Peacock’s new horror-thriller seriesHysteria!provides a shocking and ambiguous ending to the mystery that consumed the entire eight-episode season. Set during the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s in Detroit,Hysteria!takes big swings at powerful themes in the context of a small town consumed by fear. Thecast ofHysteria!features a good mix of relative unknowns highlighted by some big names, and their efforts combined with the fast-paced, heavy metal-scored story make the show an entertaining watch from start to finish, and not just for horror fans.
After Linda Campbell (Julie Bowen) appears to succumb to the demonic entity that has plagued her since episode 1, when it threw her around the house and through a table. In response, Tracy Whitehead (Anna Camp) resolves to host a public exorcism in the town’s church, completely without the aid of any sort of priest or reverend. In reality, she plans to use it as a last-ditch effort at pinning the blame for Ryan Hudson’s death, along with the town’s rampant demonic infection, onDylan Campbell (Emjay Anthony)and Dethkrunch.
At the same time, Faith put plans in motion to finally expose The Reverend, and subsequently her own mother, in the death of Ryan Hudson. Her machinations lead Chief Dandridge (Bruce Campbell) to The Reverend’s house, where she is being held hostage, so that Dandridge can recover the evidence he needs to put an end to the entire affair. Both situations end with explosive confrontations, and although the terrifying events of the previous weeks appear to be explained, the show is left with an intentionally ambiguous ending.
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The Entire Town Participated In The Process
Tracy Whitehead’s DIY exorcism at the Happy Hollow town church (denominations aren’t ever mentioned, likely so as not to offend any real-world group) appears to be completely genuine, as Linda is led in still spouting obscenities with her face covered in marks and veins.The real Linda is trapped in a red-lit version of her own mindwhile the demon controls her, and the audience is able to see her perspective both inside and outside of her head.
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The exorcism as Tracy plans it is never completed, as the townspeople hear from both the members of Dethkrunch, who tell them all the truth about Tracy and the fact that there is no Satanic cult in Happy Hollow, and Tracy herself. They collectively choose to believe Tracy, and in their pursuit of Dylan the church is accidentally set on fire.Linda confronts the demon in her head, which is dressed up as Dylan in full Satanic makeup and wardrobe, before breaking free and being led out of the church by Dylan and her husband Gene.
Tracy stays in the burning church to pray, but is pulled out by Jordy who doesn’t want her to be seen as a martyr. The townspeople rejoice in seeing Linda “cured” by the exorcism, and mistakenly attribute the supposed miracle to Tracy. Even after Officer Olsen accuses Tracy of aiding and abetting a murder, they protect her as their savior.Tracy then puts the onus on the townspeople to continue to be the light in the darkness, calling them all her “fireflies” just as The Reverend named her as a formerly rebellious teenager.
Are The Demons Actually Real?
The Show Ends On A Cliffhanger
ThroughoutHysteria!, different members of the town, most notably Linda Campbell, claim to be plagued by demonic visitors, and a vicious rash spreads across many of the adults in town, although nobody seems to mention it outside of a few occasions. The audience is shown the perspectives of the people who supposedly see the demons, with Linda as the main conduit.The nightmarish demons are shown to fit the stereotypical visage of Satan, with horns, claws, wings, glowing eyes, and a fiery aura. Likewise, the audience is shown when Linda Campbell is and isn’t in control of her body.
The creators ofHysteria!essentially made every person in the show an unreliable narrator, as their perspective is constantly warped by fear.
However,the entire point ofHysteria!is to show that fear can make people believe anything, and can even cause them to hallucinate, misremember real events and manifest replacements in their head, and even make themselves ill psychosomatically. Therefore, the creators ofHysteria!essentially made every person in the show an unreliable narrator, as their perspective is constantly warped by fear. Even intense incidents like Linda being tossed around her house by an invisible entity carry copious dope, as she has just a few small marks on her face the next day, as opposed to major injuries.
The implication made by the show’s ending, along with a number of signs and quotes from characters, is thatnone of it is real, and it’s all a product of mob mentality, driven by fear.Kezii Curtis' Spudsums it up perfectly at the end of episode 8:
You get enough people scared of the same thing all at once, and it changes their reality.
Fear is enough to drive people mad, andit was at the heart of most moral panics throughout history, but certainly theSatanic Panic of the 1980s, when more than 12,000 false claims of Satanic ritual abuse flooded the nation.Hysteria!perfectly captures the madness of that time frame, a madness that still carries on in certain parts of the world today.
How The Reverend Got Caught
Faith Outsmarted The Dark-Hearted “Deprogrammer”
Beaumont “The Reverend” Hicks began the series as a twisted, but well-meaning religious figure who made it his mission to save the souls of misguided youth by any means necessary. By the end of the series, his true nature revealed itself, as he kidnapped Faith Dandridge, murdered one of his own henchmen, and attempted to kill Chief Dandrige in order to save himself from another lengthy stay in prison. Fortunately,he was exposed by both his alcoholic acolyte Gilbert and Faith Whitehead, who bravely acted to ensure he would meet justice for what he did to her and Ryan Hudson.
Faith recovered Ryan’s inhaler from her room upon returning home after she was kidnapped by Gilbert and Robert, and when her mother (and The Reverend) ordered her to plant it in Jordy’s room to frame Dethkrunch as the culprits behind Ryan Hudson’s death, she saw an opportunity. She confessed the truth and her plan to Jordy, andthen went to The Reverend’s house to plant the inhaler somewhere Chief Dandridge could find it. Dandridge did just that, and traded gunshots with The Reverend before taking him into custody.
How Hysteria! Sets Up A Second Season
Not All The Dark Gates Are Closed
Despite the relatively clean ending, with the mob quelled, Linda’s demon exorcised, and The Reverend in handcuffs,Hysteria!planted several seeds that could yield a second season. The first is Judith being sent to Los Angeles to live with her father. When her mother breaks the news of her banishment there, a smiling Judith quickly agrees and promises to be on her best behavior.It’s implied that Judith may actually have a demon inside her, which explains both her swift assimilation into Satanism and her joy at heading to a big city (where the demon can further infect the masses).
While that could lead to a second season that takes place outside of Happy Hollow, the show leaves one more thread for the narrative to continue in the sleepy Detroit suburb. As a seemingly recovered Linda settles in for an evening at home with her husband,a demon quickly pokes its head into the doorway via a mirrored reflection. This one moment not only sets up a second season, but it casts doubt over the entire first season. The audience is led to believe that the demons might have been real after all, as they are shown one with no character’s perspective involved.
The Real Meaning Of The Ending Of Hysteria!
The Show Deals With The Hypocrisy Of Religion And The Power Of Fear
First and foremost,Hysteria!is an examination of the hypocrisy of religion. The primary villains in the show are The Reverend, a man who may have at one point been a man of the cloth, or at least hijacks the title from one, and Tracy Whitehead, whose holier-than-thou morals were shaped by The Reverend. In reality, those are the two figures who stoke the most fear and misplaced hatred out of everyone, a fact that Reverend Mathis spells out for Tracy in episode 7, even indirectly labeling her a “false prophet” to her face.
While Bruce Campbell may be the most recognizable horror movie veteran inHysteria!thanks to his work in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead franchise, there is another horror movie icon in the series' cast: Ingrid is played by Milly Shapiro, who played Charlie inA24’s haunting supernatural horror classicHereditary.
The second-most important theme ofHysteria!has to do withthe universal desire to be truly seen. The members of Dethkrunch kick off the entire Satanic obsession in town by adopting that aesthetic to gain more listeners and fans. As outcasts, they just want to be seen as deserving of someone’s attention, and not be met with the dismissal that outcasts face. That extends to their other “cult members” like Ingrid, who may be seen as strange or uncool but find common ground and friendship with each other, even if the context is in a fake Satanic cult.
Ultimately, that desire is what drives cult and mob mentality in any context.People want to be a part of something and feel like they have value to others, and at a desperate enough point something as deranged as a genuine Satanic cult can seem appealing. That need doesn’t stop with outcasts, either; Judith confessed to Dylan that she never felt truly seen because nobody ever bothered to look deeper than her physical appearance.Hysteria!perfectly explains cult dynamics, but puts it in a context that anyone who’s been to high school can understand, regardless of their social standing.
Hysteria!
Cast
A group of high school outcasts rebrands as a Satanic metal band during the 1980s “Satanic Panic” after a quarterback vanishes. However, a series of violent incidents and paranormal reports lead to a town-wide witch hunt, which eventually points to the band.
