'Anatomy of a Scandal' Ending Explained: Was James guilty of rape? SHOCKING reveal changes it all
Contains spoilers for Netflix's drama series 'Anatomy of a Scandal'
Netflix’s latest drama series ‘Anatomy of a Scandal’ has finally been released and is undoubtedly a gripping tale of how influential people can bring the judiciary down to its knees. The limited series revolves around James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend), a member of the UK Parliament, who has a history of being in several extramarital affairs. He is married to a woman named Sophie (Sienna Miller) and the couple shares two children.
However, their world turns upside down when one of James’s close political aides Olivia Lytton (Naomi Scott) accuses him of rape. Although James confesses that he did have a relationship with Olivia, he vehemently denies the allegations of rape. A lot of things occur after that, like Sienna deciding to help his husband during the trial and supporting him. Meanwhile, a barrister named Kate Woodcroft (Michelle Dockery) takes the case and does everything to provide justice to Lytton.
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When things get murkier, Sophie gets to know all the dirty secrets that her husband has kept from her. But still, Woodcroft needs to prove if James is guilty or not. Let’s look at what happens at the end of the trial and if James is found guilty or not.
‘Anatomy of a Scandal’ Ending Explained
During the trial, we get to know that James indeed is “guilty” of rape and this is not the first that he has been accused of sexual assault. When he was studying at Oxford University, he cornered Sophie’s best friend Holly Berry when she was drunk in the hallway. While she allowed James to kiss her initially, she tried to stop James from doing anything further. He got annoyed by that and assaulted her. He called Holly a “prick tease” at that time and shockingly, he said the same thing to Lytton as well.
After encountering the horrific incident, Holly drops out of Oxford and started a new life. Everybody started calling her by her middle name Kate. She gets married and takes the surname of Woodcroft. So, the finale sees a shocking reveal that Kate Woodcroft is the same Holly Berry who was sexually assaulted by James at Oxford.
Sophie investigates Holly and finds out that Kate is the same woman that James assaulted during his college days. However, she doesn’t tell that to anyone and doesn’t support her husband. When she confronts James about what actually happened that night, James keeps on saying that she didn’t rape Olivia and it was just sex. However, he also reveals that he won’t deny what Olivia said about the incident was the actual truth. It means, she did tell him to stop, but he continued doing what he wanted to.
Sophie is horrified and leaves the house with their children. Even though James tries to stop her from leaving, she doesn’t stop.
After everything, Sophie connects with Kate and asks about what happened at Oxford University. She tells her everything and they both feel that justice has been denied to everyone. But Sophie knows everything about James’ secrets and delivers mind-boggling news to Kate. She tells her about how James helped the Prime Minister to cover up his heroin use and death inside the Libertines Club.
Although we don’t see James being found guilty of rape, in the final moments, viewers get to see James being taken away by the police.
'Anatomy of a Scandal' is currently streaming on Netflix.
