Dhruv Trivedi
Netflix’s ‘Into the Night’ is a sci-fi thriller set in a post-apocalyptic world where the sunlight kills everything it touches. Based on the Polish novel ‘The Old Axolotl’ by Jacek Dukaj, the show follows a group of survivors who have escaped death by flying westward — “into the night,” so to speak. Now, they find themselves inside a NATO-controlled shelter in Bulgaria, where tensions soon flare-up between the original military occupants of the bunker and the new civilian arrivals led by Sylvie.
Imminent death, a looming food shortage, and mysterious saboteurs make for an immensely intriguing storyline, and the season 2 finale, in true form, leaves us with some maddening questions. Worry not, we might be able to clear up some of those big question marks. Let’s dive into the ending of ‘Into the Night’ season 2. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Into the Night Season 2 Recap
The season begins a few months on from where season 1 ends, with Sylvie’s group and the NATO officials and military personnel coexisting in the bunker. A daily schedule of sorts has been established, with the residents sleeping during the day and going to work at night once the lethal sun has set. Communication with other groups of survivors in Russia and the United States has been established, and Horst is busy experimenting with mice to try and find a way that living creatures may survive sunlight.
However, all experiments so far have failed, with every batch of mice ending up dead after spending a day outside in specially made containers. Soon, a fire in the kitchen severely depletes the food supply, and a mission to the seed bank in Norway is organized in an attempt to grow food in the bunker. Just before the mission is initiated, however, Zara and her son accidentally get locked in the generator room and perish.
Once the search party leaves for Norway, it is revealed that the NATO military personnel, led by the hotheaded Felipe, have discovered footage that shows Sylvie handcuffing Terenzio outside the bunker, essentially leading to his death. This results in a breaking point in the already heated tensions between the civilian group and the soldiers, leading the latter to imprison the former. Sylvie, Laura, Rik, Ines, and Horst are able to escape and commandeer a helicopter, heading to Norway to join up with the rest of the civilian group at the seed bank.
Into the Night Season 2 Ending: Does Sylvie’s Group Survive?
Meanwhile, the group on the seed finding mission arrives at the seed bank in Norway, where they find a lone survivor named Gia, who has become delirious after spending five weeks alone in the facility. When they attempt to help her, she locks herself in their plane’s cockpit and destroys its controls, making it impossible for them to leave.
Unbeknownst to them, a mysterious submarine docks at a nearby port and unknown figures disembark and head to the seed bank. One of the men from the submarine walks into the seed bank, only to find Ayaz pointing a gun at Markus’ head, blaming him for Zara’s death. The mysterious man, claiming to be Turkish, begs Ayaz to stop, but the latter doesn’t heed his words and fires the gun in the oncoming man’s direction. Season 2 then closes with Sylvie’s helicopter seen flying away into the night, followed by a brief scene in which the remaining NATO military personnel open one of Horts’ mouse containers, inside which they discover a living mouse.
Hence, Sylvie and her group are able to leave the murderous NATO personnel right in the nick of time. After her hand in the murder of former NATO officer Terenzio is discovered, the soldiers plan to hold a mock trial for her and swiftly put her to death. Therefore, an escape from the bunker essentially ensures her survival for the time being. The fact that the group loads many containers of fuel into the chopper before taking off also suggests that they will reach the seed bank and possibly rejoin the rest of the civilian group successfully.
However, not everyone in the group survives, and Rik, who the soldiers have already injured, sacrifices himself to help the rest escape. He commandeers a truck and drives it into the oncoming jeep of soldiers that’s bearing down on the helicopter as Sylvie attempts to take off. Therefore, only Sylvie, Horst, Ines, and Laura are able to get away while Rik perishes.
What Happens to the Norway Group? Who is in the Submarine?
The Norway group faces a potentially disastrous situation when Gia, in a manic fit, destroys the control panel of their plane. Being on an island with no other airports and a workshop that’s been stripped of all its equipment, they have no way of fixing the plane. The cold weather also means that they cannot plant the seeds that they have huge quantities of, though they could possibly survive for a few weeks by eating them as Gia did.
Their only hope is that another party, possibly the Russians, comes looking for the seeds and agrees to rescue them. This is why it is decided to move the plane from the runway, where it was originally parked, to stop the Russians from landing earlier. Since the motives of the Russians are unknown, the group doesn’t know whether they will agree to rescue them or not.
However, before the Russians, a mysterious submarine with the marking “245” arrives on the island, and a few men deboard and rush to the seed bank. Though the season closes before their intentions are revealed, we are shown the face of one of them when he attempts to stop Ayaz from shooting Markus. This man claims to be Turkish and says that the men in the submarine are researchers. Though he seems sincere in his words, there is no proof of the same. Additionally, it is possible (though unlikely) that the submarine could be the saboteur responsible for destroying the NATO and Russian airbases.
Who Killed Zara? Who Does Ayaz Shoot in the Season 2 Finale?
When Ayaz realizes that they might be stranded on the Norwegian island due to the damage to their plane by Gia, he confronts Markus about a letter he wrote to Ines. In it, the soldier explains that he was ordered to briefly lock Zara and her son in the generator room to scare them so that the mother would stop questioning all the orders given to her. It was meant to be a relatively harmless gesture to instill fear in her so that she would see the value of the military order that was followed in the bunker. However, once the mother and child were locked inside, it was discovered that the keys to the room were missing, which resulted in them getting trapped inside and dying.
Ayaz holds the gun to Markus’ head in order to avenge the death of Zara and her son, whom he had come to love and care about. However, he is interrupted in the nick of time by the man from the submarine, who causes just enough of a distraction for Markus to escape. Ayaz, mad with anger, says that someone has to pay for what happened and fires in the direction of the oncoming stranger. Though we don’t see if his bullet hits the target, Ayaz is no stranger to firearms and is likely a good shot. If the mysterious stranger is, in fact, shot, this will spell disaster for the stranded group as the submarine is possibly their only chance (apart from Sylvie) of escaping the Norwegian island with the seeds.
What Does the Mouse at the End Signify? What Has Horst Done?
The mid-credits scene of the mouse is a potential game-changer of the entire plotline, as it signifies that Horst has successfully found a way for a living creature to survive being outside during the day. As we’ve seen throughout the show, even being indoors doesn’t stop the sun’s lethal effects, and the bunker residents have only survived because the facility is located under a massive reservoir. Similarly, the people in the submarine have survived because they are underwater.
Though not elaborated on, Horst’s discovery most likely pertains to the covering he has wrapped the mouse container in. We see him placing mice in containers wrapped in different materials and leaving them out in the sun. The mouse seen at the end is the first one to survive. Additionally, the material around the container looks different from the others and is possibly what has helped the mouse survive. This means that, in theory, the same material could be used by humans to cover themselves with and venture outside during the day.
Interestingly, the only other time a living creature is found is in season 1, when Zara’s son Dominik finds a creature that looks like a ferret trapped in a backpack in a medical facility. No one but his mother believes him, but the discovery now seems to be an important clue, as whatever shielded the animal in the backpack is possibly similar to the material Horst has stumbled upon and could play a significant role in the survival of the human race. Of course, considering we have only seen marsupials survive, there is a slight chance that the material only works on similar creatures, but it is, nonetheless, a significant discovery that now lies in the soldiers’ hands.
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