Unpacking all of the major questions from the Netflix thriller. ***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Netflix’s Dear Child (Liebes Kind) tells the grim tale of one woman’s escape from captivity – and her connection to an unresolved missing persons case from 13 years ago.
***MAJOR DEAR CHILD SPOILERS AHEAD***
Based on Romy Hausmann’s book of the same name, the series stars Kim Riedle as Lena, a woman who is found fleeing from her captor after she is involved in a terrible accident.
It soon becomes apparent that “Lena” is actually Jasmin Grass, a woman who was kidnapped and forced to raise Lena Beck’s offspring, Hannah and Jonathon.
So, who is the real Lena in Dear Child and what happens to Jasmin? Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of the Netflix show.
Dear Child ending explained
Jasmin’s captor would come and go, but they remained, always – that is, until an opportunity presented itself one unassuming day.
Jasmin smashed her keeper over the head with Jonathan’s snow globe and fled her prison – only to find herself the victim of a hit and run.
While the concerned driver was checking on her, Hannah knocked him out with a tree branch and, a short time later, her father arrived and called an ambulance after she begged him to let Jasmin live.
He then slashed the driver’s face and took him back to the high security home to make it look like he was the individual holding Jasmin against her will.
Hannah, meanwhile, travelled with her to the hospital and, when the time was right, the killer would collect them both, with Jonathan in tow, to begin their new life as a family.
But, thankfully, that wasn’t to be.
Jasmin fooled her captor into believing that he continued to wield power over her after she had escaped her prison.
She dyed her hair blonde and dressed herself in the clothes he had selected for her, so that she would resemble Lena.
Jasmin then voluntarily left her apartment, climbed into the mobile home, where he was waiting with Hannah, and off they went.
She had also hidden a knife up her sleeve – but, again, that was part of her plan. Jasmin, who knew he would be monitoring her via the cameras he’d installed in her flat, wanted him to see the weapon.
En route, she convinced the murderer to pull the vehicle over so that she could go to the toilet. He then walked her down to the sandy dunes and turned away to give her some privacy – a foolish decision given what she’d done the last time his back was turned.
But as far as he was concerned, she had no weapon to hand after he’d removed the knife, which left him unprepared for what was to come.
In a genius move, Jasmin had hidden a shard of glass from the snow globe in a sanitary pad, which she used to fatally stab him in the neck.
Her keeper was no more and, as the final montage indicated, she was slowly but surely reclaiming her life after her harrowing ordeal.
Who was the killer in Dear Child?
Initially, the detectives were concerned that a network of men was responsible for the kidnap and murder of Lena and Jasmin’s abduction.
There were also eight other women matching Lena’s description who had gone missing, with the police uncovering their identities as they retrieved various human remains from the surrounding forest.
But over time, the perpetrator was unmasked as Lars Rogner, the head of security company Rogner and Son, which he inherited from his grandfather.
He had been raised by Lars Senior and his grandmother after his own mother, who was “too young” when she gave birth to him, fled. The identity of his biological father remains unknown.
Lars imprisoned Lena due to the resemblance she shared with his mother. He hoped that he could build the traditional family unit he himself had been deprived of.
Who is the real Lena in Dear Child and what happened to her?
Lena was raped multiple times by Lars while held captive. After giving birth to her third child, she contracted a postpartum infection and died, as did the baby.
Lars took her body back to her home and buried her in the garden, which he revealed to detective Gerd Bühling while he was dying, marking the end of a long and painful chapter for her parents.
Who were the fathers of Hannah and Jonathan in Dear Child?
Jonathan’s father was Lars, but Hannah’s father was a man called Florian.
Lena had been romantically involved with him and was pregnant with his child when Lars kidnapped her. She gave birth to Hannah in the high security home.
Did Hannah want Jasmin to kill her father?
“He is always with you,” Hannah said to Jasmin when she visited her at the hospital following the hit and run.
During that brief interaction, Hannah also gave Jasmin the shard of glass which she used to murder Lars.
Perhaps we’re way off the mark here, but could Hannah have given Jasmin that weapon not to harm herself, as we initially thought, but to use on Lars when the time was right?
Hannah was undoubtedly indoctrinated by her father, but did that shift over time?
By giving Jasmin the glass and requesting that her father drive them to the lighthouse in Egmond, was she also orchestrating his downfall?
Dear Child is available to stream now on Netflix. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.
Like this? You might want to try Outlander. Available now on Lionsgate+.
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