The subgenre of isolation-atmospheric horror found a revolutionary new direction with the release of John Carpenter’s masterpiece, The Thing, back in the 80s. More than the nature of the supernatural dread and enigma of it, the pervading sense of paranoia, mistrust, and fear that the movie was able to evoke allowed horror fans to regard the movie as a timeless classic—and ever since, numerous ventures have tried to replicate similar results, though with little to no success. The basic premise of The Head, the psychological thriller series that places its characters in isolation against an arctic backdrop while treating the narrative as a whodunit murder mystery, is quite clearly inspired by the horror classic, which is also acknowledged by the series at one point during the first season. With high production value, competent performances, and taut storytelling, there is a lot to like in the series even if you’re not a fan of survival thrillers. Since premiering back in 2020, the series has released two seasons so far, and both of them—despite having separate single-setting stories – have managed to grab the attention of viewers worldwide. Now that the third season is already ongoing, let us catch up on the events that transpired in the first two seasons, which will allow viewers to get into the groove of things quite easily.
Spoilers Ahead
Season 1: Who Killed The Crew of Polaris VI?
The first season begins with a celebration, as the crew of the Antarctica research station, Polaris VI, prepares to return to their homes by leaving the outpost at the beginning of a six-month-long winter break. Led by prolific biologist Dr. Arthur Wilde, the scientists of the research station are trying to find a breakthrough in global warming prevention, and during the six-month-long winter break of never-ending nights, ten operatives of the research station, known as Winterers, will stay behind and continue their work. Summer commander of the station, Johan Berg, has to leave his biologist wife, Annika, whose work is crucial in Wilde’s mission, at the research station.
Six months later, while returning to the research station with a team of operatives, Johan fears something troubling might have taken place, as communication with the station came to a stop three weeks ago. As the team enters the station, to their absolute horror, they find the bloody corpses of the Winterers, burned unidentifiable bodies, and bullet holes inside the station, and are able to rescue the sole survivor of the horrific tragedy—Dr. Maggie Mitchell, whose shaky state of mind caused by the trauma and polar syndrome prevents her from painting a clear picture regarding what really happened in the station. Still, Johan, who hopes to find his wife Annika, who is missing from the station, decides to trust Maggie’s words to get somewhat of an understanding regarding the events that took place in the station. The question of whether outsiders were responsible for the massacre or if an internal conspiracy resulted in such mayhem remains ever present as Maggie reveals how Miles, the communication officer of the outpost, was found decapitated after he decided to investigate a disruption in the satellite communication link. Soon, all the crew members started suspecting each other after Nils, who had previously clashed with Miles and was seen to have hidden what could have been the possible murder weapon, was found murdered as well.
The leadership of Arthur, and Erik, the winter commander of the station, seemed to be failing big time as panic gripped all the surviving members, who realized just how terrifying it can be to be stranded with a murderer in a godforsaken place where help will not arrive anytime soon. Back in the present, Johan is able to find what seem to be guilt-ridden confessional notes left by his wife, Annika, and by unlocking a suspiciously highly encrypted phone of one of the deceased outpost crew members, Ramon, he is able to locate a distress signal coming from the underground area of the research station. Johan is able to find Arthur when he heads underground, where the research chief had been hiding for the last couple of weeks, and he reveals Maggie is the killer who is trying to pretend to be innocent by faking her condition. Johan isn’t sure whom to trust when his team discovers the body of Sarah Jackson, a researcher who had previously worked with Arthur and the majority of the crew of Polarity VI when she was stationed at Polaris V, which sank beneath the ice years ago after catching fire. Johan finds discrepancies in Maggie’s psych evaluation, as it appears she had lied to get a position in the facility and was not even supposed to be a part of the team had a member not died days before the beginning of the research expedition. However, it turns out Maggie shared a strong bond with her late mother and wanted to fulfill her final wish to live the life of adventure she herself never could.
In the past, Erik was revealed to be in a relationship with one of the crew members, Ebba, whom he tried to make leave the facility and seek help from neighboring outposts after the murders started to occur, but as the snowmobile was sabotaged by the killer, Ebba died in explosion while starting the engine. Erik started losing his grip on reality in sheer agony and ended up accidentally shooting another crew member, Heather, to death, while Arthur suggested seeking supplies from the sunken Polaris V, which had seemingly resurfaced due to global warming. While doing so, the surviving members found Sarah’s body, and though she was supposedly killed years ago in the fire accident, Maggie’s investigation reveals that she was in fact murdered by someone. This opens a can of worms, as except for Aki, a young researcher with whom Maggie had formed a strong bond, and Maggie herself, the rest of the members were present during the Polaris V expedition, and they knew very well what happened with Sarah Jackson. Ramon tries to murder Aki and Maggie after they try to peep into the past, and Maggie kills him in self-defense, while Erik, unable to hold on to the truth any longer, tries to force a confession out of Arthur by holding him at gunpoint, only to be disarmed and get himself killed by Arthur instead. It is revealed that, years ago, Arthur, Sarah, and Annika were able to discover a CO2-devouring bacteria that could have been proven to be a feasible counter against global warming. Back then, Arthur, a demented and lecherous guy, had tried to rape Sarah and killed her—an incident Annika witnessed in her own eyes but decided to cover up to save their research and also convinced every present member of the facility to do the same, and together, they burned down Polaris V to drown the truth underneath the arctic depths. Maggie’s investigation brought her closer to the truth and exposed Arthur’s crimes, which is why, after killing Erik, he wanted to murder Aki and Maggie as well. However, Aki sacrificed his life to save Maggie, who went into hiding before learning from a remorseful Annika about the truth. Annika decided to take another snowmobile to seek help, only to get stranded in a blizzard and lose her life. At present, Johan finds his wife’s body and realizes her vehicle was sabotaged as well, and upon learning the truth from Maggie and finding credible evidence, holds Arthur Wilde to be responsible for Sarah’s murder years ago and the killing of all the members of Polaris VI. However, a brilliant plot twist comes in the form of Maggie being the daughter of Sarah, who orchestrated all the events meticulously to teach them a lesson for denying justice to her mother, and incriminated Arthur for the murders as well. Served him quite right, I’d say.
Season 2: Who Is The Killer of the Crew on the Cargo Ship?
The second season once again places Arthur with a new crew, facing the same old jeopardy of being stranded with an unknown killer—the difference being this time they are stationed in a cargo ship at Point Nemo in the South Pacific, where the crew wants to locate a specialized algae that can boost the CO2-eating bacteria’s activity, and this time Arthur’s daughter, Rachel, is by his side as well. Arthur was sentenced to life after getting framed by Maggie for the killings of the crew of Polaris VI, but a shady female benefactor had sent an elite co-op team to have him rescued before the prison transfer and assigned him to the latest expedition setting out to locate the aforementioned algae. Maggie, along with her sister, Sylvia, becomes aware of Arthur’s escape, and their mission to locate the biologist and bring him to justice begins. At one point, Sylvia is killed by a couple of enforcers, and Maggie gets abducted and brought to Arthur’s unnamed benefactor, who agrees to share Arthur’s location with her if she confesses her crimes—that it was Maggie who killed the majority of the crew of Polaris VI to seek revenge for her mother, Sarah’s death.
At the cargo ship, one by one, crew members begin to perish, beginning with Arthur’s research associate, Kowalski, who is found decapitated just like how Miles was found in the first season. I wish the show did more to justify the title of the series except for drawing upon the imagery of severed heads. Anyway, Arthur is haunted by his past and considers Maggie to have either implanted a mole among the crew or directly orchestrated the events in secrecy. Kowalski’s secret lover, the boatswain, Marcus, is found to have taken his life after the rest of the members suspect him to be the murderer and lock him up in a cabin. Another crew member decides to do a DNA test to find whether Marcus indeed was responsible for Kowalski’s death, and is able to establish his innocence, but before he can share the results of who is the real culprit, as indicated by the DNA match found on Kowalski’s corpse, Zack is viciously murdered by the mysterious serial killer aboard the cargo ship, along with the rest of the team. Given Arthur’s reputation in the crew, he is suspected to be the killer, but as the crew realizes that he is as panicked and confused as they are and only obsessed with protecting his research, they don’t bother looking into him. A mentally unstable, hulking brute, Charlie, is considered to be the prime suspect at one point after his DNA is found on Kowalski’s corpse, and after, as a mechanic, he apparently tinkers with the ship’s fire suppression system—making the ship travel at a reduced speed. Charlie is locked in a cabin, but he manages to break out of his confinement and accidentally ends up killing his own brother, Oscar—who was actually trying to convince the rest of the crew about Charlie’s innocence. A mentally unstable Charlie had locked Erica, the captain, putting the ship in real jeopardy as the fire suppression system malfunctioned, resulting in the ship being doomed to inevitable destruction without a power backup.
Taking his daughter, Rachel; chief of security, Alec; and fellow scientist Amy, Arthur decides to abandon the ship and get away in a lifeboat when another crew member, Will, threatens Arthur with the life of his daughter. Arthur tries to bargain for her life in exchange for the algae, which is seemingly worth a great deal due to its properties, but Will doesn’t really care about his research and throws the last remaining algae sample into the ocean. Arthur manages to find an opening and shoot Will to death, and boards the lifeboat with Rachel, Amy, and Alec. It is only now that Arthur reveals that he is behind the killings, which began with Kowalski, who had discovered that the combination of algae and the bacteria uncovered by Arthur and his team back in the first season creates a terrible toxin which, instead of preventing global warming, will end up aggravating it by annihilating any biological form it comes into contact with. Arthur knew this, but despite that, he was unwilling to abandon his life’s work and a chance to earn freedom by presenting false results to his mysterious benefactor, which is why when Kowalski wanted to reveal the truth to the crew, Arthur murdered him—and it resulted in a killing spree, as in order to cover up one lie/death, multiple were needed. Arthur confesses all this as he has already spiked Alec and Amy’s water with the biotoxin – they are moments away from death, and Arthur is sure that his daughter will understand his reasoning and will side with him. However, Rachel is horrified seeing the true face of her father and ends up drowning him to death.
Maggie, on the other hand, provides her confession to the unnamed benefactor of Arthur’s, and as the cargo ship is discovered by Chilean police, Charlie is killed on suspicion of all the murders committed on the ship. Rachel is hospitalized, and Maggie, who had arrived with the hopes of seeing Arthur alive as she wanted to continue her quest for vengeance, is disappointed to see her as the sole survivor (Erica and Kim also survived). During the final moments of the second season, it is hinted that Maggie may or may not subject Rachel to torment for the sins of her father, as the finale ends on an ambiguous note.
