'Dalah: Death And The Flowers' Recap, Ending Explained And Full Story: Who Killed Ohm?

Centered around a high-profile marriage, a maze of lies and deceit, scandalous family secrets, and a buried dark past, Netflix’s Thai murder mystery, Dalah: Death and the Flowers, could have been pretty generic if not for the beautiful, haunting, gothic-noir narrative treatment and cinematography the series flaunts stylishly. While the story, involving themes of the malicious effects of patriarchy, is not unique in any regard, the artistic, almost poetic approach to incorporating floricultural aesthetics in the whodunit will definitely please viewers. Directed by Thanika Jenjesda and Alisa Pien, Dalah: Death and the Flowers has carved its own identity with its visual appeal, and even though the story feels like a one and done, I would definitely like to see the series receive a continuation, if only for its aesthetics.

Spoiler Ahead

A Wedding Turns Into A Funeral

Dalah series opens with pomp and merriment—Thailand’s promising prime ministerial candidate, Dr. Ohm Uathepa, is going to tie the knot with Dr. Risa Tangsinsup. The bride and groom come from two of the country’s most powerful, rich families—and for the major part, this is a marriage of convenience. Son of Ekapop Uathepa, former Chief of Staff of the Thai Prime Minister, Ohm is popular among the youth for being a staunch advocate for women’s rights. Risa appears quite supportive and loving towards her would-be husband, and her Thai-Chinese family will benefit greatly from the marriage as they are going to receive the land of Uathepa Square—the financial district—as dowry, which they plan to transform into a community mall. While there seems to be no dearth of love between the young bride and groom, their respective family members have their personal differences and agendas, which convey that not everyone is happy with the marriage.

Dalah Rose, the enigmatic, accomplished florist who used to be a batchmate of Risa’s during her academic years spent in the States, has been given the duty of overseeing floral arrangements for the wedding. Dalah, who was given the assignment of the wedding décor by Ekapop, informs him about last-minute issues with arrangements—and to see to the situation, a number of family members from both sides, including Risa and Ohm, go to Dalah’s studio the night before the wedding. The next day, the celebratory mood instantly transforms into a grieving one as Ohm’s lifeless corpse, having sustained a fatal gunshot wound, is found inside the studio—and Risa remains unreachable. Police Chief Montree is assigned to investigate the case by Ekapop—the chief is loyal to him for saving his career in the past. Dahla, on the other hand, appears to have given refuge to Risa, and Dahla has a personal connection to the Uathepa family, which is gradually unearthed as the series progresses. As Montree’s investigation kicks off, Dalah begins her own search for truth—which brings the dirty secrets of both these privileged, powerful families to light—the dearly upheld illusion of perfection breaks, as the beautiful bouquet turns out to be nothing more than a decorated arrangement of long-dead flowers. 

Why Was Sanchai Suspected To Be The Killer?

Sanchai is the leader of the local traders of Uathepa Square, who vehemently protested against the construction of a community mall at the place as it would have affected their livelihood. The day before the wedding, when Ekapop’s brother, Ekasit, was trying to calm the mob gathered outside their family residence, Sanchai threatened him by showing his gun. The traders were justifiably angry; the generational wealth of the Uathepas was accumulated by draining the lower-class people in the first place, and having a hand in the country’s socio-economic policies, these greedy, pathetic aristocrats controlled the lives of the downtrodden. It is also revealed that Tong, one of the members of the trader community, took his own life after being manipulated and pressurized by the likes of the Uathepas, and Sanchai had every reason to seek revenge upon them. Accordingly, the night before the wedding, he had driven to the six-star hotel where the grand wedding was going to take place, and both the Uathepas and the Tangsinsups were staying. After identifying Sanchai in his car in the CCTV footage, Montree brings him in for questioning, but his alibi checks out. Sanchai returned to his house that night, and the gun he has doesn’t come under the police’s list of suspicious firearms. 

What Was Kris’ Relation With Risa?

It was revealed that Kris, Risa’s nephew, grandson of Tangsinsup family patriarch Kitja, was having a heated argument with Risa outside Dalah’s studio. Kris, a successful singer, had an illicit relationship with his own aunt, Risa, a shameful truth for the family, which the members denied as long as they could. However, Prapha, the vindictive eldest daughter-in-law of the family, spoke the truth without hesitation, and she had good reason for doing so. Kitja’s strong adherence to traditional patriarchal values led him to neglect Prapha and her husband, Kittisak, simply because they couldn’t bear a male child for the family. Kitja was proud of his grandson, Kris, but didn’t show the same affection to Xinxin, Prapha’s daughter. Even though Kittisak was more hardworking and accomplished than his brother, Pong, Kitja didn’t give him as much importance. However, Jib, Kris’ mother, was well aware of her son’s illicit relationship, and unbeknownst to anyone, she followed him to Dalah’s studio. Prapha came to know about this too and discussed the possibility of Kris murdering Ohm out of jealousy. 

In the CCTV footage, Kris is seen speaking with Sanchai, noticing which Montree decides to question him, as he suspects them of colluding. However, Kris reveals that he had simply inquired about his guitar, which Sanchai was fixing. Kris’ words were true, as while investigating on her own, Dalah discovered Kris’ connection with Risa by taking a look at the tags of his guitar in Sanchai’s shop. It should be mentioned at this point that Kris helped Risa to go to Dalah to seek refuge, and Sarath, one of the staffers of the hotel, and Risa’s personal attendee, Noomnim, assisted in this as well. 

Why Did Risa Flee?

After the bullet that took Ohm’s life was suspected to be fired from the .38 caliber handgun Risa kept with herself, she became the prime suspect in the investigation, and remaining out of reach since that fateful night, Risa only ended up making things worse for herself. The media wasted no time in vilifying her, and within hours the social media began a smear campaign against Dr. Risa as netizens lamented the death of a promising young politician. However, the truth about what kind of person Ohm really was—which is in total contrast to his public image as a feminist leader—makes it clear why someone would have a vendetta against him. 

On that fateful night, Pam, Ohm’s niece, argued with Risa outside the studio as well, as both of them knew Ohm’s true face. A pathetic, lecherous scumbag of a human being, Ohm used to target college girls of the university where he used to teach, and winning their trust, he raped them after spiking their drinks. Ohm recorded the sexual encounters, possibly to have leverage over his numerous victims—and kept the files stashed on his computer. Pam’s girlfriend, Bee, was a victim, and Pam was able to get a hold of all the video recordings from Ohm’s computer. Pam implored Bee to speak up against her harrowing experience, and the duo approached Risa—with the hopes of taking her help to expose what kind of a monster Ohm truly is. Xinxin, Risa’s niece, was a victim of Ohm’s dastardly actions as well, and along with Bee and Pam, she too was comforted by Risa’s promise of attaining justice. It was Risa who wrote the feminist speeches, which made Ohm a likable public figure and strengthened his political campaign. Pam had expected that Risa would break things off with Ohm and expose him in public, but Risa chose to keep things as they are and proceeded with plans for the engagement and wedding without showing any inclination to do right by the victims—much to the dismay of Pam. This is the same reason why Kris had argued with Risa back then; he was aware of Ohm’s true nature and could not believe that she would end up agreeing to the marriage despite knowing everything. The reason why Risa agreed to the marriage was to seek validation from her father, Kitja—who was proud of his daughter for the first time as her marriage secured the Uathepa Square land deal. Risa was a successful, independent woman, but her father never gave her the love and respect she deserved as his child, solely because of her gender identity. Risa was not disheartened that her own father valued her as a transactional commodity—whose sole worth was centered on the dowry deal, as a victim of patriarchy, she was content with having the crumb of validation Kitja provided to her—and agreed to marry Ohm. Also, Risa had learned that she was pregnant with Ohm’s child, and she decided to keep the baby. All the family entanglements and confusions heightened when Ohm was murdered, and Risa ended up seeking solace from her friend, Dahla.

Pam, who previously had secretly sent evidence of Ohm’s licentious actions to his party chief, decides to pin the blame for his murder on Risa to take revenge upon her. She reveals the truth about Ohm to Montree and incriminates Risa.Montree takes this newfound info to Ekapop, who coerces him to bury the dark secrets of his son—of which he was already aware. Even more troubling evidence surfaced when the video of Bee getting raped by Ohm surfaced—which Kris wanted to present during their wedding to expose the lecherous guy in public. Ekapop maintained his stance as he once again coerced Montree to push these secrets under the rug, and despite having his reservations, the police chief did just that. 

Who Killed Ohm?

Dalah herself comes under Montree’s list of suspects after discrepancies are found regarding her statement about Ohm’s time of departure from the studio. Montree gets to know that Dalah’s real name is Dalah Larsen, and he couldn’t help but draw a connection with the murder of Emma Larsen—orchestrated thirty years ago by Ekapop, which the police chief helped to cover up. Considering Dalah’s revenge motive, Montree informed Ekapop of the situation. However, Dalah, who had obtained enough evidence by now by visiting the crime scene, requests Montree and both families to appear at her studio—as she plans to expose the murderer with a grand denouement. 

Right off, Dalah exposes Ohm’s heinous secrets in front of both families, and this time, Montree corroborates her statement. Dalah, who had taken the statement of Uathepa housemaid Jaa, who was a victim of Ohm as well, had managed to gather all the video recordings and sent them to Montree. Despite being a corrupt cop, Montree was no longer able to comply with the cover-up schemes of Ekapop, as being a father of a daughter himself, his guilty conscience had started acting up.

 Dalah reveals that Kittisak, Xinxin’s father, was secretly present that night, and indeed had planned to avenge his daughter by bashing Ohm’s head with a golf club. However, he couldn’t muster the courage to do so. She also mentions the blue roses, which are created by dyeing white roses with color, revealing the precise timing of Ohm’s death. The reason behind the supposed discrepancies in timing revealed in the autopsy report and her statement is caused by the cold atmosphere in her studio, which slowed down the deterioration process of the corpse.

Dalah reveals Ekasit to be the killer, and the suspicion grows when his alibi doesn’t match up. Dalah had gathered concrete evidence, as the strands of hair from Ekasit’s lapdog were found in the crime scene. Dalah was able to identify it as Sarath was allergic to dog hair, but the conclusive evidence was the footprints near the studio garden—which gave Ekasit away. As for the reason as to why Ekasit killed his own nephew, it was revealed that the Uathepa family tried to make a scapegoat out of him to cover up Ohm’s actions. Ekapop shared a strong bond with his brother Ekasit, and after the death of their father, he became a guardian figure to him. Ekasit received cold, harsh treatment from their mother, Amara, and lived under the shadow of his brother. After Ohm was born, Ekasit’s prospect of being the future of the Uathepa family further slipped away from him. He could have lived with all this, but after learning that Ohm’s crimes will be pinned against him to protect his political future, Ekasit had enough. In a fit of rage, he murdered Ohm in the studio, and as Dahla reveals the truth at last, Ekasit confesses his actions.

Did Dalah Get Justice At The End?

However, the denouement is yet to end, as Dalah sheds light on the golden boy of the family, Ekapop—who orchestrated the murder of Emma Larsen thirty years ago by paying his then driver, Mr. Koon, to run her over. A guilt-ridden Koon, who had surrendered himself back then, took up monkhood for decades, and coincidentally enough, became Kitja’s driver at present—revealing Ekapop’s role in Emma’s murder. As Montree had suspected, Dalah is indeed Emma’s child, and she had investigated the Uathepa family’s connection with her mother to learn the truth about her death. Initially, it is assumed that Ekapop had a fling with Emma and had her murdered to protect the family image. But as the revelation about Ekasit’s actions shakes Ekapop to the core, he confesses that he orchestrated the murder to save his brother. As it turns out, thirty years ago, Ekasit, who was on the verge of being an MP, had a relationship with Emma. Even though Ekasit considered her to be one of his numerous flings, Emma became attached to him and wanted him to take responsibility for the daughter he fathered with her. Ekapop, concerned about protecting the family image, wanted to hush up Emma by offering her money, but Emma wanted her daughter to be recognized by the Uathepa family. Upon being denied the rightful claim her daughter had as a Uathepa family member, Emma threatened Ekapop that she would malign their family name—and Amara, the matriarch of the family, commanded Ekapop to take drastic measures or murder Emma to cover up her connection with Ekasit. Ironically, it was a matriarch who, as a product of patriarchy, protected its decrepit values.

The revelation is emotionally heavy for Dahla, and as Ekasit and Ekapop are detained, her alleged father, Ekasit, vengefully tries to provoke her by stating Emma had relationships with other men and there is no certainty whether Ekapop is indeed Dahla’s father. Emma is unperturbed at his goadings, as she remarks it is for the better that she didn’t get a chance to be a part of that pathetic family in the first place. Dahla has accepted her adoptive father, who remains off-screen throughout the series, as her sole guardian and doesn’t feel any need to associate herself with the Uathepas. 

The x mark on Ohm’s cheek, which resembled Emma’s similar scar from thirty years ago, was made by Dahla as a possible attempt to hint that the secrets of Uathepa won’t remain buried much longer. At the end, by bringing her mother’s killers to justice, Dahla attained a sense of closure. 

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