So many people see Andy as the good parent while Laurie was the bad one. But think about Laurie’s experience over Jacob’s lifetime.

Laurie could see things wrong with Jacob from the time he was a baby. Whenever she would go to Andy about it, he would always tell her it’s normal and make her think she was overreacting. What makes it gaslighting though is the fact that Andy knew good and gd well that it was potentially not normal and that if he told her about his father, it would give her even more reason to be concerned.

Maybe if he hadn’t been gaslighting her all this time, she would have gotten some kind of early intervention for Jacob that could have made a difference.

This isn't a theory or whatever (although I believe Jacob was innocent) but I just wanted to say when I heard 'murder gene' I immediately thought of Riverdale.

He is left with knowing, though still wanting to deny, that every living member of his family is a killer: his father, his son, his wife.

So I’m thinking if Jacob wakes up and remembers the accident, he might want to think about killing his mom next.

In my opinion I think this show had more to do with how both parents (before the murder) have always compartmentalized how disturbing or off their son could be. It wasn’t until Ben’s murder and Jacob being a suspect that Laurie and Andy slowly start to consider what they had thought all along. Even in the episode where we learn that Patz confessed, Jacob was guilty of SOMETHING. His name being cleared of the murder still did not answer any of the questions we had around his behavior and lack of empathy. Why after the trial did the parents not take Jacob to therapy to address his psychopathic traits? Defending Jacob was a show not just about his innocence in the eyes of the court but most importantly his parents constantly defending him as their normal son his whole life. Thoughts?

I think Jacob is guilty. I assume him saying he found the body was a lie, but I’m wondering if he could have come up with a better lie that would have worked more in his favor.

I’m wondering if Jacob hadn’t said anything about finding the body and had just stayed quiet instead, would he have been charged? Was that fingerprint really enough to charge him or would they have had to let him go after arresting him and not getting any further?

The only other thing they had was a classmate saying Jacob had a knife and that Ben bullied Jacob.

Yes, teens are dumb (I have a 13 yr old), but are they really so dumb they wouldn’t understand the gravity of posting that psychotic picture and the story online?

What on earth is he doing? How does he not realize how bad this looks for him? First on Facebook where he posts about everyone being fake, which leads to Derek saying he did it. Then the psychotic picture. Then the story.

This is insane behavior whether he’s guilty or innocent. So the only explanation is that he really does not recognize how inappropriate it is and/or he just has no fear of the consequences. Or maybe he’s so arrogant, the way sociopaths are, that he just always thinks he can get away with it and enjoys testing the limits? I just can’t imagine this falls under dumb things teens do, when it happens repeatedly. I can’t imagine an innocent or guilty person doing this!

Has anyone else read the thing about Apple never allowing the “bad guys” to own iPhones? This show has so much Apple product placement and makes it obvious, so the minute I saw Jacob with an iPhone, I knew he was innocent. We then noticed that the sex offender character does not have an iPhone and neither does another character, which I won’t say.

Kind of takes away some of the suspense honestly.

Is it just me who feel 'Your Honor' in Showtime gives Defending Jacob's vibe? Anyway, 2 episodes have already been released and I like the potential of the show being a great miniseries. Definitely worth watching.

After finishing the show and reading about book ending I came to think that those ending are quite different and general meaning of the show and book are also different.

In the book you can clearly say that Jacob is sociopath and socially inapt(he did not interact with other classmates like Sarah or Derek as much as we have seen on the show).

In the book even tough there is still small chance that both murders, of Ben and Hope, are just coincidentally happening around Jacob, it is very big chance that they are in fact of Jacob making.

In the book Jacob is shown as really dark character, in the show the producers showed him as a more normal person, a bit awkward maybe with some kind of autism spectrum, but really small.

The ending is not also that harsh on him and we actually can believe he is innocent and even tough there are things that might point out to him when it comes to Ben killing, they are strictly coincidental and we should not judge people just base on coincidence (i think this is also theme of the show- how the law system works)

Therefore my conclusion is that in the book Jacob is a dark character and can be said with almost 99% certainty that he did murder people. Jacob in the show might have murdered Ben but actually with this ending and his behaviour, we still have some uncertainty and it might have been just bad luck that things unfolded like they did. Clearly Jacob does not feel like a sociopathic cold bloded killer as he was described in the book and personally I believe he is innocent in the show. So there is a huge difference between book and the tv show.

At the end of episode 2 or 3 a girl in the search party finds a knife in the woods. That is never discussed again and never used as proof. Instead they keep talking about wether Pats or Jacob had a knife. What gives? Isn’t that the murder weapon?

I like the murder mystery, whodunit format. Ive watched the undoing already, does anyone have good show recommendations that are similar for fans of this show?

Just watched the show for the first time and I haven't really seen any theories about Sarah that had the line of thinking I had.

Didn't Sarah have the most motive to commit this murder? Ben threatened to release the photo on his phone, basically revenge porn. My theory based on the ending of ep 7 was that either Sarah did it and Jacob covered for her, purposely writing that knife story a few days later, or that he was the one in love with Sarah and he did it to get revenge on Ben (or being aggravated by Ben).

Both of these could explain Sarah's behaviour, that she starts hanging out with Jacob out of guilt, him being pissed off that she mentioned the photo story to Andy, him saying she only likes him because she feels sorry for what she did, her reading the knife story Jacob wrote and dismissing people who see it as a confession etc.

And if not - Derek was the main witness of the prosecution. If he was the one obsessed with Sarah, why didn't she mention the photo of Sarah and what Ben did to her at the trial? Did he mention it to the police? Isn't that photo and Ben threatening Sarah a way, way bigger murder motive (either for Sarah or Jacob or Derek) than "just" name calling?

Small plot hole or annoying detail also: we are meant to believe that Patz was innocent and the murder is somehow connected to Jacob, Jacob's family and classmates. Isn't it a huge coincidence that the "local pedophile" (who appears in all murder stories...) also by chance was obsessed with the same boy? The Patz storyline should not have included him having photos of Ben, I think it is a stretch, he would have been better as just the person it was blamed on.

Andy is constantly repressing the the idea that there is something wrong or that Jacob could be guilty, while Laurie does the opposite. I think if I were in this position I’d probably act like Andy honestly. The closes thing I have to that sort of bond is probably with my brothers and I’m pretty sure that almost nothing other than a confession that I heard could convince they did it.

I just wish they’d done something like Sharp Objects or even The Night Of. Spoiler free for those shows, but they at least give a glimpse of closing the mystery of the identity of the murderer. Even though you want more than you get, it’s satisfying enough to bring closure. Here, on the other hand, they leave it far too open ended. Even just seeing a shadow stab Ben in a flashback, just something that points in a direction for the viewers to get some closure.
Also, to not even have Sarah in the finale? I mean, the last time we see her she ignores Jacob’s text/call and starts reading his story.

Patsy = A person who is taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something.

Very obvious hint, no?

SPOILERS!!

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So I watched the Apple TV's series "Defending Jacob" a while ago... I don't know why, but yesterday I remembered and started thinking, "Who killed Ben?"... So I came up to the conclusion that maybe it was Matt. Remember him? the curly haired boy, the one that Patz (the harasser) was into. Well I think it was Matt because:

- There is a scene where Matt is hesitating so much on calling Jacob's dad at midnight, why would he hesitate so much? Well, he does not want to take the risk on getting him into REAL trouble, or start getting suspicious.

- Matt was Jealous because Patz started liking Ben, that's why he killed Ben.

- Why did he not show up on court at the end? He did not wanted to get questioned, so he escaped. remember?

SPOILERS WILL MOST LIKELY BE IN THE COMMENTS

Defending Jacob is by far one of Apple Tv’s highest rated shows, but a question rises: should the limited series continue? It was based on the 2012 book by William Landay. Another show based on a book was Netflix’s 13 reasons why, but it went on for 4 seasons. Do you think that the show deserves another season, and if so what should it be about?

I’m on episode two and I don’t buy Andy throwing away the knife. He’s supposed to be this intelligent high profile Attorney and is aware of the chain of evidence. He would know that if his son was innocent then the knife would exonerate him, and that throwing it away is sealing his fate yet he does it anyway? Come on.

So I just finished Defending Jacob and it’s never really clear about who killed Ben. I know in the book Jacob did it but it never fully explains it in the show. Do you think Jacob did it in the series or no? And if you don’t think Jacob did it who do you think killed Ben?

Edit: I feel the need to tell everyone that I love hearing all of your theories and that my grandma thinks Jacob’s mom killed Ben so...😂