Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘October Faction’ follows the story of the Allen family. Fred and Deloris have told their children that they work in risk assessment. The truth is that they are the assassins for a secret society that hunts monsters. The show revolves around the struggle of the parents to keep their jobs a secret and protecting their children while fighting all kinds of monsters. As the story moves forward, secrets start coming to light, and we discover that it isn’t just their jobs that Fred and Deloris have lied about.
One thing leads to another, and by the end, the entire Allen family finds itself on the brink of defeat at the hands of Presidio. What’s worse is that Fred is shot down while trying to save his children at Gate Night. Everyone, including us, believes that he is dead. But then, we find out something very interesting, which gives us hope. The ending, however, skips a few steps and doesn’t exactly address the dilemma that it had posed in front of the character as well as the audience. Here, we pull at the threads and try to find out what exactly happened to Fred at the end of ‘October Faction’.
What Happened to Fred?
While everyone else takes up arms against Presidio, Fred is caught up in a battle of his own. He had been shot-down at Gate Night. Everyone assumed he is dead, but we find out that he is caught in the limbo, with the man that he killed who is also the father of his children, no less. Now, Fred has two choices. He can either let it be and accept death, or he can fight for it and go back to his family and save them from the clutches of the evil organisation that he has been working for his entire life.
Omari explains to Fred that because life, no matter if it’s human or not, is energy. Just as happens with warlocks, the life source of humans is fluid as well and it can go back to where it came from. The reason Fred is caught in the limbo is that he is still conflicted about whether or not he has been a good father, whether or not he has been a good person. All his life, he hated his father and didn’t want to end up like him. The reason he kept his children away from his life was that he didn’t want it imposed on them just like it was imposed on him. No matter what happened and no matter what his children think of him, the final assessment of his own self truly depends on what he thinks of himself.
Is Fred Dead or Alive?
In the final scene of the show, we see Deloris visiting Fred’s grave. This points to the fact that Fred decided to let it be and chose death. However, we don’t actually get to see what he decided, we don’t actually see him get closure on his struggle. This could mean that perhaps, he is still caught in the limbo. Another explanation could be that he did decide to come back, though the return might not be the same as he had expected.
How Can Fred Return?
While Presidio has everyone quarantined at the Allen house, Cathy is possessed by a teenage warlock named Aiden. He had been killed the day Presidio stormed at the Harlow House community and massacred all of the warlocks. Alice blamed herself for it. She had befriended Kate, despite the warning of her husband, and it was this betrayal that brought down hell on her people. She wanted revenge on Edith and Presidio, but more than that, she wanted her family, her community back.
At the Gate Night festival, when she has both her children with herself, she uses the ashes of the warlocks to bring back all of the people who had been killed that day. According to warlock ritual, one’s soul does not die after their death. This means that even if you are dead, it is not the end. You can, and most certainly will, come back, but in another form. If a warlock’s soul is to come back in someone else’s body, it has to be on a mutual basis. The warlock’s soul and that of the person whose body it is going to occupy have to be on the same terms before the merger can take place.
When Alice brings everyone back, it is against the wishes of both. Even though the warlocks wanted to come back, it wasn’t like this. They did not want to be forced into someone else’s body. The humans, on the other hand, had no idea what was happening to them. So, consent was not received from their side as well. Due to this, Aiden decides to leave Cathy’s body, which is probably what the rest of the warlocks did as well.
While all of this negates all that Alice did in this season, it also shows us that just because a character has been shot to death doesn’t mean they are necessarily dead. And because Omari, a warlock, tells Fred, a human, that their souls work the same way, it means that there is a very good chance for Fred to return.
When he decided to get out of limbo and go back to his world, there is a strong possibility that he didn’t end up in his own body. He could have received a little help from Omari and could have found a host who was ready to let his soul in. Another fact that supports this theory is that Samuel has already done something similar with Seth, his son who was supposed to be dead. Unable to let go of him, he used the warlock ritual to bring Seth back. He convinced Dante, a murderer on death row, to volunteer for the “good cause”, and used his body to be the carrier for his son’s soul. Who’s to say something similar can’t happen with Fred?
Read More: October Faction Ending, Explained
