Little Disasters ending explained: Who hurt Betsy?

*Warning: This article contains full spoilers for the final episode of Little Disasters.*

Six-part psychological drama Little Disasters is coming to 5 this Sunday and is set to be the perfect weekend binge-watch.

Across the episodes, we see how Jess’s (Diane Kruger) life has come undone at the seams, propelling her into the line of suspicion as her daughter Betsy was found to have a serious skull fracture.

A quick visit to A&E ended up with Liz (Jo Joyner) having to make the difficult decision to notify social services, leading to Jess having supervised visits with her sons. But when it came to Betsy, Jess couldn’t get rid of the thought of her being unsafe in hospital, and attempted to abduct her.

Now on trial for abduction and child cruelty, the central mystery remains – how did Betsy get injured? Going into the finale of the series, we know that Jess left her son Frankie alone at home with Betsy for a short period of time to get some medicine. But who came to the door when Jess wasn’t there?

Read on for a full breakdown of the finale of Little Disasters.

The episode begins with the fact that Jess has been charged with child cruelty and abduction, with proof pointing at the fact that Jess left Frankie and Betsy alone while she went to the corner shop.

At the hearing, Liz agrees to be Jess’s character witness, and also for Jess to stay with Liz and Nick if and when she is released. The judge grants bail under the conditions of only having a couple of supervised visits per week, which Jess isn’t happy about.

With a trial date having not been set, Nick isn’t completely comfortable with Jess being in the house with their children but Liz defends her and the fact it’s clear she’s suffering with post-natal OCD.

In the midst of Jess’s own drama, we also find out that Rob (Stephen Campbell Moore) has only continued to get more vicious in his actions towards partner Mel (Emily Taaffe). Mel comes home to find Rob showing an estate agent around for a valuation, with Rob telling Mel that they’ll be moving out of London to live with his parents because they can’t afford to live there any longer.

Rob says he needs the money for his business, something Mel disputes as she fails to see any evidence of his work. When Mel says she won’t be moving, Rob gets nastier and tells her that he’ll take the kids and prove she’s an unfit mother, pointing at the fact that she doesn’t own the house, have any money of her own or have a job. In just a matter of days, the house is put up for sale and Mel has to tell the group that they’ll be moving, much to their surprise.

It’s also trouble in marital paradise for Charlotte (Shelley Conn) and Andrew (Patrick Baladi), with Andrew knowing that Ed (JJ Feild) spent the evening of Betsy’s accident holed up at a bar getting drunk with Charlotte. Andrew doesn’t want to know what’s happened between the pair and although nothing actually did, Charlotte doesn’t tell him that she did confess to Ed that she loves him.

Charlotte eventually tells Andrew that she also hasn’t been going through with the IVF egg retrieval and while they do come to an understanding, it’s clear that Charlotte doesn’t feel the same about Andrew as he does for her.

Liz helps Jess get some therapy and medication sorted for her OCD and anxiety, with things seeming to look up for her as she visits her family home once Betsy has been released from hospital. But what’s supposed to be a happy time is upturned when Frankie has a flashback to the day Jess left him alone with Betsy. Jess toys with the possibility that Frankie could’ve been responsible but doesn’t believe he’d be capable of doing such a thing.

We see the truth, though – that Frankie does know something. He did let someone into the house that day and it was none other than Rob.

A few days later at the summer fair, the group assembles for what is also set to be the last time they see Rob and Mel before their move. Everyone seems to be in high spirits until Frankie spots Rob on the steps arguing with Mel and runs away.

Chasing after Frankie, none of the group are able to find him until Jess hears him crying behind a tree. The group are pleased that Frankie’s been found but he’s unable to speak, still crying and worked up. But when Ed hands Betsy to Rob, Frankie angrily shouts at him not to touch his sister.

A tearful Frankie then admits that it was Rob who was there that day and he was the one who hurt Betsy. In a flashback, we see Rob basically force himself into the house once Frankie answers the door, saying that he’s looking for Ed as he knows he finishes work early on a Friday.

It’s clear Rob is only there to discuss money (once again) with Ed, but Frankie tells him that he needs help lifting up Betsy so he can change her nappy. Rob picks her up and tells Frankie to put the changing mat on the kitchen island counter, which he does. Frankie runs off to get Betsy a new nappy from her room but Rob is distracted, rooting around for Ed’s credit card to see if he can forge a signature for his record company contract.

Frankie runs in, excited to change Betsy, but is horrified once he sees her roll off the counter and fall on the floor, able to do so because Rob wasn’t paying attention. We then see the aftermath of the incident, with Rob shouting at Frankie that it was all of his fault and he shouldn’t have been making all of that noise running up the stairs.

Once she stopped crying, Rob concluded that Betsy was fine but places the blame entirely on young Frankie, telling him that it was his idea to lift her out of the cot and change her nappy anyway.

In the present, the group are left in disbelief and anger at what Rob did, leading them all to believe that Jess could’ve hurt her own child. Liz calls the police and we then see Frankie being questioned in an interview room with the social worker, where it’s also revealed that Rob told Frankie not to tell anyone because Jess could go to prison, something he obviously didn’t want. Not only that, but Rob also told Frankie that if Jess was to go to prison, he’d be left all alone.

Once let out of his interview, Jess is notified that all charges against her have been dropped and she’s free to go. As for Rob, Andrew informs Mel that the CPS will likely go after him for perverting the course of justice and wasting police time, which could lead to two years’ imprisonment.

At the end of the episode, we see that the ‘breaking the fourth wall’ interviews were actually conducted by the social worker in charge of Jess’s case, who tells Jess that she’ll be closing it and that she’s clearly a good mother. It’s Betsy’s birthday and we then see the group meet up for a picnic, with everyone but Rob there and life seemingly back to normal.

Little Disasters will air on 5 on Sunday 14 June at 9pm and is now streaming on Paramount+.

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