“The Head” Season 1 had us glued to our couches and comfy bean bags from the very beginning, and as anticipated, Season 2 is no exception. Armed with a slew of new and talented actors, “The Head,” Season 2 continues the story of Dr. Arthur Wilde, out at sea and armed with a fresh crew to complete his research, funded by mysterious investors. However, Arthur and his friends find their research to be in jeopardy when a mysterious serial killer on a hunt starts killing the scientists one by one. Is the event repeating itself because of the newfound research, or is it the byproduct of someone’s incomplete vendetta?
Spoilers Ahead
A Quick Recap Of ‘The Head’ Season 1
Dr. Arthur Wilde (played by John Lynch) and several more members of his research team are the only ones left at the Polaris VI base while everyone else has returned to civilization. The aim is to save the dying world from climate change. However, their plans to save the world were interrupted when a mysterious killer began hunting them one by one because of a personal vendetta. The murderer disrupted all communications, making sure they couldn’t call for help. The growing anarchy and bloodshed made everyone reveal their hidden vices and a truth that they had all buried together years ago. The killer is later revealed to be Maggie Mitchell (Katherine O’Donnell), the daughter of Sarah Jackson (Olga Wehrly), who was killed by Arthur Wilde. Fearing the truth would ruin everything, Arthur, along with several other members of Polaris V, decided to burn and bury the truth under the masses of ice. Fortunately, the truth eventually came out, implicating Arthur for the murder he committed years ago, along with the ones he didn’t.
History In The Making
Season 2 takes place on a cargo ship in Point Nemo, South Pacific, approximately 1700 miles away from land, and introduces the audience to a woman; desperately looking for someone. The woman is none other than Arthur’s daughter, the man responsible for murdering Sarah Jackson. Arthur(played by John Lynch) stars alongside a fresh assortment of the crew, including Hovik Keuchkerian as Charlie, Moe Dunford as Alec, Olivia Morris as Rachael Wilde, Sota Fukushi as Yuto, Enrique Arce as Oscar, Thierry Godard as the ship’s captain, Nora Rios as Gloria, and Josefin Nelden as Amy.
The crew is desperately looking for something and appears to have found it buried in the depths of the Pacific. After weeks of scouring the sea and decades upon decades of strenuous scientific research, Arthur and his team have finally been able to achieve an impossible feat. Arthur has managed to locate algae that enhance the bacteria he and his now-deceased team found in Antarctica. Arthur’s bacteria was capable of breaking down 150 times faster than the normal rate of photosynthesis, and they believed it to be a solid cure for climate change. And this newfound algae, when combined with the bacteria, acts as a catalyst and escalates the process. The group just needs a couple more days to extract some needed samples, and afterward, it will sail toward the land. However, their plan is short-lived as Lou Kowalski, one of the researchers, is found dead in his room with his head chopped off, just like Miles in season 1. But who killed Kowalski? Is Maggie back to take her revenge? Or someone really, this time, is trying to steal Arthur’s research. Amid the flurry of questions, however, the most pressing is.
How Did Arthur Get Free?
After a year-long battle for justice for Sarah Jackson and eight members of the Polaris VI scientific team, Arthur’s trial reached its final stage. Arthur had pleaded innocence on all the charges, but the prosecution was counting on the testimony of Doctor Maggie Mitchell, the key witness and the key survivor of the Polaris VI massacre. In her statement, Maggie revealed that Arthur first decapitated Miles and then moved on to killing Aki, Nils, Eric, and the others. Arthur was found guilty on the charges and was sentenced to spend the rest of his miserable life in the highly-secure Portlaoise prison; nevertheless, the convoy was attacked in what appeared to be a perfectly executed operation by a nameless group. However, it’s not yet clear if Wilde himself had any knowledge of his liberation or if he had been abducted against his will.
Who Killed Lou Kowalski?
Before the truth of Polaris V made headlines, Arthur was hailed across the world for being a brilliant biologist and a respected climate change activist who was always hard at work to find the cure to save the world from the horrors of global warming. Unfortunately, now his image has been reduced to that of a “psychotic murderer.” After Lou’s death, none could help but point fingers at Arthur, at least not in front of him, and blame him for chopping Lou’s head off. Yet they also believe that Arthur might be an arrogant “SOB,” but he isn’t a killer. Arthur, too, is having a hard time making sense of the situation. Maybe the head is a message to Arthur that no matter where he is, he can’t ever escape his past. But it is improbable that Maggie is onboard the ship because the expedition was prepared under the strictest security measures, and no one knew any details of the itinerary. Even every scientist and crew member was thoroughly inspected as per Arthur’s instructions. Arthur is frightened and wishes to return to land immediately, but given that they’re 1700 miles away from the nearest land, it would take them four days to reach Valparaiso.
The events began to repeat themselves, and all the crew members and researchers started pointing fingers at one another. The group’s sanity and their ‘unity,’ the only thing that might rescue them, were both deteriorating. The group confined Marcus to his cabin, fearing that he was the one who might’ve killed Lou. In reality, Kowalski and the boatswain were having an affair, unbeknownst to many. On the other hand, Arthur is convinced that all of this is Maggie’s doing and asks Yuto to find out Maggi’s whereabouts. Maggie is nowhere to be found. However, her last post is relatively fresh, where she threatens Arthur, saying she’ll make him pay for his crime. In his panic, Arthur has also begun to hallucinate Maggie on the ship.
Marcus, the boatswain, has committed suicide, or so it seems and has left a suicide note begging forgiveness from God and his family. Everyone is convinced that the DNA test will prove that Marcus murdered Lou and will relieve them of their stress. But there’s more than meets the eye! What if Marcus was murdered, and the letter is just another “Maskirovka” to deter them from their investigation, just so the killer could find them vulnerable? As expected, Zack finds out that Marcus isn’t the killer via the DNA report but has his head smashed with a wrench before he can communicate the findings. The killer also destroyed the DNA sequencer, making sure they never found out about Lou’s killer. There’s a killer onboard, and it could be any one of them.
The Bloodshed Continues
Fearing for his life, Arthur decides to replace every scientist and crew member of the ship when they reach Valparaiso except his daughter Rachael. Arthur couldn’t believe his ears when he learned that Maggie was Sarah’s daughter, and her real name was Olivia Jackson. The killer also used Zack’s missing body to distract everyone and employed the confusion to his/her advantage to lock Rachael, Arthur’s daughter, into the lab to freeze. However, Rachael, just minutes away from succumbing to the cold, manages to short-circuit and disrupt the power to the lab, giving Alec enough time to get her out. The killer locked Rachael into the ice, just like Maggie locked Arthur in the icy tunnels.
When the killer attacked Zack, he or she could have easily taken care of Rachael, but why spare her for later? Maybe for the sake of Polaris VI’s reenactment, killing only one at a time. Or, maybe she didn’t have to die until Arthur granted access to all the files. The head and the freezer are just “Maskerovaka,” a distraction. This time the killer is actually here for Arthur’s work. The killer also disrupted the CO2 fire extinguishing system, forcing them to travel at half speed. After Marcus, Charlie became the target of the crew’s collective finger-wagging as his DNA was discovered on Lou’s body. However, Oscar is convinced that his brother isn’t the killer and is being framed while the real killer is out there enjoying his murderous spree. Marcus was assigned to the ship but had to take his brother along with him after a brawl went wrong. In reality, Charlie is mentally challenged and works at a butcher’s house back home. However, one day he got into a heated scuffle with his employer and accidentally killed him, leaving Oscar with no choice but to take Charlie with him. Charlie was also the ship’s mechanic and is blamed for disrupting the Co2 fire extinguishing system too. The crew also finds a portable PBR, designed to transport living algae samples, that was somehow smuggled onto the ship on Alec’s watch. Also, Charlie broke out of confinement while his brother Oscar was negotiating his release by stopping the ship’s engine. Without the power, Arthur’s algae are dying, and the only ones who can get restore power are Oscar and his missing brother. Sadly, things get out of control when Charlie believes Oscar to be the killer and accidentally kills him by slamming his head against an iron table.
A Perfect Playground For Committing Murder
Arthur firmly believes that the killer is working with Maggie, but in reality, Maggie is as oblivious as he is. She has been working around the clock with her sister Sylvia to trace Arthur’s location, wondering how he could just vanish from the face of the earth. The duo is attacked at their house; Maggie manages to incapacitate the assailants, but Sylvia is killed in the process. Maggie never wanted to kill Arthur; she wanted him to suffer while the world spits on his soiled reputation. Maggie learns about Rachael’s location from her roommate, but she is soon abducted and brought in front of a mysterious figure.
The storm is closing in and is only expected to get worse with every passing second. The crew somehow manages to contact a fishing vessel, but the rescue ship takes 20 hours to reach Point Nemo, and Arthur’s samples would be dead in two. With no choice left, the crew shifts their attention to restoring power and decides to rewire the emergency generator manually. The killings at the ship are premeditated and only began after the big breakthrough. First Lou Kowalski, then Zack, —it’s like the killer had already gotten what he wanted and is now just trying to get rid of the witnesses. No communication from the outside world and the secrecy to come onboard; gave the killer a perfect playground to carry out his killings. The miniseries, with its multilayered characters, brilliantly displays how we ( human beings) turn on each other in the face of adversity. Arthur’s primary concern amidst all the bloodshed is nothing but safeguarding his research. He even bribed Wan offering him $500k to go down and restore the generator, but sadly, Wan became the victim of Charlie’s anger. However, Rachael and Alec somehow managed to get the generator working.
Who’s The Real Snitch?
Arthur also kills Gloria after the latter finds Lou’s missing notebook and keycard; Arthur manipulates everyone into believing that Gloria is a snitch and has been working alongside the killer. But Yuto is convinced that Gloria isn’t the snitch. Also, there’s someone else on the ship, besides the killer, who’s also interested in Arthur’s research. Amy, like Arthur, too, has a secret client who is willing to pay millions of dollars for Arthur’s algae samples, and she even tries to bribe Yuto with 5 million dollars if he lets her transfer files from Lou’s laptop. However, Alec confiscates the laptop, leaving Amy’s plan adrift. Amy had earlier tried to transfer the files; however, the transfer was interrupted when Rachael disrupted the power. Amy just wanted to copy the files and would’ve let Rachael out once the transfer was complete. She needed an alibi and thus went above deck for a minute. Unfortunately, when she tried to unlock the freezer door, her keycard malfunctioned, trapping Rachael inside. Yuto found out about this, and Amy had no choice but to kill him. But, the killer isn’t the only danger to the crew; Charlie, on the other hand, is planning to blow up the ship by overheating the engine.
A Small Price To Pay
Maggie Mitchell, after being abducted, is brought to a mysterious white-haired woman who offers to reveal Arthur’s location to her in exchange for her confession that she was the one who had murdered eight members of the Polaris research team. The woman has been sponsoring Arthur’s research primarily for image and fiscal reasons. Everything was going well until they ran out of funds and needed millions of dollars to carry out the research. And Maggie’s confession could help her achieve that milestone. How? If everyone believes that Dr. Wild is not only a brilliant scientist but also an honorable citizen, it will make things much easier, and she could raise massive funding. But Arthur Wilde is anything but honorable. Arthur has finally found what he was looking for, and the people backing him just need his name to raise more funds but don’t really need him anymore. And if someone were to happen to Arthur, Maggie’s confession won’t even be needed to go public. Maggie isn’t in the circle for money or fame; she just wants to see Arthur suffer, and a confession is a very small price to pay. Maggie records her confession on tape and, in exchange, is awarded the coordinates to Arthur’s ship. In the season finale, the Chilean police arrive at the ship, only to find it littered with dead bodies; however, there is one who has managed to survive the ordeal and is being treated at the hospital.
‘The Head’ Season 2: Ending Explained – Who’s The Real Killer? Is Maggie Back To Take Her Revenge?
With time running out, the remainder of the survivors decided to abandon the ship once Charlie disconnected the engines from the propellers, completely restricting the ship’s movement. Charlie had also locked the acting captain, Erica, and Kim in the engine room while the duo was trying to get it back up. As the group was about to leave, Wil managed to get hold of Rachael, threatening to paint the floor with her blood. Arthur tries to talk Will out of it by offering him his last remaining sample, but Wil has enough of it and throws it into the sea. Infuriated after seeing his life’s work gone, Arthur shoots Will in the middle of his skull. Arthur, Alec, Amy, and Rachael left the vessel in the lifeboat. The group has failed miserably, and the sample is sitting somewhere in the depths of the Pacific. Kowalski, Zack, Marcus, and all the others died for nothing. But who’s the real killer? Who killed Kowalski, Zack, and the others? In reality, Arthur Wilde is the one who has been killing everyone for one obvious reason; to save his research. In reality, the algae Arthur and his team found wasn’t viable. Kowalski found that the byproduct of the bacteria Arthur found in Antarctica and algae culminates into a severe toxin. In layman’s terms, what they believed to be a finding of a lifetime was nothing but poison. If the toxin was introduced into marine biomes, it could be a biblical mess. Arthur tried to convince Kowalski to find a way around it, but the latter made his decision to stop the research, and he died a tragic death. Now Arthur has mixed the same toxins in the water bottle, leading to Amy’s and Alec’s death. It should’ve all ended with Kowalski’s death, but that’s the thing with Pandora’s box; once you open it, things go awry.
Things got out of hand, Kowalski’s blood was all over Arthur’s hand, and he needed to get rid of both the blood and Kowalski’s body. Had he not weighed 200 pounds, Arthur would’ve easily thrown his body into the ocean. Thus, he had to improvise. Arthur stole the knife from the ship’s kitchen, decapitated Kowalski, and tossed his head into the ocean. Afterward, Arthur planted a series of Maskirovkas to twist the narrative in his favor, just like Maggie did on Polaris. Sadly, this changed when Alec found skin under Kowalski’s nails and coerced everyone into a DNA test, leaving Arthur with no choice but to keep going. Arthur then put Midazolam in the coffeemaker to put Zack and Rachael to sleep and used Kowalski’s keycard to enter the lab. Afterward, Arthur kills Zack, swaps the DNA results, destroys the DNA sequencer, and tosses Zack’s body into the pacific. As per Arthur, Gloria’s death was a necessary evil since the latter found Kowalski’s missing notebook in Arthur’s room. And to give his act a final touch, Arthur poisoned the water to dispose of the ones remaining. After everyone had succumbed to Arthur’s darkness and corruption, he tried to convince his daughter Rachael to join him, but she turned him down and drowned him, putting an end to his murderous spree. Charlie was also killed when the police boarded the vessel. But how does Maggie fit into the puzzle? Sadly, unlike last time, Maggie arrived a little late to the party. She somehow managed to sneak into the hospital where Rachael was admitted but was distraught when she learned that Arthur had died. She never wanted Arthur dead; she wanted him to suffer like she did when her mother didn’t make it out of the Polaris V. Arthur might’ve orchestrated the killings, but he wasn’t the only culprit onboard. There were a few like Amy who’d joined the expedition just for profit, fame, and not to make the world a better place. Arthur and Amy were having an affair, and the latter was infuriated when Arthur chose Annika for the Polaris Expedition. She might have tried to save Rachael, but eventually, the greed for fame and recognition got the best of her.
