The Better Sister ending explained: Who killed Adam?

Found by wife Chloe (Jessica Biel) – who has been victim to an onslaught of virtual abuse – the mystery around Adam's death remains until the very last episode of the series.

His son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan) is the main suspect in the case but, although circumstances around his whereabouts remain questionable, did he do it?

With his biological mother and Chloe's sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks) back on the scene, family tensions soon rise to the surface, especially when Chloe and Nicky are branded by the media as 'sister wives'.

But who actually killed Adam and how did The Better Sister end? Read on for a breakdown of the final episode of the series.

The Better Sister ending explained: Who killed Adam?

We find out pretty early on in the finale that the person who killed Adam was actually his ex-wife and Chloe's sister, Nicky.

Having had a strained relationship with her son Ethan over the years, Nicky had secretly been in contact with Ethan for some time in a bid for him to get to know his biological mother.

When they were chatting one night, Ethan tells Nicky about what he's witnessed: his father physically assaulting Chloe. Clearly terrified by what his father was capable of, Ethan's admission scares Nicky, not least because she also suffered through years of abuse from Adam.

Intent on speaking to Chloe and rescuing her, Nicky travels to visit her but is met by Adam instead. Squaring up to him about his abuse and wanting to rescue Chloe, Adam doesn't take too well to Nicky's arrival and things start to devolve, with the pair caught in a physical struggle.

Adam pins Nicky up against a wall and, unable to move out of his clutches, she retrieves a knife from her pocket and stabs him to death.

While Ethan's DNA was found on his father (and ultimately incriminated him in a crime he didn't commit), he did have a small part in the aftermath.

Finding Adam lying dead, Ethan was worried for Chloe and assumed she had killed him. So, in a bid to stage the scene as a robbery, he laid out various objects to make it look that way.

Telling Chloe about this in person in the present day, Nicky says that she simply pretended she had no idea about Adam's murder when the cops rang her about it initially. Chloe also finds out that Adam had lied about Nicky's alcoholism over the years, which was the catalyst for Ethan being taken away from Nicky.

In reality, Adam had been drugging Nicky, and now, feeling guilty for essentially ruining Nicky's life, Chloe is determined to keep her sister's secret and not see her go down for Adam's murder.

What happens to Chloe and Nicky?

While neither want to go to prison for the murder of abusive Adam, the sisters resolve to protect each other and Ethan from any more trouble.

Chloe manages to find out incriminating information about Bill Braddock (Matthew Modine), something that Adam was working undercover on as an informant for the FBI.

Essentially, Braddock knew about the shady dealings of the Gentry Group and their hand in human trafficking to get major construction contracts pulled off seamlessly.

Braddock's home is raided and he is arrested, also charged with Adam's murder after Chloe plants the murder weapon in his office. Because of this, the sisters manage to walk free and aren't incriminated in Adam's murder in any way.

While Detective Nancy (Kim Dickens) has continued to be a persistent and annoying figure for the sisters in the background of the series, she was ultimately on the right investigative track. She eventually tracks down Adam's mother and sits down with her, learning from their conversation that Nicky clearly knew details of the murder ahead of being informed by the police, something only a culprit could've known.

Realising that Nicky is the murderer and keen to get some concrete evidence of the fact, Nancy is informed on her way back that she's no longer on the case. It turns out that Nicky had utilised the PI hired by Katherine (for Chloe's online abuse) to dig up some dirt on Nancy, finding out that she had used excessive force and badly beaten up an innocent Black man on a previous case.

While her superiors had let it slide, Nicky takes the intel to Katherine, who releases it, and after an exposé article is published about Nancy's problematic racial profiling, she is suspended and, therefore, unable to continue working at proving that it was Nicky who killed Adam.

Although the pair disagree about the possibility of working together on a tell-all memoir, Chloe reaffirms her loyalties to Nicky and Ethan, admitting that she's missed Nicky in the years they haven't spoken. It becomes clear that the sisters' future looks bright as they appear to agree on forging a new life together, with the final scenes of them on the beach together.

Does anyone die at the end of The Better Sister?

Yes – unfortunately one of the last shots of the series is of a lifeless Jake (Gabriel Sloyer) lying on the beach.

While the circumstances around his death remain an open-ended mystery, we can either surmise that Jake was caught in the Braddock crossfire and could've been killed by him (or someone sent by him) for working with the FBI.

Alternatively, Jake could've been killed by FBI agent Olivero, who he was growing increasingly scared of. But whether Olivero would've chosen murder over just getting Jake sent to prison remains a bit of a stretch.

It's also a possibility that Jake could've taken his own life after losing his job, feeling fearful for his own wellbeing and also facing mounting pressure from Olivero. Ultimately, the cause of Jake's death remains a mystery.

The Better Sister is available to stream on Prime Video – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.