Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Resident Evil’ is a zombie horror show that is set in a world where the T-virus has turned billions of people into the walking dead. The first season introduces the audience to the Umbrella Corporation and other characters that drive the story. Split into two timelines, it gives us a glimpse of the future as well as the past, showing the actions as well as their consequences. With a lot of bloodbath, it delivers a thrilling watch that keeps you on the edge of your seat, while one mystery after another is peeled away. The final episode uncovers some secrets while also setting the stage for the second season. Here we analyze the ending of ‘Resident Evil’ Season 1 and see what it means for the future of the show and its characters. SPOILERS AHEAD
Resident Evil Season 1 Recap
In 2036, Jade Wesker is studying zombies to see if the T-virus is evolving and whether she can find its cure. Her experiment is cut short when a mistake leads the test zombies to attack her. She is rescued by scavengers, but they are ready to hand her over to the Umbrella Corporation. As Jade runs from them, trying to find the way back home to her daughter, the evil corporation does everything in its power to capture her.
In 2022, a young Jade arrives in New Raccoon City with her father, Albert Wesker, and sister, Billie. She is not very happy with Albert’s decision to uproot their previous lives and bring them to a place where something feels fundamentally wrong. Billie, however, takes it as an opportunity to start fresh. Meanwhile, Albert continues with his secret experiments at Umbrella, who are focused on releasing a new drug, named Joy, which is supposed to cure mental illnesses. While Umbrella’s head Evelyn Marcus is ready to launch the billion-dollar drug into the market as soon as possible, Albert has his inhibitions about it. Because Joy contains traces of T-virus, he doesn’t want it to be used by people until it is declared completely safe. However, Evelyn is cooking up her own schemes on the side, of which Albert is completely unaware.
Unintentionally, Jade and Billie get a glimpse of Umbrella’s true nature and kickstart the events that lead to the spread of the T-virus and the end of the world. In 2036, Jade discovers new things about zombie behavior and hopes to come up with a way to save people from the virus.
Resident Evil Season 1 Ending
Jade had been running from the Umbrella Corporation, assuming that Evelyn was still running the show. It turns out that Billie has taken over the reins and she has found a way to control Evelyn. Through her experiments, Billie discovered a way to control people’s brain functions by putting electrodes in their heads. With a lot of drugs, she succeeded in getting Evelyn under her thumb, which allowed her to run the corporation while no one knew that she was the real boss. Still, it appears that Evelyn hasn’t completely lost control of her mind, and has a few lucid moments, from time to time.
Jade also discovers that Billie’s blood has gone bad due to the exposure to T-virus, and the only thing to stop it from killing her is Jade’s blood. This is why Umbrella had been hunting Jade. Unbeknownst to them, Jade has also found a way to repel zombies. The enzyme extracted from the queen zombie from Calais, Jade finds out that one can stop zombies from attacking themselves if they spray it over their body. The same thing can also be used to attract zombies, which is what she does to plan her escape from the clutches of Billie.
When she finally gets back on the ship, she discovers that Bea has escaped, which is what she’d told her to do previously. Arjun and Jade go back to the land to save their daughter, but the zombie crocodile that they’d set loose on Billie and her goons attacks them instead. Jade leaves an injured Arjun by the seashore to find Bea. The reunion with her daughter is cut short when Billie arrives on the scene, has a few words with Jade, shoots her, and leaves with Bea. While Billie could have killed Jade, she doesn’t. She leaves her bleeding and alone, while Jade watches her daughter taken away in a helicopter.
In the 2022 timeline, young Billie and Jade escape Evelyn’s clutches with Albert and Bert. Struggling with her hallucination, Billie attacks Simon and bites him. While Albert promises to help him, Evelyn shoots her son, knowing that there is no cure and he will soon turn into a zombie. As Evelyn loses her mind over her son’s loss, Albert decides to sacrifice himself, allowing Bert to take Jade and Billie to safety. He also gives the girls the address of Ada Wong, the only person who can help them now. The problem is that Ada is in Japan, a long way from New Raccoon City, South Africa.
Is Bea the Key to the Cure?
The final episode of the season sets the stage for the conflict that will plague Season 2. The biggest revelation of the season is that Jade’s daughter Bea is special when it comes to T-Virus. It is curious that the huge crocodile that destroys and kills everything in its path acts like a cute pet when it comes to Bea. It appears so calm that the little girl is tempted to pet him. Billie witnesses this from the helicopter in which she’d been trying to escape. After throwing a couple of bombs on the crocodile, she chases Bea and takes her away from Jade. The question remains: why didn’t the crocodile attack the girl?
Jade discovered her blood was special when the truth about her father came to light. It turns out that Albert Wesker was a clone, and to keep himself from dying, he’d tinkered with Billie and Jade’s DNA, which made them strong enough to fight the virus. Jade gave birth to Bea about four years later, and it would make sense that the strength of her DNA was passed down to her daughter. Though how exactly that works is yet to be seen. The nature of Bea’s power is complicated because while the animal didn’t attack her, the zombie that Jade brought on the ship to experiment on attacked Bea when it was set loose.
This means that Bea might not have the same effect on zombies. However, the zombie didn’t bite her, so we don’t know if her blood could have the cure for T-virus or if she has an advanced version of her mother’s ability to fight the virus. In any case, Bea’s situation does make a curious case, which will surely be explored in the next season.
What Happened in New Raccoon City?
In its first episode, the show reveals to the audience that the first T-virus outbreak happened in New Raccoon City. Young Billie and Jade are introduced to us only three months before the tragedy that will bring about the end of the world takes place. It isn’t until the final scene of the season that we discover what kickstarted the apocalypse.
It wasn’t a secret that the Umbrella Corporation had been developing a drug that was known to cause violent behavior. The testing was done mainly on animals, the effects of which we see in the dog that bites Billie in the first episode. Apart from that, the company was also trying to influence the behavior of those under the effect of T-virus. In their board meeting, Evelyn mentions that their team anticipates the same thing in human trials. While this means that they haven’t officially begun human trials, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t been doing it secretly. The proof of their shadiness appears later when Evelyn offers Bert to work on a new project. She reveals a captive zombie who looks much worse than the ones we see Jade go up against. This is not your regular undead. Rather it looks like something that has been experimented on before. Perhaps it is the one that the Umbrella Corporation kept from the original Raccoon City disaster.
The show doesn’t go into the details regarding this monster, but it becomes clear that it had something to do with breaking all hell loose on the world. After Albert destroys the corporation’s building while trying to help his daughters and Bert get away, the zombie is set loose. We see its hand appear from the rubble, indicating that it started infecting people and soon everyone turned into a zombie. Things must have escalated pretty quickly from there because soon enough, billions of humans turned, leaving the survivors to go into hiding.
