Another Simple Favor: Who murdered Sean and Dante

When the sequel Another Simple Favor hit Prime Video, fans of the first installment, released in 2018, knew they were in for another ridiculous ride - but only a few could have predicted how dark things would be.

What starts off as a fancy wedding reunion soon spirals into a heart-stopping tapestry of betrayal, narcissism, and multiple ghastly murders. The question that lingers in everyone’s mind is: Who killed Sean and Dante, and what are their motives?

A familiar face with a hidden agenda

Another Simple Favour (Image via Amazon Prime Video)

Charity McLanden is the perpetrator in both cases. She is the third of the late Emily Nelson twins and the sister of Faith. Raised in secrecy by the plotting Aunt Linda, Charity was thought to be dead at birth, but in reality, she had always been there. Emily's resemblance (portrayed by Blake Lively) inspires the idea of murder for Charity.

Sean (Henry Golding), Emily's ex-husband, is the first victim. During the dinner, a drunk Sean walks into the shower only to come across someone whom he recognizes. This is the person who disguised himself as Emily—Charity. She kills him silently by injecting a quick-acting poison through his fingernail, which causes him to collapse in a very horrific way through the shower wall.

Dante (Michele Morrone) will lose his life as a result of a gunshot wound to the head at the wedding reception, representing the second case.

The murderer, once again, is Charity, who, by some means of trickery, succeeded in organizing a private meeting with him, by pretending to be Emily or simply by luring him with a love affair of his, a certain Matteo. She shoots him multiple times, having just enough time to fade into the crowd again and pretend nothing happened. She was alone.

The twisted motives behind the murders

What was the reason that made Charity kill them?

From the very first sight, if we take it that way, she appears to be engaging in cold-blooded manipulation. However, the reality is pretty different and darker. Charity's character is born out of a corrupted love for Emily.

Having not grown up in a normal family and being constantly exposed to Linda's negativity, Charity becomes an admirer of the sister from whom she was torn away. She sees herself and Emily not as the siblings they surely are but rather as the two halves of the same whole.

When Charity feels that Emily's well-being and attention are in jeopardy because of Sean and Dante, she believes those two have to go. In her mind, what she did is not belligerent; it is a means of safeguarding. This is the territory of the uncanny, and where her love and madness coexist, and the film does not try to keep a distance from revealing her situation.

Aunt Linda: The puppet master behind the chaos

Charity may be holding the gun, but Aunt Linda (Allison Janney) drives the chaos. As a lifelong con artist, Linda takes Charity to the wedding to blackmail Emily and Dante for $20 million, using Dante’s secret affair as the source of the threat.

On the other hand, Linda was likewise not expecting the death toll. She clearly articulates that she didn’t want Dante dead, thus implicating Charity, who has gone so far beyond her control. At last, Linda herself turns into a victim, being killed by the very niece whom she had manipulated for a long time.

A final act of twisted love

Charity's replacement for Emily in the prison is a sad and dramatic denouement. It's her final twisted present for her sister, and she takes the fall so Emily can be acquitted. The way she has chosen to do this is reprehensible, but the reason, only an urgent need for love, kin, and being part of the group, is what makes her story so tragic.

Although somewhat intrepid, the sandbox scene from A Simple Favor tells the story of personal identity, relationships, and extremist behaviors in the pursuit of connections. Charity is a killer and the reminder of a girl left in the shower by the world, the girl who is now wanting to get back what she missed the chance to live.