Fool Me Once episode 7 recap: Who killed Joe Burkett?

Richard Armitage and Michelle Keegan in Fool me Once episode 7
Maya has a confession to make in Fool Me Once episode 7. (Image credit: Netflix)

Fool Me Once episode 7 sees all the pieces start to fall into place as we finally find out who killed Joe Burkett. 

The seventh episode opens back where episode 6 ended, with Maya talking to Joe's old school friend, Christopher Swain. However, while she might have been shocked to hear that Joe was capable of killing his own brother, she is left speechless when she learns what drove her husband to take his sibling's life. 

Christopher tells Maya about the night at school when they were all drinking on Founders Day, grabbed Theo from his room, dragged him down to some ruins on the school grounds and tied him up in a chair while they all wore masks. He says at first Theo was going along with it, but things took a dark turn when Joe got a funnel and put it in Theo's mouth, and started pouring vodka down his throat. 

Christopher admits that Theo had a seizure, but it didn't stop Joe from pouring the drink, and when the trashing stopped and Theo was dead, Joe made them promise that no one told anyone about what had happened. Maya questions why it has taken this long for Christopher to talk about what happened and he says he finally feels safe to talk because Joe is dead. 

Maya then asks about Andrew, and Christopher says the guilt was eating away at Andrew and he wanted to confess, so to keep him quiet, Joe pushed him off the boat to protect his secret. 

Fool Me Once on Netflix stars Michelle Keegan as a grieving wife with a puzzling mystery to solve.

Maya is shocked to learn about her husband's dark past.  (Image credit: Netflix)

Meanwhile, Kierce is trying to track down Corey at his woodland hideout and after breaking the door down he finds an underground tunnel where Corey is hiding. Corey escapes and Kierce chases him through the woods until he finally catches and arrests him. 

Shane confronts Maya about the fact the same gun was used to kill Claire and Joe, and she tells him to trust her and asks if they can talk. They meet at Shane's house and Maya finally admits the truth about what happened in combat... that the command radio never gave the go-ahead and she made the choice to engage with an unknown vehicle, which resulted in dead civilians. She talks about how every night she goes over how things could have played out differently had she not made the choice that she did, but it's too late to right her wrongs. Shane is shocked, but before he can get his head around it, she races off after getting a notification on her phone from the tracker on Luca's car. 

Kierce and Marty question Corey at the station and he's being difficult, not answering anything. Eventually, he agrees to talk, but in private and only with Kierce as he is worried about the repercussions from the Burketts once he has revealed his findings. 

Corey tells Kierce that Burkett Global has been falsifying data in their medical trials to hide the fact their medication is making people sicker. He also reveals that Claire found out about this and about Joe's past, and that is why she was killed. He also is convinced that the Burketts are linked to Tommy Dark's death as well. 

As Corey is talking, Sami realizes that he takes the same medication and it dawns on him that this is why he has been having blackouts and has been diagnosed with unexplained neurological problems. Back at his desk he looks at the medication and sees who we were led to believe is his AA sponsor, but it is in fact his late fiancee who was killed in the line of duty, and he has been seeing her as a figment of his imagination due to the dangerous Burkett medication. 

Adeel Akhtar as DS Sami Kierce

Sami works out his blackouts are a side effect of the dodgy Burkett medication.  (Image credit: Netflix)

Meanwhile, Maya is on a mission and heads to a service station where she chops up her sim card in her phone and buys a cheaper one that can't be tracked. She calls Eddie and asks him to go to Lily's nursery with her and sign up as a nominated person who can collect Lily from childcare. While there, Maya asks to see Lily, but only from afar, and as she looks longingly at her daughter we see that Maya is upset. 

Kierce and Marty get info that PJ has turned up for his shift at a burrito shop and they head there to bring him in after he failed to come to the station for questioning the day before. He runs when he sees them, and soon the pair are chasing him through the building and up onto the roof where Kierce corners him. Both men are in a precarious position on the roof, with either of them about to fall at any moment, and PJ admits he was in the park the night Joe died, but he didn't kill him. He was stealing handbags with a friend called Rambo when they heard gunshots and fled, and that's all he knows. 

But as this is happening, Kierce starts having one of his blackouts and PJ tries to come to his rescue, but slips off the roof and onto the concrete below. Luckily for PJ he hits some awning on the way down and it breaks his fall, but while he doesn't die, he sustains serious injuries and is rushed to hospital. 

Kierce is suspended from the police because of what happened and is made to pack up his desk. But he has no intention of quitting the case and soon goes to find PJ's friend, Rambo, convinced he will know who shot Joe. 

Emmett J Scanlan who's playing Shane Tessier.

Shane works out that Maya has been hiding huge secrets.  (Image credit: Netflix)

At the end of the episode Maya has tracked Luca and Isabella down in a car park and she confronts them, holding them at gunpoint until they start explaining the nannycam footage. 

Maya is shocked to find Joe's clothes that went missing in Isabella's bag and she eventually confesses that Luca dressed as Joe and they used footage from the couple's wedding video to make him look like Joe, and that the Burketts put them up to it. 

Isabella tells Maya that Judith is convinced she has something to do with Joe's death and they used the nannycam trick to make her crack and confess. 

Maya makes the pair get in the boot of the car while she processes the information... but just then Shane turns up because Eddie has called him, worried that Maya is in danger. Shane presses Maya about what secrets she has been hiding, and eventually, the truth comes out and Maya confesses she's the one who killed Joe. 

All 8 episodes of Fool Me Once are now available to stream as a box set on Netflix. 

Claire Crick
Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch

Claire is Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch and has been a journalist for over 15 years, writing about everything from soaps and TV to beauty, entertainment, and even the Royal Family. After starting her career at a soap magazine, she ended up staying for 13 years, and over that time she’s pulled pints in the Rovers Return, sung karaoke in the Emmerdale village hall, taken a stroll around Albert Square, and visited Summer Bay Surf Club in sunny Australia. 

After learning some tricks of the trade at websites Digital Spy, Entertainment Daily, and Woman & Home, Claire landed a role at What’s On TV and whattowatch.com writing about all things TV and film, with a particular love for Aussie soaps, Strictly Come Dancing and Bake Off

She’s interviewed everyone from June Brown — AKA Dot Cotton — to Michelle Keegan, swapped cooking tips with baking legend Mary Berry backstage at the NTAs, and danced the night away with soap stars at countless awards bashes. There’s not a lot she doesn’t know about soaps and TV and can be very handy when a soapy question comes up in a pub quiz! 

As well as all things soap-related, Claire also loves running, spa breaks, days out with her kids, and getting lost in a good book.