The Ending Of Fatal Affair Explained
Netflix viewers are obsessed with the streamer's new original film Fatal Affair — upon its release, it shot up to the top of the service's Top Ten movies list. The film tells the story of a San Francisco attorney, Ellie (Nia Long), who is moving out of the city with her husband, Marcus (Stephen Bishop). On one of her last days in town, she has a chance encounter with an acquaintance from college she hasn't spoken to in years. While Ellie is surprised to see David (Omar Epps), she soon realizes that their run-in wasn't happenstance.
When the two go out for drinks to catch up, the night gets away from Ellie. After admitting that her marriage is on the rocks, the two kiss in the bathroom of a club. Ellie puts a stop to the affair before it can even begin, but David isn't done with her yet. While she tries to get a fresh start outside of the city, David attempts to worm his way into her life, calling and texting incessantly, and even dating her friend, Courtney (Maya Stojan).
Fatal Affair is a thriller in the style of Fatal Attraction or Obsessed, and as the pieces of the puzzle come together for Ellie, we're treated to some wild action and shocking twists and turns. We're going to get into it all as we discuss everything that happens in the ending of Fatal Affair.
Ellie learns the shocking truth about David's ex-wife
At the beginning of the movie, we see a short scene of a man and woman being attacked in their home by an unseen intruder. We don't get an explanation for this until about midway through the film. When David's behavior begins to disturb Ellie, she visits a mutual friend of theirs from college, Nicole (Kym Jackson), to get some more background on her stalker.
Nicole drops a bomb: David was married to a woman named Deborah (KJ Smith) who looked just like Ellie. The two divorced because of David's anger issues, and a few months later, Deborah and her new boyfriend were murdered in their home. These were the murders we saw at the beginning of the film. Although Nicole tells Ellie that David was investigated for and cleared, Ellie obviously has a hard time believing he wasn't involved.
Now convinced that David is dangerous, Ellie tries to warn Courtney about her new boyfriend. However, David intercepts the email she sends. Ellie knows she needs to get one step ahead of him, so she breaks into his apartment. It's there that she confirms her worst fears.
David's crimes come to light
Inside David's apartment, Ellie finds an impressive setup of computers and cameras, which the tech expert has clearly been using to stalk her. On his laptop, she finds files of voyeuristic photos of both her and Deborah. Her search is interrupted when David comes home, but Courtney calls him and asks him to come over before he can discover Ellie. Once David is gone, Ellie calls her friend and tries to tell her everything she knows.
Courtney is skeptical of Ellie's claims. That is, until David arrives at her apartment and she manages to get a moment alone with his phone. She finds an album full of recently taken photos of Ellie, which confirms her friend's warnings. Before Courtney can react, David reappears and attacks her before running off.
Fortunately, Courtney survives the attack, and David has been officially exposed. Unfortunately, he's now on the run and the cops don't know where to find him. Now that everything is out in the open, Ellie confesses the brief infidelity to Marcus, who is upset.
With the police on his trail, David takes a drastic next step. He murders a homeless man who bears a resemblance to him and burns the body. When the police investigate, they find multiple suicide notes, and draw the conclusion that the troubled man did indeed end his own life.
Ellie realizes it's not the end of the story
Life starts to go back to normal for Ellie. That is, until she gets a last-minute text from her assistant on the day before Thanksgiving to come into the office and sign some urgent papers. When Ellie gets to her office, she can't find the papers she's supposed to sign. What she does find is her assistant's dead body. When she gets a call from the dead woman's number, Ellie realizes David is still alive and he sent the text to lure her to the office. But he isn't simply trying to get her alone — he wanted to get her out of the house and away from her family. When Ellie answers his call, he simply says, "You left them alone."
Realizing her family is now in grave danger, Ellie rushes home. She finds that David has already broken into the house and killed her daughter's boyfriend. He confronts Ellie, who manages to incapacitate him with a blow to the head. Unfortunately, she then makes a classic horror movie mistake by not finishing the job. She runs off to find Marcus and their daughter, who are tied up in the bedroom.
After freeing them, she discovers that David has disappeared. While trying to escape the property, he reappears and attacks Ellie and Marcus. The ensuing chase leads the three to a cliff overlooking the beach. After a scuffle, David falls to his death, finally ending his reign of terror.
At the very end of the film, we flash forward to two months later. Despite the damage David has done to their lives, Ellie and Marcus seem happy, and they are even preparing to move back to the city.