Netflix subscribers have been treated to a flurry of foreign-language thrillers in recent years, as the streamer has increasingly sought to dominate the global film market. Their latest effort is a limited series from Denmark, titled Secrets We Keep. Those who have seen trailers for the series know that it’s a tense thriller that centers around the mysterious disappearance of a young woman and her employer’s harrowing discovery that someone close to her may be to blame. If you’ve just finished binge-watching the show, you may still be left with a lot of questions, concerns and a desire to know more. Luckily, we’ve got you covered, with a comprehensive guide to Secrets We Keep and a breakdown of the series’ epic conclusion. Be advised that there will be full spoilers for the Netflix original ahead.
What happens in ‘Secrets We Keep’?
Secrets We Keep centers on an upper-class neighborhood in the suburbs of Copenhagen, where most of the homeowners are wealthy enough to hire live-in staff. For Cecilie and her husband Mike, this means taking on Angel, an immigrant from the Philippines, to handle their household chores, cleaning and childcare. Before the series begins, Angel’s friend Ruby goes to Cecilie and asks for help finding a position of her own. Cecilie recommends her to her neighbors, Rasmus and Katarina, who are looking for their own live-in employee. Unfortunately, in the first episode of Secrets We Keep, Ruby goes missing, prompting Cecilie to start asking questions. Rasmus, Katarina and even Mike seem entirely unbothered by her disappearance, which only raises Cecilie’s suspicions that something nefarious has taken place right under her nose.
Things continue to heat up in episode two, when Cecilia stumbles upon a pregnancy test hidden in the bushes outside her neighbor’s home. She begins to suspect that Ruby was the victim of some kind of tryst, which may have led directly to her disappearance. After Cecilia gets the police involved, Rasmus agrees to undergo a DNA test in conjunction with the results of the pregnancy test. In doing so, he inadvertently implicates his own teenage son Oscar in the conspiracy, since his DNA is only a partial match. At this point in the story, the audience learns that Oscar and his teenage friends have been filming inappropriate videos of unsuspecting women and sharing them in a group chat. These videos include sexually explicit content shot from hidden cameras, depicting several of the housewives, servants and young girls in the neighborhood.
Ruby encountered trouble in suburban paradise
As Cecilia continues to investigate Ruby’s disappearance privately, she corresponds with Aicha, the lead detective attached to the case. Aicha uncovers evidence to suggest that Rasmus has a history of violence against both his wife and his previous employees. Cecilia confirms that Rasmus and Katarina have gone through several au pairs in previous years, and struggle to maintain long-term help. Aicha also learns that Ruby’s bag has been dumped in the woods outside of town, leading her to believe that her body may be nearby. As Secrets We Keep continues, it becomes increasingly clear that Ruby was not just kidnapped, but that she has almost certainly been murdered.
Aicha speaks to Ruby’s priest, who refuses at first to reveal any of the private details from their confession sessions. After an initial search party fails to turn up any promising results, however, the priest confides in the detective that Ruby had been sexually assaulted, though she never named her attacker. As a devout Catholic, Ruby refused to abort the child. The priest claims that the last time he saw Ruby alive, she intended to speak to her attacker directly about the future of their child. Obviously, this discussion ultimately led to her disappearance. To protect Angel’s safety, Cecilia relieves her of her duty and gives her some cash and a ticket back to the Philippines. As episode four of Secrets We Keep comes to a conclusion, Ruby’s body is discovered in a local marina, confirming that she was, in fact, murdered.
Who killed Ruby?
Throughout the entire run of Secrets We Keep, Cecilia’s son Viggo repeatedly asks his mother if she has time for a private discussion. Viggo stresses that it’s extremely important, though Cecilia is so wrapped up with Ruby’s disappearance that she continually ignores and forgets about him. Eventually, we learn exactly what was eating Viggo, as it turns out he’s known about Ruby’s assault for some time. Apparently, Oscar shot a video of himself sexually assaulting Ruby and shared it with his friends in their depraved group chat. Though Viggo was game for some upskirt footage and ill-begotten nude photos, this video was a bridge too far, and he threatened to go to the police. To protect himself, Oscar pins Viggo down and chokes him, before threatening to kill him if he tells the authorities.
Eventually, the video does go public, and a parent-teacher meeting is called to discuss the growing problem of young men in the community and their obsession with illegally capturing and sharing pornographic material. Cecilia takes this information to the police, but by the time they arrive at Oscar’s home, his mother Katarina has already destroyed all of the evidence. This leaves the police unable to prosecute Oscar, and his parents send him away to a boarding school, effectively sweeping their problems under the rug and passing the buck to a new environment.
Needless to say, Cecilia is horrified by her friend and even confronts her directly to ask who really killed Ruby. Still suspecting that the killer may have been Rasmus or Mike, Cecilia is shocked when Katarina wistfully looks out to the water and mutters, “Those men, they think everything sorts itself out.”
‘Secrets We Keep’ ending explained
Ultimately, we don’t get many definitive answers as to the circumstances surrounding Ruby’s death. It is heavily implied that Katarina may have killed Ruby and dumped her body in the marina herself to save her son. Still, some fans aren’t convinced. It’s also possible that Rasmus and Mike were involved in dumping the body and covering up the disappearance. Oscar may have even killed her himself, fearing retribution for his disturbing sexual assault. Since Ruby was left in the water for so long before being found, any fingerprints or DNA evidence from her killer is washed away, leaving the killer to get off scot-free. Oscar lives to terrorize more women in the future, while the families of Copenhagen are forever changed.
Secrets We Keep offers a number of intense themes, dealing with class, race and culture. If Cecilia were a more attentive mother, she could have learned the truth about Oscar’s attack much sooner. Had she taken the time to vet her own friends before recommending Ruby to them, she could have learned that things were not safe in her neighbor’s home. And had she maintained a more open and honest relationship with her husband, she wouldn’t have suspected him of having an affair with an au pair, and killing her to cover it up.
The insular community wrought by wealth has allowed people like Cecilia to live lavish lifestyles, while stripping them of their humanity. This is especially present in the children of the community, who have become so morally lost that they allowed a video depicting violent sexual assault to circulate for weeks before informing the authorities.
How many episodes of ‘Secrets We Keep’ are there?
Secrets We Keep runs for just six episodes, each spanning roughly 30-45 minutes in length. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that the show will receive a second season, since the story wraps up fairly definitively. The show has been compared to Adolescence due to its concise length, focused storyline and deep, interesting characters. While discussing her inspiration for the narrative with Netflix’s Tudum, series creator Ingeborg Topsøe explained, “I’ve always been fascinated by the power structures within a family… Denmark is often portrayed as a very egalitarian society, and I’ve never seen homes like these portrayed on TV. Perhaps it’s a reality we don’t want to acknowledge the existence of… Au pairs are ‘part of the family,’ while being employed, and parents are well-meaning, while absent. It’s these cold, hard facts — hidden beneath a soft layer of niceness — that intrigues me.”
Despite some lingering questions, it’s unlikely that Topsøe has planned to produce additional seasons of the show. Still, Netflix execs could choose to renew Secrets We Keep for additional episodes, especially if the series performs well with subscribers. For now, there’s no way to know for sure, though it’s always worth keeping an eye out for Topsøe’s next project, which is sure to be loaded with intense themes and thrilling twists.
