Them is ostensibly an anthology series, and yet the ending of The Scare connects Season 2 back to the first. Episode 8 is particularly guilty of this, and the finale raises some serious questions about whether this is truly an anthology and not just an overarching, connected narrative.
As I briefly mentioned in my review of Them: The Scare, the stories are, for the most part, totally divorced. But the finale’s last-minute efforts to connect the two seasons are worthy of a bit of explanation, at the very least.
How are Dawn and Edmund Gaines connected?
In a tale as old as time, our heroine is deeply connected to the supernatural evil she finds herself battling. And in a similarly familiar twist towards the end of the season, we learn that Dawn and Edmund Gaines were twins.
Despite having been handed over together to Mott, the siblings did not remain together. Mott’s abuses broke Edmund’s psyche. When they were adopted, Edmund’s behavior was too much for Athena to cope with, and she sent him back to Mott. It’s a selfish decision, hard to reconcile.
Edmund’s trauma from the abuse informs his resentment for Dawn. He can’t accept that she doesn’t remember what happened to them when he is so haunted by it. In the finale, Edmund commits suicide to give himself over to The Scare, a symbolic manifestation of his trauma winning.
Dawn Remembers
Them: The Scare Season 2 | Image via Prime Video
One of the aspects of the finale that does work is how it allows the past to creep through into the present, notably in the remnants of old abuses – broken clocks, scratches in the closet – still scarring the Mott house physically (and Edmund emotionally).
It also makes sense that acknowledging these past traumas and tragedies is what allows Dawn to “defeat” the Scare at the end of Them Season 2, or at least pull Edmund away from its influences before he can harm her or Kel.
In recalling some of their shared experiences, Dawn can relate to Edmund on an emotional level. And in doing that she can free him. Sure, he dies as a result, but at least his sister holds him while he does so. At least most of the people complicit in Mott’s abuse are gone.
The Charges Against Dawn Are Dropped
After vanquishing supernatural evil, the investigation into the death of McKinney seems a small affair.
Luckily, Dawn had recorded the racist detective attacking her, proving she killed him in self-defense. All the charges against her are rightly dropped.
Ultimately, though, Dawn leaves the force regardless, and it’s not hard to imagine why.
How is Them: The Scare connected to Season 1?
Okay, so let’s get into the important stuff. The end of Episode 8 reveals some explicit connections to Them: Covenant which binds the narratives together and suggests the show is less of an anthology than first appearances – and Prime’s marketing – suggested.
So, Dawn and Edmund were the children of Ruby Emory, the daughter of Henry and Lucky from Season 1. Ruby had taken the babies to the Mott house in the hopes of them growing up away from the supernatural evil that had plagued the Emory family, but no such luck in that regard.
At the end of Them: The Scare, Dawn roots through the box her mother left her and unearths a photo of the Emory family, noting her resemblance to Lucky.
And that’s not all! The ending of Them Season 2 sees Da Tap Dance Man present himself to Dawn. This could have all kinds of implications for Them Season 3 if Prime Video shows an interest in it.
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