The third and final season of the survival thriller, The Head, has started its journey with a banger of a double episode premiere, and it seems like things are going back to square one to complete the cycle of violence that began with the death of Sarah Jackson and the burning of Polaris V. The first season of the series saw Maggie Mitchell, aka Olivia Jackson, getting revenge for her mother’s death by killing every member of Polaris VI, who kept the truth about Sarah’s death a secret from the rest of the world. By the end, Olivia had framed biologist Arthur Wilde, who was responsible for Sarah’s death, for the murders she committed. In the second season, Arthur was drowned to death by her own daughter, Rachel, as a retaliation for his heinous murder spree, which resulted in the deaths of the majority of the members of the cargo ship that was sent to harvest the carbon-eating algae from the South Pacific Sea, which could have reversed the global warming. While it seemed that with Arthur’s death, things would settle down for good, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as the final season presents a similar death trap situation with yet another isolated setting, this time moving to the hottest place on earth, the Saharan desert.
Spoiler Alert
How Did Olivia And Rachel Meet Again?
The second season had ended with Olivia meeting Rachel at the hospital, who was still recuperating from her experiences in the cargo ship. Olivia was disappointed after learning from Rachel that Arthur has passed away, as she was unable to complete her revenge, and it was hinted that she might choose to torment his daughter instead. However, as the third season begins, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as both of them seem to have moved on. Arthur was under the command of Lauren, a mysterious, extremely wealthy, and resourceful patron who funded his Pacific expedition, and as the third season begins, Rachel appears to have taken the responsibility to further her father’s works. Olivia is revealed to have stolen the last sample of algae and forced Lauren to make a deal with her to credit the revolutionary research of using the algae to reverse global warming to his late mother instead of Arthur, in exchange for returning the algae. The human trial for algae compatibility will be commenced in secrecy, and Lauren has arranged necessary means in the seclusion of Bir Tawil in the Sahara by putting together a crew of security operatives, medics, and scientists. Rachel, pregnant with Alec’s child, is leading the research, as the team is expected to commence a trial for eight days on human subjects who have volunteered themselves to undergo the tests in exchange for a huge amount of money. It should be mentioned that to ensure complete secrecy, Lauren has chosen this off-grid location. The crew will reside in an abandoned Russian bunker, with supplies for the next eight days at their disposal.
Viewers get acquainted with the core research team, as test subjects mostly remain unnamed. Olivia is present to ensure that Lauren is keeping her end of the bargain. While Rachel is leading the research with medic Liam Ruddock, and the eccentric German researcher, Horst. Geri, possibly a researcher/medic as well, is present with her husband, Pierre, who is the chopper pilot. The security team consists of perceptive merc, Jamal, and his protégé, Bashir, and it is revealed that Geri is cheating on Pierre with Jamal to get back at him for breaking her trust on a previous occasion.
Who Killed Lauren?
There is understandable uneasiness as Rachel is furious at Lauren for allowing Olivia to be a part of the research team, as she fears that given her violent past as a psychopathic murderer, she will begin to torment Rachel at any given opportunity. But Lauren is helpless in this regard, as in order to obtain the algae, she had to agree to Olivia’s demands. On the other hand, as Olivia learns that Rachel knows everything about her already, she becomes livid with Lauren, assuming that she has told her about the past, although Lauren clarifies that Arthur himself had told Rachel everything. Also, Olivia doesn’t believe Rachel’s words and still thinks that Arthur is alive.
After a successful trial of day one, a sandstorm engulfs the facility, and a man, battered and bruised due to reasons still unknown, ends up reaching the location before getting knocked out in sheer exhaustion. Lauren suspects conspiracy by other conglomerates who want to steal their research and decides to hold the person captive. Upon regaining his senses, the stranger introduces himself as Michael Drake, a rich American tourist. Lauren doesn’t trust his words as Michael shares details as to how he was visiting Egypt and his plane crash-landed not too far from the facility.As the only survivor of the crash, he was merely trying to look for help. Geri and Jamal are sent to the supposed crash site by Lauren, as the ELT of the plane needs to be destroyed, lestit makes their research a public knowledge if a rescue team eventually responds. Bashir is instructed to keep an eye on Drake.
Upon finding the plane, Geri and Jamal deactivate the ELT and find out that the pilot was apparently shot by flare gun to death — if the crash hadn’t killed her already. They mistakenly consider Drake to be a murderer, whereas in a flashback sequence it is shown that Drake had nothing to do with the pilot’s death, as she ended up fatally injuring herself while using the flare gun to seek help. Geri hurriedly tries to make Bashir aware of Drake’s intentions as she thinks Lauren’s suspicions were right. But by then the worst has already taken place, as by the time Geri and Jamal return to the base, Lauren is found decapitated and Jamal is murdered as well. Drake, who was trying to earn his freedom by taking Jamal’s weapon, is incapacitated by Olivia — and everyone automatically begins to suspect him for the murders. Drake pleads innocence, but Geri, distraught by Jamal’s demise, ends up shooting him to death. It should be mentioned that neither Rachel nor Liam witnessed who killed Drake, as they stepped out of the facility for a moment when Geri ended up shooting him, and the rest of the crew remain willfully silent about the identity of the perp. However, with one decapitation and two murders within the first day of trial research, the third season of The Head has officially begun its body count.
Is One of the Test Subjects the Culprit?
The second episode briefly turns the narrative attention to the test subjects, all of whom have their personal reasons for volunteering as guinea pigs for the algae research. While doing an autopsy on the deceased members, Olivia finds a ‘V’ sign carved on Bashir’s chest, and memories of the past come flooding into her mind as she did the same earlier to remind the crew of Polaris VI of their past actions. Olivia is convinced that Arthur is alive and is somehow manipulating events to get back at her, and she shows the sign to Rachel to prove that she isn’t to be blamed for the murders that took place in the facility. There is a certain amount of tension between Pierre and Geri, as Pierre has discovered about her affair with late Bashir.
During the second day of the trial, Geri gets stung by a scorpion that Jamal had kept inside the facility, and a number of random factors work in unison for her to be present at the place and get stung — which makes it seem that it might not all be a coincidence. The med vials, antidotes present in the med bay of the facility, are found to be empty, and Pierre is unable to take his wife to the nearest facility as the chopper has been sabotaged as well by someone. Pierre decides to take the jeep, and Olivia, given her past experience (actions), warns him about the possibility of the jeep being set up as well. However, the jeep appears to be in proper condition, and Pierre drives away with Geri to seek help, only to get stranded in the middle of nowhere as the fuel reserve hits rock bottom, and all the fuel tanks in both the jeep and the facility are revealed to have been filled with sand. In her final moments, Geri reconciles with Pierre, who returns to the facility with Geri’s corpse. A chaos ensues as Pierre begins to antagonize Horst, holding him responsible for his wife’s death, and an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust pervades among the crew. Jamal makes the right choice of taking access keys from everyone and sending them to their quarters.
One of the test subjects, Keiko, acts particularly fishy as she has managed to obtain Liam’s access keys, and using them, she not only ventures all around the facility in secret, she also accesses details regarding the algae research. At the end, one of the test subjects can turn out to be the killer as well, although the exact motivation for doing so isn’t revealed yet.
Is Arthur Wilde Still Alive?
The final half of the second episode showcases a prolonged flashback sequence eighteen months ago, when Arthur Wilde was awaiting his trial while remaining incarcerated. Arthur went through severe torment at the hands of a dreaded criminal named Patrick and his goons, and the hope of reconciling with his estranged daughter, Rachel, is what kept him alive during those days. Arthur kept writing letters to Rachel, in hopes of getting a reply, to no avail, until one day, he finally received a letter from a somewhat deranged follower — although the identity of the said follower isn’t revealed.Â
In the present, the unknown perp continues to wreak misery upon the crew in secrecy, emptying the water supply in the middle of the night. Rachel wakes up from a nightmare, where she remembers seeing Arthur surviving the drowning incident. As the episode ends, a possibility emerges about one of the test subjects being Arthur’s deranged disciple. Alternatively, Rachel might be lying about her father’s death all along, knowing that living in secrecy was the only option left for him after being targeted by Olivia and committing mass murder himself. In any case, it seems unlikely that a total outsider is responsible for putting the crew in jeopardy; the killer is one among the characters with whom we have become acquainted with in the first couple of episodes.