The 12 most unhinged and ridiculous moments in Fool Me Once on Netflix

Has anyone checked if that guy Maya left on his helicopter lesson made it to his dentist appointment?


From start to finish, mystery thriller Fool Me Once was filled with moments that kept us all on the edge of our seats. As the plot got deeper and deeper, things got more out of hand and the twists and turns were in short, shocking.

From wild moments that made no sense to the overall story but I’m here for it, to parts of the ending that were so unpredictable my mind felt like it exploded a little – this show gave us the lot.

Here’s a rundown of the wildest moments from Fool Me Once on Netflix, and be aware, it gets notably more and more deranged as the show goes on. Enjoy!

1. The nanny just pepper sprayed Maya!

Most ridiculous moments in Fool Me Once on Netflix

via Netflix

Straight up in episode one and we’re given the big point of the plot: Is Joe dead and how did he end up on the nanny cam? But then, when Maya presents the footage to her nanny, probably expecting her to be as shocked as she was, Izabella pepper sprays her!!!

Am I being naive here, but is it normal to carry pepper spray in your handbag like this? Should I be better equipped?

2. Maya pulling down the football coach’s pants

Most ridiculous moments in Fool Me Once on Netflix

via Netflix

Possibly the most ridiculous moment that wasn’t even needed for the overall plot, was Maya pulling down the pants of her niece’s football coach. He was literally butt naked in front of a field of children. I was waiting for that police guy with the protein shakes to pop up and charge him with indecent exposure.

3. Umm, Maya, you just left a man in a field on his helicopter flying lesson?

via Netflix

Has anyone checked if that bloke Maya was teaching to fly a helicopter ever made it to his dentist appointment? Is he still in that field? Did he fly home?

4. SHE’S PUNCHED A POLICE OFFICER

Most ridiculous moments in Fool Me Once on Netflix

via Netflix

Maya please, I can’t keep defending you like this.

5. Sooooo, Joe killed two people then?

As the plot thickens, we find out what that strange ritual-like scene in the first episode actually meant. It was Joe Burkett, Andrew Burkett and their friends at their posh fancy school. Also turns out, Joe murdered Theo by funnelling vodka down his throat and then pushed his own brother off a boat for saying he wanted to come clean about it. Ok!

6. Not Sami taking Burkett drugs!

via Netflix

It had felt really strange to have this sub-plot that Sami was suffering from a mystery illness and having blackouts all the time. Why oh why did we not put two and two together and work out he was taking Burkett drugs and experiencing some of the awful side effects from them?! It was staring us right in the face!

7. Wait, that woman was a hallucination of his wife this entire time?!

via Netflix

The moment of realisation when the penny dropped that the women I’d thought was a sponsor for Sami because of his previous alcohol addiction was actually a hallucination of his dead wife brought on from the drugs. Wow.

8. PJ FELL OFF A ROOF

Most ridiculous moments in Fool Me Once on Netflix

via Netflix

Was it necessary to have PJ fall off a roof and hit the floor like that? The poor guy hadn’t even done anything wrong! The way my stomach was in my MOUTH as this scene unfolded. I think I screamed “SAMI GET DOWN” at my TV screen at least 10 times before PJ came theatrically toppling down and hit the floor below. Audible gasps were heard.

9. MAYA KILLED JOE!!!

We then learn the answer to the big question of who killed Joe, and after all that, it was Maya! If you’d told me when I was innocently sitting down for episode one that this was how the show was going to play out, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Everyone else acting suspiciously had been a red herring, and the nanny cam footage had been deep-faked, naturally. Watching the scene of Michelle Keegan whipping out a gun as Richard Armitage simultaneously did the same was ART.

via Netflix

10. … AND JOE KILLED CLAIRE?

Surprise! Another death explanation I wasn’t expecting!

11. You’re telling me Joe has actually killed FOUR people?!

Sooooo, let’s get this straight. Joe, who in episode one looked like the lovely family man who had been brutally murdered whilst walking with his wife, was actually a serial killer. I need to take a breather.

He killed his friend Theo, his own brother, and Tommy Dark in a messy posh school initiation gone-wrong drama, and then later in life murdered his own wife’s sister to stop his family name being tarnished. This is a lot to take in.

12. Not the live stream of Maya’s death!

Most ridiculous moments in Fool Me Once on Netflix

via Netflix

Firstly, I can’t believe Neil just straight up shot Maya – is that what everyone does to solve their problems around here? But then the ending twist that Sami and Corey had set up a live stream to expose the Burkett family and ended up showing Maya being murdered to millions of people is absolutely WILD.

I might frame that screen shot of Joanna Lumley gasping. Thoughts?

Fool Me Once is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

Fool Me Once ending explained: What did all the final twists actually mean?

• Inside the real life mega posh houses used for Fool Me Once on Netflix

 Saltburn writer reveals there was an alternative ending that changes everything for Oliver