Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Benoit Blanc begins the film by reading a letter from Father Jud Duplenticy that frames the mystery. The letter recounts Jud’s past as a boxer who turned preacher and hints at dark secrets tied to the church. This opening sets the tone for the unraveling story.

Jud punches a rude deacon at his former church, triggering a scandal. Although some believe he acted righteously, the authorities decide to remove him from the scene to calm tensions. He is sent to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude in Chimney Rock to avoid trouble.

Jud starts his tenure under the beloved Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, who wields tremendous influence over the flock. Wicks confesses to Jud, revealing a manipulative and controlling style that feeds his power. Martha Delacroix, Wicks’s ally, guides Jud as he learns about Wicks’s mother Grace and the enigmatic Eve’s Apple box; the past mistakes begin to surface.

Jud names Vera Draven, Cy, Nat Sharp, Lee, and Simone as potential suspects and plans a private session away from Wicks to observe them. The tactic unsettles the flock and provokes Wicks’s anger, showing how precarious his control has become. Jud’s suspicions are the seed for a deeper reveal about loyalty and motive.

Jud confronts Wicks about how he manipulates people, especially Simone, for his own gain. Wicks responds with a physical strike, trying to erase the challenge to his authority. Jud declares he will cut Wicks out 'like a cancer,' and the moment is captured by Cy.

During a private Palm Sunday gathering, Cy records the flock and the confrontation, revealing tensions beneath the surface. The video hints that Wicks is using power to advance a political scheme and that Eve’s Apple holds a larger significance. The church's secrets and ambitions begin to surface.

On Good Friday, Wicks delivers his sermon before retreating to a pulpit room to recharge while Jud takes over. Wicks collapses, with a knife protruding from his back, and Nat Sharp, already intoxicated, investigates and accuses Jud of murder. Martha Delacroix quickly shifts suspicion toward Jud as chaos erupts.

Chief Geraldine Scott and Blanc start piecing together the murder, examining the weapon—a knife with a devil head linked to a bar lamp. Bar owner Nikolai confirms the devil head was painted red and that a second head had vanished, tying the weapon to a specific prop. The clues begin to unravel how deception was staged.

Blanc compels Jud to recount the events, during which Jud reveals a flask he had hidden from the flock. The flask later disappears, deepening the mystery around Jud’s involvement. Investigators also trace a forklift order to access the crypt, and Louise at the supplier shares a personal tragedy that humanizes the case.

Blanc and Jud uncover a grisly chain of deaths: Wicks’s body with arms burned in an acid tub and Nat Sharp’s dissolved corpse. The sequence reveals Nat’s manipulation and his attempt to cover his tracks through staged killings. The truth tightens around the web of lies within the flock.

Martha finally reveals herself as the killer and discloses that Eve’s Apple is a diamond. She explains how she orchestrated the murders with Nat and Samson to fuel Wicks’s political rise, and how she poisoned the coffee to hide her own guilt. The confession ends with her collapsing as the diamond falls from her hand.

The remaining flock members try to rebuild their lives: Vera closes her father’s law firm, Simone returns to playing cello, Lee pursues a risky book deal about Wicks, and Cy confronts his inheritance without real wealth. Blanc and Jud part ways amicably, having solved the case but leaving Eve’s Apple still in play. The community begins healing, fractured but hopeful.

A year after Wicks’s death, Jud reopens the church as Our Lady of Perpetual Grace and renames it in his own vision. Eve’s Apple is finally hidden inside the chest of a Christ statue, sealing its secret away from those who would seek it. The new church embodies a guarded, complicated peace for the flock.