Them is a unique horror anthology series. Season 1 follows the Emorys family as they move to Palmer Drive in Compton. However, as the black family arrives there, nothing is what it seems. I found that the series offers a varied experience, with each episode jigsawing their experiences together. I’ve watched every episode and put together a recap, breaking down all the main plot points.
Episode 1 – “DAY 1”
Episode 1 highlights “Day 1” of the Emory family as they settle into their new home.
To begin proceedings, episode 1 starts on a hot day — a black woman sees a white woman outside her house who has taken an interest in her home. The white woman starts singing about cotton fields and “Black Joe,” stating her father used to sing it to her. The longer she sings, the more the black woman is irked. The black woman asks her to leave as her husband will be back soon. The white woman asks if she can have her boy. This was creepy as hell.
Road trip to a new home
And then “Day 1” momentarily calms the nerves.
Episode 1 flits to a young black family on the road with their children; they are heading to Los Angeles. Text pops up that says, “Between 1916 and 1970, roughly 6 million African-Americans relocated from rural Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest and West.
Widely known as the great migration, many black families were drawn to California by the promise of industrial jobs and a chance to leave the Jim Crow South behind. On September 14, 1953, Henry and Livia ‘Lucky’ Emory moved their family from Chatham County, North Carolina to Compton, California”. The series then warns the viewers that it will present the events that followed the next 10 days in the family’s new home at 3011 Palmer Drive.
Them Season 1, Episode 1 – “DAY 1” (Credit – Prime Video)
Welcome to the neighborhood
And that strange, awful tension can be felt immediately as the Emory family arrives at their new home.
Betty Wendell is curious about who has moved in across the road, and she wants to look for clues. The Emory family drives into the suburban community, and there’s instantly a weird tension as white people look at them. The expressions of Henry and Lucky are obvious; it’s going to be a difficult settling-in period. Betty is alerted that the family has arrived, and she and her friends are in complete shock. Lucky looks across the street, and Betty and her friends look right at her. Henry diffuses the tension by waving at them.
“No Negro Blood”
And the circumstances involving their house purchase is revealed…
Daughter Grace Emory finds the basement, and there’s an eeriness to it as her mother tells her to move away from it. As Lucky looks at the purchase agreement, it says “No Negro Blood”, but the estate agent tells her that it’s not legal to prevent them from having this house. Henry already knew about these terms. As Lucky looks outside, plenty of white people are waiting outside. She’s angry at Henry for not telling her about the “Negro Blood” rule. Henry tells her he is tired of running. Lucky readies her gun and tells Henry that none of these people will get a warning if they cross them. You can tell she means it.
School run and a new job
Episode 1 highlights how immediately difficult it is for the Emory family to go about their daily routine. Racism is rife in this community.
The next day, Betty and the neighbors set up their chairs and tables outside their house to watch the new family continue to move in while constantly playing music. Lucky looks outside and sees the neighbors all set up and watching, and she’s mortified. Her daughters ask if there if they are playing music for them. The oldest daughter, Ruby, is worried about how long this is going to continue. Lucky sneaks Ruby out of the back to get to the school bus.
Henry heads to his new job, and the receptionist assumes he’s a kitchen worker. He has to ask for the engineering department three times before he’s finally heard. A black colleague shows him around, and he’s impressed that he’s moved to Compton. When Henry walks into the engineering offices, there’s a slight silence as he enters before he walks to where he needs to be.
The song returns
When Lucky returns home, her daughter Grace sings the “Black Joe” song, and her mother tells her to stop. Grace will not tell her mother how she learned the song, so Lucky slaps her. She hugs her daughter and apologizes.
Getting “Them” back
Betty and her friends end the day by discussing the black family. She believes they look exhausted because they came from somewhere worst — she wants to get them out by making their neighbourhood even worse from where they came from. Betty refers to the black family as “Them”. The men of the neighborhood gather and also plot how to get the black family out. The level of disgust you can feel while you watch these scenes is almost unbearable.
At the end of the day, the Emory family plays their own music and relaxes in their new house. In the middle of the night, Grace wonders where the family dog, Sergeant, is, so she checks out the halls. Downstairs, she sees a tall figure, but because it’s nighttime, the young girl cannot make out who it is. The person reveals their hands and then grabs Grace by the neck.
The next morning, Lucky checks up on her daughters. When she looks at Grace, she sees a mark on her neck and asks who did it to her. Grace tells her parents that someone has taken their dog. Henry looks around the house frantically and eventually reaches the basement. When he gets to the bottom, he finds their dog dead. The family is in hysterics, realizing what happened. Their cries can be heard from the streets. Lucky grabs her pistol and screams down the streets — she tells them to stay away from their home. Henry grabs her and brings his wife back inside. The way this scene is directed is abundantly obvious; it’s angled in a way that makes the black woman look like an erratic monster — from the lens of the white person at the time, seeing a young black woman scream down the streets.
Episode 1 is difficult to watch as it highlights the ingrained racism that armored white communities in 1950s America.
Episode 2 – “DAY 3”
Them Season 1, Episode 2 – “DAY 3” (Credit – Prime Video)
Episode 2 opens with Lucky’s screams as she asks her neighbors to stay away from her home after their dog has been killed. The episode then flits to North Carolina, 1946 — Lucky wakes up Henry — he’s shaken, so she feeds him. He seems confused, and Lucky talks about a potential job opening, but for Henry, everything zones out.
After dinner, he talks about his recent experiences in the war and the nerve gas he suffered from; he suddenly gets agitated because his daughter made him a pie, and he couldn’t eat it. In the middle of the night, Henry wakes up and heads on to the porch; he’s found a dog and calls him “Sergeant”.
The police turn up
Episode 2 shows how the neighborhood is doing everything it can to get rid of the new family, but they will have to try harder.
In the present day, “DAY 3”, the police head to the family house after Lucky’s outburst. They want to know why Lucky has a gun. A cop holds a photo and asks who it is in the frame. Outside, Betty tells the police that she doesn’t feel safe. The officer explains that without action from a threat, there’s nothing much he can do.
Better is furious, believing the police are useless. Lucky tries telling the police about a mark on her daughter’s neck, but it’s not there when she tries to reveal it. A lot of these moments are happening — something paranormal is inflicting on the family.
Lucky is dismayed that Henry sided with the police. As Henry drops Ruby off, his daughter asks if his mother is crazy. Henry tells Ruby that her mother got him right and that they need to work to get her right.
There’s something bad in this house
Lucky’s relationship with her daughter Gracie comes to light in episode 2.
Lucky heads down into the basement with Gracie. As she looks around, Gracie asks her mother if she can see Miss Vera and says she can smell her. Lucky asks about her smell, so Gracie describes it. Suddenly, Lucky sees something right in front of her, and she storms upstairs with Gracie. Her daughter asks if “she felt it”. Lucky tells her she felt it, but not to tell her father about it. Gracie explains there’s something bad in the house.
Later, Lucky heads to the store, where she sees some axes that absorb her. She’s still enraged by the dog’s death.
Midge is moving
Betty’s persistence to remove the black family from the neighborhood grows stronger in episode 2.
Betty wants to do something about the family across the road, but her friend Midge believes the men should sort it out. Better realizes that Midge is moving, and she zones out; as she hears that Midge is pregnant, Betty gets angrier.
When Betty talks to her husband about it, she wonders if it’s because of the house value. She asks Clarke to take a stand in the neighborhood. Clarke agrees, but only if she makes peace with Midge.
But rather than making peace with Midge, Betty puts sugar in Midge’s family’s new car in the fuel compartment.
Meeting the boss
A colleague named Gary tells Henry to snap out of it as he’s zoned out at work. Henry thanked him, but then his boss asked for his attention. The boss tells him they don’t have many “negroes” around here. Henry sarcastically says, “you don’t?” and Gary laughs and asks how he is. He tells his boss that the family dog died this morning so that he’s pretty upset. After his meeting, Henry goes into the bathroom and screams into his hands.
Harassed at school
At school, Ruby is harassed by the students who make monkey sounds at her. A girl called Doris makes friends with her at the Principal’s office.
At the family dinner, Gracie tells her father that she saw Miss Vera. Henry is angry and looks at his wife, Lucky. His wife slices a pie and gives him a plate aggressively. She whispers in his ear that she’s beginning to feel better already. Henry suddenly remembers his past when his daughter made him a pie, and his hands start shaking as he lifts a piece to his mouth. He keeps seeing flashes of digging into the soil.
Eventually, Henry sobs as he eats the pie, and then he looks at his wife and nods when the plate is clean. As the episode ends, the camera looks at the soil in the yard, and liquid gushes from the ground. There’s an element of control in this family that has not been revealed yet.
Episode 2 deepens this physiological and social thriller as outside forces grow, but an internal struggle amongst the Emory family grows stronger.
Episode 3 – “DAY 4”
Them Season 1 (Credit – Prime Video)
Episode 3 opens with Lucky feeling tormented by the woman who sang “Black Joe” to her in episode one, but then she wakes up. It’s now “DAY 4”. When she enters the garden, a young boy is urinating on her laundry hanging in the garden; she chases him down the street. The neighbors all look at her like she’s the crazy one again. Lucky rings her friend Hazel and tells her how she wants to “slap a bitch”.
Lucky is slowly losing her mind in this place, and she’s alone with these thoughts as her husband refuses to accept that where they’ve moved to us rotten.
Buying a TV
Henry and his daughters head out to buy a television. The TV shop owner comments how he assumes they have 100 cousins who will want to watch their television. Henry suddenly looks at a television screen to see a comedian doing “Blackface”. Henry makes a purchase anyway.
When Henry gets home, he tries to install a TV signal on the roof, but a few neighborhood men soon surround him. They want him to come down and tell his side of the story regarding his wife chasing one of their kids. Henry tells them to join him on the roof, but they get scared.
Visiting family
Lucky decides to visit her friends, acquaintances, and family to have a break from her new neighborhood. She tells them that she feels welcome around family and requests they visit her in Compton as it’s close. One of the members brings up a black family who had a terrible time in that area of Compton.
One of them wishes her luck, and the social gathering becomes overwhelming for her. It’s dawning on her that black people are scared of the area she lives in, and she’s right in the epicenter of the rottenness.
Audiences can feel the escalation with each chapter.
Betty leads the community meeting
Betty and the neighborhood have a community meeting about the black family. She’s irked because her husband hasn’t shown up on time. One of the men stands up and says they need to get the black family out using a “slow and steady” approach.
Betty stands up and explains that their ancestors built their world and that the men seem to be fine doing it “slow and steady,” but she compares the black family to mold. George smiles at her as she gives her speech.
It’s incredible how Betty delivers this speech — she expects the men of the community to do whatever it takes to get rid of the black family — she doesn’t even care at what cost. She’s well and truly focused on the presence of the Emory family.
Bus terror
Lucky gets a bus back to Compton, but suddenly, the transportation is empty. The lights flicker, and there is a heavily scarred man in front of her with a top hat. As she tries to get off the bus, she’s grabbed by multiple hands, and the man with the top hat looks down at her. Eventually, she wakes up, and the bus driver tells her to get off. A police officer drives her back home. The cop tells her that the bus is empty and that she keeps showing strange behavior. He says that if it continues, he’ll have to pick a side.
Lucky tells Henry that there is something wrong with the place they’ve moved into, something rotten. She wants Henry to believe her. Henry does not indicate that he believes her, so she walks off upset.
Outside, Clarke and the men pour fuel outside the Emory family home and set it on fire. Betty watches with a smile on her face — the fire reads “Nigger Heaven”.
Episode 3 sees tensions escalate as the rottenness that navigates around the community is growing. The themes center around oppression and racism in 60s America while a growing evil lurks under the Emory household.
Episode 4 – “DAY 6”
Them Season 1, Episode 4 – “DAY 6” (Credit – Prime Video)
Episode 4 opens up with Henry leaving his house, and a collection of black dolls has been left in his garden. Some are hung. “Nigger Heaven” is scorched on the grass — this is a horrific racist experience — it’s “DAY 6”. He urgently walks back inside the house and stops his children from leaving. Lucky can see the dolls hung from the window, and she’s angry again. Henry tells his children to walk straight to the car and not pay attention to what they see. He tells his wife not to give the neighbors satisfaction, but he manages to calm her down.
As Henry drives off to work, Betty and Lucky’s eyes meet as they inhale their cigarettes. Betty tells Lucky that she isn’t wanted here. Lucky makes the point that Betty doesn’t have children. Betty warns that it isn’t going to get better. These two women hate each other — you can feel it burning through the screen.
George hints that he will “take care of it”
George tells Betty that he stayed up all night thinking about her speech. He clearly admires her. He then tells her that it takes a certain type of man to do certain types of things. Betty tells George that she wishes she could have a day off where she didn’t have to make a single decision, and someone would take care of all this. They are talking in code at this point — Betty wants George to do something unforgivable to get rid of the family.
Getting close to her new friend
Ruby keeps hanging with her new friend Doris at school. They seem to be getting closer. The girl tells Ruby that she’s the prettiest “colored girl” she’s ever seen. Suddenly, the black caretaker finds Ruby on her own in the cleaning cupboard. It looks like she is on her own, and she is imagining Doris.
A reference
As usual, the series takes a strange turn as Them season 1, episode 4 sees Lucky doing her own research — the character is tired of the abuse — she’s angry, and her past riddles her brain as the present torments it.
Lucky visits her estate agent — the agent tells Lucky that she’s not alone regarding negro families having resistance in these areas. When Lucky walks off, the estate agent rings the police.
Lucky meets Mrs Johnson about her experiences in the area. She asks where her children are. Suddenly, Mrs Johnson’s husband appears with bloody chopped off legs. When Lucky enters the kitchen, blood is everywhere. In terror, Lucky flees the house.
Work incentive
Although this is set in the ’60s, I have to say, I experienced this strange tension at work in my early 20s, and it’s extremely uncomfortable.
At Henry’s work event, colleagues are celebrating getting the Pentagon contract. All engineers will be getting a percentage of the profits. Suddenly, on stage, a man wearing a “black face” leads the band. Henry’s manager wants Henry to leave, but he decides to stay and introduce himself to the director. He tries his best to mingle and not feel out of place due to the color of his skin.
Help from the family
Betty meets her parents. Her father asks Betty why she has come back. Betty is trying to find a way to move away from the community and asks for help. She wants to live closer to them. The mother is displeased because Betty hasn’t visited in a while, but her father wants her back. There’s an eeriness that can be felt. Betty wants them to write a cheque without the promise of staying over, but they will not let her. She doesn’t look comfortable in her parents’ home. When Betty returns home, Clarke apologizes for not being at the meeting, but Betty explains that she wants him to want to be there.
When Henry returns home, Lucky brings him to Mrs Johnson’s home. However, when she enters the house, everything is normal. It isn’t what she first experienced. Henry and Lucky return home, and they read their children a bedtime story. When the children go to bed, Lucky gets intimate with her husband. As they are about to have sex, the music gets noticeably aggressive.
This series is no longer comfortable to watch, and that’s the point. Episode 4 looks into the social engineering of these communities in 60s America as our leading characters are becoming engrossed in the community’s evil.
Episode 5 – “COVENANT I”
Them Season 1, Episode 5 – “COVENANT I” (Credit – Prime Video)
Episode 5 opens up with a group of white men who own a portfolio of estates, mapping out where black families are moving in Compton. They discuss interest rates and what they should charge black people. It’s flagrantly clear that the executives are using black people to implement their monopoly plans.
The estate agent (Helen), who sold to the Emory family, claims that in the long term, they should implement competitive mortgage rates rather than swindle black families. The executives mock her, stating she is ambitious and she could have easily been a stay-at-home mom.
Sell, sell, sell
Episode 5 shows a horrific balance between systematic racism and the need for capitalism and how wealthy white men wanted to keep both.
Flashbacks show the same estate agent selling a property to the Mrs. Johnson family — Helen tells them it’s a nice place to live and asks them to ignore “Negro Blood” in the terms and conditions. She describes how the world is changing and that they should take the opportunity. Once Mr Johnson signs, she tells them to move in at night to create “less of a stir”. Afterward, she meets a police officer named Paul, who insists he’s maintaining war within the community and that he wants in on these illegal deals.
When Helen heads into her car, she’s threatened and grabbed by the throat by a white man — he tells her to stop selling houses to black families.
Attack on the house
The next scene should come with a warning right before it rather than the start of the episode. It’s sickening, and I hate to admit, but I had a strange reaction to it — I felt like throwing up.
Episode 5 flashes back to North Carolina, the same scene we saw in Episode 1. A woman visits the house and gives the dog Sergeant’s attention before singing “Black Joe” to Lucky. She’s interested in the baby inside the house — Lucky calls her son Chester. The woman asks if she can have her boy. Suddenly, the house is surrounded by a few men, so the mother hides Chester. Eventually, Lucky is found by a couple of men, and she is raped repeatedly. The woman singing “Black Joe” finds Chester while his mother continues to be raped. The woman wraps the baby in cloth. They throw the baby between each other, swinging over their shoulders until the baby dies — Lucky had to watch her baby be killed while she was violently sexually assaulted.
What follows is a funeral, but Lucky’s state of mind becomes the center of the story. Her daughters wonder if she will ever be the same — they believe she has gone crazy. Henry promises his children that they will help her and that she will be okay. Henry agrees to a new house and a job opportunity in Compton — a fresh start. He tells Lucky that he needs her and that he cannot do this alone — he swears that Chester will always be with them.
Shocking, grueling, and evil — episode 5 presents traumatic sequences of events that will horrify audiences.
Episode 6 – “DAY 7: MORNING”
Them Season 1, Episode 6 – “DAY 7: MORNING” (Credit – Prime Video)
Episode 6 opens up with Ruby waking up, and she sees her mother looking over her with an axe. She tells Ruby to go back to sleep. The next morning, Lucky wakes up with bloody feet, and she is heavily breathing. Meanwhile, Henry slowly shaves his beard in the mirror.
Their state of mind seems to be based on trauma — their thoughts are lucid. As Lucky does Gracie’s hair with straighteners, she imagines her hair is on fire; she burns her neck by accident — it’s “DAY 7: MORNING”.
Dropped from the Pentagon project
And it doesn’t get better for Henry, who has to endure another day at work as a black man in a white systematic workplace.
Henry is asked technical questions by his boss. His boss gets agitated with Henry and takes him off the Pentagon project. He’s taken him off because employees get a percentage of the profits. Henry is furious and does his utmost best to contain his anger, but he makes his hands bleed. The boss tells him he owns more than any other “negro” he knows.
The Beaumont family
While Henry slowly retreats to his own demise, Lucky is adamant that she still needs to investigate East Compton.
Lucky meets Hazel to have a conversation about her experiences. Hazel tells Lucky to get out of Compton and live near her instead. She tells her about the Beaumont family — they were killed.
Lucky meets Mrs. Beaumont in a mental facility and explains that she lives in East Compton. Mrs. Beaumont tells her to think about how much she’ll miss her children when they are gone; she explains to Lucky that they hadn’t left the house in days on the night of the incident. Scenes show Mrs. Beaumont pouring bleach all over her family. Mrs. Beaumont tells Lucky about “The Man with the Black Hat.”
Rinsing the account
Betty learns that there’s no money in her account when she goes to the bank. The bank manager tells her that a husband and a wife have a sacred bond. Her husband has taken money out, and there’s less than $400 left.
Meeting at the gymnasium
While the parents are burdened by their experiences, it’s easy to forget the children.
Ruby talks to Doris at school and asks why she wants to be friends. Doris tells Ruby that she “sees her.” She invites Ruby to meet her in the gymnasium after school. When she heads to the gymnasium, she watches the cheerleaders perform. She joins in on the dancing. The more they dance, the more the girls’ bones crunch and do horror-like positions. The camera then focuses on Ruby; she’s dancing on her own. There are no cheerleaders with her.
“What you gonna do?”
While watching TV, Henry sees a man with a top hat doing “Black Face”. He asks why he’s in his house because he pays for everything. He states that profit sharing is earned, and “Black Face” laughs at him, stating he sounds just like his boss. Henry gets increasingly angry as “Black Face” repeatedly sings, “What you gonna do”. Henry gets in his car and leaves the house.
“Cat in the bag”
At school, Gracie stands up to recite the Declaration to America, but she sees a scary figure outside the window. She keeps repeating “cat in the bag”—in the previous chapter, the woman who sings “Black Joe” swung baby Chester while repeating “cat in the bag.” When Lucky picks up Gracie from school, the teacher asks her about the phrase “cat in the bag” and tells her it isn’t the right place for her daughter.
The ending of episode 6 shows that Lucky and Henry are well and truly exhausted from the events surrounding them.
Henry looks around the neighborhood, and a man passing by asks what he’s doing. As the man walks away, Henry punches him from behind, and the man collapses.
When Lucky returns home with Gracie, Betty asks her when she’s going to clean up her mess and calls her family “niggers”. Lucky stops and asks Gracie to go inside. She walks up to Betty, and her backhand slaps her, and walks inside her home. Betty returns home furious, repeating that Lucky is a “black bitch” before grabbing a knife. She then tears down her wallpaper and starts trashing the house. Betty then rings up someone and asks for a “favor.”
Episode 7 – “DAY 7: NIGHT”
Them Season 1, Episode 7 – “DAY 7: NIGHT” (Credit – Prime Video)
Episode 7 opens with Henry knocking a white man unconscious on the pavement before sneaking into his boss’s house wielding a gun. He finds a woman smoking a cigarette while on the phone, and he decides to look around the house even more.
George agrees to “deal with it.”
Betty meets up with George; she’s frantic and on edge. She tells him that he’s a man who can “do things.” — Betty asks for the black family to be gone. George learns that Lucky slapped her, and Betty slowly convinces him to help. He agrees to do it. Meanwhile, Lucky starts packing up at home, and Gracie wonders if it’s because of her.
Sinister George
But it turns out George is now just in love with Betty; he’s a monster himself.
Clarke is worried that the black family has done something to Betty; however, police officer John doesn’t believe that’s the case. Meanwhile, Betty tells George that she wants to see him do what he’s about to do. George is happy that this moment has finally come. Betty is sleepy and slipping into unconsciousness — George tells her he gave her too much and kisses her hand.
Let it go, Lucky
The experiences are getting more and more intense in episode 7.
Lucky sees Hazel about wanting to move out for a while. Hazel tells her that fleeing is not going to bring Chester back and grabs a photo of him. Lucky starts to cry as Hazel puts her arm around her and tells her to let it go. Hazel continues to talk to her and explains that Heaven waits for them and that on this world, they want to kill their black children. It turns into a rallying cry as Hazel tells her they should do work for the Father. When Gracie asks her mother who she’s praying with, it’s clear Lucky isn’t speaking to someone who is present — she turns around to see a disfigured woman looking at her.
Meanwhile, Henry is still talking to the Da Tap Dance Man — he’s completely under his words, and it’s a similar rallying cry. It’s all about taking control of the trauma, the past, and the viciousness of the white community.
Being white
At school, Ruby tells Doris that she doesn’t want to be like “them” anymore, referring to her family — she believes she is ugly and wants to be beautiful like Doris. Ruby kisses Doris, and her hands are white when she opens her eyes. When she looks in the mirror, her eyes are blue. Suddenly, Doris disappears. Ruby looks over at the white paint. She pours paint over herself and then joins a school social event. Everyone looks at her in shock as she dances near the fire.
Lucky wields the axe
Lucky brings Gracie down into the basement; the mother picks up an axe and tells her she needs to save her. A man with a top hat stands behind Gracie. The young girl starts making her way up the stairs. Lucky asks her if she misses her brother — Gracie gets increasingly anxious. Lucky tries to use the axe to hit Gracie, but she moves out of the way. The mother snaps out of it and says it was Miss Vera doing this to her. Ruby shows up, covered in paint, and she says something is wrong with her.
It’s at this point that the family realizes that there is something terribly wrong with the neighborhood.
“Bad things happen”
Officer John asks Henry if he knows anything about Betty. The Da Tap Dance Man smiles at Henry as he says that “bad things happen” and that he doesn’t want to spread rumors. The police officer says he will talk to his wife instead. Henry shoots the police officer and says, “I told you bad things happen”.
Lucky is scrubbing the white paint off her daughter Ruby. Henry walks in and tells Lucky that they have to leave immediately. Henry gathers his daughters and apologizes to them. Meanwhile, one of the men across the road is wielding a gun, and Clarke stops him from crossing. Lucky calls out to Henry, but he’s too consumed by the little wooden box that says “C.E” (for Chester). He opens it up, takes out the body of a dead baby, and brings it outside while sobbing. Henry asks her why Chester is in the box. Lucky tells him she couldn’t leave him and apologizes. It feels like the parents are grieving together for the first time.
Episode 7 continues to escalate the situation as all the issues that drive the story are beginning to hurt each family member.
Episode 8 – “DAY 9”
Them Season 1, Episode 8 – “DAY 9” (Credit – Prime Video)
Now that we understand what exactly curses the town the Emory family lives in, the series is reaching a natural finale.
Episode 8 opens up with Lucky in a mental facility. A doctor tells her not to get too excited. Henry is told by the facility doctor that prison is not the right place for his wife and that she needs treatment — the authorities got wind of the dead baby in the small box. He wants to visit his wife, but the doctor explains that he will only agitate her at the moment. She tells Henry to focus on his daughters.
George has set up a place for Betty
Betty’s demise continues in episode 8 — she feared black people, but she didn’t consider that she needed to fear George.
Betty wakes up, and George gets her a cup of tea. He asks her if she recognizes the wallpaper and how he is determined to find the same pattern as her house. He’s also bought her clothes. Betty looks concerned, but George tells her not to be scared and that he tied her up for her own protection. He leaves the underground room he’s made for her, and Betty starts crying.
Meanwhile, a few of the neighbors learn that a police officer has been shot dead. They debate on whether they should leave. The community is anxious — Betty is missing, and nothing feels right.
Sharing her experience
In the mental facility, Lucky explains to Mrs Beaumont the experience she had with “the man”, who we now know as the cursed priest. She described how he commanded her.
Later on, Lucky asks the doctor if she can send a message to her family. The doctor explains she has taken care of many “negro” women. Lucky gets frustrated and says it was a “white bitch” that killed her child, and she’s dragged away.
A perfect dinner
George makes dinner for Betty, and he serves her a drink. Betty explains how she likes her drink with a few ice cubes, so he goes to get some. He climbs outside the underground room and locks the hatch door. When he returns, Betty asks if she could stay at his house like a normal couple — she feels if it’s real love, then there’s nothing to worry about. She returns from the kitchen and stabs him in the neck with a corkscrew, but it’s not enough to kill him. George gets up and tells her if she wants to leave, it will be the hardest thing he’s done, and he leaves the hatch.
Under interrogation
As Henry reads a paper, a male neighbor walks in and hits him with a baseball bat. He’s then tied up. One of the men has a gun pointed at Gracie. They ask Henry where Betty is. He tells the two men to deal with him, not his children. They take his children away, and Henry continues to be interrogated.
Suddenly, Da Tap Dance Man appears near Henry as his white neighbor uses sharp scissors to cut off one of his fingers. The white men throw the family into the basement. They start hanging Henry with a rope, but then the children fight back.
In the mental facility, the priest visits Lucky, and he asks what black magic she has used. He warns that he will have her family tearing each other to pieces. The priest tortures her mind, and her screams can be heard down the corridor.
The evil is transparent and flagrant in the story as Them season 1, episode 8, puts the family through the motions as they deal with it.
Episode 9 – “COVENANT II”
Them Season 1, Episode 9 – “COVENANT II” (Credit – Prime Video)
Episode 9 begins with a priest talking to God in the middle of a barren land. He talks about sacrificing his son for good fortune and wants to know why — he’s trying to stick to his faith without crossing boundaries — the priest is conflicted. He looks over to some trees and sees a young boy curled up — he tells him he will call him “Miras”, which means merciful. The priest takes care of the young boy and takes him under his wing.
This is a priest whose faith has been compromised — his conflict eventually turns to evil.
Travelers arrive
The young boy warns the priest about some travelers who have broken down on the road. When they go to meet the travelers, it’s a black couple. He welcomes them into the town and feeds them. Some of the white people cannot stop looking at them. One of the locals explains that black people have torn the country in two, evidently referencing the Civil War.
Advice on the water well
At first, the town seems like a good fit for the black couple, mostly because the priest welcomes them.
The husband tells the priest that they have enjoyed the hospitality for a week and would like to contribute. The priest accepts his offer. Another man asks the priest why his guest cannot help settle a dispute over the water well. They ask him what they should do. The husband advises on where they should dig. But while the wife Martha sews, the women laugh and ask peculiar questions like “How does she give birth?”. They laugh childishly at her, believing that black women are uniquely different.
Black magic
And then the beginning of the end starts to ignite…
The local community is curious about why the black man could find water immediately when they have asked God for weeks. A woman states it has nothing to do with the work of Christians but the work with black magic.
The priest turns
At the start of the episode, the priest doubts his faith, and with the community doubting the black couple, his faith is once again compromised.
The priest asks God to remove any lingering doubts from his soul and asks for wisdom. The next day, the priest drops his cross, and Martha picks it up and gives it to him. The priest sees Martha differently — his vision looks skewed — he believes she is evil all of a sudden and thinks the Lord is right — “that the couple is here to break him”. Martha asks if the priest lured them to this place to work them to death. The priest grabs her, so Martha slaps him. It makes the situation worse as Martha is thrown into the barn with her husband.
Martha curses the priest and calls him the white devil
It’s a point of no return as the priest lets go of his intuition and follows the messages in his head.
The priest organizes a trial; the couple is accused of stealing their own horse. The priest explains that the Lord changed his thinking. They blind the black couple with hot poker sticks. The priest announces that they must expel them and take away their flesh. A blind Martha stands up and curses the priest and calls him a white devil. Suddenly, the priest’s Bible is set on fire, and the community attacks the black couple. The church and the surrounding buildings are set on fire, and Miras smiles. The priest looks ahead of him; the black couple has been hung, and his people are burning in flames.
The priest and the young boy head into the basement. Miras tells him that this is not the end. He tells him that he is the one he worships, and they are bound together. The boy’s appearances keep changing, and he tells the priest to break their hearts from the inside. He states that if he fails to make a Hell for them, he will have a Hell for him and asks if he accepts the terms. The priest takes the boy’s hand, and the covenant is sealed. The roof collapses on the priest, filling the basement with flames.
The next day, shots show the small town in ashes, and then color returns to the series; it shows the neighborhood that the Emory family moved into. The town is cursed.
Them season 1, episode 9 brings an origin story; the series probably did not need an entire chapter to explain the curse, but it’s still a well-made production.
Episode 10 – “DAY 10”
Them Season 1, Episode 10 – “DAY 10” (Credit – Prime Video)
The final episode of season 1 has plenty of weight because everything before it has pre-empted that everything will come to fruition; it does not feel like a series that will have a continuation, so this chapter is important.
The final episode opens up with Betty trapped in the underground room that George had created for her. She sits in a solemn silence before climbing up the ladders — she realizes the hatch at the top is open.
Feeling nervous, Betty leaves the underground room, and it’s a bright and wonderful day. She runs across the farm to escape, but George snipes her from a distance. That’s the end of Betty in this story.
Escape from the facility
Lucky is still in the mental facility. The doctor tells her she will be receiving a gift. Lucky asks if she can use the restroom before going to the ballroom. As she gets up, she injects a nurse in the neck, and they collapse.
Commotion on the street
At home, it’s way more hectic — episode 10 begins to snowball an ending.
Back at the house, Ruby axes one of her white neighbors to help her father, who was being hanged. The other man flees, but Henry chases after him and shoots him repeatedly. As they reach the middle of the street, other neighbors come out to see the commotion. The man’s wife comes out, and she’s panicking — she calls him a “dirty nigger”. Da Tap Dance Man shows up behind her and laughs, and Henry focuses on the wife. He looks at her pregnant belly, and it reminds him of when he lost a child. Ruby shouts after her father, which snaps him out of it.
The transforming house
In the distance, police sirens can be heard — Henry tries to return to the house, but the door shuts on him. Ruby can hear her father’s muffled voice, but then she hears children singing. Gracie hears the same thing. As Gracie reaches the wardrobe, someone grabs her. The room that Ruby is in transforms into the school bathroom, and she sees Doris.
Doris tells Ruby that she knows who she wants to be. She tells her she’s just like her mother. As Ruby looks in the mirror, she looks like her mother. The devil is playing on their minds intensely—it’s taking over.
The picture room
Henry finally enters the house, but it looks different. He can hear the audience laughing, and he enters a cinema auditorium. Henry asks Da Tap Dance Man where his daughters are. The man laughs at him and tells him that he needs to look with his eyes if he wants to see them. Suddenly, he sees himself and his daughters in the audience. This was the day he took his daughters out to the cinemas and left Lucky with Chester — this was the day she was raped and her little boy was killed. The devil is taunting his mind, playing on his guilt and trauma.
Returning home
While escaping the mental facility, Lucky bumps into a black security guard, but he pretends he didn’t see her. On her way home, she sees the commotion outside her house. Clarke sees her but continues driving. Lucky walks through the groups of white people, and they heckle her with racist comments.
She screams to shut them all up — this felt like a relief when everyone quietened; it felt at this moment that the racism had peaked to a childish point, and only a scream could stop the adults who were acting like children. As she enters the house, a row of fire appears in front of the garden.
Saving the kids
When she enters, she saves Gracie immediately. On the other hand, Ruby is still immersed in the mirror, where she looks like her mother. Her head is plunged into the sink as Doris (who is now black) tries to choke her to death.
Lucky finds her, and she’s holding a shard of glass, hurting herself. She tries to calm her daughter down slowly, but Ruby points the shard of glass at her mother. Lucky tells her she would never hurt her, so Ruby drops the shard of glass.
Show who you are
But there’s still the father to save, and he is perhaps the most inflicted person in the house.
Henry is still in the cinema auditorium watching the film with Da Tap Dance Man. The scenes are showing Lucky being raped and his son getting killed. Da Tap Dance Man asks when white people are going to stop taking stuff from him. He tells him to show who he is.
As he becomes increasingly agitated, Lucky puts a hand on him to calm her husband down. Henry tells Lucky that he should have been there, but she tells him he couldn’t have known. He apologizes and states he was trying to make everything okay. Lucky tells him she and the girls need him. The house returns to normal, and Henry shoots the Da Tap Dance Man. The man laughs at him in return. Henry takes out the man’s handkerchief and rubs off the paint to reveal a white man.
It’s not over yet
As episode 10 reaches a conclusive end, there’s one last thing to do — confront the devil himself.
The family gathers and plans to leave the house. Lucky tells them all that they will not be running anymore and heads to the basement. As she walks down the stairs, the door closes behind her. She faces the priest and calls him the devil. The priest talks about keeping the community pure and maintaining purpose.
He tells her that this shall not end and that she failed the covenant. The priest explains he understands the loss of a child and the hole it leaves. Suddenly, a baby lies in a basket ahead of Lucky, and it’s Chester. She sobs and picks up the baby, who is crying. The priest offers Chester as a gift.
Them Season 1 Ending Explained
The priest and his servants gather around Lucky with knives in their hands. She keeps repeating, “I’m right here,” but then she faces the priest and tells him that her boy is gone, and that’s where their similarity ends — she tells him he can no longer blind her — Lucky has finally faced her grief. She rips the cross off him, drops it, and says, “I see you”.
Suddenly, the priest remembers his church burning to the ground and goes blind. He scrambles on the floor, looking for his cross. His covenant has broken, and his body is set on fire. The Emory family leaves the house, and they are faced with the entire white community and two police officers holding their guns at them. The family stands firm with each other. They are finally together, their souls intact — they are a family again.
Them season 1, episode 10, brings a full horror show as a conclusive ending to the series — the Emory family face their demons, their trauma, and the devil itself as the story goes full circle.
That completes my recap – what was your favorite episode or moment from Them Season 1? Comment below.
