The Shocking Stabbing Scene in 'All Day and a Night,' Explained (SPOILERS!)

Netflix’s All Day and a Night tells the story of Jahkor (played by Ashton Sanders), a soft-spoken young man who struggles to break the seemingly inevitable cycles of violence and crime in his family.  The film itself reflects the concept of unbreakable cycles by presenting the story in a non-linear fashion. While this is a powerful storytelling tool, you can understand why some people watching the movie may have been a bit thrown off or found certain plot points confusing.  

We’re going to delve into one of those plot points here, so be aware that there will be spoilers for the film ahead! At one point in All and a Night, Jahkor quietly stabs his friend TQ to death. Why did Jahkor stab TQ? Read on for an explanation.

We’re going to do our best to untangle the plot for you here. It may help to think about the film as having three separate timelines. In the first, Jahkor is a child, suffering abuse from his father, JD, who thinks he is a “weakling.” Near the end of the film, we see Jah as a child, witnessing his father buying drugs and deciding to confront his dealer. He asks the dealer to stop selling to his dad, but the dealer brushes Jah off, saying JD is one of his best customers.

The second timeline of the film follows Jahkor right before he winds up in prison. He has grown up with his friend TQ and thinks of him essentially as a brother. Even though he has vowed not to follow in his father’s footsteps, he agrees to help Stunna — a big shot gangster in the neighborhood — kill a dealer named Malcolm. The film opens with Jah shooting and killing both Malcolm and Malcolm’s partner. At the end of the movie, we see what happened right before Jah shot them.

Jah overhears Malcolm and realizes that he is actually the dealer he had confronted as a child. Suddenly, the job becomes personal. We once again see Jahkor shoot and kill Malcolm and his partner.

But that’s not the only shocking reveal at the end of the film. We also learn during the third timeline (wherein Jah is in prison) that TQ — Jah’s close friend — is in prison after a probation violation. But his being imprisoned was no accident. After speaking with his father JD, Jah learns that TQ was working with Malcolm the entire time. In fact, TQ was the one who helped Malcolm in his attempt to gun down Stunna.

Jah suddenly realizes that TQ — still following orders from Malcolm — intends to kill him. That’s when he begins making his own shank. When TQ approaches him in the yard, Jahkor quietly stabs his old friend to death.

Even when the timelines are pulled apart like this, All Day and a Night has a super complicated plot that is very tricky to follow. We definitely understand if you’re still confused! Our best advice, in that case, is to rewatch the movie taking special note of each of the three timelines.

All Day and a Night is now available to stream on Netflix.