The Perfect Lie Ending Explained: Who Started the Fire That Killed Evert?

A deadly house fire sits at the center of The Perfect Lie, but the biggest twist comes when the person responsible is finally revealed — and it is not who the series initially leads viewers to suspect.

The Dutch drama premiered globally on Netflix on Sept. 10, 2026, and follows Karen (Loes Haverkort) after she moves with her husband and daughter to Bergen in North Holland. There, the family becomes part of an affluent dinner club made up of parents from their children’s school.

Behind the luxurious dinners and seemingly perfect friendships, however, everyone has something to hide.

When one of the group’s villas goes up in flames and Evert (Edwin Jonker) dies, Karen begins digging into what happened. The seven-episode series, based on Saskia Noort’s 2004 novel The Dinner Club, gradually reveals a tangled web of deception, betrayal and buried secrets.

The finale, titled “Ivo,” finally answers the central question surrounding Evert’s death — but deliberately leaves another mystery unresolved.

How does The Perfect Lie end?

The series establishes the deadly fire in its opening episode. Evert dies inside the villa, while his wife Babette (Noortje Herlaar) and their younger son, Luuk (Henk Courbois), survive and are taken to the hospital. Their older son, Beau (Bryson Kroonen), also escapes the burning house.

A toxicology report later reveals that the family had been drugged before the fire.

For much of the series, the circumstances make Evert appear to be the person responsible. The story repeatedly shifts between the events before the fire and the investigation that follows, allowing suspicion to build around him.

The finale turns that theory upside down.

Babette is ultimately revealed to have planned the fire herself. She had learned that Evert intended to leave her and, unable to accept the collapse of their seemingly perfect family, decided to end all of their lives together.

Who started the fire?

Babette started the fire.

Her plan was carefully prepared. She crushed sleeping pills and mixed them into her children’s milk and Evert’s tea, intending to make sure everyone was unconscious when she set the house ablaze.

But the plan went wrong.

Beau did not drink his drugged milk. He woke up after the fire began and realized that something was seriously wrong. Rather than remaining trapped inside, he tried to save his father before getting out of the house to seek help.

Evert ultimately died in the fire, while Babette, Beau and Luuk survived.

How is Babette’s guilt exposed?

Before leaving the burning house, Beau takes his father’s phone with him.

The phone contains secret recordings of conversations between Evert and Babette. Evert had been instructed by his lawyer to record their conversations, creating a crucial piece of evidence that Babette did not know about.

Beau keeps the phone hidden from his mother.

Eventually, Karen discovers it and listens to the recordings. What she hears helps establish Babette’s responsibility for the fire and gives Karen the evidence she needs to understand what really happened.

When Babette realizes Karen has uncovered the recordings, she tries to take the phone from her. The confrontation becomes violent: Babette stabs Karen with a knitting needle and then threatens her with a knife.

Police arrive before Babette can go any further and arrest her.

With Babette’s role in Evert’s death finally exposed, one of the series’ biggest mysteries is solved. But The Perfect Lie is not finished creating questions.

Who pushed Hanneke off the balcony?

The other major mystery involves Hanneke (Rifka Lodeizen), who is pushed from a balcony and left in a coma.

Babette becomes an obvious suspect. She already has a history of violence, and she believes Hanneke and Evert were having an affair. During her police interrogation, Babette insists that she did not push Hanneke — even though she knows investigators may have difficulty believing her after the fire is traced back to her.

The final moments of the season provide a significant clue that Babette may actually be telling the truth.

Karen visits Hanneke in the hospital, where Hanneke’s hand suddenly begins to twitch. Karen leaves the room to find a doctor.

While Hanneke is alone, someone wearing a black hoodie enters the hospital room. The mysterious visitor is carrying a red, heart-shaped balloon.

Then the episode cuts to black.

Because Babette is being questioned by police at that exact time, she cannot be the person entering Hanneke’s room. The identity of the hooded visitor is therefore left unanswered.

The mystery The Perfect Lie leaves behind

The fire mystery is resolved, but the attack on Hanneke remains deliberately open.

The final scene suggests that someone still has a reason to prevent Hanneke from revealing what she knows. Her sudden movement in the hospital, followed immediately by the arrival of the unidentified visitor, only makes the unanswered question more important.

Netflix has released The Perfect Lie as a seven-episode drama based on The Dinner Club, with the adaptation created by Dorien Goertzen and written with Jop Esmeijer. The series stars Loes Haverkort, Teun Luijkx, Remko Vrijdag, Rifka Lodeizen, Noortje Herlaar and Edwin Jonker.

As of the end of Season 1, the person who started the fire is known: Babette.

But the identity of the person who pushed Hanneke — and the reason they return to her hospital room just as she may be waking up — remains one final secret.