Throughout most of the show, Joy is shown only in flashbacks and memories, as recounted by her children and husband, who are worried that she may not just be missing, but dead. This situation changes dramatically in the final moments of the second-to-last episode when it is revealed that Joy is not only alive but well, having been hiding at Savannah’s house in Georgia.
It is disclosed that Joy reached out to Savannah after injuring herself in a bike accident. Once she fell, Joy contacted all of her children for help, but none responded. This was after it was revealed years later that she was behind tennis star Harry Haddad firing Stan as his coach during his time at their tennis academy.
Joy’s disappearance holds a deeper mystery than anyone anticipated (Photo: Apples Never Fall/Universal Studio Group and Matchbox Pictures)This event had far-reaching consequences for the family and the academy and had long been a point of tension.
After a heated argument between Stan and Joy following her accident—resulting in the sound on the recording being their tennis trophies falling to the floor rather than domestic violence—Joy finds a thank-you note from Savannah.
Savannah had left the Delaney home in disgrace months before after she revealed that Joy was the one who had told Harry’s father to stop working with Stan. In the note, Savannah included her phone number, which Joy decided to call impulsively.
This led to Joy meeting Savannah at a bar, where she left her cell phone at home. At the bar, Joy confronted Savannah about her lies and departure, but, feeling underappreciated by her family, she decided to follow Savannah to her remote home in Georgia for a “vacation from being Joy Delaney.”
There, cell reception was minimal, and Savannah cut the landline cord upon their arrival. Joy found herself living off the grid in Georgia until she learned from one of Savannah’s neighbors that a hurricane had hit Palm Beach.
She told Savannah she needed to return home. Savannah initially tried to convince her to stay but agreed to drive her back to Florida. During their drive, Savannah revealed her true identity and the reason behind her visit to the Delaneys’ home. She became so agitated that she crashed the car and fled the scene of the accident.
What is Savannah’s actual identity?
While preparing to pack her belongings to head back home, Joy discovered a tote bag filled with fake IDs, a restraining order against a woman named Lindsay Haddad, and a gun—confirming her suspicions that Savannah had been hiding her true identity.
Meanwhile, Joy’s family back home discovered that Savannah was not the woman she claimed to be. Instead of being an abused woman escaping a relationship, she was Lindsay Haddad, the younger sister of Harry Haddad, Stan’s former student.
The truth about Joy’s disappearance shakes the family to its core (Photo: Apples Never Fall/Universal Studio Group and Matchbox Pictures)The family confirmed this after they found a childhood photo of her with Harry in their home. The Delaney siblings and Stan reached out to Harry, who explained that he had a restraining order against Lindsay, who had been unstable since he and his father left home to advance his tennis career.
This situation had been made worse by the abusive nature of Harry and Lindsay’s mother. When Lindsay drove Joy home, she opened up about her reasons for targeting the Delaney family. She wanted to destroy their seemingly perfect life because she blamed them for her miserable childhood with her abusive mother.
She believed that Harry discontinuing his coaching with Stan, provided her father and brother with an excuse to leave home and find a new coach, leaving Lindsay alone with their mother. This abandonment made her feel unloved and unworthy.
While both Joy and Lindsay felt unappreciated by their families, Joy realized that Lindsay was unstable and more inclined to harm her than to let go of her anger.
What does the ending of Apple’s Never Fall mean for the Delaney family?
Despite the severity of the car crash, Joy is rescued by the police and can return to her family in Palm Beach, where her reappearance alive and healthy shocks them all. After Stan is released from prison, the Delaneys are forced to confront the many secrets they’ve been hiding.
Logan decides to move to Washington to be with Indira, Brooke addresses her doubts about her engagement, Troy agrees to let his ex-wife have their frozen embryos, and Amy appears to continue her relationship with Simon.
Stan opens up about his father’s abusive behavior and the reasons why he “disappeared” during their marriage, explaining that he did so to avoid repeating his family’s toxic patterns. Joy, on the other hand, is honest with her family about how underappreciated she felt.
The Delaney family agrees to be more open with each other and to reduce the secrets that have kept them apart.
