Spoiler alert: Spoilers for The Body Season 1 follow. Even though Halloween is over, Netflix is carrying the spooky season vibes into November with the release of its new psychological thriller series, The Body. The show, which dropped on Nov. 11, centers on a group of Catholic school girls who hold auditions for their dance team. They eventually choose to bring on the talented good girl, Grace Franklin (played by Sofia Wylie), who they initiate at their Halloween party by forcing her to take drugs. When the squad’s co-captain Anya Butler (Kristina Bogic) and dance-team reject Lisbeth Anderson (Geena Meszaros) find her passed out on the lawn outside the party later on, they take her back to her house, where she falls into a coma.
From there, the show basically goes off the rails. We learn that Lisbeth is deeply jealous of the girls on the dance team, and often goes out of her way to sabotage their plans for her own gain. And to add fuel to the fire, she and her brother Leo (Jackson Kelly) come from an extremist religious background that their mother, Catherine (Louisa Krause), is still deeply ingrained in. Plus, Anya is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality as she slowly learns she has feelings for her co-captain, Elise (Sara Boustany). As if all that interpersonal drama isn’t confusing enough, the Catholic community at large starts seeing Grace as a larger-than-life religious figure who can cause miracles.Â
By the Season 1 finale, you might be struggling to keep your head above water with all of the overlapping plot points. So, to make things easier, here’s how we leave things off with each character at the end of Season 1.Â
The Andersons
The Anderson family is, in one word, troubled. And a lot of that stems from the matriarch, Catherine, who deeply believes in their religious practice to the point of delusion. When viewers last see Catherine, both of her children have rejected her: Lisbeth to be with the dance team, and Leo to reallocate his devotion for God into a new devotion for Grace. After burning photos of Grace in a firepit, Catherine goes inside their house and rewatches old tapes of their church leader drinking poison and holding a snake. In the video, he claims that since he’s a true believer, neither the poison nor the snake will kill him. When Catherine does the same, her ending is more ambiguous. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for a potential Season 2 to find out whether Catherine survived her own poisoning.
In Leo’s final moments, he finally stands up against his mom and disobeys her wishes. Rather than staying with her, he bikes over to Grace’s house, where he joins the swarm of people who have begun praying outside and hoping for miracles from Grace. He even joins hands with Maddie, a member of the dance team and one of Grace’s closest friends, the pair proclaim: “I know my God! My God moves in Grace!” which is quickly echoed by all of the onlookers.Â
We last see Lisbeth at the school’s debutante ball, where she reveals to all of the dance team girls that she resurrected Grace on the car ride back after the party. She even tells them they can ask Anya, who witnessed it all. She certainly gives a convincing argument. And with all of the evidence in her favor — literally, because she stole Grace’s phone — it’s likely that the team will yet again believe her antics.
Anya & Elise
Anya sits at the emotional core of the story, and she’s certainly got herself in a pickle by the end of the season. After painstaking yearning from both parties, Anya and Elise finally hook up. But, Anya can’t bring herself to tell anyone — including her boyfriend, Steven (Orlando Norman) — because she thinks it will ruin her life.
And if that turmoil wasn’t enough, she also hasn’t told anyone that she was the one who brought Grace home after the party. That is, until Elise figures it out and accuses her in front of Steven and his best friend, Tyler (Marcel Ruiz). When Anya admits it, everyone storms away from her, with Elise poignantly stating: “I guess I did ruin your life then.” It’s unclear if Steven and Anya will remain together, if she and Elise can repair their relationship, and whether or not she wants either of those things. Guilt-ridden, Anya drives to Grace’s house and confesses everything she’s been holding back to Father Franklin (Nnamdi Asomugha), the town’s priest and Grace’s uncle.
Grace
For the majority of the show, Grace simply laid in bed, unconscious. But, right after Anya confesses to Father Franklin, Grace is stirred awake. The entire family is deeply emotional, with her mother frantically asking her if she remembers what her name is. Grace’s response? “I’m God.”Â
While this reads as super weird to the audience, the family is so caught up in their emotions that they sort of just ignore it. The last image we’re left with is Grace staring straight up at the camera with her family’s hands all over her body. Is she God? We don’t know.
Hopefully, showrunner Quinn Shephard can answer all of these questions soon. Because while there’s been no official announcement of a second season of The Body, I simply refuse to be left hanging.Â