Well, the season finale of The Changeling is here, and it’s safe to say that following on from the two episodes prior to this, they felt like they were lacking in terms of developing the story forward. This final episode went back to North Brother Island and gave us more of Apollo and William Webster Wheeler.
With this being the last episode in the first season of The Changeling, I was hoping that it would do a good job of providing a lot of answers to the many questions that we had, but honestly, I don’t think it did. It did have a lot of action, though.
With many questions still left out there, let’s answer them, do The Changeling Ending Explained, and break down all the important things from this season’s ending. And I’ll also give my thoughts on this final episode.
Here is The Changeling Ending Explained:
What Was William Wheeler?
We know that William Wheeler has Norwegian heritage, and judging by the opening section of this episode, it’s now become clear that he’s a descendant of one of the people who traveled over from Norway on the ship in the 1800s. A trip that was deemed to be an impossible journey, a journey that had supernatural assistance in ensuring that it was complete. Most likely by the monster that lies within that we’ve seen before in the murky depths of the river.
In this episode, it was revealed that William Wheeler was the individual who actually killed his daughter, not his wife. There was no real explanation as to why, but it just showed how much of an evil individual he was.
We also saw that he was the person that was behind the messages that were sent to Emma with the photos of her and Brian, which would just disappear. Something that I feel we all predicted a long time ago. But it was good to see that it was confirmed.
William Wheeler was a threat to all of the women and children that were on North Brother Island as he was looking to destroy it and kill everybody that was there. However, the fact that he was trapped meant that they had some time in order to flee it, even though he called in the cavalry and the monster that we saw causing terror.
I would say that whilst the group was trying to escape and were abseiling down the cliff, it really felt like William Wheeler had some NPC lines, and he was like a video game character, just uttering words whilst on a mission. I wasn’t really a huge fan of that because it just felt like empty threads that would often come while playing a game in story mode.
With William Wheeler being killed by Cal at the end of the episode, we saw that he was dragged away by the monster, which we didn’t get to see at all in the episode other than in the closing moments. However, it doesn’t seem as though William is dead.
Right at the end, it cuts to William Wheeler sitting at a desk where he was connected to many people that made up kindergarten, with the live feed of The Cave that Apollo eventually walked through. As we heard him utter the line that there were 10,000 of them.
I personally feel that this just means that the hunt isn’t over. The hunt for Apollo to find his son and also the hunt for William and kindergarten to carry out their plan of keeping baby Brian whilst also doing this to many other mothers around the country.
Could this be old footage of William Wheeler that he set up before going off to meet Apollo? It could be the case. However, with the sinister and supernatural powers at play, William could have been brought back to life with these powers. As we saw he was beaten to an extreme point before and was totally fine afterwards.
What Was The Point In The Changling Episode 7?
Honestly, I don’t know. I thought the stand-alone episode that we had last week would have some relevance in what we were going to be laying our rise on in this finale, but sadly, it didn’t. It just gave us the perspective of Lilian feeling responsible for the trauma that Apollo was enduring in the present day and a story that didn’t actually really need to be told.
However, on the contrary, it did provide a fantastic piece of art in the way that it was executed and delivered. I would have just preferred more time with Apollo and the developing plot. I’m also just wondering if it will tie into the next season in some way.
Obviously, at the end of episode seven, we saw the monster grabbing hold of the suitcase that Lillian dropped to the floor, so maybe it’s going to have something to do with that. But for now, it very much feels like an episode that didn’t really need to happen, as it didn’t tie into the finale at all.
What Did The Changeling Ending Mean?
There was a particular line that stood out in this episode, which was quoted by Cal before she died, and she said it was to Apollo. She said, “When you have to save the one you love, you become something else, and you will transform”.
This was something that felt like it was stated in order to justify the glow that we saw Emma admitting and the fact that although she didn’t have powers within her, the love that she had for baby, Brian was what was giving her the will to fight on and to carry on believing that she was going to find him.
With Apollo, making it to land and escaping William Wheeler and the monster, we saw him go to Brian’s grave. And upon opening it, we saw that he was bitten. We didn’t see what it was that bit him, but one would assume that it was The Changeling thing that was trapped in there and was placed there following Emma, believing that it wasn’t actually baby Brian. Something which will have most likely opened up Apollo’s eyes even more.
With Emma’s words, “You will see,” ringing in his ears throughout this episode as a memory. This was a moment where he did truly see the truth behind Emma’s words.
The Changeling Ending Explained
The final moment that we saw in the episode was Apollo walking through The Cave, which was being broadcast on the live stream that William Wheeler had hooked up. It was the monster that could well have been causing terror on North Brother Island. Or this could be a different kind of monster.
As the episode played out into the closing moments, we heard the story from the book that is of such importance throughout this show. The tale that quite literally represented what we saw unfolding in this first season.
As the second half of the tale was being told to us, the part that we hadn’t heard before, it felt like it was connected to what we were going to see in season 2.
With both Apollo and Emma saying, “I’m coming for you”, and with Emma’s glow radiating, the next chapter of this show feels like it’s going to be focused on the inside of the forest that they’ve so desperately been looking for. So there you have it, The Changeling Ending Explained.
The Changeling Season 1 Overall Review
Honestly, the fact that The Changeling Episode 8 was 29 minutes, the shortest of the entire season, and we had the longest one at almost an hour a week before, with an episode that was just a pure standalone, is something that has frustrated me slightly. Twenty-nine minutes for a season finale that’s so short.
Personally, after watching this season finale, it kind of just feels like the entirety of this first season was a setup for season 2, where it feels like we’re now going to be seeing Emma and Apollo going into the forest in order to find baby Brian.
This show was the slowest of burns that I felt in a long while, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s the way that it’s been handled that feels it. There are many good things that I like about this show, such as the performances, the fairy-tale nature of the environment, the plot, the way that it’s shot, and the mythical creatures.
However, there are a ton of riddles. And it just feels like there’s never a sense of resolution with any parts of the episode, which is something that I don’t quite get. As if you are, I feel like we should get something. And throughout this first season, it feels like we’ve had to work for it.
I will be tuning in for season two of the show when it gets released because I have enjoyed watching it along with the world that was created. Plus, I also want to see what ends up happening to Baby Brian and more about William Wheeler and this creature that seems to be living underground.
So, with probably around a year to wait until the next season of the show, the book is there to be read, or it just leaves more time for theorizing.
