Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for The Innocents ahead
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Netflix's tense sci-fi drama The Innocents came crashing to a close in a shocking season finale cliffhanger, which already has viewers clamoring for season 2. The series stars Sorcha Groundsell as June, a young woman with strange and dangerous abilities, and Percelle Ascott as her devoted boyfriend, Harry. These star-crossed lovers run away from home on June's sixteenth birthday, but find themselves aggressively pursued by a man called Steinar (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), who has been charged with bringing June to a remote commune for women like her, led by Dr. Ben Halvorson (Guy Pearce).
June and Harry's efforts to be free and stay together lead them from motel rooms to canal boats to seedy nightclubs, always trying to stay one step ahead of their pursuers as they attempt to figure out exactly what is happening to June. Harry has left behind his mother Christine (Nadine Marshall), a police officer, and his father, Lewis (Philip Wright), who was one of the victims (dubbed "The Pennines Five") of a mysterious attack several years ago that left a group of seemingly unconnected people catatonic.
Related: The Innocents Cast & Character Guide
In an intense season finale, both Sigrid (Lise Risom Olsen) and Dr. Halvorson were killed off, and Elena (Laura Birn) decided to finally turn herself in to the police over what she did to the Pennines Five. However, it was in the closing final minutes of the episode that things got really crazy - leaving June gravely injured, and Harry possibly lost forever. Let's break down that brutal cliffhanger.
- This Page: The Innocents' Season 1 Finale Explained
- Page 2: What Could Happen In The Innocents Season 2?
Runa Is Left Alone in Sanctum
Before we get to the big cliffhanger of The Innocents season finale, it's worth lingering at Sanctum for a moment to reflect on poor Runa (Ingunn Beate Øyen). After killing Dr. Halvorson and telling Harry and June's family to leave, Runa was left behind with her daughter, Freya/Kam (Abigail Hardingham). Having shifted into Steinar's body for the journey, Kam arrived at Sanctum and exposed the truth about everything that Dr. Halvorson had done to her. Kam also revealed that Runa had been complicit in her torment by refusing to listen to her when she explained what was going on, and begged to leave.
Kam, like June, has the ability to absorb a person's memories and aspects of their personality when she shifts into them, and it seems that her repeated forced shifts into Steinar's body changed her as a person, causing her to take on some of his more unpleasant traits. When Runa begs her to stay at Sanctum, Kam flatly declines, saying that she is not longer the daughter that Runa once knew. She takes a boat and rows away, leaving Runa behind on the shore, weeping.
What happens to Runa next largely depends on what John and Elena decide to tell the police. If they tell them about Sanctum's location, and about Sigrid's death and Halvorson's other crimes, then the police will likely head to the commune and find Runa and the bodies. Runa may be taken into care, or even sent to prison for killing Dr. Halvorson. However, if John and Elena decide to keep Sanctum a secret, the prospects for Runa are even more chilling. Since she is suffering from early onset dementia and it won't be long before she's unable to care for herself, she may be facing the prospect of a miserable and lonely death in the not-too-distant future. Either way, Kam's cold goodbye stands out as one of the saddest moments of the series.
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June and Harry's Escape Ends in Tragedy
The Innocents starts out with June and Harry going on the run, and ends in the same way. Knowing that Christine will do whatever she can to keep them apart, Harry floors the accelerator and tries to flee the police. However, a tire blowout brings the young couple's getaway to a swift and violent end, with the car crashing into a tree at high speed. Harry manages to escape mostly unscathed, except for a head wound, but June isn't so lucky. Bleeding from her abdomen and with blood in her mouth, she appears to have suffered potentially lethal trauma.
Out of desperation, Harry tells her to shift into him, since this will temporarily get rid of her wounds and give her time to run and find someone to help her. After considerable protest, June agrees to the plan, triggering a shift and touching Harry, who slips into a coma beside her. However, tragedy strikes again when Christine arrives on the scene and - seeing June in the passenger seat, looking like Harry - rushes in to hug her son. June shifts straight from Harry's body to Christine's, which, as we know from the Pennines Five, means that Harry will be left stuck in a catatonic state, just like his father.
Horrified, June forces herself to shift back into her own body, which is still gravely injured. She turns Harry's face towards her, trying to wake him up, and finds that his eyes are fixed rather than vibrating. He repeats the last words he said to her ("I'll see you again soon"), confirming that his mind really is lost. Outside the car, Christine recovers consciousness and... that's where The Innocents season 1 ends. Now that's a cliffhanger!
The Innocents hasn't yet been officially green lit for a second season, so in the worst case scenario this could be where the series itself ends. But assuming that we do get to see The Innocents season 2, where can things go from here? Will June die, or be arrested? And is there still hope for Harry to be saved?
Page 2: What Could Happen In The Innocents Season 2?
Can Harry Be Saved in The Innocents Season 2?
Easily the most pressing question after The Innocents' season 1 finale is whether or not there's any hope for Harry to recover. When Elena attacked the Pennines Five, the only victim to make a full recovery was the final woman that she shifted into - which makes sense. When a Shifter takes control of someone's body, that person slips into a coma with their eyes vibrating strangely, and only recovers when their body is relinquished by the Shifter. Since that never happened for four of the five Pennines Five victims, they remained in a catatonic state, and Harry is stuck the same way.
For now we're going to assume that The Innocents didn't just permanently break up this adorable teen couple and effectively kill off one of the show's leads. If that's the case, then The Innocents season 2 will probably be about June trying to find a way to cure Harry. One thing that hasn't been tried (as far as we know) is shifting into the body of the catatonic person again and then shifting back - kind of like rebooting a broken computer. However, there's no way to know if this would bring Harry back, or make him even worse, so it's quite a risky play.
The more likely path that season 2 will take is June reaching out to Kam, since Kam has researched their ancestors and has also experimented with shifting a great deal. If anyone has any idea of how to help Harry, it will probably be Kam. This would also offer an opportunity for the series to dig deeper into the lore and history of Shifters - where they came from, and how exactly their powers work. Before any of that can happen, however, June first has to survive her injuries, and escape Christine's wrath.
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What Will Happen to June?
The most immediate danger for June is her injuries, which appeared to be potentially life-threatening. She shifted back into her own body almost straight away, meaning that she's now in the same position that she was immediately after the car crash - except now she has a catatonic boyfriend. Since we're assuming that Harry's condition is reversible, however, we're also going to go ahead and assume that The Innocents season 2 won't begin with June dying. That would be quite a downer.
Aside from her injuries, June still has Christine to deal with. Having learned that Elena was to blame for her husband's current condition, Christine feared that her son would end up the same way - and now her worst fears has been confirmed. Christine will probably be more determined than ever to find justice in season 2, with her conviction having been strengthened by experiencing June's powers first-hand.
The sticking point for June getting in legal trouble, aside from her being a minor, is the fact that her "crime" is something that would be quite difficult to prove in court. After all, what would seem more likely to an outside observer: that Harry suffered brain damage as the result of his body being magically borrowed by his shapeshifting girlfriend, or that he suffered brain damage as the result of crashing his car into a tree at high speed? Given that he already has an obvious head wound, doctors are probably going to favor the latter.
No matter what happens, there's surely a tough journey ahead for June and Harry. In the meantime, we'll be sure to keep you updated on any news about The Innocents season 2.
More: The Innocents Review
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