At the beginning of the final episode, Nathan Appleby (Colin Morgan) continues lingering around the lake waiting for a sign of his son. We jump to the future and see Lara (Chloe Pirrie) in a hospital bed. Gabriel (Arthur Bateman) strolls down the hallway and confronted Lara. Gabriel pleads with Lara to help him, before the intro begins. After the intro, Lara receive a visit from grandma, who brings along a mysterious box. Lara tells her grandma about Gabriel, before she is given permission to open the box. Inside, she discovers items belonging to her great-great-grandfather, Nathan Appleby. Lara is given permission to take pictures of Nathan’s diary and does so with her iPad. During the pair’s conversation, Lara learns about the old Appleby house. Lara returns to her room and speaks with her boyfriend, Ben (Royce Pierreson). Ben seems more than willing to care for his new child.

Ben leaves the room to grab one of the boy’s toys. While he is gone, Lara grabs her belongings, his keys, and high tails it out of the city. She receives several phone calls from a distraught Ben, but ignores them and eventually arrives at the Appleby home. Before she can enter, we switch to the past. Charlotte (Charlotte Spencer) speaks with Gwen (Kerrie Hayes) and inquires about her husband’s whereabouts. With Nathan nowhere to be found, Charlotte is forced to conduct business with William Payne (David Oakes), who is interested in buying a small piece of land from the Appleby couple. Nathan eventually enters and insists the land is worthless. Nonetheless, he leaves the decision whether or not to sell it up to Charlotte. After Nathan departs, Charlotte quickly agrees to let Payne have it.

Charlotte argues with Nathan, before leaving with Payne to survey the land. During this time, Nathan confronts Gwen in the kitchen and requests to see her medicine box. Inside, he finds various herbs, including deadly nightshade and some hallucinogenic mushrooms. Charlotte returns. Before Payne departs, Charlotte lets him know that the papers will be drawn up and sent over as soon as possible. Charlotte speaks with Gideon Langtree (Malcolm Storry) and tells him to come inside for a drink. During this time, Charlotte learns about a piece of equipment, which is being unearthed nearby. Meanwhile, many of the others flee town. Charlotte runs into Matthew Denning (Nicholas Woodeson) on the street and is invited inside. Charlotte speaks about Nathan, before Denning confront Nathan out in the woods.

Nathan apologizes for his past behavior. Denning attempts to convince Nathan that he is one, who is lost. Nathan refuses to listen to the priest. Next, we switch back to the present and watch as Lara listens to her voice mails. She ignores them and wanders through the house with a flashlight. She heads upstairs, before Gabriel appears and approaches her child. The baby begins to cry. Lara arrives moments later and comforts the baby. She sends a text message back to Ben, before scouring through the pictures of Nathan’s journal. Inside, she notices a mention of a “book of light” and also discovers the awkward drawing. She immediately realize that the drawing is her and the iPad. With that, she attempts to reach out to Gabriel. She speaks with him directly and questions why the boy wouldn’t appear to his father. Gabriel insists her father wants a new baby, before he disappears.

Back in the past, Nathan works in his study. He ridicules Charlotte, when she enters without knocking. On his notebook, he jots down his next objective, which is to drive Charlotte away. He goes after her and belittles her further. Charlotte flees the home, while Nathan attempts to conjure up a way to see Gabriel once more. He heads to the kitchen and sends Gwen home for the day, before grabbing her mushrooms. Back in the present, Lara scours through the house and records footage to her iPad. She gives her baby a walkie-talkie, so she can keep in constant contact. As soon as she leaves the room, Gabriel appears and stalks the child. Lara reads passages about herself from Nathan’s notebook. She ridicules Nathan for blaming her for Gabriel’s passing and insists she is not the cause.

She heads outside to smoke a cigarette and question her sanity. She speaks with her mother and learns about Ben’s concerns. During this time, she hears the baby cry and rushes upstairs. Gabriel touches the child just as Lara enters. Lara turns around and tells Gabriel to leave the baby alone. She also insists Nathan would do anything to get him back. She pleads with Gabriel to visit his father. Meanwhile, Nathan chomps down on the mushrooms in an attempt to see his son. At the vicarage, William Payne gives Charlotte a pineapple and attempts to get closer to her. Nathan loses it and heads to the lake to see his son. He watches his son play with the boat and fall into the lake. He jumps inside, but his son is nowhere to be found. Once he leaves the water, Gabriel can be seen on the pier behind him.

Nathan heads back inside, before spotting Lara and giving chase. He attempts to catch Lara, but winds up running into Gabriel. The boy insists he has been hiding, because he didn’t think his father wanted to see him. Gabriel tells his father that he knows what to do to stay with him and look after him. Lara heads to the lake and looks around, before heading inside and calling out Nathan’s name. She encounters Harriet and runs away in terror. She attempts to watch the encounter on her iPad only to find that Harriet isn’t there. Lara calls Ben and apologizes for her behavior. During their conversation, Lara learns Ben knows exactly where she is. She confirms Lottie is fine, but freaks out when Ben mentions the police. She hangs up the phone, collects the baby, and gathers her belongings. She jumps into the car and tries to flee.

Lara sees Nathan in the road and swerves to miss him. She awakes back inside of the house with Gabriel standing over her. The boy insists daddy is coming. Lottie is missing from his child seat. Next, Nathan awakes and begins writing a note to Charlotte. Meanwhile, William and Charlotte chat about her photography. He gets a little too flirty and she tries to flee home. Nathan grabs the nightshade from the kitchen and begins mixing up the dead combination. Lara interrupts him. Nathan disappears leaving Lara to speak with Gabriel, who insists Charlotte and her baby can come as well. Lara seems adamant that nobody can die. William follows Charlotte on the road and implores her to give it one more day, before returning home. She agrees and prepares to head back to the church.

Before Charlotte can depart, she sees Lara standing in the distance. Lara tells her about her husband’s plans and this sends Charlotte rushing home. She meets with Nathan in the kitchen and convinces him that they’ll die together. He hands over the deadly concoction and she smashes it to the ground. Nathan is consoled by Charlotte, while seeing Gabriel in the background. Nathan speaks to his son, before he disappears. Gideon approaches the couple and tells them they’ve finished unearthing the machine nearby. They all head to the site just in time for Lara’s car to be pulled from the ground. Lara watches from a distance with Gabriel by her side. Gabriel tells her Ben has taken Lottie, who was unharmed in the accident. He also tells Lara she is his mommy now. She relives the accident and is forced to accept her fate.

Nathan watches as the pair walks into the woods hand in hand. We jump forward to the Summer of 1895 and see that Nathan is once again a father. Things seem to be much better between Nathan and Charlotte. That night, Nathan is awoken by something downstairs. He hears someone calling his name and heads downstairs. There, he finds a group of people performing a séance. They ask him why he killed his wife, as the episode ends.

 

The Living and the Dead Review

The finale was undeniably unique and much different than I originally expected. The twists and turns helped to make for a satisfying conclusion and the finale twist could very well justify another season. The show definitely requires one to suspend reality and think outside of the box, but it is good nonetheless. Since each series is just 6 episodes, I would definitely consider watching another season. All in all, an 8 out of 10 is deserved.

Be sure to get caught up with previous recaps of The Living and the Dead now!