“The Rig” finale arrives with a lot of urgency and a looming sense of impending disaster as the evils of Pictor Energy come out in the open. As Kinloch Bravo comes to terms with the fullest idea of what the Ancestor is and what powers it holds, the reasons for its resurgence are exposed too. It’s all thanks to Pictor Energy, which tried pumping compressed carbon into the seabed to exterminate the organism, and these actions led to the final circle closing at the end of Episode 5—signaling that the doom of humanity is here. With Baz left alone inside the production module and trying to help the ancient being, David Coake’s horrendous actions are exposed. Here’s what happens in the season finale of Amazon Prime’s “The Rig.”
Spoilers Ahead
The Crimes Of David Coake
“The Rig” finale opens with a flashback to the Charlie rig two days prior to the present. David Coake, the Research & Expansion head from Pictor, is seen barking orders at Harish and another technician up in the control room. The system starts shaking as pressure begins to hit dangerous levels, but Coake pays no attention to the warnings. Despite Harish’s pleas, the system isn’t shut off, and finally, the extreme conditions are too much for the rig to handle, and it explodes. Half of the rig goes up in flames as everyone in the control room topples over, but Harish and Coake are unharmed. Back in the present, Harish is seen speaking to Magnus as Coake glares at him from outside the closed glass doors. Harish continues that the standby vessel rushed towards Charlie but was caught in the fire, and it took down one lifeboat with it. He also reveals to Magnus that Coake jumped onto one lifeboat and didn’t wait for the others to board. Next, it’s the turn of the man himself, who had let so many people die on Charlie, to sit down with Magnus. Coake is the mirror image of any director of an energy company who cares about extracting the maximum amount of resources from every possible source, irrespective of the cost. He explains that his mission was one of extermination and that before the Ancestor can spread any further, it needs to be destroyed at its root. Coake tries scaring Magnus with the probability that the ash might get into the reservoirs and convert oil into vegetation, and it’ll also infect the people on the mainland, along with food and water sources. He reveals that Pictor’s ultimate plan is to kill anyone who has been infected and then pull the wool over everyone’s eyes to cover up the fiasco entirely. Outside his office, Magnus finally explains to Rose that the piece of rock that he always fidgets with was unearthed from the seabed and was supposed to be a gift, possibly for Thomas.
At the bottom of the ocean, the seabed continues to crack while the spores avoid Baz and refuse to communicate with him any further. Inside Rose’s laboratory, she and Fulmer discuss the ways they can establish communication with Baz, and thereby, the Ancestor. Fulmer states that so far, the Kinloch Bravo crew’s response to it has been hostile, and that may be the reason why it’s not communicating back. Rose explains that is the reason why they have to alter their approach, which follows Fulmer waving his hand over the vegetation inside a petri dish and initiating communication with Baz. He sees that the Ancestor plans to unleash another Storegga Slide, which would devastate the earth and kill hundreds of thousands and destroying the injectors that Pictor had installed. The oldest living organism is aware that these instruments are the cause of its sickness, so the Storegga Slide will be its response to save itself. Attacking the Ancestor seems impossible because killing it here will only make it sprout elsewhere and launch another attack, so the only remaining solution is asking for help from Baz, who may be able to establish stronger communication with the organism. Inside the control room, Coake checks a device that notifies him that the time for Project Cirein has expired.
Inside the radio room, Coake walks in on Harish and tells him of his contingency plan: two helicopters are coming to airlift him, and he may be able to offer Harish and his friend the remaining two seats if he helps Coake. The two head to the control room as Coake barks at Harish to start the drilling procedure again and threatens to take away the escape ticket if he refuses. Will Harish betray the crew for a safe way out? Fortunately, he shows immense character by turning the speaker on and having Coake reveal his contingency plan about the oncoming choppers and his cold-hearted intention to let people die if it serves his purpose. As Cat, Heather, and Easter head up to the radio room, Magnus, Rose, and Fulmer are with Baz in the production module, trying to bring him back when the rig starts vibrating because Coake has primed the injector. The breaking of a landmass that has been hinted at since the start of the season is finally happening as the entire Kinloch Bravo becomes unstable. Magnus, Rose, and Fulmer realize they have to leave and ask Baz to join, but according to him, everything shares a connection, and only if humanity can show the Ancient that they’re capable of making sacrifices as well things may get better. After bidding farewell to Magnus and the rest, Baz chooses to stay behind with the Ancient as the three run out of the module.
The Final Hour
Coake escapes to the helipad to wave the helicopters down when he comes face to face with Hutton. Itching for vengeance, Hutton pounces on him, and Coake tries the usual tactic of offering money to get him to his side, but Hutton, the oil rig veteran, doesn’t care about positions or money. He almost throws Coake overboard when Heather, Cat, and the rest arrive and beg him not to. Coake survives but is punched in the face by Hutton as the Bravo crew starts boarding the helicopters. Meanwhile, Magnus, Rose, and Fulmer are running towards the helipad when Rose spots a massive tsunami approaching the rig—it is the wave that Baz had prophesized from the start. All of them manage to get into the helicopter in the nick of time, and they gain altitude as the tsunami crashes on the Bravo rig. Baz is seen walking into a circle of blue light formed by the spores when the Bravo is destroyed. Cat begins panicking as the wave heads towards the beach, as her wife Casey will be among the thousands of casualties of the wave when Coake chimes in that the choppers aren’t heading towards the beach. Apparently, the only way they could have gone home was by following through with Coake’s plan of extermination. At the beach, the furniture inside Casey’s house starts shaking, and things start toppling over, and she approaches the window to find a massive shadow descending when the screen cuts to black.
A Massive Cliffhanger Ending Leaves Us Anxious For The Next Season
The warnings that the season opens with finally come to pass as an enormous tsunami begins to crash onto the beach. The Season 1 finale of “The Rig” shows the fullest extent of the might of the Ancient, who strikes back at humanity in what could be the Storegga Slide of the 21st century. As the rig that was the center of all the action in “The Rig” Season 1 gets destroyed in the wave (but still remains standing), the crew survives, except for Baz, who chooses to stay back. We see the fullest extent of Coake’s cruelty when he tries deserting Kinloch Bravo just like he did with Charlie, but there’s some well-deserved payback waiting for him in the shape of Hutton’s fist. Baz sacrifices himself in the ultimate attempt to prove to the Ancestor that humanity isn’t its enemy, no matter what atrocities corporations like Pictor continue committing against nature. As Season 1 ends with a massive cliffhanger, it doesn’t specify where exactly the Kinloch Bravo crew is headed as the choppers fly towards an unknown destination. We see that the wave is about to crash on Casey’s house along with thousands of other homes, but we don’t actually see it happening. Does Baz’s sacrifice work? Does the Ancestor recognize that not all of humanity needs extermination and rescind its attack? Do Casey and the rest of the east coast survive? As the season finale comes to a tumultuous end, all eyes are focused on the second season of Amazon Prime’s “The Rig” because we need answers!
