This is it. The end of Swamp Thing. It doesn’t come by the hand of a crazed Jason Woodrue after harvesting his organs. It doesn’t come at the hands of the Conclave’s assault force. No, Swamp Thing ended at the hands of its maker despite the show hitting its stride. The season’s final episode unfolded its story blind to these real-life tribulations. Alec Holland’s body is dead but his soul persists, much like the show will even as its story ends. We’ll likely never see these versions of Abby and Alec confront Marais’ darkness, but there is a certain charm in knowing how ready they are in the face of corporate Armageddon.
Heart To Heart
Abby tries to convince the monster before her that she still sees him as Alec as they kneel beside Alec’s skeleton. Alec seems somewhat open to her rationale, but the Green warns him of the Conclave’s return to the swamp. He leaves Abby behind to seek revenge. Abby isn’t content to stay there alone, so she teams up with Liz to uncover who is helping Avery. Her search leads her to Maria’s padded cell, where she finds Xanadu encasing Maria’s psyche in a delusion that her daughter is there. It’s a peace she won’t return from. Avery is the only Sunderland that can help Abby now.
She rushes to his house to find Jason cooking up Alec’s heart to feed to a medically restrained Caroline. Turns out she isn’t dead but rather suffering from locked-in syndrome. Jason eats the sample to show Caroline that it won’t harm her, but he collapses. He rises soon, growing more unhinged, and threatens Abby when she tries to free Caroline. Jason knocks her phone away when she tries to call 911, but the police are able to trace the call. The cops arrive and taze Jason just before he feeds Alec’s heart to his wife. Jason is taken to jail while screaming after his wife.
New Paths
Times are changing for much of Marais. Liz tracks down Daniel after looking through the DC comic “Blue Devil.” She finds him packing up and getting ready to leave Marais. He can’t stop hearing the devil’s voice in his head. With his debt to the stranger paid by saving Abby, Daniel is ready to find his own path. He leaves his shop in Liz’s care and is finally able to drive past the city limits.
Avery, spurred by the Conclave, resorts to drinking his sorrows away until he hears about Matt’s accident. He goes to the hospital, offering Lucilia the chance to be with him with Maria out of the picture. It seems that Avery wants to be there for his son, but Lucilia pushes him away. She hopes he rots in hell and will hopefully be the one to send him there.
What The Swamp Takes
Alec stays vigilant as Ellery leads the Conclave’s forces into the swamp. Their more lethal approach to the attack takes a turn when Alec leads them into a trap, surrounding them with vegetation. He and his vines massacre the team, leaving Ellery alive to tell all others to leave him be. He isn’t Alec Holland nor is he a thing to be used for humanity’s benefit.
The swamp gets another body thanks to Avery. Matt and Lucilia make up when he regains consciousness only for Lucilia to catch a knife in the back from Avery outside the hospital. One of them had to die in Avery’s mind, and it wasn’t going to be him. He sinks her patrol car in the swamp with a screaming Lucilia locked in the trunk. But Avery’s internal darkness comes to life when he coughs up vegetation. The green flu from the beginning looks to be infecting him now.
Synthesis
Swamp Thing is visited by a vision of human Alec after releasing Ellery. He reminds the monster that Alec isn’t dead in his head. The beast belief that he belongs away from people is undercut by Alec’s mention of Abby. She doesn’t see him as a thing and constantly stood beside him. The monster’s experience isn’t about trying to be Alec Holland anymore. It’s about determining who he wants to be.
He meets Abby at Alec’s old lab, asking her why she came back. Abby’s motivations lie in affection for him whether he is Alec or not. She cares about him. He warns of the darkness still lurking in the swamp, but Abby is unmoved. They’ll face the darkness together.
The Darkness is already in Marais though. Matt returns to the police station to find it in disarray. Plants and vines litter the building, tearing through jail cells and people. It turns out that a now-transformed Jason is the cause. He waxes on about his new power before attacking Matt.
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