Anna O

Ben returns home and calls Clara and Kitty. He isolated himself to protect them after the spiral of Anna O’s case and his arrest. Reporters have bothered Kitty at school and Clara at work, but it’s lessened. Ben feels guilty for his family’s stress and like he has failed as a father. He talks to Kitty, then texts her, but she doesn’t respond.

The fallout of Anna’s case lasted for five months. Some suspect Harriet was behind everything, even the murders, and framed Anna using scopolamine. Others think she was Anna’s accomplice. Theories abound, but no one knows Patient X’s identity. Movies and book deals about Anna’s life are forthcoming.

Because harassment at Kitty’s school became too intense, Clara told Ben to leave the area for their safety. He moved to teach at Grand Cayman University. Since Anna went free and Ben is condemned, he searches for the truth.

While delving into Anna’s case, Ben believes Harriet was the sidekick, not the mastermind. He re-reads Bloom’s notes and wonders if Harriet was Patient X’s friend. Harriet could have fallen in love with X and carried out his bidding. Ben can’t figure out how Anna becomes involved.

In 2019, Anna invites Douglas and Indira to the Farm with her family. She secretly plans to meet Patient X there, confront them and her dad, and start a media storm. Anna refuses to let them steal Elementary.

In the present, Ben again works as a sleep therapist. His secretary says someone named Elizabeth Cartwright requested him, but she didn’t offer details on her condition.

When “Elizabeth” walks in, Ben is shocked. It’s Anna Ogilvy.

In 2019, Anna only has her writing and revenge now. Bloom’s rare article on the Medea method describes breaking down the mind and reforming it. The method uses 24/7 surveillance, isolation, sleep deprivation, sensory overload, and more. They used this method on Sally.

Anna follows her instincts to find the Minister of Health who approved the Medea method; it was her mother, Emily. Her family was doomed from the start.

In the present, Ben notes that Anna has remade herself with darker hair, a different fashion style, and a cold manner. Ben has feared this day. Though he’s sitting opposite a killer, he welcomes Anna. She asks if the Cayman is his dream or a mid-life crisis, and he replies that it is both. Anna says dreams can be dangerous.

Ben is surprised Anna found him, since other journalists haven’t, but she asks why he hid. Ben counters that he lost his family, career, and respect from taking on her case. He thought he was helping a victim, but he was wrong. Anna is amused at his naivety. She’s there to use the past to cure the present.

Ben and Anna walk on the beach. Anna has money from the government payout once the charges were dropped, so she’s staying for a while. Ben asks about her plan, and she replies to meet her at 8 pm.

While he gets ready to go to Anna’s hotel, he tries to decipher her behavior. If Anna wasn’t drugged, then she was the killer who framed Harriet. If she was drugged or sleepwalking, she still committed murder. From any angle, Ben thinks he’s going to meet a killer.

On the road to the Farm in 2019, Anna considers her plan. She will claim unexpected revenge on them all. Soon, the Farm staff separates them into Hunters and Survivors for their activity.

At dinner in the present, Anna tells him she still has memory loss. She remembers fragments of the time leading up to the Farm. Emily had to tell her about the night itself. Anna searched her name on the Internet for more information. Anna is reclaiming her story by writing her autobiography, separate from the Anna O the world knew. She wants Ben to supply information for her writing.

Ben is fearful. Anna retreated to bed, so he may be safe for another day. Still, Ben knows Anna isn’t there on business alone—he thinks she’s there to bury him.

Between work, Ben reviews the suspects at the Farm. He searches through resources, but he’s no closer to the truth. Anna texts him to meet that afternoon. He complies.

In 2019, Anna hunts for the Survivors in the forest, though she wishes to hunt Indira and Douglas. When she finds her dad, she is about to shoot him with a paintball, but Indira approaches. Indira and Richard kiss; their affair isn’t recent. Anna’s suspicions were right, and she’s disturbed by their romance. She can’t believe her dad picked lust over love. Anna vows that that night will change everything.

In the present, Anna and Ben meet by caves near the sea. She explains she’s writing a narrative like In Cold Blood, a memoir about her true crime life. They discuss the project and her creative process. Ben again wonders if someone can be held liable for something committed while asleep, or if Anna was awake and intentional.

Ben states ways she can frame her book, with him the psychologist as the main character, her as the protagonist, or an all-knowing narrator. They agree that psychology brings the “why” to the forefront, rather than who and how.

Ben apologizes for not noticing Harriet’s motives. Anna understands, since Harriet was convincing. Bloom knew though, and Ben feels terrible she was lost. Anna believes they could atone for Bloom’s death by working on her memoir.

Ben and Anna have multiple interview sessions. She asks him about psychology, her case, sleep disorders, etc. They record the sessions for Anna to transcribe. They share drinks, and Ben feels sleepy, but he worries he can’t close his eyes or Anna may strike.

In 2019, after the Survivors versus Hunters game, Anna gets drunk at dinner. She returns to her cabin feeling wrathful but unsteady. Lola enters her cabin; earlier, she poured Anna a glass with the scopolamine drug. Lola gives Anna orders. Anna wonders if she’s Patient X, but then another woman steps out. Anna is at their mercy and out of control as they go to Douglas and Indira’s cabin.

In the present, Ben jolts awake on the beach, feeling lucky to be alive. He returns to Anna’s room, and she offers him a hangover cure drink. They talk about psychological theories until Anna reaches the heart of her interview. She pushes Ben to admit the truth. He doesn’t understand, but she demands he talk about redemption from his past.

Ben insists he’s been honest, but Anna argues that his life has been a lie. He’s developed false memory syndrome, or dissociative identity disorder. Though the world believes Patient X could be Harriet, Anna swears Ben is Patient X. He is Sally Turner’s son, and his trauma caused his false memories.

Ben denies her accusations. Anna doesn’t believe him. Ben loses control of his body; he sweats and craves water. Anna had drugged him with scopolamine. She believes he orchestrated the crimes to create her resignation syndrome and then cure it.

In 2019, Anna finds consciousness after murdering Indira and Douglas. She can’t understand the horror before her. Anna texts her parents that she thinks she’s killed them, then falls into a sleep.

Ben asks Anna why he’d want to frame her. Anna shares her suspicions, starting with how Ben built this plan after the death of his mother Sally. He worked under Bloom’s tutelage, crafting a plan to make a worse villain than Sally. He planned to strike on the 20th anniversary of Sally’s death, and Anna was his easy prey. Anna’s investigation forced him to kill Bloom too, before the truth came out. Anna says Ben craved revenge on her mother Emily for approving the MEDEA project that ultimately killed Sally.

While Ben suffers further from the drugs, Anna continues that he attacked her family. He gave Anna a “living death” with her sleep disorder to traumatize Emily for years. Ben says she’s absurd and asks if she has any proof. Anna believes Harriet was his special friend from the hospital, and he used Harriet as a scapegoat. Ben denies her accusations until his last breath.