Summary
Underwhelming, choppy and stagnant, The Society Episode 10, “How it Happens”, ends like a dud, setting itself up for a second season.
This recap of The Society Episode 10, “How it Happens” – the finale, contains spoilers. You can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.
The Society Episode 10, “How it Happens”, the finale of the Netflix series, was a little underwhelming. Sure, it had its dramatic moments, but the writers concentrated far too much in setting up a second season.
The plot point that is shunned aside is the progress of the Exploration Team, looking to find land. At first, they find nothing but endless trees and suffer walking around in one irritable loop. Eventually, they find some land and turkeys. They have their farm folks.
But all talk about how they are going to survive is quickly forgotten, and Episode 10 reverts to the election. Lexie (Grace Victoria Cox) continues her leadership bid, and Allie (Kathryn Newton), who fears to lose, wants to talk. Lexie refuses to work with Allie, and the current leader faces the prospect of losing the election in a heartfelt speech to Will.
Kelly (Kristine Froseth) has her ideas in “How it Happens”, bringing a theory that goes nowhere with any of the characters. She talks to Harry (Alex Fitzalan) about the bus driver, who had a meeting with Harry’s mother, but he quickly dismisses any conspiracy. Campbell (Toby Wallace) then visits Harry and asks him to take the leadership by force, and they encourage the guard to do the coup; Luke (Alex MacNicoll) discusses the importance of trust, but he is blackmailed into joining the group.
Kelly then tries to speak to Allie and the group about the bus driver, stating it had something to with the smell, which has barely been mentioned since the first few episodes. Sam (Sean Berdy) reveals he knows about the contract for 1.5m dollars to get rid of the smell, and the bus driver Pffiefer was involved with his family, but they stopped paying, and the smell came back. The Society at this point is suffering from introducing too many characters and plot points and trying to resurface them episodes later.
Becca (Gideon Adlon) finally gives birth, but at first, the baby is not breathing. Kelly does some weird flicking trick (I gather she learned this from the medical book) and the baby starts crying after a brief panic that the baby girl is dead. I think this scene was meant to be more emotional, but with so much exposition, and resurfacing plot points, you don’t care.
The Guard makes a deal with Lexi and starts the military coup. Campbell arrives at Allie’s house and arrests her and Will, and asks Elle (Olivia DeJonge) to spit in her face. Elle does convincingly, keeping her act on. It’s strange as a part of me believes that maybe she is on Campbell’s side, and this is all one massive ploy; it is undoubtedly hinting it that way.
The coup moves to the town hall in “How it Happens”, where Helena (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) is making a speech about Allie’s successful leadership. Harry and Lexie announce that they are going to run the town together and that Allie was going to steal the election. Their lies are ridiculously unconvincing.
Allie and Will (Jacques Colimon) are escorted through the town, with the community throwing items at and shaming them. The Resource Team shows up, announcing they have found farmland, but Lexie and Harry do not want to stop the momentum and put Allie and Will in the car.
The ending shows West Ham, but not the one we have witnessed all season. The original community is still there, but there’s a huge memorial sign displayed at the town hall of all those they have lost, suggesting that those part of the alternative West Ham are dead. I believe you can make up a variety of theories from this ending. By this point, I couldn’t care.
