Stuck in the Present, the Fifth Episode of 'Disclaimer' Falters

The fifth episode of AppleTV+’s Disclaimer was a tough one. It was the first one that didn’t bounce back and forth between the past and the present, and it really brought the drudgery of the present-day storyline to light. After Robert kicks her out of the house, Catherine goes to stay with her dementia-stricken mother. “You’re overwhelmed with the sadness of things lost,” the narrator intones. When her mother falls asleep, Catherine confesses all to her. But we, the audience, do not hear it. Whatever she is saying, her version of events remains a mystery to the viewer.

Stephen goes to see Catherine’s assistant, Jisoo. Jisoo recognizes his name right away. Catherine asked her a few episodes ago to track Stephen down. “Ambition has a stench that’s impossible to hide, and Jisoo Kim reeked of it,” Stephen narrates. He tells Jisoo that Catherine has been harassing him, and he is afraid of her. “She keeps on threatening me . .  because of what I wrote,” he tells her. “I had to tell the world the truth... the world needs to know who Catherine Ravenscroft really is... She was involved with someone, and when it became inconvenient, she let him die.” Stephen leaves Jisoo with many copies of A Perfect Stranger.

Jisoo is on Stephen’s side very quickly (some might argue too quickly). When Catherine comes into the office, everyone is reading the book, and Catherine’s boss, Simon, who insists on calling her “Cathy,” immediately accuses her of being inappropriate. Jisoo told him that Catherine had asked her to stop looking into Stephen. Simon wonders why Catherine was so quick to kill the story off.