Since the beginning of Revival, there’s been one question for Em. Who killed her the night of Revival Day? She finally got answers.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Revival season 1, episode 10.
The Revival season 1 finale brought a mixture of action, answers, and heartbreak. Of course, there were questions as well. You see, it’s clear that this series intends to go longer than one season, and that means a cliffhanger ending.
Ramin has worked out what the angels are in Revival
First of all, we had to see how Dana and Wayne were going to save Em from Blaine. He had captured her, believing her to be the cause of Revival Day. If she was killed, then maybe everyone else would be.
Ramin is there to witness it all, giving Dana and Wayne time to get in. Of course, he doesn’t know they’re on their way, but he’s doing what he can to stall the situation and maybe get Blaine to change his idea that he’s been called by God to rid the world of Revivers.
Blaine is sure that he saw an angel. His dad said that he would, and Ramin points out that Blaine is working with confirmation bias, wanting his dad to be right. However, he notes that the “angels” aren’t angels. Something that Wanda said as she was being forced to the angel is “It’s not mine.”
With that, Ramin was able to work out that it’s the souls of the Revivers coming to combine with their bodies. Once they combine, the Revivers are able to move on to the afterlife. By trying to put the wrong soul into a Reviver, it kills the Reviver, and who knows what happens to them.
All this gives Wayne and Dana time to get in, with Dana telling Blaine that Em healed her. So, Blaine decides to test it, shooting Wayne and forcing Em to heal her dad. It takes time, but eventually she does, and, of course, that causes Em to collapse.
Lester is able to get Em out of the church to his place by the creek to help her heal. Now, Dana and Wayne need to get out of the church, with the plan for Dana to get Cooper and get the two of them to the tunnels so they can get away with Em.
Em learns who killed her in Revival season 1 finale
While Dana is at Lester’s house, where Coop is being babysat, she sees a book about water. There’s even a video of one of Aaron’s lectures about the power of water, although that jumps to Lester and his girlfriend involved in some sexual acts.
That’s when it all pieces together. Lester has the same marking that Em drew. After all this time, we learn that Lester has been involved in Revival Day. Of course he has; he was there every step of the way in the shadows.
Lester explains to Em that the creek is the place where the membrane between oblivion and awareness is at its thinnest. With the right ritual, there’s a chance for everlasting life, which Aaron wanted for his wife to heal her cancer. Lester wanted it for himself to live forever.
Em learns that Aaron did initially try to kill her. Aaron and Lester had originally killed Rose, but she was missing something. Em had that special something needed to make the ritual happen, but since Aaron was going to use it all for himself, Lester decided to knock Aaron out and complete the ritual. However, Em was so special that she managed to raise the dead around her.
It’s not explained why she is so special, but Lester had been holding onto her soul. In another ritual, he decides to combine Em and her soul, and Em starts to see Patty again, luring her to the water. However, Dana comes in and shoots Lester, stopping the ritual.
As Dana and Lester fight, Em gets out of the water and kills Lester. However, something’s wrong, and she suddenly just disappears in front of Dana’s eyes.
What’s next for the Revivers?
We cut to 35 days later, with Revivers still around, but now Wausa getting rid of segregation. There is still no explanation for it, but the mayor makes it clear that the Revivers aren’t dangerous. The Governor has decided towork with him to bring change, although we have to debate whether that is really happening considering how things went down at the church.
Wayne has decided it’s time to retire from the force, while Dana makes the decision to stay in Wausa. The family is stuck, with Cooper blaming Wayne for something happening to Em. It’s clear that this is a mystery that needs to be solved in Revival season 2, especially with the way things end.
When Dana meets with Em’s former roommate, she says that she wishes the roommate hadn’t told her to go to the bridge for closure that night. The roommate never did. That was from an online forum, and Dana is able to get Mai to help with tracking the IP address of the forum member.
Sure enough, it came from Aaron’s house, but it wasn’t Aaron who sent the message. It was his wife. She was never assigned Em’s therapy case, and instead, jumped through hoops to make sure she got it. Why was she so focused on getting the case of her husband’s mistress?
Well, as Dana goes to her house to get answers, we find out that she is in a house somewhere by the creek. Who is there with her? Em, of course!
Revival is available to stream on Peacock.