Apple TV +’s Sharper Ending Explained- Who Was Conning Who, And Did Tom Get Justice?

Sharper- One who lives by their wits. That’s the opener of Apple TV +’s neo-noir thriller Sharper. It’s signposting that this will be a twisty thinker that should keep you guessing because it is smarter than you are. Like other intricate mysteries before it, this well-cast movie wants you to be fooled. Like Netflix’s Kaleidoscope that demands you look over here while they steal from you there, everyone has an angle. As Max tells Sandra, “You can’t cheat an honest man.” The fun is to figure out all the angles and who can be trusted.

Split over several chapters detailing all of the players, Sharper starts with Tom(Justice Smith), a sweet young man who owns a bookstore. He meets a beautiful young woman named Sandra(Briana Middleton) when she comes in looking for a gift for her college professor. Unfortunately, her credit card doesn’t work, and she doesn’t have cash, but Tom insists she takes the book anyway, and she promises to return with the money. She declines a date initially, but when she surprisingly returns with his money, she agrees to go to dinner. The couple then begins a whirlwind romance until her brother shows up, beating on the door and yelling at her.

She explains her brother wasn’t as lucky as she was in foster care and is now a troubled man. He is in trouble and owes some scary people a lot of money. Tom says he wants to help because he has the money and doesn’t need it. It is his father’s money, and he would rather it go to good use. She finally agrees to take the money and predictably disappears. It was all a long con devised by Max, who we meet learning about Sandra’s involvement next.

Sandra, or Sandy as she prefers to be called, is a paroled criminal and drug addict. She meets Max when her parole officer asks to meet her at a bar. Sandra has a lot of problems. She lost her job, she is still using drugs, and she tries to bribe the officer. Max watches it all happen and comes to her rescue. he tells the officer he has watched her shakedown her clients all day and agrees to hand over his watch in exchange for the difference between the five grand she asked for and the price of the Rolex watch. She agrees and pays him the cash. This obvious hustle works and Sandra decides to go home with Max and work for him.

He teaches her about grifting and the art of appearing to be who you want people to see. Max cleans her up and begins educating her. He takes her for a test on his birthday, and it goes well. After a successful theft, they kiss, and she falls in love with him.

While all of this is happening, Max(Sebastian Stan) and another woman named Madeline(Julianne Moore) are running their own con on a wealthy older gentleman named Richard(John Lithgow). Madeline is in a relationship with Richard, and Max is pretending to be her son. They have a messy and loud fight at Richard’s place, and the next day they find him getting arrested outside their door. Madeline recognizes it as another trick to get money and slaps Max. She refuses to let Richard pay the fake cop and sends Max away.

Later at Max’s apartment Madeline comes in, and it becomes clear they are not mother and son but a couple. They are in on this together to take a ton of money from Richard. At this point in Sharper, we realize Tom is Richard’s son. Tom hates what his father does for a living and wants nothing to do with it, while Richard resents the fact that Tom doesn’t want to take over the family business. It’s a difficult relationship, but Richard loves his son and won’t be his jailor. After dismissing Tom, Richard agrees to give Max $60,000 a month with a year’s worth upfront in cash to go away. Madeline meets him at the bar, and they celebrate their haul. They pay off Tipsey, and Madeline returns home to collect her things.

The next day she calls and says she has decided to stay, though, and tells Max he can have all the money. She also tells him he needs to run and not look back because she called the police. So he grabs the bag of money and runs.

Months later, Richard dies, and Madeline inherits everything but the foundation and a small trust set up for Tom’s bookstore. Richard didn’t trust Tom with the bulk of his money because he lost $350,000 to Sandra. All of that was a carefully orchestrated manipulation to get Richard to marry Madeline and write a new will. She now controls $9.2 billion and is the trustee of the foundation. If something happened to Tom, she would control everything.

Tom doesn’t care about the money, but he is devastated by what Sandra did to him. he hires a PI to find her, and Madeline argues that he should let it go. They have a tense conversation, and he eventually agrees to stop searching for her. Unfortunately, that decision was short-lived, and while looking at apartments, he gets a call from the PI, who says he has found Sandra. They bring her home and help her detox. Madeline is told she became addicted to heroin again after Max left her. Sandra also tells Madeline she doesn’t want her money. She only wants to confront Max.

Madeline begins making frantic calls to Max, and when he calls her back, she tells him he needs to come back and make it right. Max, Madeline, and Sandra argue, and two cars pull up with Braddock and Tom. Madeline threatens them and says she has all the money and can bury them all. Tom becomes very angry and grabs Braddock’s gun. Sandra knocks it out of his hands just before he shoots Madeline. Madeline grabs the weapon, and Tom and her struggle with it. Finally, the gun goes off, and Tom is killed. In the final act, we learn that this was a carefully designed ruse, and just because you think you are the smartest in the room doesn’t make it true.

The ending of Sharper explained

Madeline agrees to place all her money in the trust, and she, Max, and Sandra get on a plane to Oklahoma City. They leave thinking Tom is dead. Madeline explains to Max that she isn’t upset about losing the money because she hasn’t lost anything. She is the trustee, and with Tom dead, she becomes the Chairman of the Board. Sandra goes to the restroom because she is sickened by their greed and indifference to murder.

It turns out Tom and Sandy have been in contact and planned everything that happened after Richard died. They contacted Tipsey, got his help, and hired Braddock and his crew. The group practiced and waited until they were ready. The gun fired blanks, and Tom pretended to get shot with a squib. Madeline finally figures it out on the plane when she realizes it isn’t blood that stained her shirt. Tom and Sandy go to dinner, and it seems everything is forgiven. However, Madeline and Max learn there is no honor among thieves. They are left with nothing but each other.

If Sharper told us anything, it is essential to know who you can trust, and if you are going to steal, steal a lot because you never know when you might need it. Hopefully, Madeline lived like a pirate and loaded herself up with jewelry and a Birkin bag that she could sell now that times were tough.