Compensation
Episode 8 of Night Sky starts with Jude heading out to the spot in the garden, breathing heavily as he realizes the orb is gone. While he scrambles to make sense of this, Franklin returns to the observatory deck, trying to find Byron. He’s still not answering and appears to be lost.
Does Franklin tell Irene what he’s hiding?
When Franklin returns to the garden, a very worried Jeanine appears, questioning him about her husband. Franklin shrugs it off, reassuring her that he’ll return soon. Back inside the house, Jude confronts Franklin about the orb and how dangerous this whole endeavour is. He tells Franklin that there’s absolutely nothing out on the alien planet but endless dusty wasteland. Meanwhile, Stella and Toni discuss their predicament. Stella admits there’s nothing she can do to stop this stranger, as even if they ride away, the shadowy forces at work will just send another their way.
How does the stranger track down the York family?
When the man notices dead birds on the floor outside, he tells them that they’re close. He leads Toni over to the York house, but on the way he reveals to her that Caleb is actually her father, not Stella’s brother. With this cleared up, Toni shows up in the garden, and Franklin is held up at gunpoint, led inside by this strange man. While this is going on, Jude catches up with Denise, thanking her for helping him back at the bar. These pleasantries are soon interrupted by Stella showing up and firing on Jude. He rushes into the woods to escape, drawing her away from Denise. Denise however, rushes back to the York house and finds herself held at gunpoint along with her grandparents. The stranger uses Denise to draw a confession out of Irene for where the doorway is. While he leaves and heads to the shed, Irene talks down a very frightened Toni. She’s no longer believing the trio are doing God’s will, and calls out Chandra’s death as an example of this.
How do Franklin and Irene stop the stranger?
The stranger decides on a change of plans, and calls Stella to let her know. Part of this plan comes from using the family as leverage while the Apostate is brought to the house. When Jude shows up, the man smacks him upside the head. It turns out “she” sent him but the details of this little cryptic chat are unclear. Franklin seizes an opportunity to try and knock the guy down, leading to a big scuffle. The ensuing result sees the stranger tasered, bound and gagged. With him in the back of their truck, Stella and Toni decide to leave and travel far away. Stella and Toni hit the road, with the former telling her daughter they won’t be able to go back to their old house. They also have a bargaining chip now (the stranger.) Unfortunately these good vibes don’t last long as they’re run off the road by shadowy figures, lead by Hannah whom we’ve seen is working with “them”. She greets Cornelius (the name of the stranger in the back of the van), puts a bag over his head and taunts him.
Where do Jude and Denise go?
Meanwhile, Jude decides to take Denise to the doorway and leave. They both head to Bangkok. Irene also decides they shouldn’t use the doorway as much anymore, writing off any sort of mystery that could have been in place. A wasteland is just a wasteland, I guess. Franklin is grateful for his wife’s change of heart but at the same time, realizes that his work is not done yet. He speaks to Irene about what he’s been hiding, including Byron’s unknown fate. He’s made a decision to go out into the wilderness and bring Byron back. “I believe in you Franklin. I always have.” Irene says, as she hugs her husband and gives him the mask.
How does Night Sky Season 1 end?
The pair head up to the alien planet again, where Franklin steps out into the wilderness. In doing so, he finds a dead body on the floor, a knife stuck through their chest. As for Franklin, he notices something is up with his oxygen supply and soon passes out. Irene catches up with him, taking a leap of faith without a spacesuit and encouraging him to breathe. After removing his helmet, the pair walk together, where they find a strange community, nestled in a little alcove.
The Episode Review
So it would appear that Franklin and Irene have stumbled upon this community spoken about earlier in the season. Whether this reframes the whole Stella/Toni sequences from the farm actually being on this alien world and they’ve used this doorway to move back to Earth, remains to be seen. However, it’s now clear where Jude has come from and how he ended up inside the doorway. Byron’s whereabouts are still unknown though, but it now seems clear that he stumbled upon the same cityscape that Franklin and Irene have, explaining his incredulous reaction. He may well have been captured and taken into this area, held prisoner along with others who know about the doorway. Hannah’s role in this story, the strange book with the cryptic writing, who Jude’s father really is, why Franklin and Irene have not been stopped from using their doorway (when so many others have been arrested for this, according to the stranger) is unclear, but the show does leave an awful lot on the table for a potential follow-up. Tonally, Night Sky has been all over the shop, with a lot of disparate threads tied together rather messily – especially in this finale episode. The whole Stella/Toni storyline has felt like a waste of time, especially as by the end they don’t really have all that impact on Franklin and Irene before they return to business as usual. Either way, the ending flatlines what’s been a frustratingly long and drawn out series. This could have easily been a tightly woven 4 episode mini-series in all truth.
