The trial of Stella Sandell marks the conclusion of Netflix’s mystery series “A Nearly Normal Family.” With insufficient evidence, the prosecution makes every effort to have her found guilty of Christoffer “Chris” Olsen’s murder.
Amina Besic is helped by her mother Ulrika Sandell to provide a startling testimony to spare her daughter’s life when the defence seeks to draw attention to the prosecution’s inability to offer concrete evidence that Stella is the murderer.
In addition to influencing the judge’s decision, Amina’s fortitude enables her to get past a personal loss. The conclusion of the Swedish series brings shocking disclosures, unresolved issues, and much-needed clarifications on the key characters’ fates!
At the start of “A Nearly Normal Family,” fifteen-year-old Stella goes swimming with Robin, her assistant handball coach. Following their swim, they enter a boathouse and begin kissing, but Robin finally rapes her. In an attempt to protect their daughter from additional suffering, Stella’s parents, Adam and Ulrika Sandell, choose not to file charges against the rapist because there isn’t any solid evidence to implicate him.
A Nearly Normal Family Ending Explained
Years later, Stella is spending her eighteenth birthday by herself, particularly since Amina, her best friend, has left to hang out with other pals. Stella starts talking to a boy she likes, and the two of them decide to travel to Copenhagen to spend the evening going to nightclubs and art exhibitions.
Christoffer “Chris” Olsen, the boy, follows Stella on Instagram after returning, and the two end up getting along. Adam, meanwhile, has a valid suspicion that Ulrika, his wife, is having an affair. Adam checks on Stella, who hasn’t returned home yet after Ulrika leaves for an urgent work assignment.
After that, Adam runs across his daughter, who is taking a nighttime shower. Stella is taken into custody the following day after killing Chris. Adam and Ulrika take tremendous measures to keep their daughter safe following Stella’s jail time.
After finding blood-soaked clothing beneath Stella’s bed, Ulrika conceals the identical items in her father’s ageing house. To refute the police idea that the girl killed Chris after midnight, Adam, on the other hand, tells a police officer a falsehood, saying that his daughter returned home at 11:55 on the night of the murder.
Ulrika requests that Mikael Blomberg, her covert lover, represent Stella in court. According to flashback scenes, Stella started dating Chris because she thought he was the perfect partner—someone who would listen to her and accept her choices.
One day, when Stella and Chris were dating, Chris’s ex-girlfriend Linda unexpectedly turned up at the former’s place of employment to caution her against sharing her life with the businessman. Linda instructed Stella to unlock his cabinets, and when she did, she found a lot of medications that may knock someone out.
Linda reappeared, this time to confess that Chris had sexually assaulted her during their relationship. Stella said that Chris can be domineering and that she felt the same way after he stopped returning his calls, according to Chris’s ex-girlfriend.
Who Kills Chris?
Chris is killed by Stella. Stella became wary of Chris after finding out that he sexually assaulted Linda. She is unable to fully trust her new lover because of the trauma of being raped by Robin, especially after discovering multiple medications in his cabinet. Chris becomes agitated as Stella begins to remove herself from him.
He becomes enraged when he begins to feel as though he has no more control over his partner’s behaviour. Regretfully, he attributes Stella’s altered conduct to Amina’s involvement in his girlfriend’s life. Chris grows resentful of her closest friend because he begins to believe that Stella is putting her friend before him.
Chris then goes after Amina. Chris gives Amina drugs and brings her to his apartment after feigning to meet her unexpectedly at a nightclub. Then, thinking that she is interfering with his power over his girlfriend, he rapes her as a kind of punishment. Stella, on the other hand, makes plans to meet Amina and searches for her.
She finds Chris’ place while looking for her best friend. Following their encounter, she witnesses him raping Amina. Stella steps in, saves her closest friend, and takes off after her. Afterwards, Chris pursues the two girls. Stella could have fled with Amina, but instead, she chooses to kill Chris in retaliation.
Stella’s traumas must have been strongly triggered when she witnessed Chris rape Amina. All she can do after being sexually assaulted by Robin is endure agony in silence. She probably feels let down by her parents, who choose not to call the police about the incident because there isn’t enough proof.
Stella must have taken matters into her own hands due to her feelings of helplessness at fifteen and the lack of consequences from Robin’s perspective. She must have decided to kill Chris because, like Robin, she might not have wanted him to get out of the situation unharmed.
Stella understandably doesn’t want Amina to experience the same level of helplessness that she did when she saw Chris going about his life as usual after harming her closest friend. Stella must have thought that by allowing Chris to survive, she would be permitting him to harm additional people since he was able to do the same after raping Linda.
Stella most likely kills Chris to prevent him from harming anyone in the future in addition to doing it for her and Amina. Stella kills him, doing what she was unable to do to Robin and what Linda and Amina were unable to do to him.
Is Stella found guilty?
Stella is allowed to leave jail. Adam and Ulrika make every effort to keep their daughter safe once she is arrested. Ulrika achieves this by thoroughly investigating the girl’s case, while Adam does the same by lying to the police about when Stella returned home the night Chris was kiled.
After entering the office of prosecutor Jenny Jansdotter and locating the case files, she learns that Amina’s DNA was detected in Chris’ flat. Ulrika becomes concerned about Amina’s lack of disclosure about her presence in Chris’ apartment and approaches her daughter’s closest friend.
Despite her initial reluctance to discuss how she got into Chris’ apartment and how that helped to set the stage for Stella’s arrest, Amina eventually has second thoughts. Amina ultimately tells Ulrika what happened on that terrible night, which makes sense as she must have begun to feel bad about seeing Stella in jail for killing her rapist.
After learning every aspect of Chris’s murder and Stella’s role in it, Ulrika devises a scheme to free her daughter. She tells Amina to hold off on reporting Chris’s rape to the police until after the murder trial. Ulrika is aware that Amina’s admission will only prompt the police to add her to the list of suspects in the case.
Ulrika is an attorney, so she is aware of the strategies the prosecution will employ if they have time to look into Amina’s presence in Chris’ apartment the night he was slain. She opposes Amina being turned from a witness to an accomplice by the police.
Ulrika ensures that Amina only confesses the truth about being raped during the trial as a result. When she follows suit, the prosecution is unable to proceed. Stella is freed because Jenny is unable to link her to the murder. After all, Stella was not the only person in the area of the crime scene on the night it happened.
Do Ulrika and Adam Break Up?
When Adam becomes sure that Ulrika is lying to him, he discovers that Ulrika has been having an extramarital affair. For a while, Adam tries to convince Ulrika that he is mistaken but eventually gives up when he witnesses Michael kissing his wife at the hospital. In an attempt to end their marriage, he files for divorce.
But standing by Stella is more important to the couple than their breakup. Adam appears to have changed his mind by the time their daughter is released from custody and the trial concludes. As the show comes to a close, the pair is still together and appears to be working on improving their bond.
Adam had to realize that he had contributed to Ulrika’s decision to look outside herself for happiness. Despite his wife’s reluctance, he has been imposing his passion and fixation with the Bible and his faith on her as a preacher.
Ulrika must have become weary of Adam’s passion and convictions controlling their lives at some point, which is why she began an adulterous affair. Adam acknowledges his shortcomings after discussing the affair with his wife. That may be the reason he stays with Ulrika even though he would like to be alone.
