Wake Up Dead Man is the least sympathetic murder victim in the Knives Out trilogy

Do not attend this service and do not confess if you have not watched the entirety of “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” — or, frankly, if you have not seen any of the “Knives Out” films. Massive spoilers for the entire franchise ahead!

In the first two “Knives Out” films — the 2019 original and its 2022 sequel “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” both written and directed by Rian Johnson and star Daniel Craig as the brilliant detective Benoit Blanc — the people who die don’t entirely deserve it, with one small exception. In this first film, which ultimately launched a franchise after its huge box office success, the person murdered is Christopher Plummer’s crime writer Harlan Thrombey, whose disappearance at first seems like an accident until Blanc reveals that it was actually orchestrated by his scheming and greedy grandson Hugh “Ransom” Thrombey (Chris Evans). In the second, there is an unexpected set of twins: Cassandra “Andi” Brand and Helen Brand, both played by Janelle Monáe. Even though Helen pretends to be Andi for most of the film to deceive Andi’s former colleague who betrayed her, the very wealthy Miles Bron (Ed Norton), we TO DO Learn that Miles killed Andi and also kills his longtime friend Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) early in the film’s narrative to prevent Duke from telling about Andi’s death. (Andi is innocent; Duke is an ass, but he doesn’t necessarily deserve to do it.) die.)

So what about “Wake Up Dead Man,” the latest entry in Johnson and Craig’s franchise? This episode actually contains the highest body count of the entire film series thus far, and the murdered character that kicks off the mystery – Monsignor Jefferson Wicks of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude – absolutely deserves his death. For what? He it’s rubbish.

From the moment we meet Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, he is not likeable. After a younger, more idealistic reverend named Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to serve under Wicks at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, the monsignor immediately demands Jud take his confession and simply provides excruciating details about all the… “alone time” he’s been spending with himself recently. Later, it’s revealed that it was just a cruel prank that Jefferson played to make Jud uncomfortable… because Jud snoops through Jefferson’s medical records and learns that the guy is impotent after prostate cancer surgery.

Of course it doesn’t seem that bad, but I’m not do. Jefferson hates the memory of his late mother Grace (Annie Hamilton), calling her a “fucking prostitute” every chance he gets, and uses this hatred not only to fuel his life’s work as a monsignor of the Church, but to ensure that his ultra-loyal constituents are also constantly filled with hatred. (Jefferson deliberately keeps his “flock” small by saying horrible things to target newcomers; we don’t hear his sermons but see single mothers, same-sex couples, and people wearing masks meant to prevent COVID-19 flee his church. a lot in a montage.) When it is revealed that Jefferson has further betrayed his vows by impregnating a woman and having an illegitimate son – burgeoning right-wing influencer Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack, part of the main ensemble) – he dismisses the woman as a worthless person and is completely unrepentant about her actions. He is also violent and cruel towards literally everyoneso when he is mysteriously “stabbed” in a cupboard next to his pulpit, we don’t have much sympathy for him.

Jefferson’s death is ultimately explained as part of a larger ruse that involves a jewel worth millions of dollars – his vial in that strange closet adjacent to the pulpit was filled with paralytics by his right-hand woman Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), but then he is actually stabbed by local doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), even though the original stabbing was faked. (I know. It’s a lot.) From there, the bodies really start to pile up. Martha, angry at the revelation that Jefferson secretly fathered Cy out of wedlock and aware that the Wicks family fortune is contained in a jewel swallowed by Jefferson’s late grandfather, Prentice (James Faulkner) who lies in the family tomb, hatches a plan to have her partner and the church gardener, Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), pose as the dead Jefferson, hide in the tomb, steal the jewel and dramatically emerge “as Jefferson”. (to simulate a miracle).

Unfortunately for Martha, Nat’s greed gets in the way, and he ends up stabbing and killing Samson before stealing the jewel for himself. After he and Martha plot to dissolve Jefferson’s body in a bathtub filled with acid, Nat attempts to poison Martha with that same paralytic, but she catches on and switches their coffee cups, killing him and posing his body with Jefferson’s to make it look like they fought in that aforementioned acid. Eventually, Martha confesses everything to Jud and White before dying herself; she took the paralytic, planning to die after admitting her multitude of sins.

The mystery is solved and three “bad” people (Martha, Jefferson and Nat) are dead, with just Samson as the more “innocent” party.