Disclaimer episode 5 recap: Catherine’s life comes crashing down

Are you a fan of clever, suspenseful storytelling paired with a talented cast? Then you need to be watching Disclaimer on Apple TV+ if you aren’t already. The streamer’s gripping new series is one of the year's best shows, and a new episode just dropped. 

Episode 5 sees Catherine Ravencrof’s (Cate Blanchett) life plummet quickly, showcasing Stephen Brigstocke’s (Kevin Kline) ruthlessness. He is determined to get his revenge on Catherine and will stop at nothing to achieve her absolute downfall. But before we continue dissecting Disclaimer’s latest chapter, here’s your spoiler warning. 

Spoiler alert! Go stream Disclaimer episode 5 as there are spoilers ahead. 

Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) is SO done with Catherine. And not to defend Catherine here, but Robert didn’t even allow Catherine to get a word out. He didn’t ask for space or even time. Robert simply kicked Catherine out of the house. 

When Catherine arrives home, she finds her son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and her husband chatting. Robert tells Catherine that Nicholas will be keeping him company while she’s away on her “work trip.” He knows that Catherine can’t start an argument with Nicholas there. Smart. But also, sorta heartless? Well, perhaps not as heartless as Stephen, who quickly makes his next move. 

Let’s chat about Nicholas…

Nicholas is ungrateful, unappreciative, and plain lazy. He is also unbelievably rude. You’d think he remembers what happened to him. After all, that was a traumatic experience, but he doesn’t. And sure, Catherine appears to have been an emotionally unavailable mother. But was she that awful that it messed her son up? Even if it had, Robert has always been there for Nicholas. All that said, it’s really hard to feel bad for Nicholas. 

In a matter of hours, Nicholas creates a mess in his room, kitchen, living room, anywhere he goes. Episode 5 also reveals that Nicholas does more than smoke. Once his dad goes to sleep, Nicholas sneaks out to buy drugs. 

Stephen’s sinister plan

After creating an Instagram account for his son, Stephen follows Nicholas. Stephen’s IG is full of pictures his son, Jonathan, took. It looks like a believable account so Nicholas follows Stephane’s fake account back. The two start to chat and once Stephen has Nicholas’ full attention, he drops a grenade. Stephen tells Nicholas that the book The Perfect Stranger is about his mom and that HE is the boy Jonathan saved. Here’s the worst part: Stephen even shares the explicit photos of Nicholas’ mom with him. 

Nicholas was already troubled before, so he is really over the edge now. He appears to have overdosed. Catherine wakes up to a call from a frantic Nicholas and worries after her son hangs up and doesn’t pick up the phone again. I may not have been a fan of Nicholas before, but that is a low blow, Stephen. 

The book is out

Before Stephen destroyed Nicholas, he stopped by Catherine’s work building to distribute copies of his book. He lies and says that Catherine has been harassing him due to what he wrote, he says that the truth about who Catherine truly is must be known. It doesn’t go over well for her. At all. 

Stephen also met up with Robert for dinner. The latter tells Stephen that he and his wife are no longer living together and apologizes for all the pain Catherine has caused him. 

Disclaimer episode 6 premieres on Apple TV+ on Nov. 1.