The new Prime Video erotic thriller 56 Days has audiences talking about its wild final episodes. The show stars Dove Cameron as Ciara and Avan Jogia as Oliver, two people who meet at a grocery store and fall into a passionate romance. But nothing is what it seems. By the time the credits roll on the eight-episode series, viewers discover that both characters have been hiding dark secrets from each other and from their pasts. The biggest question throughout the show remains: whose decomposing body is found in Oliver’s apartment bathtub 56 days after they first meet? The answer changes everything about how you see the story.
The Setup: Two Liars Who Fall In Love
The series runs on two timelines. In the past timeline, viewers watch Oliver and Ciara meet and quickly move in together. Their relationship burns hot and fast. But early on, the show makes it clear that neither person is being honest. Oliver is not really Oliver Kennedy. He is actually Oliver St. Ledger, a man who got away with killing his friend Paul when they were teenagers. His wealthy family covered up the crime and blamed someone else. That someone else was Shane Martin, who went to prison and later died by suicide .
Ciara is not really Ciara either. Her real name is Megan Martin, and she is Shane’s younger sister. She came to Boston specifically to find Oliver and make him pay for destroying her family. Her plan was to seduce him, gain his trust, and then ruin him the way he ruined her brother. She even practiced her lies in the mirror, learning about his interest in space so she could pretend to share it .
The present timeline shows detectives Karl Connolly (Dorian Missick) and Lee Reardon (Karla Souza) investigating the badly decomposed body found in the apartment. The body is so destroyed by chemicals that they cannot even tell if it is a man or a woman. For most of the season, everyone assumes the victim must be either Oliver or Ciara .
Whose Body Is In The Bathtub?
The big reveal comes in the final episodes. The dead body in the tub is neither Oliver nor Ciara. It is Dan Troxler (Patch Darragh), Oliver’s therapist .
Dan seems like a minor character for most of the show. He appears to be just a caring therapist helping Oliver deal with his guilt and anxiety. But the finale reveals that Dan is actually a monster hiding in plain sight. He is not a real therapist. His degree is fake, and he has lost his license in multiple states. For years, he manipulated Oliver to keep him broken and dependent. Oliver was his cash cow, and as long as Oliver stayed sick and guilty, Dan could keep collecting money from Oliver’s wealthy family .
Even worse, Dan intercepted a letter Oliver wrote to Shane years ago. In that letter, Oliver confessed to killing Paul and wanted to clear Shane’s name. Dan never delivered it. Instead, he used that letter to control Oliver and even manipulated Shane in prison, pushing him toward suicide so the case would stay closed forever .
How Dan Troxler Dies
When Dan realizes that Oliver has fallen in love with Ciara and no longer needs him, he panics. He shows up at Oliver’s apartment and threatens to expose everything. He demands millions of dollars in exchange for his silence and the evidence he has collected over the years, including the confession letter .
Ciara sees what is happening. She understands in that moment that Dan is the real villain of their story. He is the reason her brother died. He is the reason Oliver never found peace. He is the reason her family fell apart. Without thinking, she grabs a heavy object and hits Dan in the head. The blow kills him .
Oliver and Ciara now have a dead body on their hands. Ciara calls her sister Shyla (Megan Peta Hill), who surprisingly knows exactly what to do. Shyla tells them to fill the bathtub with bleach and other chemicals to break down the body. They add a space heater to speed up the process. They also plant misleading evidence around the apartment to confuse any future investigation .
The Detective Story: Karl, Lee And Linus
While Oliver and Ciara deal with their mess, detectives Karl and Lee work the case in the present. But they have their own problems. Lee has been in a secret relationship with a criminal named Linus Finch (Dylan Colton). Linus is a drug dealer who also sold propofol, the same sleep medication found in Oliver’s apartment. When Lee tries to break things off with him, Linus attacks her and later shoots at her and Karl’s car .
Karl comes up with a plan to solve both problems at once. They decide to frame Linus for Dan’s murder. Karl steals Linus’ necklace during their fight. He works with the building manager to find CCTV footage placing Linus in the building around the time of the murder. Then he plants the necklace in the evidence. Lee confesses her relationship with Linus to their boss and asks to be removed from the case. A lazy, incompetent detective takes over, looks at the evidence they planted, and arrests Linus for the murder .
The plan works. Linus goes to prison for a crime he did not commit. Lee is safe from him. The case is closed. And Oliver and Ciara remain free because the investigation has officially found its culprit.
Do Oliver And Ciara Get Away?
After killing Dan and disposing of his body, Oliver and Ciara plan to flee together. Oliver gives Ciara a bag full of cash from his safe and tells her to meet him at the airport after she says goodbye to her sister. He has arranged a private plane to take them to Reykjavik, Iceland .
But Oliver struggles with guilt. He feels responsible for dragging Ciara into another murder. He decides to turn himself in and take the blame for Dan’s death. He asks his mentor Elliot Berhane (Alfredo Narciso) to drive him to the police station. Elliot tries to talk him out of it, telling him that sacrificing himself will not help anyone. Oliver seems to ignore the advice and walks toward the station doors .
Meanwhile, Ciara waits at the airport. She wonders if Oliver has abandoned her. But at the last possible moment, he appears. He changed his mind. He chose to have a future with her instead of spending more years punishing himself for the past .
They fly away together. Ciara suggests they go somewhere tropical instead of Iceland. Later, viewers see them living on a beautiful beach somewhere warm. They have a baby boy together, and they named him Shane, after Ciara’s brother. Ciara’s mother receives a package with a letter and a check for two million dollars, enough to save her house and live comfortably .
How The Show Differs From The Book
The Prime Video series makes major changes from Catherine Ryan Howard’s original novel. In the book, the story is set in Dublin during the COVID-19 lockdown. The pandemic is a key reason why Ciara and Oliver move in together so quickly. The show removes COVID completely and moves the setting to Boston .
The biggest change involves the killer and the victim. In the book, there is no Dan Troxler character at all. Oliver dies accidentally when he slips in the shower after taking drugs. Ciara finds him, confesses everything to his unconscious body, and then wipes away all evidence of her existence before disappearing. Oliver’s decomposed body is the one found in the apartment. The show completely rewrote this ending to give Oliver and Ciara a happy ending together .
The detective subplot with Linus was also created for the show. In the book, the detectives simply investigate the crime without all the personal drama and framing storyline .
What The Ending Means
The final scene shows Oliver and Ciara on a beach with their baby as a storm approaches. Ciara talks about looking forward to tomorrow and the day after that. The storm clouds gather behind them .
Some viewers see the storm as a sign that their troubles are not really over. They got away with murder, and they framed an innocent man for their crime. Even though Dan was a terrible person who deserved punishment, the way they handled it was not exactly justice. The storm could represent the consequences that may eventually catch up with them .
Others see the ending as hopeful. Oliver finally stopped running from his guilt and chose to live. Ciara found a way to forgive and move forward. They honored Shane’s memory by naming their son after him. They are financially supporting Ciara’s family. For two people who started as liars seeking revenge, they ended up building something real .
The show leaves it up to viewers to decide whether Oliver and Ciara deserve their happy ending or if the storm on the horizon means trouble is coming.
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Fan Reactions To The Finale
Social media buzzed with mixed reactions after the finale dropped. Many viewers were shocked to learn that Dan was the body in the tub. The quiet therapist turning out to be the real villain caught most people off guard. Others expressed surprise that Oliver and Ciara not only survived but ended up together with a baby.
Some fans who read the book were startled by the changes. The book’s darker ending, where Oliver dies and Ciara disappears alone, was completely flipped for the series. Showrunner Lisa Zwerling and her team chose to give the characters a second chance rather than a tragic end.
The framing of Linus for the murder also sparked discussion. Some viewers felt uncomfortable watching detectives break the law to catch a criminal, even if Linus was a bad guy. The show presents it as a practical solution that benefits everyone except the man going to prison for something he did not do.
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