Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s love for sci-fi shows is nothing new. The streaming service regularly releases such stories and the audience drinks them all down. ‘Raising Dion’ is another entry in this list. It follows the story of Dion, a young boy who has always had superpowers. Earlier, be thought he was able to do magic, but as his powers increase, he realises that there is a lot he still doesn’t know about himself. Meanwhile, it becomes a nightmare for his mother to take care of him. If you haven’t yet seen the show, head over to Netflix.
SPOILERS AHEAD
How Does Dion Have Superpowers?
‘Raising Dion’ begins with a single mother’s struggle to raise a kid who has developed superpowers. As she tries to find a way for him to control himself, so that he doesn’t hurt himself or anyone else, the mystery branches out, both in the past as well as the present. In the end, it comes down to the source of it. Why does Dion have superpowers?
All superheroes have an origin story where they are either bit by spiders or struck by lightning or something like that. Nothing of this sort happened with Dion. This means that he must have inherited it. And for someone to inherit power, one or both of their parents must have it too. With the mystery involved with Mark’s work and his death, we have to assume that it has something to do with him. Nicole comes close to the mystery when she meets Charlotte. She was the one whom Mark had saved the night he died. Previously, Nicole believed that her husband was just being a good Samaritan and died trying to help a stranger. However, when she finds Charlotte’s number in his jacket pocket, she realises there was much more to his death than she knew.
Charlotte fills Nicole on what had happened between her and Mark. They were not indulged in an affair, rather they had been going through the same thing. They had been to Iceland to attend the Aurora event and something happened there, which changed them forever.
Charlotte began to turn invisible and so did Mark. He was studying himself, trying to figure out what had happened that night and how to contain it, if not cure it. Since the symptoms appeared a lot later, he couldn’t have known that he had already passed it over to Dion. In fact, he was not the only one to have done so. Brayden’s father, whom we meet later in the series, was also a part of the group and passed on his powers. Perhaps, in further seasons, we get to meet more people from the Iceland incident and get to know how many superhero kids there are.
What Are Dion’s Powers?
Over the course of the first season, we see Dion’s powers developing. And that is just what it is right now. He is still in a developmental stage, so we don’t know exactly what he is truly capable of. Of course, there are basic things like telekinesis, which comes easily to him, and teleportation, which takes a lot of time and concentration. When Charlotte comes in to train him, she tells him that the source of their power is the ions in the atmosphere. They have the ability to influence these ions and make them do anything. With some practice, Dion, too, learns to become invisible, though he is still to master the art.
On top of that, Dion can manifest a ball of fire. But that is not what gets him in trouble. It is his ability to heal others that attracts everyone’s attention. He first does it, unwittingly, when he just wants the fox to get better. Since the fox is a small animal and isn’t that far gone, he is able to help him. But he is only able to do all these things because he wants to. Since he hasn’t yet fully gained control over his powers, he is often driven by his heart.
The healing power works similarly. He can heal you only if he really wants to. When Pat comes to know about it, he tries to use it for himself. He knows that Dion cares about him and is the only one who can get him out of his unique predicament. Dion even tries to help him but doesn’t know the actual extent of how bad his condition is. Had it really been the case of a simple migraine, Dion could have easily helped. But when your patient is the Crooked Man, there is only so much you can do before hurting yourself. This is why he falls ill after healing Pat.
What Happened in Iceland?
Now that we have established where Dion got his powers from and what he can or can’t do, we must focus on the event that kickstarted it all. Years before Dion was born, Mark had been working for Biona. Pat was his engineer, and they were sent to study the Aurora event in Iceland. We don’t know if Mark had something specific in mind while he was there or were they just collecting data. Anyway, there were a number of other tourists too. While they were all out in the open, Pat chose to stay behind in the tent. Everything was set up and they knew what to expect.
The Aurora came and the sky lit up, but then, another thing came. It blasted into the sky like firecrackers. Its ashes fell to the ground like rain, only that the drops were not of water but some radioactive substances. Mark and all the other people who come in contact with that substance are mutated. The whole area is changed, for that matter. Again, we don’t get to see what caused those blasts and where this radioactive material came from, but whatever it is, it is degrading Nature. Iceland is deteriorating. The contaminated area is slowly increasing. The flora of that place is gone and whatever fauna comes in contact with it is also mutated. Mark had wanted to study what was happening to them so that he could understand if something similar would happen to him. This is why Biona had all those animals locked up in their secret lab.
Who is the Crooked Man?
‘Raising Dion’ is a fun ride and the presence of a sinister, seemingly invincible villain makes it even better. It feels like an alien entity, seeking out the people with superpowers, aka the people who had been in Iceland that night. Everyone is scared of it and their first instinct about it is to run. Since it has already killed seven people, including Mark, Nicole doesn’t want to come face to face with this power. She is willing to hide Dion for as long as possible, and this is what Charlotte suggests to her too. She has been on the run for quite some time now and knows exactly what it takes to truly be invisible. When she comes across Dion, she advises Nicole to pack and leave. The adults know that it is impossible to fight this thing. Dion, however, is a kid. And while everyone around him is talking about how far and fast they should run, his first instinct, after he comes to know about the Crooked Man, is to fight him.
Since this problem had come from outer space, it is assumed that the Crooked Man might be an alien. But then, once your DNA is mutated, are you really human anymore. Our best guess about this antagonist is that it is just a storm and lightning. It can’t be a person. This is why, when Pat says “I should have killed you in New Orleans” to Charlotte, we take some time to process the situation.
Dear old Pat, who had been with Dion and Nicole through thick and thin, who was always ready to give up everything and do what they needed of him; he is the one who turns out to be the one who took everything away from them. He is Dion’s godfather and yet, he killed Mark. Why would Pat do this? And how did he become this thing in the first place?
When asked about what happened in Iceland, Pat says that he was there to just observe. He was in the tent, hence, whatever happened outside was of no consequence to him. What actually happened is this. When the meteor shower started, the connection between him and Mark was broken. This troubled him and he got out of the tent to see what was happening. By that time, the fiery rain had already picked up the pace and when he got out, he was drenched in it. Some of it burnt through his clothes and burned his skin.
While others were also troubled by their newfound abilities, they eventually learn to control them. They were not in any imminent danger because of it. Pat, however, wasn’t so lucky. His health began to deteriorate and just as the infection was spreading in Iceland, it was also spreading on Pat’s body. This caused his powers to escalate and instead of controlling them, he was succumbing. His condition was worsening and the only way for him to keep himself alive was to absorb the energy of other people. So, he started hunting them down. He tried to stay away from Mark, but it happened unexpectedly. Once he became the Crooked Man, he couldn’t identify his one victim from another.
Raising Dion Ending: Energy Never Dies
The small things mentioned in eight episodes come to fruition in the finale of ‘Raising Dion’. For example, we know why Mark was building a Faraday cage. This is what saves Nicole’s life. Pat’s migraines and his extreme investment in Dion and Nicole’s life is also justified when his true nature comes to light. However, the mystery of Biona’s true intentions still remains a mystery. Are they the good guys, or just another shady organization trying to clean their own mess? Mark suspected them for what happened in Iceland, so they might not be so innocent in this. Anyway, for now, they come to Dion’s aid.
Pat shows his true form and goes after Dion, who had teleported from the cabin to his school. Esperanza, Jonathan, Nicole and Dion run for their lives, but in the end, it comes down to fighting. Dion takes him on single-handedly but is overpowered. Jonathan tries the Storm Killer, but it doesn’t work. Nicole discovers that Biona had wanted to do something similar. This gives her the idea that she doesn’t need complicated concepts to defeat Pat.
Moreover, she has the advantage of being invisible. Since Pat wants energy, when he turns into the Crooked Man, his focus is on his prey. Normal humans don’t have that energy so he can’t see them. Finally, she uses the reliable method of earthing to get rid of all of his energy. As Pat disintegrates, all the people he had killed, are released from him. Mark stays long enough to warn Dion and Nicole that since Pat was energy, he can neither be created nor destroyed. He will change forms, which means the danger isn’t over yet. But something tells us that he will not be the main antagonist of the second season.
When Charlotte had been going around, trying to find other people from Iceland, she came upon Brayden. His father had been taken by Pat and he was bored out of his wits in the care of his aunt. He pleads Charlotte to take him away with her. But she doesn’t. However, he does read Dion’s name going around in her head. In the final scene, we find that he has killed his aunt and walks out of the house as dark energy enters his body. His purposeful stance shows that he has plans for this world, and they are not good. Coming to the dark energy, it might be his father. After being released from the Crooked Man, he might have come to his son, who integrated it inside himself because his father was the only one he wanted to be with.
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