After the finale of After the Verdict begins, Daniel (Sullivan Stapleton) finds a pool of blood in the house so he begins screaming for Zoe (Coco Jack Gillies). He follows the trail of blood that leads him outside and into a murky pond. When police officers arrive and tell him to get out of the water, he asks them to help him find her. Daniel is warned to keep his hands where they can see them. Clara (Michelle Lim Davidson) struggles to reach her destination because her GPS isn’t cooperating. Daniel tries to explain everything to the two police officers as Clara arrives to check on him. Daniel receives a call from Zoe who confirms she is okay. She tells him about the album launch she went to. Daniel tells her to stay there until Margie (Magda Szubanski) gets there. Once he tells everyone that she is okay, they wonder whose blood is inside the home. He insists he thought Heidi had his kid and that is why he set off the alarms at the house.

Daniel claims Heidi (Tess Haubrich) kills people because it is her thing. Although she isn’t a killer on their records, she is on theirs. Daniel and Clara urge the police to find the victim and stop Heidi. Clara contacts Dom (Richard Brancatisano) to make sure her children as okay. With everyone together, Ollie (Lincoln Younes) suspects Heidi has killed someone else and is now on the loose. Margie is relieved to hear from Trish (Virginia Gay) who is at work. They wonder who she killed and who Heidi will go after next. Margie suggests she could’ve targeted her own family. Clara and Daniel go to the Lang house to check on the family. Angus answers and lets them inside. Anita (Sonia Todd) tells them they haven’t seen much of Heidi lately because they’ve been busy. Clara encourages them to tell the police if they know where Heidi is before Anita says she thought they were friends. Vincent (Michael Beckley) interrupts to tell them about an incident.

He reveals that blood found in the house matches Heidi’s blood. They’re surprised to learn that  Heidi is the one who was injured. Clara and Daniel quickly excuse themselves. They return and tell the others about the blood belonging to Heidi as they begin questioning who might’ve done it. Ollie suggests it was Daniel since he thought she had kidnapped Zoe, but Daniel insists it happened before he got there. Margie wonders if it was Angus because she stabbed him when they were teenagers. Daniel and Clara mention that Angus and Vincent weren’t upset when they hear about Heidi being hurt either. They wonder if they might’ve been in on it together. Detective Page (Georgia Adamson) knocks on the door because they have a search warrant related to the assault of Heidi Lang. They’re shown a knife of sorts that was found at the scene. Daniel shows them where he keeps the night, but it is missing now. They also find a necklace that belongs to Heidi in Daniel’s house.

Daniel and Clara are taken to the station for interviews. Daniel insists he didn’t kill Heidi Lang. He is confronted with all the evidence showing he was likely responsible for attacking Heidi. Daniel says he was concerned because he thought Heidi might’ve taken Zoe there against her will. Clara tells Detective Mills (Brielle Flynn) that she told Daniel where to find Heidi. She is warned that they believe she could be an accessory to the crime. Daniel insists Clara had nothing to do with this. He doesn’t want to admit that Clara told him where Heidi would be so the conversation turns to Heidi’s necklace. Daniel believes whoever took his knife must’ve put the necklace there. Her family wants her out of the picture because she is bad for business. Clara tells the detectives Daniel wouldn’t hurt anyone. They show her a video of Daniel fighting another man in his club. Clara admits she doesn’t like it either, but Daniel has been in a dark place after losing his wife.

Detective Mills tells her she has to stop covering for her boyfriend, but Clara says he is not her boyfriend. She refuses to admit to something that isn’t true. Clara is booked into jail. Margie tells Trish she got the passport. They talk about Clara and her house. Trish tells her she’ll be okay because she didn’t do it, but Margie doesn’t have much faith in the justice system. Trish asks if she is okay with a simple wedding since they could lend Clara so money for her bail. Ollie hangs out with Zoe after letting her skip school. He tells her that everything will be fine. She wishes people would stop telling her that. Zoe says the album launch was awesome. Ollie finds it odd that a complete stranger gave her the ticket and she had to hand in her phone to attend. He wonders if someone wanted her to be missing from the library and unable to answer her phone so her dad would think she was being kidnapped. They go to the library to see what they can find out about the stranger.

Ollie talks to the librarian about how he likes to read self-improvement books. Zoe takes over and asks her about the girl and a folder she was carrying. The librarian reluctantly allows them to watch CCTV footage to see if they can spot the girl in question. Once Zoe enters the library, someone pushes the camera up so it only records the ceiling. Ollie records the footage so he can take it to Detective Page. They discuss the possibility that Heidi might not be the victim just before Clara and Daniel are freed. They talk to Page about Heidi setting everything up since Zoe received a ticket to her favorite band from a stranger. Ollie isn’t sure how Heidi could fake her death and come up with a body. A woman has to stop her car when her daughter gets sick. Heidi comes out of the woods pleading for help. Dom visits Clara at home while Mandy takes care of the kids. They talk about her arrest and wanting money for the bail. Dom gives her paperwork from his lawyer because he has requested emergency full custody of the kids.

Dom thinks she has changed since the trial and he hopes she’d do the same if she was in his position. As Dom leaves, Ollie tells Clara there is something she should see. Heidi is on television talking about being attacked in her home. She claims he stabbed her and left her to drown. She was out there hurt and alone for 15 hours in what she calls the longest night of her life. When she wanted to quit, she thought about the people who supported her. She says he has been charged while talking about Daniel. Ollie wants to know if Daniel did it. Clara gets upset and gets teary-eyed as she leaves the room. Clara goes to the hospital to see Heidi who is happy to see her. Heidi says Daniel is a liar who made up that story about being bribed by a fanatic who is dead and unable to deny it. She asks why she’d pay a bribe to get out of a crime that she didn’t even commit. When Clara asks why Daniel would want to harm her, Heidi suggests jury duty was bad for him.

He had to look at pictures of a dead woman who was close to the age of his wife. Since he couldn’t punish anyone else, he became obsessed with punishing her. She believes he might even be jealous of them because he is into Clara. Heidi tells her that she doesn’t need him just like she didn’t need Dom. She pulls the curtain before telling Clara that she’ll make sure the police know she had nothing to do with it because a conviction is the last thing she needs. Heidi has her back just like she always had hers. As Clara walks away, she runs into Anita and says she thought she was Heidi’s friend but not anymore. Anita doesn’t think Heidi needs to know that. She warns Clara to be careful. Even though they thought she was gone, her father didn’t even blink. Clara urges her to say something because she could stop Heidi. Since Clara has children, Anita thinks she’ll understand why she’ll deny having this conversation. Clara joins the others as they go through the timeline of Heidi’s actions.

Trish learns about everything that has happened. They believe Heidi killed Dean so he couldn’t tell authorities about their deal while framing Paul for his murder. When they begin talking about Heidi possibly stabbing herself, Trish wonders if she drew her own blood using a syringe. Then, she stabbed herself when she was finished setting up the crime scene. Clara notices the dove in a picture of Belinda and Paul (Nicholas Brown). Although Trish threw it away, Margie got it out of the trash and gave it to her mom’s neighbor at the hospital named Ted. Margie and Ollie go to the hospital to retrieve it. After Margie tells him about Ted, Ollie says she is a genuinely lovely person, he enjoys her company, and he respects her. Paul tells them that they bought it during their honeymoon trip to Tasmania. He can’t believe Belinda would’ve given the dove to Heidi since it was her favorite. It was a rare dove and even came with a certificate. They take the dove to Detective Page and tell her it is a limited edition dove made by a Tasmanian artist.

It was sold to Belinda three years ago and it was the only one that made it to the mainland. Page looks at the certificate of authenticity as Clara explains Heidi took it from Belinda’s apartment the day she killed her. They suggest Heidi was showing off when she took it and gave it to a juror from her trial. When Detective Mills enters, they learn that Heidi was picked up on CCTV near the house of Belinda’s father on the night he died. Clara is asked how involved she is willing to get in the case. At night, Margie and Ollie wait in the car and watch as Clara goes to Heidi’s launch party. She hears Heidi say she thinks Belinda would be so proud of her. She says it is her legacy before she shares a toast with her friends. The detective listens from a van outside and gives Clara instructions while she begins talking to Heidi. Daniel becomes concerned when Heidi takes her up to the rooftop bar. Clara tells Heidi that she told the police everything. Heidi wants to be the best version of herself. Clara says she deserves it.

She tells Heidi that Daniel’s story might be different since he said she stabbed herself. It changed everything when she said she wished Dom’s story would burn down. Clara hopes Belinda was as grateful. Heidi says she wasn’t in the end. Heidi tells Clara that Belinda was her friend. Clara asks if she took the dove to remember her friend. Heidi claims Belinda bought two doves and gave one to her. When Clara says Belinda got the dove in Tasmania and there was only one, Heidi gets upset and asks how she knows that. Clara slips up and reveals her intentions. Heidi grabs her and pretends everything is okay. Daniel begins panicking as Heidi grabs a knife. Ollie doesn’t think it is good when he sees Daniel run inside. Heidi holds the knife to Clara’s neck and pretends Clara has the knife and is going to attack her. Daniel bangs on the door. Heidi drags Clara over to the edge of the roof.

Clara tries to fight back when Daniel bursts through. When Ollie and Margie arrive, they distract Heidi giving Daniel enough time to take her down. Ollie takes the knife. Daniel holds Heidi down until the police manage to apprehend her. Clara has a gash on her arm. She imagines seeing Belinda wave at her as police take Heidi away. Later, Ollie visits Daniel at home to tell him Clara is must better. While fishing, Ollie asks what he is doing avoiding Clara and if he’ll let her be the one that got away. Danie says she is snoopy and finds out the truth mostly. There might be stuff that he doesn’t want her to find out even though Ollie thinks she has already seen the horror. After Ollie encourages him to try, Zoe walks outside. They all go to Belinda’s grave later and talk about Heidi’s upcoming trial for triple murder. Ollie learns that Daniel and Clara are going to dinner together. As they walk away from Belinda’s gravesite, Clara talks about another murder trial.

 

After The Verdict Review

Viewers will likely have mixed emotions about After the Verdict because the series clearly isn’t for everyone. The show obviously isn’t realistic and it often doesn’t even take itself seriously, but the humor isn’t laugh-out-loud funny either. In the earlier episodes, some of the characters were downright annoying. They calmed down and started settling into their respective roles as the series continued.

After the Verdict probably isn’t going to win any awards, but it was somewhat enjoyable once you get over the silliness of everything. It shouldn’t be taken seriously and it shouldn’t be considered an award winner. If viewers remember these things, overlook some flaws, and get into the right mood, they just may enjoy the show in the later episodes.

While it wasn’t revolutionary, the show did a good job of being lighthearted and wrapping up the story conveniently in the last episode. There were a few decent twists that were clever so they should be applauded. The story was usually interesting thanks to the fact that viewers could never really tell whether Heidi was innocent or a murderer who had been freed by Clara and the others.

I found it mostly enjoyable in the end. The finale scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of After the Verdict can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support us and our work by visiting this link.