In episode eight of Apple TV's "Cape Fear", the show fully confirms what viewers had long suspected: antagonist Max Cady is directly responsible for the misfortunes plaguing the Bowden family, including the murder of a character named Ray. The episode follows Tom and Anna's failed attempt to frame Max, his brief arrest and release, and a series of escalating cover-ups and betrayals, marking what the reviewer calls the show's most shocking instalment yet.

The episode opens with Max being taken into police custody after Tom and Anna have Anna's father plant suspicious medication in his house, while at a psychiatric facility Zack shows signs he remains under Max's influence. In a gruesome centrepiece scene, Natalie discovers Ray's dismembered body parts hidden in a box at the bottom of the family's swimming pool, and later realises Max used a gun she had stolen from her parents to kill him. Subsequent scenes see Tom hand police the wrong firearm, Anna pay her father $100,000 to leave town, Natalie's plea to Neveah in jail rebuffed, and Anna and Noa uncovering incriminating photos of a houseboat that police dismiss, all building towards the series finale.