New addictive mini-series on Netflix, An Almost Normal Family immerses us in a breathtaking investigation into a murder case. So is the heroine Stella guilty? Warning, spoilers.
Warning, spoilers. The following paragraphs reveal important plot elements about the Netflix series Almost Normal Family.
New addictive mini-series on Netflix, An Almost Normal Family tells a thrilling investigation into a shocking affair that has nothing to envy of the news stories. Adapted from the novel by Mattias Edvardsson, this mini-series tells the story of Stella Sandell, a 19-year-old young woman accused of murder and thrown in prison.
Young Stella (Alexandra Karlsson Tyrefors) will be helped by her parents, Adam (Björn Bengtsson) and Ulrika (Lo Kauppi), respectively a priest and a lawyer, in this painful ordeal. But what happened? And what do Adam and Ulrika really know about their daughter? Is she really guilty?
During the six episodes with multiple twists and turns, light is shed on the events which led Stella to be arrested. The young woman did not get there by chance due to her complicated journey, made up of injuries, lies and attacks.
Is Stella guilty? The ending of An Almost Normal Family explained
From the start of the investigation, Stella is an ideal suspect because she is Chris’ girlfriend, the last person to have seen her and a print of her shoe was found at the crime scene. Furthermore, the viewer knows that Stella returned home late that evening with clothes stained with blood, which her mother Ulrika took care to hide.
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But over the course of the episodes, we come to doubt her guilt, especially when Amina (Melisa Ferhatovic), Stella’s best friend, confesses to Ulrika. Is she involved in the affair? Did she kill Chris? Ulrika, a lawyer, will keep this valuable information until the trial, to make Amina testify and free Stella.
What we learn during the trial is even more appalling than we thought. The numerous flashbacks reveal to us that Chris had violent and abusive behavior with Stella, and that he has already had this behavior with his former girlfriends. Stella tried to leave Chris and get rid of this relationship that Amina viewed negatively.
Chris understood that Amina was trying to open Stella’s eyes and he wanted revenge on her. He found Amina in a bar before she was joined by Stella and drugged her before picking her up unconscious in the street to take her back to his house and rape her.
Sensing that something was wrong, Stella did everything to find Amina and managed to break into Chris’s house to knock him out and save Amina. Except Chris chased them down the street with a knife before falling to the ground. Stella then turns around and picks up Chris’ knife before stabbing him several times and leaving him to die.
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This act of defense and attack on Stella’s part is not trivial and comes as a result of the trauma of her own sexual assault that she experienced at 15, when she was in a handball camp with a coach. much older than her, a terrible ordeal that the series shows us at the very beginning of the first episode.
So, Stella is indeed guilty of Chris’ murder, but above all she saved Amina. And her best friend will also help her thanks to her crucial testimony and Ulrika’s strategy. The latter explains to Amina that she must testify last at the trial, without revealing that Stella killed Chris, but by mentioning the rape.
If there are two potential attackers at the scene of a murder, the prosecution must prove the guilt of the accused, or that there was complicity. And for that, they need time. This is why Amina was not expected to testify before the trial, so as not to give the prosecution time to gather evidence to convict them both.
It was necessary to create a surprise for the prosecution and introduce the possibility of another culprit, which in fact calls into question the guilt of the first accused person. It is thanks to this strategy of Ulrika that Stella is freed from any legal proceedings by the court, although she is guilty.
The gripping narrative construction of An Almost Normal Family is based on a multiplicity of points of view and on flashbacks which allow us to cross-reference all the decisive elements until this poignant finale, which evoke difficult themes, which explains why the series is not recommended for under 16s.
The series An Almost Normal Family is available on Netflix.