With Netflix’s upcoming Knives Out sequels, Benoit Blanc is expected to return as the detective to solve the mysteries. Blanc proved that while he may not behave in the way everyone may expect a detective to, that doesn’t mean he isn’t qualified for the job. When he was first introduced in Knives Out, viewers were reminded of the decorated detective’s praise that had many members of the Thrombey family eager to learn why he was there.
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From his first moment on screen, the eccentric detective had his hands full. Blanc was essentially attempting to solve two mysteries at once. He was not only trying to figure out the true circumstances surrounding Harlan’s death, but uncover who hired him. Knowing that the mysteries are interwoven, Blanc knows that solving one would likely solve the other. In typical Blanc fashion, he unveils the truths to both mysteries at the same time, which is near the end of the film. It’s never clear when Blanc began to put the pieces together, but as a detective, especially one with Blanc’s reputation, he was always going to solve the mystery at hand. The question becomes: how long did Blanc know the truth?
A Reddit theory from user res30stupid proposes that Blanc knew the truth long before the end of the film. From the first moment Blanc met Marta, Harlan’s caregiver, he knew she had something to do with what happened to Harlan. Blanc says this himself, referring to the drop of Harlan’s blood on Marta’s shoe. Flashbacks show that this drop of blood came from the moment Harlan slit his own throat. Blanc also knew that Marta puked when she lied. The theory says that none of the other suspects (or various members of the Thrombey family) knew that Marta did this and therefore, couldn’t mention it during their interrogations.
There are the same family members that didn’t know where Marta and her family were from, so of course they didn’t know that personal of a detail about her. The fact that Blanc knows this is typically overlooked. If no one that was interrogated knew about Marta’s “regurgitation of mistruths” as Blanc calls it, how did he know? This question is never answered in Knives Out, but the theory proposes that it was included in the note Blanc received requesting his services. This would mean that Blanc learned it from someone who knew of Marta’s condition and wished to use it against her. Clearly none of the interrogated Thrombey family members did.
Continuing with this line of thinking, the theory insists that Blanc knew his client was the killer. Blanc points out that there would be no need to hire him and that whoever requested his services simply could’ve gone to the police. The only reason this person would not want to go to the police was if what they had to say would compromise them and make them a suspect. By including the fact that Marta pukes when she lies in the initial note, the attention would shift to her and away from the person actually guilty of the crime.
Ransom Drysdale was the only member of the Thrombey clan viewers met outside of the interrogations. He isn’t seen for the first time until the will reading where he appears to be a friend to Marta. Ransom (played by Chris Evans), is revealed at the end to be the person that not only hired Blanc, but attempted to kill his grandfather and committed a series of additional crimes while attempting to cover his attempted murder up.
The theory introduces an interesting revelation. It introduces a classic trope known as the detective patsy. This means that the person guilty of the crime would hire a detective or private investigator with hopes of throwing the scent off of themselves. Essentially, the perp is attempting to push their crime onto a fall guy or some other suspect. Because Ransom is revealed to be the person that hired Blanc and tried to kill Harlan, it’s clear the detective patsy trope is being used.
One detail often overlooked in Knives Out is the fact that Ransom worked with Harlan for a summer. As the house and circumstances of Harlan’s will remind everyone, Harlan was a renowned mystery writer. By working with him, Ransom would have cleared the intricacies of a mystery’s story structure that may have included the detective patsy. In order to frame Marta for Harlan’s death (or trick her into killing him), Ransom used a trope and potential book plot as a guide.
On top of attempting to kill his grandfather, framing Marta, hiring a detective, committing arson, and killing Fran, Ransom actively inserts himself into the investigation. When the family gangs up on Marta after the will reading, as the only member of the family that knew what the will said, Ransom frames himself as Marta’s friend. He works alongside her while simultaneously keeping her from clearing her name. As cunning and clever as Ransom carries himself to be, the issue with his use of the detective patsy trope, as the theory points out, is his failure to understand how often this trope works out.
When used, the detective patsy trope rarely works. The reason it rarely succeeds is because the detective or other hired party figures it out. From the moment Blanc is introduced, he is obsessing over the fact that he was hired by some mysterious party. In his desire to understand why he was hired, he begins to connect the many clues Ransom left behind. Through this, Blanc understands he was being used to frame Marta and rolls with it and uses it to identify Ransom as the criminal.
The irony of Ransom’s decision to hire Blanc is that the police never truly suspected foul play. they ruled Harlan’s death as a suicide, which is exactly what it was. Marta never gave him the wrong medication and Harlan’s choice to slit his throat was what killed him. So Ransom never would have been considered a suspect, but his inability to let Marta inherit Harlan’s possessions and any worry he has about getting caught made him one.
Blanc, as a detective, was going to solve the crime. It just turns out he figured out the crime long before anyone thought he had. With so many clueless members of the Thrombey family, there’s no surprise that he was able to fool them all for so long. Now that Knives Out 2 has begun production, it’ll be interesting to see how Blanc solves the next to mysteries on his plate.
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