Them: The Scare is Season 2 of Prime Video’s anthological horror hit Them, and it has left viewers with more questions than they started with. While originally billed as a new standalone story, the revelations in the season finale, particularly regarding who the killer was and their relationship with the main character, drew some explicit connections to Season 1 and raised some questions about how the show might proceed if renewed for Season 3 and beyond.
Let’s try and answer some of the key questions that people have been wondering about.
Who was the killer in Them: The Scare?
The killer in Season 2 is Edmund Gaines. Sort of, anyway.
In his life, Edmund killed one person. It’s in his death that things get complicated. Deeply traumatized from a history of abuse, Edmund commits suicide and gives himself over to the titular Scare, a demonic entity, and becomes the red-haired killer stalking L.A. So, it could be said that The Scare is technically the serial killer, though all of its victims are intimately connected to Edmund’s childhood abuse.
How is Edmund connected to Dawn?
Dawn Reeves is the protagonist of Them: The Scare, played by Deborah Ayorinde, who played Livia Emory in the first season. What seemed like a nice casting nod actually becomes a plot point later, but more on that in a bit.
In the meantime, let’s dig into Dawn and Edmund. You can read more about it in our explanation of Them: The Scare‘s ending, but basically, Dawn and Edmund are twins.
Them: The Scare | Image via Prime Video
Both Dawn and Edmund were adopted as children. However, Dawn was able to escape their abusive circumstances, while Edmund was not. He grew up terrorized by Bernice Mott while Dawn was led to believe that he was simply an imaginary friend she conjured in her mind. When Dawn and Edmund meet as adults, she doesn’t recognize him, and the rejection he feels is something he takes with him to his death — and also something that he voices to The Scare.
What is the significance of The Scare?
While on the one hand every good supernatural horror needs a demonic villain, The Scare is particularly meaningful in Them Season 2.
Both Edmund and Dawn were given red-haired Raggedy Ann dolls as children. However, just like Dawn was able to escape the abuse, her foster mother Athena threw her doll away, while Edmund kept his. This untethering was beneficial to dawn, but Edmund clung to the Raggedy Ann like a totem. This explains why The Scare looks the way it does.
But Edmund giving himself over to the Scare has another layer of significance — in that moment he is allowing his trauma to win. He’s so broken by his experiences and his perceived rejection by Dawn that he allows the worst and most painful aspects of his life, embodied through the Scare, to become entirely who he is.
How are Dawn and Edmund Connected to Them Season 1?
At the end of The Scare, it is revealed that Edmund and Dawn are the children of Ruby Lee Emory, the eldest daughter of Lucky and Henry. Dawn sees a picture of her grandmother and sees the resemblance immediately — that’s what I meant by the re-casting of Deborah Ayorinde being a plot point rather than just a novelty.
This gives Dawn and Edmund a direct familial connection to the family at the heart of Season 1. And, lo and behold, as soon as this connection is established, the villain of that season, Da Tap Dance Man, presents himself to Dawn — probably to ask her if she’ll come back for another season.
