The End Is Here
Swamp Thing’s finale reinforces why we shouldn’t have cliffhanger endings for shows with uncertain futures. Following the disappointing news that DC Universe’s slick horror series would be finishing completely after its first season, Swamp Thing’s future was dealt a hammer blow early on, as far back as the second episode I believe, with fans persevering in the hope of a self-contained, slickly produced finale. While Swamp Thing does deliver a satisfying season finale, it does a terrible job resolving any of the plot points raised this season and leaves things wide open for a second season that, at the time of writing this, is almost certainly never going to come. Having learnt the truth about his origin, we begin with Alec questioning his entire existence until he senses the authorities closing in around him. Determined to protect Abby at all costs, he disappears into the depths of the swamp. Abby learns from Liz soon after that Maria is in the mental institution before we see a glimpse of the comic book Blue Devil. This leads nicely into the other subplot here, that sees the Blue Devil himself shifting a gear and heading toward the swamp, later antagonizing Swamp Thing and setting up the foundation for an interesting dynamic between them to be explored in future episodes that’ll never arrive. Woodrue ties his wife up and tells her he won’t be disturbed while unloading bags of the plant creature’s insides in a bid to try and cure her. As she sits, staring into the void of nothingness, Woodrue is consumed by his work. He tastes the roots meant to feed his wife and begins convulsing on the ground. He’s okay though and Abby arrives soon after he’s composed himself, pleading with him to stop and telling him his wife needs medical attention. He doesn’t listen however and winds up cornering her at his house. Thankfully, the police show up and arrest him, subsequently saving his wife from a misfortuneous fate. Meanwhile, the aforementioned specialized group of army personnel head toward Swamp Thing’s location, chasing the footprints he’s left in the mud. However, the hunters soon become the hunted as Swamp Thing picks the soldiers off one by one. He leaves one alive though and tells him to feed the message back to the rest of the soldiers to leave him alone. Madame Xanadu appears before Maria in her room after some frightening visions, promising relief but warning Avery’s wife it’ll come with a price. However, before we see what price that is, Avery goes and sees Lucilia, promising her a fresh start if she comes with him. She refuses of course and this unfortunately leads to him attacking her in her car and stabbing the respected lady in the stomach. With the car slowly sinking into the swamp, Lucilia is left to an awful fate of drowning whilst the maniacal Avery watches on in satisfaction. Back at the swamp, Swamp Thing finds out he’s not alone as Blue Devil arrives and the two talk. Eventually this leads Abby to return to Alex’s lab, convincing him he’s not the evil creature he believed he is. As he heads out to the balcony to ponder the words, the episode finishes with Abby and Swampy agreeing to tackle things together. With a distinct style and some well worked horror vibes throughout the series as a whole, it’s a bitter pill to swallow to learn this is the last ever episode of Swamp Thing we’ll ever receive. Unless it’s picked up by another channel of course. As a finale to wrap everything up though, Swamp Thing fails to address any of the big questions hanging over the series and leaves most of our characters in a state of flux. Avery is still a free man, Woodrue is presumably on his way to the asylum and quite what Blue Devil wants remains a mystery. It’s a shame too as the series as a whole has been pretty good, consistently high quality and tapping into what made the comic books so endearing. A shame for sure but Swamp Thing bows out with a poor finale, one too preoccupied with laying the groundwork for what’s to come than a conclusive finish to a show long announced to be cancelled.
