ran out of money to pay for the medicine. Emily's mental state led to her hurting Oliver, but Henry took her away because he believed she didn't know what she was doing. Emily being responsible for hurting Oliver comes as a massive shock to Joe, and it forces him and viewers to rethink the real goal. Ultimately, The Guilty's biggest twist drives Joe to want to find Emily even more and get her somewhere safe where she can't hurt herself or others.
Joe Killed Someone While On Duty
For most of The Guilty, the movie doesn't address one of the biggest questions surrounding its plot: Why is Joe now at the 911 call center? There are hints that he did something recently that meant he was no longer allowed or able to be a cop on the streets. The Guilty mentions that Joe's court date is the next day, and it will mean he can go back to active duty if it goes his way. This is expected to happen because Joe (and possibly others) convinced his partner to lie during his testimony to make whatever Joe did not seem so bad. So what exactly did Joe do that got him in trouble?
The Guilty waits until very late in its short runtime to provide an answer, and it's that Joe killed someone while on duty. His confession comes during another conversation with Emily when she threatens to jump off a highway overpass to her death. This is the result of her learning that she's the one who harmed Oliver, and it is his blood on her hands and clothes. However, Joe tells Emily that he killed a 19-year-old boy in the past and can't handle the thought of being responsible for her death too. Joe says that he shot the young man after he hurt someone, so Joe wanted to punish him because he was so angry. It's unknown why this man's actions, in particular, triggered such a violent response from Joe, but it still answers one of The Guilty's biggest mysteries.
Oliver Survived Emily's Attack
The Guilty's ending also includes the welcomed twist that Oliver did not die due to Emily's attack. The movie heavily implies that Oliver died due to what Emily did, as Joe assumes that the child was past saving based on the limited information he received from the officers at the scene. However, The Guilty confirms that the offers did manage to help save Oliver's life and take him to the ICU, where he was recovering. The twist brings Joe a considerable sense of relief, but the movie doesn't fully explain how this is possible.
Although the events of The Guilty are contained to a single night, how much time passed between Emily's first conversation with Joe and the movie's ending is unclear. That said, it is clear that Oliver was left bleeding at home for a while. The officers who arrive at Emily's apartment note that Abby had blood on her hands, so it is possible that Henry instructed her to try and stop or slow the bleeding until he could come back. If that didn't happen, then Oliver's injuries could not have been that bad if he didn't die before the cops arrived.
Why Joe Pleaded Guilty
The final twist The Guilty's ending delivers is with what happens to Joe. The entire movie has Joe prepared to go to court the next day and win the case to go back to active duty. Joe's mindset completely flips by the conclusion of The Guilty, though. He calls his partner and tells him to tell the truth tomorrow in court, even though Joe knows that means he'll go to jail. Joe then connects with the reporter trying to get ahold of him all night long, and The Guilty's credits include a voiceover that reveals Joe pleads guilty once the trial begins.
Joe's decision to plead guilty in The Guilty's finale is a near redemptive moment for Jake Gyllenhaal's character. At the very least, it is a sign that Joe is ready to accept the consequences for his actions and own up to what he's done. Joe's experience during The Guilty certainly influenced this decision, as his assumptions about what was happening with Emily could've made him understand what he did before was wrong. Furthermore, it is clear that Joe never genuinely dealt with the mental or emotional toll that comes with killing someone, so that regret came forth once he was staring down Emily's possible death.
