WARNING: Spoilers for The Little Things.
What's on Deacon's keychain in The Little Things, and what does it represent? Written and directed by John Lee Hancock, the 2021 thriller includes subtle clues about the true identity of the film's serial killer, along with multiple MacGuffins that drive the plot forward and further develop the main character arcs. However, some key moments are so brief that audiences may not understand the significance during a first watch.
In The Little Things, former LAPD detective Deke Deacon (Denzel Washington) works as the sheriff for Kern County in California. Five years after a mental breakdown, he returns to Los Angeles to briefly assist with a homicide case. After discussing the details with detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), he's reminded about an unsolved murder that nearly cost him his life. At the 31-minute mark, Deacon meets with a coroner named Flo (Michael Hyatt), who gives the sheriff an object from her keychain. "To remind me of what I did," Flo says, "For what we did." The Little Things doesn't immediately reveal the significance of the star-like item, but it's clearly symbolic of something from Deacon's past.
Just as the keychain is thematically connected to Deacon's past in The Little Things, a hair piece is used to set up the climactic events. While investigating the murder of Rhonda Rathbun (Maya Kazan), Baxter learns that the victim had been wearing a red barrette on the evening of her disappearance. After identifying a prime suspect, Albert Sparma (Jared Leto), and illegally searching his home, the detectives fail to locate any evidence that could be used in court. Sparma's behavior suggests that he is indeed guilty, and the man ultimately leads Baxter to a desert location where Rathbun's body has presumably been buried. In a moment of rage, however, Baxter kills Sparma with a shovel and then waits for Deacon to arrive. At this point, a flashback sequence reveals that Deacon accidentally shot and killed a young woman five years before, which resulted in his mental breakdown. In a final twist, Deacon helps cover up Sparma's murder and purchases a red barrette that he sends to Baxter. The Little Things implies that Malek's character is about to have a mental breakdown, however the barrette allows him to believe that Sparma was actually guilty.
The object on Deacon's keychain is a bullet that was removed from a murder victim. Five years prior, Washington's character accidentally killed a young woman while looking for a suspect in the woods. The Little Things reveals that Deacon was suspended and ultimately had a mental breakdown, which resulted in a divorce as well. In the first act of the film, Washington's character asks Flo to pull records from his accidental murder case, which makes the coroner worry about Deacon's frame of mind.
Shortly before the two-hour mark in The Little Things, a flashback sequence reveals that Flo helped cover up the true cause of death for Deacon's victim. She removes the bullet during an autopsy, and then informs the detective that she listed "Multiple Stab Wounds" as the cause of death. Five years later, Flo reveals to Deacon that she kept the bullet as a reminder, and then gives it to him as a coping mechanism during their restaurant meeting.
The bullet on deacon's keychain is shaped like a star, which becomes a recurring visual motif throughout The Little Things. After the restaurant scene, Deacon visits the home of a murder victim named Julie Brock (Tiffany Gonzalez). When the lights are turned on, there's a star design on the far right side of the screen. In the bedroom, there are also several star-shaped lights, including a few that are blue. At the 42-minute mark, Etta James' "At Last" plays over visuals of police cars, with the lyrics "The stars above are blue" implying that someone from the LAPD may be responsible for the various murders.
Midway through The Little Things, the star imagery becomes more prominent. During Sparma's first confrontation with Deacon, a flashlight creates a star-like glow, and the same thing happens with Baxter's headlights during his desert trip with the suspect. When Deacon kills a woman in a flashback sequence, there's even a star pattern in the flashlight of his partner, Sal Rizoli (Chris Bauer). In fact, the light even seems to temporarily blind Washington's character just moments before he fires a fatal shot. On the surface, the star symbolism appears to thematically link with the police, however there seems to be a deeper meaning in The Little Things.
The Little Things' keychain symbolism takes on a new meaning during the violent climax. Throughout the film, the star imagery looms over Deacon like a haunting spirit - it's at the first crime scene, it's at Sparma's apartment, and it's quite literally on the keychain of Washington's character as he travels throughout the greater Los Angeles area. By the end, the star imagery appears in the headlights of Baxter's vehicle, almost like its possessing the detective and pushing him to kill. The following morning, an overhead visual shows Sparma's corpse in a Jesus-like sacrificial position, which implies that he's been wrongfully killed. An overhead visual of numerous burial holes also has a star-like design.
The star imagery in The Little Things thematically parallels the religious visuals, whether it's the artwork above Deacon's bed in a hotel room or the staging of Sparma's dead body. The two main detectives also have various conversations about religion, with Deacon consistently warning Baxter about getting caught up in an existential crisis. The ultimate tragedy is that Baxter - much like Deacon five years prior - appears to be on the verge of mental breakdown when it comes to the end of The Little Things, with the only saving grace being a faux piece of evidence that can be used to pin the Rathbun murder on Sparma. In The Little Things, the star imagery seemingly represents the long-term consequences of being a police officer, as a bright light with shades of blue follows Deacon and Baxter at all times.
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