(Credits: Netflix)

Brotherhood makes you do a lot of things. For instance, take Jude Law’s Jake and Jason Bateman’s Vince in Black Rabbit. From the minute Netflix rolled out the teasers, we knew they were poles apart, and still somehow impactful in each other’s lives.

The latest Netflix limited series from creators Zach Baylin and Kate Susman took viewers down a rabbit hole of debt, mystery, murder, and mayhem. But when you look closely, it all started with Vince coming back to the Black Rabbit scene after years of estrangement.

Black Rabbit opens with a flash forward amidst an ongoing robbery at a high-profile party in Jake’s up-and-coming New York City hotspot. Speaking of this deliberate choice, Baylin weighed in, saying, “We wanted to throw the audience into the middle of the world, into the height of the tension of what Jake and Vince were going through.”

The creators never really thought of approaching Black Rabbit from a perspective of “whodunit.” Rather, “I think we looked at the mystery as more of a whydunit, or how did we get there?” he explained. So, if you want the answers too, here’s how the show pulled the curtains.

How does Jake help Vince?

When Black Rabbit kicks off, Vince is not anywhere close to the restaurant’s vicinity. In the past, his capricious demeanour led to a bet over a jump from the roof and a follow-up lawsuit, which made Jake, investor Wes, and head chef Roxie buy Vince out of Black Rabbit. But did that keep Vince away for long? Not really. The minute he was left empty-pocketed after his encounter with a thief in Reno, he came back, dashing into his life like nothing had changed.

But in the years since Vince left, a lot had changed indeed. Jake ensured Black Rabbit was blooming enough to become New York City’s hottest spot. But knowing there’s still something absent in his life, he’s somewhat relieved to have his brother back, just not for long.

Since old habits die hard, Vince, too, had succumbed to his patterns with Mancuso’s minions tailing him for the debt he still owes. In order to protect his estranged daughter, Gen, from becoming a target, he resorted to Jake. The restaurateur, in turn, devised a payment plan for Mancuso and Junior, with Black Rabbit serving as collateral. However, things are not so black and white here onwards.

What happened to Anna?

While Jake may come across as the most organised of the two brothers, the nightmares he and his business face have a lot to do with him. Black Rabbit’s third floor is the place renowned for celebrity gatherings. Wes handles the third floor on his own. But since it’s just as much a boys’ club, Jake has long overlooked the mishaps that plague the place. However, it’s no longer possible for Jake to stay aloof when Anna accuses a famous face, who’s a regular at the third floor, Jules, of sexual assault.

Despite Jake’s plans to open a new restaurant, he had been stealing from his existing ones to cover his lifestyle. To worsen things, he has also become embroiled in an affair with Wes’s girlfriend, Estelle. Not to mention, he’s still under hot water trying to pay off Vince’s debt.

With Anna pointing fingers, Jake is not exactly sympathetic, which further puts him at loggerheads with head chef Roxie, who keeps wondering whether the restaurant might do better without the brothers messing things up. So, Jake uses the money from the charity dinner to cover his own embezzlement, leaving just $16,000, which is a far cry from the $100,000 debt Vince owes to Mancuso. Hence, the possibility of Anna’s accusation going public and Mancuso’s henchmen both become a threat eventually.

How does Anna die? Who’s the killer?

When Jules’ fixer, Campbell, offers Anna a hefty amount to keep her shut and fly out of the country, she accepts it. But while being heckled by Junior, he tips him off about the situation with Anna, which comes off as a threat to his father’s collateral. Although he wanted to threaten Anna while breaking down her washroom door, she hit her head and died. Campbell just came afterwards to ensure there were no clues left behind of his earlier involvement.

How does the robbery happen?

Anna’s death turns out to be the beginning of the brothers’ downfall. With police searching for answers and looking for CCTV footage, Mancuso and his men still waiting for the debt to be paid, and Wes, having gotten a hunch of Jake’s illicit affair with Estelle, Wes ultimately joins forces with Roxie to buy out Black Rabbit entirely. Meanwhile, Jake and Vince arrange Mancuso’s money, with an insurance scam on their childhood home. However, Junior is already on their tail, ready to see their end to ensure he’s not involved in Anna’s death.

To help each other out, Jake offers Junior a tip to rob Black Rabbit during a high-profile party when the celebrity guests are on the third floor. But the plan backfires when Jake and Vince get into a kerfuffle, making the latter join Junior on his robbery spree. As Wes tries to stop the situation from getting out of hand, he’s shot. Junior has his next target set, and without a doubt, it’s Jake. However, Vince saves his brother and kills Junior. Vince doesn’t waste time fleeing with the stolen goods, but Mancuso already has Gen hostage. And it all boils down to the bittersweet finale.

How does Black Rabbit blow the final whistle?

It doesn’t take long for Vince to be accused of murder after Wes dies. But Jake thinks on his toes, giving Mancuso Vince’s location in exchange for Gen’s safety. While Vince manages to escape, they meet each other one last time. During the heated exchange, Vince lets Jake in on a secret he had been holding on to for the longest time: that he killed their abusive father. Although he was living with the guilt all this while, Jake had known it all this time. However, that didn’t change his love for him.

When they go to the Black Rabbit roof, where Vince made that bet in the past, he makes a phone call. “I owe you a jump,” he says right after and plummets to his death. According to the creators, the suicide was always on the cards, but it took some time for them to decide how the story would come full circle. It turns out that the final call was meant for the police, where his brother confessed to everything. The ending is poignant when Jules is arrested, Roxie is off to a new start, and Estelle goes her own way. As for Jake, he no longer runs Black Rabbit. He now manages the bar at someone else’s restaurant.