While many of us anxiously wait for Season 2 of Stranger Things to arrive, Netflix has dropped something else in its lineup with which you may or may not be familiar. It’s called Glitch, and it’s an Australian production that offers up a slightly creepy and mysterious premise–a small town police officer discovers a small group of individuals have risen from the dead in the local cemetery. That’s all I’m going to tell you other than it’s not a show for everyone (especially kids)–strong language, sexual content, nudity, and violence. It’s not really a spoiler because it’s in the series description, but I will avoid any further discussion here and warn you away from reading any further because I’m going to share some of the questions I now have after finishing the six 1-hour episodes.
So… stop reading NOW if you wish to avoid any spoilers.
Seriously… don’t read any further unless you want more than a few surprises ruined.
Okay.
SPOILER QUESTIONS BELOW
Okay, so if you’ve read this far I’m going to assume you’ve watched the full first season (because YES, Netflix has picked up the series and is helping fund the second season) and are familiar with the character names and such. You probably have questions, and I’d love to hear them in the comments section below. And if you have answers to any of my questions, please share! I may very well have missed something!
These questions are in no particular order, so here goes:
- Do they often bury bodies in Australia shallow or without coffins? The first thing that jumped out at me was how in the world could they bust out of the coffins and six feet of dirt before suffocating? A later episode showed them burying Maria and Vic in very shallow graves wrapped in blankets.
- Why in the world would a dog whistle trigger memories in the previously dead? And what is the dog whistle doing in John’s grave? Any given that Elishia finds it and hides it means that she knows the function of the dog whistle?
- Vic died in the car crash–he heard that strange sound on the radio that caused him to swerve (???) and run off the road. It’s electrical in nature (at least to me) but why didn’t anyone else hear the sound who approached one of the exits to the town. (I think he was heading home and was near one of the town exits, but I could be wrong.)
- Elishia tells James that “that’s not Vic.” If Vic returned from the dead with a different personality or goal, why didn’t any of the others (Maria, Kate, Kirsten, etc.) return with different personalities? It’s also hinted (strongly) that Sarah has returned as Not-Sarah after dying during the surgery to save her life, so do those who die in the town instantly return from the dead OR did Elishia do something to her during her pregnancy? (Elishia is seen doing her ultrasound, so I’m assuming Sarah has had more than one visit with this country doctor.)
- Elishia states that the pharmaceutical company works for her! From episode 1 and that brief glimpse of the pharmaceutical building that the company is somehow involved (or it’s the biggest red herring ever)… the logo appears on medicine bottles, shirts, and paperwork, so something’s up there. And let’s not forget the pharma-representative wiping up Vic’s blood on the bridge. At one point, Kate states that the company makes antivirals, right? Makes me wonder if ‘death’ is looked at as a virus to be cured.
- Why didn’t John recover his memories like the others? It took the dog whistle to remind him. Actually, it took Vic KNOWING the function of the dog whistle to tell John to blow the whistle to get his memories back. Very strange that John didn’t get his memories back… AND that Elishia seems so focused on him.
- Vic states that the revived will die again… that Kate’s cancer will come back. Is this truth or is he just lying? If lying, is Vic a bad guy here? Do those who die NOW and come back return as something a little more evil than the other revived?
- We still haven’t learned how Charlie died, although there is strong hints that he might have committed suicide after returning from the war. It’s also possible Charlie’s homosexuality may have been a problem for him in this small town… he might also be the victim of murder. At first I thought they were all murdered, but Maria died in a car accident (her own fault) and Kate died of cancer. Only Kirsten, Charlie, John, and Paddy were killed. so I’m thinking the method of their deaths is probably not important.
- When Vic breaks Maria’s neck, it appears he may be a bit stronger than the other revived? Did anyone else think that? And him standing outside the dry cleaners for 12+ hours seemed very odd. I’m hoping Season 2 is going to answer just what happened to Vic (and maybe to Sarah).
- The big reveal is that Elishia has been dead for four years. Who brought her back? Was her coming back part of the reason she’s trying so hard to protect the revived? Or does she have her own agenda? She up and left them at end of Season 1, but I think it’s obvious she’s not gone for good… tossing all her meds in a bag makes me wonder if she might be heading for the pharmaceutical company? (And was it her car that we saw in the very first few seconds of Episode 1 leaving the graveyard when Bo arrives after hearing the screams?)
How can Kirstie be pregnant now?
She was pregnant when she died and that baby “came back” with her.
It isn’t a dog whistle, it is a boatswain’s call.
“John” was in the navy.
I can’t see all the comments so this may have been mentioned. Kate came back with her breasts even though she had a double mastectomy prior to her death. No scars. And John Doe came back with all his whipping scars on his back. That is something else that separates him from the other 6 that returned. And Sarah had the same reaction to the cup of hot tea that Vic did. It scalded them both and they dropped their cups. So yet another thing to imply Darah is a changing like Vic was.
Good sci-fi should have rules to work, otherwise it is just nonsense.
That in mind, my thoughts:
1. William and Elishia – these are humans that died but are then their bodies are inhabited by spirits of another place. Could be creatures from another planet, dimension, existence etc. I believe they were lovers in that other place but also that they were persecuted there and may have been punished or exiled because of it. William’s spirit was punished first, hence his first rising up from the dead after the shipwreck and the drowning event (fear of water thereafter) and his confused state about how humans work in the 1800’s led to him getting hung for murder erroneously. Fast forward two centuries and now Elishia’s spirit arrives on Earth – near Williams body, is there a gateway in Australia? – and takes over freshly died body of the research doctor. She uses the combined knowledge of her people from other place and what human Elishia has learned to develop a way to get her soulmate William back to life. Side effect to the procedure is memory loss – by the way, expect risen Elishia to have same memory issues as William, but at least they are now even: each with one possession and one reanimation.
2. “Hunters” – these again are from that other place and are sent to fix and or punish the runaway spirits as well as clean up the mess that Elishia is creating with all of this reanimation stuff. (For those who remember “The Hidden” is a movie about an alien copsent to earth to track down an alien criminal, this will a bit familiar.) A hunter must be freshly dead (as with William and Elishias initial possessions) and may have specific orders to go after particular part of the disorder created; although there is flexibility if other hunters are lost or fail to execute their orders. Hunter bodies are picked based on ability to succeed: local police, guy who’s wife works at Noregard, wife of cop (wasn’t she also a cop? damn good shot with a pistol too!)
3. Other stuff as discussed by many above is drama but really all just antecedent to the hunters trying to reign in the runaway spirits in William and Elishia and undoing Elishia’s experiment. (For Star Trek fans, think of Elishia as violating the prime directive and section 31 is coming down to bend it all straight again!)
Musings:
a) Can a person risen in experiment become hunter if killed and possessed immediately as Vic, Sarah and Phil? That sets up some great plot twists.
b) How will fetus of reanimated Kirsti develop? Quicker? Will it also have to die to set universe straight again? Afraid it may.
c) Would a dead hunter reanimate under Elishia’s experiment conditions? If so, would she be human or hunter? I am looking at you Sarah – buried right there next to Elishia…
Otherwise, I think you all make great comments and observations!
Thanks for sharing.
Why do the men still have dirt on them? Even after they change clothes, they still are dirty but the women are clean.
I just found this series and it annoys the bejesus out of me that the guys never shower/bathe like the women did/do.
But the main question is why did Kirsty have a bite mark on her leg???
Hi
This question is for James Floyd Kelly.
You wrote “And let’s not forget the pharma-representative wiping up Vic’s blood on the bridge.”
Can you tell me what time stamp that took place in the show please?
Thanks
And why did they come out of thier graves naked? Everyone of us who were died and burried have clothes on the time of thier burial Except victims that were burried by thier murderers usaully.
I was wondering that too!