Peacock’s Hysteria! is just a fun teen horror show that tells the story of a town stuck in mass hysteria at the peak of the “Satanic Panic.” The show follows a teen “delinquent” (only because he’s in a heavy metal band and spends most of his life guitaring alone in the basement) Dylan, whose life changes when he pretends to be a Satanist to impress a girl. Well, technically, he does it so his band gets some love, but it also gets him the girl, so he decides to stick with it until things get (more than) a little bit out of hand. Dylan, Spud, and Jordy begin their make-believe cult when jock Ryan goes missing for a few days and the whole town speculates there are some dark forces at play. During Hysteria’s ending, we finally learn who “The Reverend” is and why Tracy’s obsessed with him. The finale begins with Dylan realizing that he did his friends wrong and that he should’ve never played with fire. At the same time, the rest of the “cult” also backs off after Judith tries to get them to hurt her friend Tonya. So, it’s ironic when the cult are completely gone, but Tracy has convinced all the adults of the town that Linda Campbell needs an exorcism. So, let’s find out what happens in Hysteria’s ending.
Spoiler Alert
Does Tracy Really Exorcize Linda?
“Fear is the mindkiller.” Sound familiar to you? Even if you’re not a fan of Dune, you’ve likely heard this phrase. I bring it up because that’s the whole point Hysteria is trying to make. Throughout the show, there’s one thing Tracy keeps repeating: “I’m doing it all for the safety of my daughter” and other iterations of that. What we need to understand is that though Tracy’s love for Faith is real, she’s been misguided into believing that her daughter’s in the wrong for simply being a teenager. This is because when Tracy was Faith’s age, her parents sent her to the Reverend to get rid of the “evil” inside of her. Tracy believes this same evil, i.e., the Devil himself, is trying to take over Faith, so she will do anything in her power to get rid of it. Ironically, in the process of trying to get rid of the evil in Faith, the Reverend’s guys ended up killing Ryan, albeit accidentally. Near the end of the show, one of these men, Gilbert, shows up at Tracy’s home to make her realize that what he did for her was wrong, but because he’s threatening her physically, Faith ends up smacking him in the head, and they think he died. The Reverend shows up at the same time, and his guy cleans up the mess. At the same time, the Reverend and Tracy blackmail Faith into hiding the truth from the police. Tracy then gets Faith to plant Ryan’s inhaler in Jordy’s house to make it look like the Satanic band made a blood sacrifice and everyone who is actually involved in the death is set free.
Then Faith makes an actual plan and tells Jordy the truth, and they decide she’ll plant the inhaler in the Reverend’s home after pretending that she needs his help, i.e., to cast out her evil. Jordy’s a little bit late to send Ash, sorry, the Chief, to save Faith, but eventually he does save her, and the Reverend is caught. That’s one down, one to go. Faith admits to the Chief that she killed Gilbert, but then learns that Gilbert is actually alive and in the hospital, which is such a relief for her. I guess she’ll finally get to be friends with Jordy for real, and maybe there’s a hint at something more there? I’m not sure.
What’s Happened to Linda?
Now, on the other hand, an unknowing Tracy is conducting her exorcism on Linda in the church with all the adults of the town gathered. Everybody here believes that Dylan is guilty already, so all she needs is for Linda to confess that her son killed Ryan. Tracy tells Dylan to wait on the balcony because his mom will “need” him when she’s trying to recover. Dylan obliges, but Jordy and Spud show up, telling him that if he stays there, he’s in danger. Dylan takes some time to understand what’s happening, but when it comes time for Tracy to point at Dylan and make him look guilty of satanic worship, he’s gone. In truth, Linda isn’t possessed; she just believes that there’s an evil force inside of her because of all the media she’s consumed about Satanism and teenage boys starting occult groups. “Evil” feeds on fear; when you’re afraid, you get angry; angry makes you do crazy things. That’s essentially all of Hysteria for you. Anyway, Jordy, Spud, and Dylan decide to stand up to Tracy and try to convince the town that she’s messing with them and that she killed Ryan. However, they’re already too far gone in believing Tracy’s “powers,” and so they try to cast the kids out. This wreaks havoc in the church, and while Tracy dunks Linda’s face in holy water, a curtain catches fire from one of the candles, and the whole place starts to burn down.
It’s Dylan who actually saves his mom by reaching out to her and making sure she knows that he didn’t do anything wrong and that he loves her dearly. All she’s ever cared about is that bond she shares with her son. This wakes Linda up, so her husband and Dylan bring her out to safety. Tracy gets left behind, and it’s Jordy who saves her from dying of lung failure by dragging her out of the fire. Yes, it seems it would be metaphorical as well because Tracy sees the devil with its massive wings behind her as she’s dragged out by her legs.
During Hysteria season 1’s ending, Tracy gets arrested in front of the whole town; however, they believe she’s innocent, and she’s now essentially their cult leader. I guess whatever the Reverend wanted all these years, she has now. She’s essentially brainwashed them by planting the fear and then eliminating the evil too. On the other hand, all Judith ever wished for was freedom, and she learns that she has to go live with her dad in LA, which thrills her more than anything, especially since all her recommendation letters have been withdrawn. An interesting case for sure; I guess she isn’t your average Sandy, eh? In the meantime, the kids discuss the Halifax slasher because it’s similar to what’s happened in their town. After that discussion, they also promise to continue the band, which is of course fantastic news, and they hope that all of this “lore” will only help them become the next big thing. Ah, the way kids can dream, sigh. Now, before the episode ends, we see that Linda’s back to normal; all the marks on her arms have cleared out, and everything seems just fine, until a creepy hand and a demon-like figure peek into the doorway.
Will There Be A Season 2?
As of writing this article, there’s no confirmation of a second season for Hysteria but, if viewership is good, Peacock could renew it. Though the show has a proper ending and all loose ends are properly tied up, there’s still a lot to explore in this story. For example, what will happen to Tracy in prison? How long will she be there? And will the town continue to trust in her from inside her jail cell, like she’s Charles Manson? Possible. On the other hand, there’s definitely something up with Judith, so maybe the scale of the story might get bigger. And finally, the band could actually get their big break, and now they have real friends, so maybe things will work out for them. However, the most important part here is that fear is still alive, and where there is fear, there is a chance of Hysteria.
